If you follow urban legends or science versus pseudoscience or any subject in the neighborhood,

you've probably heard that half a century ago, the CIA spent $20 million on something

called Project Stargate, which trained psychic spies to steal Soviet state secrets using only the power of the

mind. And to some, that fact alone is enough to give sufficient credibility to the idea of telekinesis.

The fact is that it's true. That investment was made. But I'm here today to put the whole affair into its proper perspective, and hopefully

dim its spotlight down to where it belongs.

And in our extended content for premium members, some key passages from one of the most

unique books ever published, a book which arguably kicked off this

entire thing. All of that and more is coming up right now on Skeptoid.

I'm Rachel Fulman, and I host a podcast from popular science called The Weirdest Thing I Learn

This Week. Every other week, I circle up with guests like Bill Nye, Josh Gomblman, Mary Roach,

and many more to prove that the lofty and noble pursuit of science can also be profoundly

weird. From flying Ford Pintoes to the world's most illegal cheese. The weirdest thing I learned this week

is the ultimate source for all things interesting, informative, and, most importantly,

freaking weird. Check out the weirdest thing I learned this week, wherever you get your podcast. Come on over

whenever you're ready to get weird. You're listening to Skeptoid. I'm Brian Dunning from skeptoid.com. The Men Who Walk

Through Walls. Welcome to the show that separates fact from fiction, science from pseudoscience,

real history from fake history, and helps us all make better life decisions by knowing what's real

and what's not. Today, we have a story from the immortal annals of, the more things change,

the more they stay the same. As a science writer who spends a lot of my time correcting false

histories, there's one particular false history that seems to come up more

often than most. It concerns the days of M.K. Ultra and Project Stargate, when at the height of the

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