"Fruit machine" for gays and other conspiracy theories that turned out to be pure truth

Recently, conspiracy theories and everything that, one way or another, concerns conspiracies have become popular. People talk about laboratories that produce coronavirus, and the network discusses Zuckerberg's attitude to reptilians, and this is quite normal, because it fully corresponds to human nature. Let's recall the most unusual, but in the end turned out to be true conspiracy theories of the last century.

Rumors that the main intelligence agency of the United States is asleep and sees how to learn to control human consciousness, periodically surfaced throughout the Cold War. But as it turned out, these rumors had a basis, since from 1953 to 1964, the CIA actually conducted experiments on people, setting ambitious goals to learn how to control human thoughts.

Now it sounds like the plot of a primitive Hollywood thriller, but the citizens of the United States who got "under the distribution" were not at all joking. In the course of inhumane experiments, people were given psychotropic substances and psychedelics, like the drug LSD, which is fashionable among hippies, without their knowledge.

But that's not all – the subjects were subjected to sensory deprivation, electroshock therapy and hypnosis in an attempt to gain control over their consciousness. It got to the point that they started experimenting with neuro-linguistic programming of the personality.

The most unpleasant thing is that all these experiments were carried out not just without the knowledge of people, but under the guise of their treatment for various ailments. The CIA's MK-Ultra program covered 86 major US university centers, 12 hospitals and even three prisons. The objects were located all over the country from sunny California to snow-covered Alaska.

Some of the experiments were carried out on incurable cancer patients, assuring them that this is the newest way to combat their illness. Only two deaths among the unwitting participants of the experiments have been officially confirmed, but it is easy to guess that the US authorities have made every effort to hide their crimes against their own citizens.

Conspiracy theories related to the deliberate infection of people for drug research have always been held in high esteem. They are not groundless and this is a historical fact. The Tuskegee experiment is the most cruel experiment on its own population, not only in the United States, but also around the world. It lasted from 1932 to 1972 and claimed the lives of at least 500 African-Americans. The purpose of the study was simple-the scientists wanted to find out how much blacks tolerate syphilis better than whites.

To do this, doctors deliberately infected 400 patients with syphilis, which, from the point of view of the authorities of the small town of Tuskegee, Alabama, were of no value to society. Among them were the poorest residents of the Black ghettos, people who had problems with the law and the unemployed.

Tellingly, the most degraded and homeless residents of the town were not touched – the scientists needed the purity of the experiment. It was difficult to follow this category of citizens, and therefore they preferred those who are tied to a place, that is, they have a roof over their heads and a family.

Those infected with a deadly infection did not know that they were sick, because doctors gave them other diagnoses and prescribed medications that were not related to their illness in any way. Simply put, the unfortunate people were treated with vitamins, aspirin or even a placebo. The African-Americans of Tuskegee were happy to receive free medical care that they could not afford and did not even suspect that they were being slowly and cynically killed.

In 1947, medicine defeated syphilis, which was learned to treat with penicillin, but the experiment in Tuskegee continued. At the beginning of 1972, the details of this dirty project became public and a huge scandal broke out. The US authorities tried to hush it up and hide some of the most disgusting facts, but these attempts were noticed and caused even more resonance.

By 1972, out of 400 experimental citizens, only 74 remained alive. In addition, it was found that the men infected by scientists infected 40 wives and mistresses with the disease, as a result of which 19 children were born with congenital abnormalities in physical and mental development. In 1997, US President Bill Clinton for the first time repented to his people and apologized for this terrible and shameful episode in the history of the country.

It is well known that, having had too much alcohol, many sin that certain substances were mixed into the alcohol, which should not be there. Usually it's not about them, but about the lack of measure or the low quality of the product, but not always. In the 1920s, during the" Prohibition " in the United States, the authorities used the most unsightly ways to combat drunkenness, up to poisoning citizens.

The law on the prohibition of alcohol was in force from 1920 to 1933 and gave rise to such a phenomenon as bootlegging. This was the era of the heyday of underground dens, the mafia and smuggling, with which a merciless war was waged to the death. Underground alcohol factories poisoned their suffering customers with low-grade swill, but part of the responsibility for the illnesses and deaths of alcohol consumers lay directly with the authorities of the country.

The main raw material for the production of illegal alcohol was alcohol intended for industrial use. To stop the theft of this product, manufacturers added various components to the liquid that made the alcohol taste disgusting and unfit for consumption. But bootleggers, enlisting the help of chemists left out of work due to the crisis, quickly learned how to purify alcohol from such additives.

Then the US government did not come up with anything better than to start adding toxic components to ethyl alcohol. It was mixed with dangerous methyl alcohol, kerosene, formaldehydes and even acetone were added. At first, this was done in order to discourage bootleggers from stealing alcohol. On the containers with the cherished liquid, they put marks that there was poison inside and the use of such alcohol was dangerous for life.

But, seeing that this does not help, the authorities decided to directly poison citizens in order to sow fear of alcohol among the people. Because of this, Americans began to die by the thousands – only officially confirmed more than 10 thousand deaths from intentionally poisoned alcohol. Despite the panic that began in the masses, no one refused cheap bootleg alcohol and lovers of hot drinks both drank and continued to drink.

Many are sure that they are being watched by special services. Most often, this is just an attempt to give yourself importance in your own and others ' eyes, or a mental deviation. But it also happens that agents actually pursue a respectable citizen, although he has neither access to military secrets nor the desire to overthrow the current government.

A good example of when what was considered paranoia turned out to be real surveillance was the case of the writer Ernest Hemingway. Everyone knows that in his declining years, this writer was mired in drunkenness, fell into depression, was treated in psychiatric clinics and eventually took his own life. The main reason for Hemingway's life tragedy is the obsession that the FBI is watching him.

The writer was sure that he was being watched on the streets in any country of the world, his phone and hotel room were tapped, and all bank accounts were monitored. The classic of world literature tormented his friends and casual acquaintances with his suspicions, as a result of which everyone decided that the poor man had gone mad on the basis of alcoholism.

In 1961, after leaving another psychiatric clinic, the Nobel laureate shot himself in the head with a gun, solving the problem with the FBI once and for all. More than 20 years later, in 1983, the FBI declassified a 127-page report that fully confirmed that Hemingway's fears were well founded. The writer was constantly monitored on the personal instructions of FBI Chief Edgar Hoover. The reason for such interest in the writer is his warm friendly relations with the leader of Cuba, Fidel Castro.

Stories about the identification and treatment of homosexuals using the achievements of modern science and technology have not lost popularity for more than half a century. In the Western Hemisphere, the most popular story has always been about the so-called "Fruit Machine", which accurately identifies gays and bisexuals, even if they themselves do not suspect their non-traditional orientation. As it turned out later – this car is not a figment of a violent fantasy, but a real, albeit useless device.

This is what the Fruit Machine looks like for identifying gays

It all started in the 60s of the last century, when the scandal with the so-called "Cambridge Five"thundered all over the world. Then the intelligence service recruited several key British MI6 agents who shared with the new owners the most intimate secrets of the United Kingdom. One of the agents was gay and the adherents of the "Evil Empire" managed to get him through blackmail.

In this regard, in a number of Western countries, mass purges of various state institutions and services began from gays and lesbians, who henceforth fell into the category of unreliable and dangerous people. Homosexuals were dismissed from the police, the army and simply state institutions. The unexpected leader of this hunt for gays turned out to be provincial Canada, which just a couple of decades later will become the" promised land " for many dissenters and non-standard lovers from all over the world.

The Canadian hunt for homosexuals began with the combing of gay clubs, in which secret agents seriously hoped to get information about the orientation of citizens in responsible positions. But the "blue" party turned out to be a tough nut to crack and it was not so easy to part with their secrets.

The homophobia of the Canadian authorities had consequences

It came to absurd and ridiculous situations when some mannered agents identified others who were sent by another agency. Therefore, such a hunt very soon began to look more like a comedy than a special operation of national importance. Having assessed the zero results of the work, the government of Canada refused to conduct combat reconnaissance and called on official science to help.

So there was a so-called "Fruit Machine" (Fruit Machine), the very existence of which seems to be a mockery of common sense. By order of the Government of Canada, scientists have created an apparatus that also acts as a polygraph. The checked citizen was seated in a chair, entangled with sensor wires, and then erotic images were shown.

As in the case of the "lie detector", changes in pressure, pulse rate, sweating, and pupil reaction were recorded. The "fruit machine" turned out to be incredibly effective and with its help, at least 500 intelligence and police officers were on the street within the first month.

But soon came the disappointment, as the device had a huge error. The fact is that it measured a person's stress level rather than his reaction to erotic stimuli. Everyone who sat in a chair near the car was worried, afraid of losing their job and reputation, so they sweated profusely and shook. As a result, it was not homosexuals who lost their jobs, but the most impressionable employees of state structures.

Seeing the obvious failure, the authorities continued to stubbornly go in the same direction and so another funny electronic device called a plethysmograph appeared. In general, it was connected to the genitals of the test subject in order to fix the rudiments of an erection when showing frivolous pictures or videos. After that, the country lost several hundred more intelligence officers, law enforcement officers and clerks with the most daring erotic fantasies, but no more.

The result of the hunt for gays was disappointing – after spending millions of dollars, several years of time and a lot of useful specialists, Canada curtailed the project. In other countries, it continued for some time, causing confusion and generating bold anecdotes.

Interestingly, most often the most absurd conspiracy theories are confirmed in the West. Maybe this is due to the mentality of people who are more trusting of their governments? Probably this is a separate topic for research.