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The Cia's Control of Candy Jones: A Hyphenates Book
In the 26 years since The Control of Candy Jones was first published, the controversy surrounding this wrenching tale of how one of America's most famous models was used by the CIA as a human guinea pig in its infamous mind control experiments, has never completely vanished. It has remained a "cult book," fueling the cause of critics of the CIA, and further defining the now proven (and accepted) thesis that the minds of certain people can be manipulated and controlled, in this instance, for evil purposes. 20th Century Fox paid significant money for it as a film vehicle for Jane Fonda, yet never produced the movie despite attempts at screenplays by three of Hollywood's best, and has refused to sell the rights to the many producers who've expressed interest in making the film. Why? The CIA attempted to suppress the book, as did one of the doctors, a physician to the stars, who spearheaded the intelligence agency's mind control experimentation. This edition, with a new foreword by the author, presents another opportunity for every concerned citizen to share the compelling tragedy suffered by Candy Jones during that dark, tumultuous period in our history known as the "Cold War."
256 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1976
7 people are currently reading
401 people want to read
About the author
Donald Bain
148 books178 followersFrom Wikipedia: Donald Bain (1935-2017) was a United States author and ghostwriter.
Author Jack Pearl is his cousin and sometime co-author.
Known Pseudonyms:
Jessica Fletcher
Joan Wood
J.D. Hardin
Nick Vasile
Mike Lundy
Pamela South
Lee Jackson
Stephanie Blake
Marjorie Margolies
Kathy Cole
Donna Bain
Author Jack Pearl is his cousin and sometime co-author.
Known Pseudonyms:
Jessica Fletcher
Joan Wood
J.D. Hardin
Nick Vasile
Mike Lundy
Pamela South
Lee Jackson
Stephanie Blake
Marjorie Margolies
Kathy Cole
Donna Bain
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
August 4, 2014
(review originally appeared on bookslut)
When I first picked up a copy of The CIA's Control of Candy Jones, by Donald Bain, I thought it was a work of fiction. Even though the back of the book suggested otherwise, the plot seemed just too bizarre to be true. One of America's most famous models, brainwashed by the CIA? I don't have much problem believing the CIA brainwashes people, but a model? Really, what would be the point? However, this book and the real life events it is based on, is yet another example of the truth being stranger than fiction.
The story begins with a wedding, that of Candy Jones, America's most famous model during the Forties, and Long John Nebel, New York's most successful radio talk-show host. During the wedding, and regularly thereafter, Candy's personality would seem to shift, and she would suddenly change from her affable, self-effacing self to a brusque, aggressive stranger. For the first few months of the marriage, these shifts were infrequent enough an occurrence that Nebel didn't worry much about it.
That was all to change five months later. Candy had been having trouble sleeping for some time, and Nebel had done extensive reading on the subject of hypnosis. Although he had some apprehension about putting this theory into practice, he intended only to induce relaxation in his wife. And in the first two sessions, that's all that happened. Although Candy insisted that she couldn't be hypnotized, she slipped easily into a relaxed state, and then into sleep. But on the third, with no suggestion from Nebel, Candy spontaneously regressed to a young age. After that, Nebel began to record their sessions. Many of the subsequent sessions were similarly innocent. Candy would spontaneously regress to some part of her childhood, and Nebel would ask her questions about what was going on.
It all seemed fairly innocent until the first time Nebel talked to Candy's other personality, Arlene. In this first conversation, Arlene established the fact that she considered herself a separate person from Candy, who she thought of as weak, and that they used to go to a doctor, Dr. Jenson (not his real name), in California for vitamin shots. Over the course of months, Nebel would slowly drag out from Candy and Arlene what really happened in Dr. Jenson's office. Dr. Jenson used a combination of drugs and hypnosis to encourage the memory of one of Candy's childhood imaginary friends, Arlene, to become a distinct personality. He then sent Arlene on a series of courier duties, taking messages to various people during Candy's trips around the world. Eventually Arlene was apprehended and tortured in Taiwan (quite possibly at Jensen's request), and later she was taken to the CIA headquarters at Langley where Jensen showed off how obedient she was, and how impervious to pain and humiliation.
Candy's tale is harrowing, yet somehow at the same time mundane. It is terrible that the government would take advantage of such a sweet and somewhat naive woman. But at the same time, the entire time I was reading the book, I expected it to be somehow...worse. Maybe I've been overly jaded by Hollywood, but Candy's torture in Taiwan, it's all physical, the kind that is designed to not leave marks. And because she doesn't remember it until Jensen uncovers it with hypnosis, until that moment, it's as if it didn't really happen. The only scene that really made me cringe was Jenson showing off Candy/Arlene at CIA headquarters. But even this scene remains disappointingly devoid of details, as Candy became hysterical during the sessions relating the incident.
One strength of the book is the excellent job it does describing the theory of hypnosis. Bain, in addition to telling Candy's story as related by hundreds of hours of tape of her hypnosis sessions, also spent a year studying the subject of hypnosis, and peppers Candy's story with the results of his research. He presents a balanced and seemingly thorough account of medical studies and works written on hypnosis. Candy underwent a Hypnotic Index Profile in order to measure her trance capacity, and her results show her to have an extremely heightened capacity for trance, establishing her spontaneous age regressions as almost certainly real. Adding to the credibility of her testimony is that Nebel never suggests a topic or an age for Candy to talk about, but rather assumes whatever role is convenient in whatever Candy is experiencing from which to ask her questions. Also, Bain claims to have left out any material which seems to have been influenced from her life at the time of the recordings.
I have no doubt that The CIA's Control of Candy Jones must have been radical when it was first published in 1976. This book will surely be a hit with conspiracy theorists, as the CIA has attempted to suppress the publication of the book and may have acted to keep it from being made into a movie. However, today, most of the shock has worn off. It comes as little surprise to me that the CIA would attempt to hypnotize people into becoming super spies, though I would have hoped that they would hypnotize actual spies and not well-mannered models.
When I first picked up a copy of The CIA's Control of Candy Jones, by Donald Bain, I thought it was a work of fiction. Even though the back of the book suggested otherwise, the plot seemed just too bizarre to be true. One of America's most famous models, brainwashed by the CIA? I don't have much problem believing the CIA brainwashes people, but a model? Really, what would be the point? However, this book and the real life events it is based on, is yet another example of the truth being stranger than fiction.
The story begins with a wedding, that of Candy Jones, America's most famous model during the Forties, and Long John Nebel, New York's most successful radio talk-show host. During the wedding, and regularly thereafter, Candy's personality would seem to shift, and she would suddenly change from her affable, self-effacing self to a brusque, aggressive stranger. For the first few months of the marriage, these shifts were infrequent enough an occurrence that Nebel didn't worry much about it.
That was all to change five months later. Candy had been having trouble sleeping for some time, and Nebel had done extensive reading on the subject of hypnosis. Although he had some apprehension about putting this theory into practice, he intended only to induce relaxation in his wife. And in the first two sessions, that's all that happened. Although Candy insisted that she couldn't be hypnotized, she slipped easily into a relaxed state, and then into sleep. But on the third, with no suggestion from Nebel, Candy spontaneously regressed to a young age. After that, Nebel began to record their sessions. Many of the subsequent sessions were similarly innocent. Candy would spontaneously regress to some part of her childhood, and Nebel would ask her questions about what was going on.
It all seemed fairly innocent until the first time Nebel talked to Candy's other personality, Arlene. In this first conversation, Arlene established the fact that she considered herself a separate person from Candy, who she thought of as weak, and that they used to go to a doctor, Dr. Jenson (not his real name), in California for vitamin shots. Over the course of months, Nebel would slowly drag out from Candy and Arlene what really happened in Dr. Jenson's office. Dr. Jenson used a combination of drugs and hypnosis to encourage the memory of one of Candy's childhood imaginary friends, Arlene, to become a distinct personality. He then sent Arlene on a series of courier duties, taking messages to various people during Candy's trips around the world. Eventually Arlene was apprehended and tortured in Taiwan (quite possibly at Jensen's request), and later she was taken to the CIA headquarters at Langley where Jensen showed off how obedient she was, and how impervious to pain and humiliation.
Candy's tale is harrowing, yet somehow at the same time mundane. It is terrible that the government would take advantage of such a sweet and somewhat naive woman. But at the same time, the entire time I was reading the book, I expected it to be somehow...worse. Maybe I've been overly jaded by Hollywood, but Candy's torture in Taiwan, it's all physical, the kind that is designed to not leave marks. And because she doesn't remember it until Jensen uncovers it with hypnosis, until that moment, it's as if it didn't really happen. The only scene that really made me cringe was Jenson showing off Candy/Arlene at CIA headquarters. But even this scene remains disappointingly devoid of details, as Candy became hysterical during the sessions relating the incident.
One strength of the book is the excellent job it does describing the theory of hypnosis. Bain, in addition to telling Candy's story as related by hundreds of hours of tape of her hypnosis sessions, also spent a year studying the subject of hypnosis, and peppers Candy's story with the results of his research. He presents a balanced and seemingly thorough account of medical studies and works written on hypnosis. Candy underwent a Hypnotic Index Profile in order to measure her trance capacity, and her results show her to have an extremely heightened capacity for trance, establishing her spontaneous age regressions as almost certainly real. Adding to the credibility of her testimony is that Nebel never suggests a topic or an age for Candy to talk about, but rather assumes whatever role is convenient in whatever Candy is experiencing from which to ask her questions. Also, Bain claims to have left out any material which seems to have been influenced from her life at the time of the recordings.
I have no doubt that The CIA's Control of Candy Jones must have been radical when it was first published in 1976. This book will surely be a hit with conspiracy theorists, as the CIA has attempted to suppress the publication of the book and may have acted to keep it from being made into a movie. However, today, most of the shock has worn off. It comes as little surprise to me that the CIA would attempt to hypnotize people into becoming super spies, though I would have hoped that they would hypnotize actual spies and not well-mannered models.
September 19, 2016
This is an account of a woman's secret life and the presence of an alternate personality as revealed through numerous hypnotic sessions conducted by her husband. Readers should be aware that there is no smoking gun here, no documentation to support her version of events. However, there was, and probably still is, a mind control program funded by the CIA in their search for a Manchurian Candidate, which involved hypnosis, mind-altering drugs, and torture, which lends some credence to her tale. There are quite a number of books written by people who claim to be a victim of these experiments, and while not all credible, others cannot be ignored. Because induced amnesia is part of the process, such accounts are often fragmented into bits and pieces of memories, and this is also the case here.
Mr. Bain makes an effort at remaining objective, despite personally knowing the couple. He reconstructed Candy's story based on scores of tape recordings of the sessions, and gives sincere and accurate descriptions of hypnosis.
This story was thought-provoking to the degree that it inspired me to write my own fictional series of a woman with multiple personalities under the influence of mind control by a government agency.
Mr. Bain makes an effort at remaining objective, despite personally knowing the couple. He reconstructed Candy's story based on scores of tape recordings of the sessions, and gives sincere and accurate descriptions of hypnosis.
This story was thought-provoking to the degree that it inspired me to write my own fictional series of a woman with multiple personalities under the influence of mind control by a government agency.
January 26, 2010
One of the best things about conspiracy theory is that it is generally interesting. It may be crazy. It may make you doubt your own sanity as you read it (why yes, there IS something lizard-like about the British Royal family). But I defy you to read anything by David Icke, Jim Keith or Tex Marrs and not be entertained.
Never has conspiracy theory been more boring than it is in the hands of Donald Bain. He seems a competent enough writer, so the perhaps the problem lies not with his skill as a teller of odd or improbable tales, but rather the material he was given to work with. If conspiracy theory is to be offered with not even the slightest amount of proof other than the hypnotically induced memories of someone claiming CIA-connections, then it needs to have an element of the outrageous in it. Black helicopters. Lizard people. A vast international conspiracy of bankers and politicians who have sex orgies in between attempts to take over the world. Something. Anything more than a weird man who hypnotizes his equally weird wife and TA-DA! She was controlled by the CIA because, you know, she says she was.[return:]Read the rest of the review at: http://ireadoddbooks.com/?p=154
Never has conspiracy theory been more boring than it is in the hands of Donald Bain. He seems a competent enough writer, so the perhaps the problem lies not with his skill as a teller of odd or improbable tales, but rather the material he was given to work with. If conspiracy theory is to be offered with not even the slightest amount of proof other than the hypnotically induced memories of someone claiming CIA-connections, then it needs to have an element of the outrageous in it. Black helicopters. Lizard people. A vast international conspiracy of bankers and politicians who have sex orgies in between attempts to take over the world. Something. Anything more than a weird man who hypnotizes his equally weird wife and TA-DA! She was controlled by the CIA because, you know, she says she was.[return:]Read the rest of the review at: http://ireadoddbooks.com/?p=154
May 25, 2023
Many years ago, I read about Candy Jones on Damn Interesting (RIP) and I’ve never forgotten the basic story: a 1940s supermodel is hypnotized in to becoming a CIA spy. The primary source for Damn Interesting was this mythical book with its striking black and pink cover, and I’ve always wanted to get my hands on it. For the last decade and a half, every time I’ve been in a used book store with a half-decent collection of rare offerings, I’ve kept my eye out for it. But finding it in the wild proved tricky, so this year I cheated and spent *way* too much money by ordering a first edition online. And now that I’ve read it, I’m confirmed in two things: the story is, as I’ve always remembered it, damn interesting; and there’s a reason this book went out of print pretty quickly.
As a reading experience, Bain’s account is bafflingly dull, structured in such a way that the juicy spy bits don’t come until near the end after you’ve slogged (or skipped) through explanatory tangents on the science, medicine and psychology of hypnosis. And even the spy parts, once you reach them, are muted by Bain’s muddy prose.
But the essence of the story is captivating and beguiling for a modern critical reader because of how mediated it is, maybe purposely. This is not a first person account, nor is it a rigorous arm’s length journalistic take. Instead, like Candy herself, it’s a matryoshka: a woman born as Jessica Arline Wilcox becomes the model Candy Jones who befriends an ostensibly CIA-connected medical doctor who discovers and manipulates Candy’s latent second (evil-ish) persona, Arlene Grant, in to becoming a CIA spy that travels the world delivering messages and being tortured in Taiwan, a story that is only uncovered by Candy’s second husband through a series of hypnosis sessions in the 1970s that were apparently recorded on tapes and then shared with her husband’s friend, and the book’s author, Donald Bain, who then recounts all of this in a book alongside evidence from psychologists and doctors. As fiction, it’d be a bit silly, but the claim is that it’s all fact.
It’s all so incredible, so ridiculous, that it must certainly not be true — but to what end? Is it an elaborate prank of the kind Candy’s radio-host-cum-hypnotist husband loved? If so, why would the editor — Ed Kuhn, a respectable sort who edited the memoirs of Herbert Hoover and Harry Truman — entertain it? Money is always a good answer when no other motives make sense, so maybe this was an attempt to cash in on interest in the then-newly discovered MKULTRA program with Cold War sexiness as a convenient backdrop. But the unsettling thing is how dark the book gets, if the purpose was simply cash. In one hypnotic episode, Candy remembers being sexually assaulted — raped is what we’d call it today — by CIA doctors wielding a cigar. Why would a woman whose entire career is her image put that in the public domain?
Personally, I’ve settled on a third interpretation, which is there’s some truth and some fiction here. And that might be the most disturbing answer of all: maybe Candy was genuinely troubled in a psychological sense and had her affliction seized on for financial gain by a conspiracy-minded husband, his writer friend, and a ravenous, undiscriminating publishing industry.
Whatever the truth, I’m left wanting so much more information about the book itself. Did the editors hear the tape recordings of Candy’s hypnosis sessions with her husband? Do the tapes still exist? If they never existed, why? What do Candy’s kids think? Are there any corroborating records in the US government archives that have been made newly available? And why — WHY — did Jane Fonda never star in the movie based on this book that was apparently optioned?!
Read the book for its value as an artifact in a bigger, nastier puzzle — but be prepared to be a bit bored by the book itself.
As a reading experience, Bain’s account is bafflingly dull, structured in such a way that the juicy spy bits don’t come until near the end after you’ve slogged (or skipped) through explanatory tangents on the science, medicine and psychology of hypnosis. And even the spy parts, once you reach them, are muted by Bain’s muddy prose.
But the essence of the story is captivating and beguiling for a modern critical reader because of how mediated it is, maybe purposely. This is not a first person account, nor is it a rigorous arm’s length journalistic take. Instead, like Candy herself, it’s a matryoshka: a woman born as Jessica Arline Wilcox becomes the model Candy Jones who befriends an ostensibly CIA-connected medical doctor who discovers and manipulates Candy’s latent second (evil-ish) persona, Arlene Grant, in to becoming a CIA spy that travels the world delivering messages and being tortured in Taiwan, a story that is only uncovered by Candy’s second husband through a series of hypnosis sessions in the 1970s that were apparently recorded on tapes and then shared with her husband’s friend, and the book’s author, Donald Bain, who then recounts all of this in a book alongside evidence from psychologists and doctors. As fiction, it’d be a bit silly, but the claim is that it’s all fact.
It’s all so incredible, so ridiculous, that it must certainly not be true — but to what end? Is it an elaborate prank of the kind Candy’s radio-host-cum-hypnotist husband loved? If so, why would the editor — Ed Kuhn, a respectable sort who edited the memoirs of Herbert Hoover and Harry Truman — entertain it? Money is always a good answer when no other motives make sense, so maybe this was an attempt to cash in on interest in the then-newly discovered MKULTRA program with Cold War sexiness as a convenient backdrop. But the unsettling thing is how dark the book gets, if the purpose was simply cash. In one hypnotic episode, Candy remembers being sexually assaulted — raped is what we’d call it today — by CIA doctors wielding a cigar. Why would a woman whose entire career is her image put that in the public domain?
Personally, I’ve settled on a third interpretation, which is there’s some truth and some fiction here. And that might be the most disturbing answer of all: maybe Candy was genuinely troubled in a psychological sense and had her affliction seized on for financial gain by a conspiracy-minded husband, his writer friend, and a ravenous, undiscriminating publishing industry.
Whatever the truth, I’m left wanting so much more information about the book itself. Did the editors hear the tape recordings of Candy’s hypnosis sessions with her husband? Do the tapes still exist? If they never existed, why? What do Candy’s kids think? Are there any corroborating records in the US government archives that have been made newly available? And why — WHY — did Jane Fonda never star in the movie based on this book that was apparently optioned?!
Read the book for its value as an artifact in a bigger, nastier puzzle — but be prepared to be a bit bored by the book itself.
July 10, 2008
I can't help but think this story and Confessions of a Dangerous Mind are so very closely linked. Of course, we all laughed when Chuck Barris said he was a hit man for the CIA. But the training techniques and the double life, well, it mirrors many facets of this book.
This is a woman who used her strengths to overcome some tough times. But the things she did for a paycheck! Well, I think if I were her husband John, I would have run for the hills. But he decided to crack the programming the CIA had done to her and spend hundreds of hours in hypnotherapy hearing about heinous crimes his wife had pulled. And he still stuck by her.
I'd be afraid to turn out the light at the end of the day.
True story? Who knows. I don't doubt it's possible.
This is a woman who used her strengths to overcome some tough times. But the things she did for a paycheck! Well, I think if I were her husband John, I would have run for the hills. But he decided to crack the programming the CIA had done to her and spend hundreds of hours in hypnotherapy hearing about heinous crimes his wife had pulled. And he still stuck by her.
I'd be afraid to turn out the light at the end of the day.
True story? Who knows. I don't doubt it's possible.
March 17, 2019
Exceptionally Well Done
Very professionally researched and executed by one of the few men in her life who had integrity and honor. It's a true Cinderella story. She married her rescuer and it turned her life around. What an amazing hero. It's a story of hope, endurance and a wonderful woman who fought the good fight out of the filthy CIA web of Special Programs under MKULTRA brought to the U.S.A. by hideous Nazi scientists imported by the VIA and U.S. Military under Operation Paperclip after WWII. May God forgive us for allowing our Government to fund these atrocities. What a debt we owe the individuals and families who were harmed. What a shame we bear for enabling the secrecy and averting our eyes from the atrocities performed in the name of "National Security" .
Very professionally researched and executed by one of the few men in her life who had integrity and honor. It's a true Cinderella story. She married her rescuer and it turned her life around. What an amazing hero. It's a story of hope, endurance and a wonderful woman who fought the good fight out of the filthy CIA web of Special Programs under MKULTRA brought to the U.S.A. by hideous Nazi scientists imported by the VIA and U.S. Military under Operation Paperclip after WWII. May God forgive us for allowing our Government to fund these atrocities. What a debt we owe the individuals and families who were harmed. What a shame we bear for enabling the secrecy and averting our eyes from the atrocities performed in the name of "National Security" .
September 3, 2012
The CIA has admitted to experiments with hypnosis and mind-affecting drugs as methods of mind control, so at least the basis of this book could be factual. But what we are presented with is a series of revelations taken from tape recordings made by John Nebel while he attempted to cure his wife's insomnia through hypnosis. John Nebel was a late night talk radio DJ, someone with no training in hypno-therapy, so what confidence can we have that the revelations are accurate? Donald Bain even states that to have tried to investigate any of this independently would have required a separate book.
As to the writing of the book, it's not bad, but it is somewhat repetitive and overlong.
As to the writing of the book, it's not bad, but it is somewhat repetitive and overlong.
May 17, 2020
One of the most fascinating cases I’ve come across. I mostly just feel bad for her. She was obviously very troubled and fragile, and it seems like everyone took advantage of that—even her husband (whyyy did he think hypnotizing her was a good idea). Also: the CIA is sketchy as hell, but you knew that already.
October 14, 2013
I was digging through some old reports of her husbands radio show and came across the story in this book. This is the earliest reports of CIA mind control and this one might actually be real.
February 3, 2016
It is an interesting book.
However the methods described are known, although most of those who tell such methods are treated like crazy.
However the methods described are known, although most of those who tell such methods are treated like crazy.
Read
October 10, 2019Have not read it all, but this seems like a predecessor or inspiration for Trance Formation of America by Cathy O'Brien, which has a similar premise but lots or lurid and sometime implausible details.
May 15, 2020
I don't know how believable I find all of this, but it was entertaining nonetheless.
March 14, 2023
Easily one of the most tragic, fascinating books I’ve ever read
May 25, 2011
The way that this book was written made it uncompelling to me. I get that they had to hypnotize her to get their story, but it would have been more interesting if they made that into a coherent narrative. Honestly, this book came across to me as fairly misogynist given the intense focus on the men in the story and how they had to manipulate her to get these tales out of her. It was really bewildering and seemed really unimportant other than to emphasize the control that the husband has over his wife. Must be a residual effect of the 1960s. This made reading this book rather upsetting because I really wanted to like it given the insanity that has been the life of Candy Jones.
March 25, 2012
It's like George Noory marries Cindy Crawford, then finds out she was programmed to be a spy. Sure the writing is a little dry for a conspiracy, but it kept me pretty interested. I do think it could have been edited better, or something. It also seemed kind of weird to me, cruel, how Candy's husband John Nebel kept putting her under hypnosis. I would've found a doctor pronto, but he seems to just put her under and question her extensively, and I wonder if that's really the best thing for her. It seems more to satisfy his curiosity or something.
March 25, 2022
When this book hit the shelves in 1976, it must have been shocking and unbelievable to many. Having now read a number of titles with similar storylines, I'm no longer surprised by the depravity of our government and specifically the alphabet agencies. Today, we'd simply chalk up her story as another tale of the CIA's MK Ultra.
May 9, 2016
Haven't read anything this pulpy since Valley of the Dolls and that was fiction. Reminded me of a mild less eventful Sybil. I still love pulp but this one didn't really do it for me.
November 15, 2020
Not sure I believe any if it.
May 19, 2023
I would take this “account” with a giant grain of salt but it was entertaining at least. I wouldn’t go out of my way to find a copy at the current expensive price.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews