This week: Trust No One Edited by: Shannon  
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Welcome to the Short Stories Newsletter. I am Shannon and I'm your editor this week.
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"For secret assassination, either simple or chase, the contrived accident is the most effective technique. When successfully executed, it causes little excitement and is only casually investigated.
"The most efficient accident, in simple assassination, is a fall of 75 feet or more onto a hard surface. Elevator shafts, stairwells, unscreened windows, and bridges will serve. Bridge falls into water are not reliable. In simple cases, a private meeting with the subject may be arranged at a properly-cased location. The act may be executed by sudden, vigorous [excised] of the ankles, tipping the subject over the edge. If the assassin immediately sets up an outcry, playing the 'horrified witness', no alibi or surreptitious withdrawal is necessary. In chase cases, it will usually be necessary to stun or drug the subject before dropping him. Care is required to ensure that no wound or condition not attributable to the fall is discernable after death."
Imagine you're a civilian bacteriologist going about day-to-day life, minding your own business when the United States Army recruits you to develop aerosolized biological weapons. It's the 1940s. WWII has ended. Concentration camps and their atrocities become common knowledge. The government launches Project Paperclip: Nazi scientists are offered immunity and new identities in exchange for their expertise. You're a doctor, a husband, a father, and your new job at the Army's Biological Warfare Laboratories weighs heavily on your conscience, but you tell yourself you're doing it for the common good. You're doing it to save American lives.
Years pass, the experiments continue, and soon the U.S. Government ponders the idea of using LSD as a potential bio-weapon, administering the drug to civilians and military personnel alike, oftentimes without their knowledge or consent. You, a civilian bacteriologist, are tasked with developing "new and secret biological means for effective interrogation and warfare" (see "Timeline" at link #8 below in the "Further Reading" section). Project Bluebird (physiological and psychological warfare experimentation) launches in 1951. Bluebird morphs into Project ARTICHOKE and eventually into MKULTRA in 1953. You are now the lead bacteriologist, witnessing terminal experiments (experiments that result in death) in the U.K. and Germany. You're disturbed by what you've seen and determined to terminate your involvement with the CIA.
You know too much to walk away; you've become a liability. You're invited to a remote cabin in the woods on the premise of a weekend retreat with your coworkers and "friends". You eat, mingle, have a few cocktails. Suddenly, you begin to feel strange--paranoid, diaphoretic, dehydrated. Your heart pounds a staccato beat in your chest. You start to hallucinate; they've slipped LSD into your drink in an attempt to determine exactly how much of a threat you really are.
You're questioned, interrogated, analyzed, and nine days later you plunge to your death from the thirteenth floor of a New York City hotel.
This is what happened to Dr. Frank Olson in 1953. MKULTRA and other secret government projects have intrigued me since childhood: Projects BLUEBIRD, ARTICHOKE, MKUltra; operations Mockingbird and Midnight Climax were but a handful of the CIA's top-secret mind control experiments. When one hears about them for the first time they seem too bizarre to be real. No way is he telling the truth, you think. Then the declassified, heavily-redacted documents are released and the world is left reeling.
Truth truly IS stranger than fiction. Google "MKULTRA Victims" and a long list of recognizable names pops up--people like Ken Kesey, Cathy O'Brien, and Whitey Bulger just to name a few. Mind control is an intriguing topic, and one with limitless possibilities if you happen to be a writer.
Have you written a story about MKULTRA? Was your protagonist a victim of top-secret CIA experimentation? Did she disappear because she knew too much? Share your thoughts, ideas, comments, and/or creations about this week's topic and I will include them in my next Short Stories newsletter.
Thank you for reading.
P.S. Every registered author who shares their ideas and/or creative endeavors relating to or inspired by this week's topic will receive an exclusive trinket. I will retire this month's limited-edition trinket at 11:59 p.m. WDC time on Tuesday, March 19, 2019, when my next short stories newsletter goes live.
Further Reading:
1. Dead Wrong
2. The Man Who Knew Too Much
3. The CIA's Appalling Human Experiments With Mind Control
4. Mind Control: America's Secret War
5. CIA Mind Control Experiments
6. Project ARTICHOKE
7. Unethical Human Experimentation in the United States
8. Frank Olson Project
9. TRANCE Formation of America |
I hope you enjoy this week's featured selections. I occasionally feature static items by members who are no longer with us; some have passed away while others simply aren't active members. Their absence doesn't render their work any less relevant, and if it fits the week's topic I will include it.
Thank you, and have a great week!
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The following is in response to "Secrets and Lies" :
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Christopher Roy Denton  writes: Hi! Thank you for plugging my short story in your informative newsletter. I found the story about a man that ordered his own amputation at gun point most disturbing! Thank you for sharing your research with us all.
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the Wordy Jay  writes:  What a topic -- you've positively outdone yourself, Shannon! Way to go, starting 2019 with a bang!
This is the first time I've heard of BIID. Some folks might disagree, but I think it's really sad when doctors support physical mutilation in the name of human rights, instead of helping their suffering patients overcome such tormenting psychological disorders.
Not much has been achieved in the advancement of mental-emotional healthcare, has there? 
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charitykountz writes: I am pretty sure I couldn't do justice to BIID, but I recently wrote an article about mental health that might be helpful to others. It's loosely related I think. [See item below.]
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dragonwoman  writes: I can't understand anyone who choose disability by inflicting it on themselves. I've had a CP all my life and if I had a choice I would like to be able. I have never written about someone with BIID although I have written characters who have become disabled, but not by choice. I doubt if I would write about this disorder since it is so incomprehensible to me.
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BIG BAD WOLF is Merry  writes: Don't know about BIID, but I do have a rather interesting interactive where, on a parallel world, a group of humanoid lizards evolved alongside of humans and, let's just say that while humans are, shall we say, on the menu, said human meals have to be willing, and do so of their own free will. That being said, just because a lizard can eat a human, there is a price to pay for this privilege - in that they assume responsibility for any debts that the human owed, and must pay them off themselves. So, basically, even if a human told a lizard that they could eat them, if the human owes more than the lizard feels comfortable paying, that lizard might be having goat instead. Granted, there's other circumstances where the lizard doesn't have to worry about paying the debt, and there are other rules about Age Limits and Number Limits, those banks still want their money. [See item below.]
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Elfin Dragon-finally published writes: Having several medical conditions which cause me pain I can understand the urge to rid oneself of any number of body parts. Whether they be healthy or not. It comes to mind About Women who now undergo mastectomies just because their genes say they have a propensity for breast cancer. They would rather live without the perfectly healthy breasts than the possibility of having them taken later in life. I was given this option because of my family history but I believe that an ounce of prevention goes a long way.
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Jenstrying writes: This is a tough subject. No one wants to be labeled yet we have to in order to understand, or try to understand. I have always been confused when a description given fits someone or a situation completely and someone tells me that is sooooo not the right label or the right explanation. Then tell me why? And what is the correct explanation?
Individuals who have this problem can be very interesting to talk to. They feel like themselves once the damage is done and can lead a normal life again. Is this any different than people getting plastic surgery? Or any body modifications really. Something to think about.
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Quick-Quill  writes: Shannon, just when I think humans can't get any more dysfunctional, I read this. I've heard of "cutters" and I understand their logic. BIID is so far out of my reality I can't fathom the concept. It's not a subject I'd want to include in any story I'd write. No one would believe it. If you hadn't put in the evidence I wouldn't have believed it. I'm just shaking my head at this NL. You always come up with interesting things.
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Princess Megan Snow Rose  writes: BIID. Wow. My daughter-in-law is a therapist, was a case manager and a man, she was a case manager to cut off his private thing because his mother told him it was evil. I once had a patient I took care of, cut her fingers with a razor blade and other patients were cutters. I have heard of people stabbing their eyes with forks and cutting off their fingers. Sad. This newsletter is informative and awful self mutilation things do happen. Great newsletter.
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Jeff  writes: I can't say that I've ever met anyone in real life or written about anyone fictionally with BIID. Whether it's someone dealing with this condition, gender or sexuality issues, or any other identity concerns, I can't imagine the trauma that must be inflicted by absolute conviction that you're in some way not the person you should be. I've written about plenty of characters who have identity crises, but none with such an acute and specific form of it.
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Dartagnan writes: When I was eight years old I was sent to a school for children with special needs. Just because I had failed the first grade twice. Most of the children were handicapped in some way. I grew up with a special place in my heart for them and could never understand how people could pick on them. It always broke my heart to see them mis-treated. All of us have our struggles and dis-abilities. We all fight our own hidden battles. For someone to want to dismember their own body has got to be some kind of sickness. How could anyone in their right mind do something like this. It has to be a sickness. How could a doctor ever treat this sort of illness? It seems impossible to me. I hope and pray that something can be done to help them.
Love your newsletter.
Ricky.
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Grin 'n Bear It! writes: What an equally intriguing and disturbing subject. Decades ago my sister was taking an abnormal psych class and I remember her telling me about her professor talking about isolated cases of people purposefully amputating limbs. Now that it has a name, we aren't talking about isolated cases. I'm going to take you up on your challenge- ideas are already percolating. I also want to thank you for taking the time to provide links for further reading. I certainly would not lump BIID in with Gender Dysphoria. As complicated as the human body is it really isn't surprising that a genetic mishap would result in a mismatch between a person's "true" identify and his/her physical characteristics. In that respect, it really isn't a disorder-- the problem stems from the emotional distress that results. But what would have to go wrong in a neurological/biological sense to cause BIID? It boggles the imagination. I can't imagine wanting to be disabled. Thanks for providing fodder for my muse.
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Angus  writes: Hi, Shannon! You say you were appalled by this Body Integrity Identity Disorder? I’m blown away! And to think it dates back to 1785 is wild! I agree with the transgender people that they shouldn’t be lumped into the same category, but what difference there might be is very small. It’s an offshoot at the least.
Yes, you obviously did some research into this, and that part about the Hippocratic Oath and "First do no harm" is a very strong point. More harm than good if a doctor sticks to it? This makes me think of Assisted Suicide and Dr. Kevorkian, a.k.a. Dr. Death! Should a doctor allow his patient to suffer?
Thank you for another great newsletter, my friend, and as a writer of horror, excellent fodder for a story!
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nicoleflatt writes: In 2001, I was kidnapped, tortured, & trafficked in CIA Operation Dantalion near Cookeville, TN. The same group of criminals who had Cathy O'Brien in the 1980's were responsible for my torture for 2 decades. Please visit www.throughthetrance.com for more info on what I have survived. Not one police officer or govt authority will file reports or investigate my claims (yet!). Perhaps the American public can look into this matter and press for a federal investigation. If my husband, Kenneth Templeton, and I, Nicole Flatt, ever disappear, die, or change our story, then know that "they" got to us. The leader of this international criminal enterprise is Dixie Mafia boss, Jesse Oscar Carter. Jesse often bragged about his time in Mena, Arkansas with Barry Seal and that very famous Arkansas governor & his wife...who have a large BODY COUNT. In my opinion, this is why no one has helped us yet. Please share our story and help America take back our country from this criminal enterprise.
Thank you for your time.
Love, Nicole Starr Flatt and Kenneth Templeton
https://www.throughthetrance.com
Nicole,
I have read Cathy O'Brien's Book TRANCE: Formation of America. It's a chilling, compelling story. I've seen her interviews, watched her speeches, and find her very credible.
I've written newsletters about MKULTRA, this week's edition being the second I've written about the topic. Please feel free to email me at any time if there's anything I can do. I would like to hear more.
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Short Stories: February 20, 2019 Issue [#9387]
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