death. in 1953, olson's death was described as a suicide that had occurred during a severe psychotic episode. the cia's own internal investigation concluded that the head of mkultra, cia chemist sidney gottlieb, had conducted the lsd experiment with olson's prior knowledge, although neither olson nor the other men taking part in the experiment were informed as to the exact nature of the drug until some 20 minutes after its ingestion. the report further suggested that gottlieb was nonetheless due a reprimand, as he had failed to take into account olson's already-diagnosed suicidal tendencies, which might have been exacerbated by the lsd. the olson family disputes the official version of events. they maintain that frank olson was murdered because, especially in the aftermath of his lsd experience, he had become a security risk who might divulge state secrets associated with highly classified cia programs, about many of which he had direct personal knowledge. a few days before his death, frank olson quit his position as acting chief of the special operations division at detrick, maryland (later fort detrick) because of a severe moral crisis concerning the nature of his biological weapons research. among olson's concerns were the development of assassination materials used by the cia, the cia's use of biological warfare materials in covert operations, experimentation with biological weapons in populated areas, collaboration with former nazi scientists under operation paperclip, lsd mind-control research, and the use of psychoactive drugs during "terminal" interrogations under a program code-named project artichoke. later forensic evidence conflicted with the official version of events; when olson's body was exhumed in 1994, cranial injuries indicated that olson had been knocked unconscious before he exited the window. the medical examiner termed olson's death a "homicide". in 1975, olson's family received a $750,000 settlement from the u.s. government and formal apologies from president gerald ford and cia director william colby, though their apologies were limited to informed consent issues concerning olson's ingestion of lsd. on 28 november 2012, the olson family filed suit against the u.s. federal government for the wrongful death of frank olson. the case was dismissed in july 2013, due in part to the 1976 settlement between the family and government. in the decision dismissing the suit, u.s. district judge james boasberg wrote, "while the court must limit its analysis to the four corners of the complaint, the skeptical reader may wish to know that the public record supports many of the allegations , farfetched as they may sound." a 2010 book by h. p. albarelli jr. alleged that the 1951 pont-saint-esprit mass poisoning was part of mkdelta, that olson was involved in that event, and that he was eventually murdered by the cia. however, academic sources attribute the incident to ergot poisoning through a local bakery. legal issues involving informed consent the revelations about the cia and the army prompted a number of subjects or their survivors to file lawsuits against the federal government for conducting experiments without informed consent. although the government aggressively, and sometimes successfully, sought to avoid legal liability, several plaintiffs did receive compensation through court order, out-of-court settlement, or acts of congress. frank olson's family received $750,000 by a special act of congress, and both president ford and cia director william colby met with olson's family to apologize publicly. previously, the cia and the army had actively and successfully sought to withhold incriminating information, even as they secretly provided compensation to the families. one subject of army drug experimentation, james stanley, an army sergeant, brought an important, albeit unsuccessful, suit. the government argued that stanley was barred from suing under the feres doctrine. in 1987, the supreme court affirmed this defense in a 5–4 decision that dismissed stanley's case: united states v. stanley. the majority argued that "a test for liability that depends on the extent to which particular suits would call into question military discipline and decision making would itself require judicial inquiry into, and hence intrusion upon, military matters." in dissent, justice william brennan argued that the need to preserve military discipline should not protect the government from liability and punishment for serious violations of constitutional rights: the medical trials at nuremberg in 1947 deeply impressed upon the world that experimentation with unknowing human subjects is morally and legally unacceptable. the united states military tribunal established the nuremberg code as a standard against which to judge german scientists who experimented with human subjects.... n defiance of this principle, military intelligence officials ... began surreptitiously testing chemical and biological materials, including lsd. justice sandra day o'connor, writing a separate dissent, stated: no judicially crafted rule should insulate from liability the involuntary and unknowing human experimentation alleged to have occurred in this case. indeed, as justice brennan observes, the united states played an instrumental role in the criminal prosecution of nazi officials who experimented with human subjects during the second world war, and the standards that the nuremberg military tribunals developed to judge the behavior of the defendants stated that the 'voluntary consent of the human subject is absolutely essential ... to satisfy moral, ethical, and legal concepts.' if this principle is violated, the very least that society can do is to see that the victims are compensated, as best they can be, by the perpetrators. in another lawsuit, wayne ritchie, a former united states marshal, after hearing about the project's existence in 1990, alleged the cia laced his food or drink with lsd at a 1957 christmas party which resulted in his attempting to commit a robbery at a bar and his subsequent arrest. while the government admitted it was, at that time, drugging people without their consent and that ritchie's behavior was typical of someone on lsd, u.s. district judge marilyn hall patel found ritchie could not prove he was one of mkultra's victims or that lsd caused his robbery attempt, and dismissed the case in 2005. notable people documented experimenters harold alexander abramson donald ewen cameron sidney gottlieb harris isbell martin theodore orne louis jolyon west george hunter white alleged experimenters jim jones documented subjects american poet allen ginsberg first took lsd in an experiment on stanford university's campus where he could listen to records of his choice (he chose a gertrude stein reading, a tibetan mandala, and richard wagner). he said the experience resulted in "a slight paranoia that hung on all my acid experiences through the mid-1960s until i learned from meditation how to disperse that." he became an outspoken advocate for psychedelics in the 1960s and, after hearing suspicions that the experiment was cia-funded, wrote, "am i, allen ginsberg, the product of one of the cia's lamentable, ill-advised, or triumphantly successful experiments in mind control?" ken kesey, author of one flew over the cuckoo's nest, is said to have volunteered for mkultra experiments involving lsd and other psychedelic drugs at the veterans administration hospital in menlo park while he was a student at nearby stanford university. kesey's experiences while under the influence of lsd inspired him to promote the drug outside the context of the mkultra experiments, which influenced the early development of hippie culture. robert hunter was an american lyricist, singer-songwriter, translator, and poet, best known for his association with jerry garcia and the grateful dead. along with ken kesey, hunter was said to be an early volunteer mkultra test subject at stanford university. stanford test subjects were paid to take lsd, psilocybin, and mescaline, then report on their experiences. these experiences were creatively formative for hunter: sit back picture yourself swooping up a shell of purple with foam crests of crystal drops soft nigh they fall unto the sea of morning creep-very-softly mist ... and then sort of cascade tinkley-bell-like (must i take you by the hand, ever so slowly type) and then conglomerate suddenly into a peal of silver vibrant uncomprehendingly, blood singingly, joyously resounding bells ... by my faith if this be insanity, then for the love of god permit me to remain insane. alleged subjects boston mobster james "whitey" bulger alleged he had been subjected to weekly injections of lsd and subsequent testing while in prison in atlanta in 1957. ted kaczynski, an american domestic terrorist known as the unabomber, was said to be a subject of a voluntary psychological study alleged by some sources to have been a part of mkultra. as a sophomore at harvard, kaczynski participated in a study described by author alston chase as a "purposely brutalizing psychological experiment", led by harvard psychologist henry murray. in total, kaczynski spent 200 hours as part of the study. lawrence teeter, the attorney for sirhan sirhan, believed that sirhan was "operating under mk-ultra mind control techniques" when he assassinated robert f. kennedy. charles manson has been tied to mkultra by author tom o'neil, beginning with his time in prison, when manson took part in drug-induced psychological experiments run by the federal government. this continued through his ongoing connection to the cia's free medical clinic in san francisco once out of prison in 1967. aftermath after retiring in 1972, gottlieb dismissed his entire effort for the cia's mkultra program as useless. the cia insists that mkultra-type experiments have been abandoned. in popular culture mkultra plays a part in many conspiracy theories due to its nature and the destruction of most records. music the seventh track on muse's 2009 album the resistance is titled mk ultra. will wood's 2020 album the normal album contains the song "blackboxwarrior - okultra". television the 1998 cbc miniseries the sleep room dramatizes brainwashing experiments funded by mkultra that were performed on canadian mental patients in the 1950s and 60s, and their subsequent efforts to sue the cia. in season 2, episode 19 of bones, "spaceman in a crater", jack hodgins mentions that frank olson was an unwitting participant and committed suicide, but that an exhumation 45 years later proved he was murdered. wormwood is a 2017 american six-part docudrama miniseries directed by errol morris and released on netflix. the series is based on the life of the scientist frank olson and his involvement in project mkultra. stranger things contains several fictional characters related to the mkultra project, such as eleven, kali, and henry creel. video games call of duty: black ops and call of duty: black ops cold war feature characters subjected to the mkultra program, primarily alex mason and bell. movies mk ultra is a movie released in 2022 based on the experiments of project mk ultra. it follows a psychologist played by anson mount as he descends into the government conspiracy of the cia's experiments.