{"id":2025,"date":"2025-10-28T02:07:04","date_gmt":"2025-10-28T06:07:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hypnosisinmedia.com\/blog\/?p=2025"},"modified":"2025-10-28T02:07:04","modified_gmt":"2025-10-28T06:07:04","slug":"the-hypnotizing-spy-affair","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hypnosisinmedia.com\/blog\/2025\/the-hypnotizing-spy-affair\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cThe Hypnotizing Spy Affair\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Spy Decade<\/h1>\n

The 1960\u2019s was the Decade of the Spy. The first James Bond<\/a> nov\u00adel, \u201cCasi\u00adno Royale\u201d<\/a>, was pub\u00adlished in 1952, but it was\u00adn\u2019t until the 1960\u2019s that they became huge\u00adly pop\u00adu\u00adlar with the release of the first movie, \u201cDoc\u00adtor No\u201d<\/a>, in 1962, lead\u00ading to the movie fran\u00adchise that con\u00adtin\u00adues to this day. This pop\u00adu\u00adlar\u00adi\u00adty did not go unno\u00adticed by the var\u00adi\u00adous movie and TV pro\u00adduc\u00aders and net\u00adworks: Eng\u00adland had the very British TV shows like \u201cThe Avengers\u201d and \u201cDan\u00adger Man\u201d \/ \u201cSecret Agent\u201d, while \u201cMISSION: IMPOSSIBLE<\/em><\/strong>\u201d and \u201cThe Man From U.N.C.L.E.\u201d ran on Amer\u00adi\u00adcan TV (which also re-broad\u00adcast the British TV shows.)<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Man From U.N.C.L.E.\u201d<\/h2>\n

The U<\/span>nit\u00aded N<\/span>etwork C<\/span>ommand for L<\/span>aw and E<\/span>nforce\u00adment was a fic\u00adtion\u00adal glob\u00adal orga\u00adni\u00adza\u00adtion, main\u00adly cre\u00adat\u00aded to con\u00adfront mul\u00adti-nation\u00adal crim\u00adi\u00adnal orga\u00adni\u00adza\u00adtions such as THRUSH but also an assort\u00adment of left-over Nazis, the odd mad sci\u00aden\u00adtist, and oth\u00ader threats to world peace and order. Agents Napoleon Solo (Robert Vaughn) and Illya Kuryakin (David McCal\u00adlum) were the orga\u00adni\u00adza\u00adtion\u2019s top field agents, com\u00admand\u00aded by Mr. Waver\u00adly (Leo G. Car\u00adroll), the head of the orga\u00adni\u00adza\u00adtion, from their New York City headquarters.<\/p>\n

As would be expect\u00aded, giv\u00aden that these pro\u00adgrams often mixed the fan\u00adtas\u00adtic with the mun\u00addane, they had sev\u00ader\u00adal fan\u00adtas\u00adti\u00adcal hyp\u00adno\u00adsis and mind con\u00adtrol episodes, which will be dealt with later.<\/p>\n

But could there be a mun\u00addane, real-life hyp\u00adnot\u00adic spy? More\u00adover, could there be proof of one? The answer is, sur\u00adpris\u00ading\u00adly, yes<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Man From U.N.C.L.E.\u2018s ABC of Espionage\u201d<\/h1>\n

The series\u2019 pop\u00adu\u00adlar\u00adl\u00adi\u00adty engen\u00addered a wave of spin-off mer\u00adchan\u00addise<\/a>: tie-in nov\u00adels (but no actu\u00adal nov\u00adel\u00adiza\u00adtions of any of the episodes) and short sto\u00adry col\u00adlec\u00adtions, com\u00adpi\u00adla\u00adtion movies, toys <\/span>1<\/sup><\/a><\/span> and some non-fic\u00adtion books, and one such non-fic\u00adtion book in par\u00adtic\u00adu\u00adlar: \u201cThe Man From U.N.C.L.E.\u2018s A B C of Espionage\u201d.<\/p>\n

Rita, the Beautiul Spy Who Hypnotized Me<\/h2>\n

\u201cThe Man From U.N.C.L.E.\u2018s A B C of Espi\u00adonage\u201d (1966) was writ\u00adten by John Hill. <\/span>2<\/sup><\/a><\/span> At first glance, this might look like just a quick\u00adly-writ\u00adten attempt to take advan\u00adtage of the pop\u00adu\u00adlar\u00adi\u00adty of the TV series, but, in fact, it is very researched, espe\u00adcial\u00adly in describ\u00ading how the Sovi\u00adet spy sys\u00adtem trained its spies and oper\u00adat\u00aded dur\u00ading the Cold War.<\/p>\n

Fan\u00adtas\u00adtic? It\u2019s all true. Here\u2019s the book that intro\u00adduces you to the world\u2019s mas\u00adter spies, from Richard Sorge to Mad\u00admem\u00adoi\u00adselle Ger\u00admaine: here\u2019s where you\u2019ll dis\u00adcov\u00ader that what Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuryakin do on TV is only what real spies do \u2014 every\u00adday, everywhere!<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

(The inside fly\u00adleaf lists four books from this pub\u00adlish\u00ader: two Girl From U.N.C.L.E. nov\u00adels, one John le Car\u00adr\u00e9 nov\u00adel, and \u201cGoldfin\u00adger\u201d: the cir\u00adcle is now complete.)<\/p>\n

One chap\u00adter titled \u201cHow to Look After Your\u00adself\u201d con\u00adtained the sec\u00adtion \u2018Rita, the Beau\u00adtiul Spy\u2019. Rita Elliott was a Sovi\u00adet spy and hyp\u00adno\u00adtist. Her cov\u00ader was that of a cir\u00adcus per\u00adformer, which allowed her to meet her tar\u00adgets socially.<\/p>\n

The charm\u00ading, good-look\u00ading woman found com\u00adpar\u00adi\u00adtive\u00adly easy to attract men. \u2026 they accept\u00aded invi\u00adta\u00adtions to her apart\u00adment. There she offered drinks into which she had mixed drugs that tem\u00adporar\u00adi\u00adly affect\u00aded each vic\u00adtim\u2019s will. She then hyp\u00adno\u00adtized the man and sug\u00adgest\u00aded he was speak\u00ading to his supe\u00adri\u00ador. Expert\u00adly ques\u00adtioned, the man spoke freely \u2026 The impor\u00adtance of this method was that before bring\u00ading the hyp\u00adno\u00adtized man back to nor\u00admal, she ordered him, upon awak\u00aden\u00ading, to for\u00adget every\u00adthing he had said, to remem\u00adber only that they had been drink\u00ading together.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This seems a lit\u00adtle far-fetched, giv\u00aden what is known about hyp\u00adno\u00adsis: that lev\u00adel of amne\u00adsia or coop\u00ader\u00ada\u00adtion is dif\u00adfi\u00adcult to achieve with\u00adout a great deal of prepa\u00adra\u00adtion and lack of dis\u00adtrust, so I would sur\u00admise that whichev\u00ader com\u00adbi\u00adna\u00adtion of drugs made the whole thing pos\u00adsi\u00adble. Still, I con\u00adsid\u00adered this was a fic\u00adtion\u00adal sto\u00adry, cre\u00adat\u00aded for the pur\u00adpos\u00ades of the book. Still, I checked every book on spies I found, to see if they also had this story.<\/p>\n

And I found one.<\/p>\n

\u201cWomen Spies: Who They Are and How They Operate Today\u201d<\/h1>\n

Much, much lat\u00ader, I found \u201cWomen Spies: Who They Are and How They Oper\u00adate Today\u201d (1971) by J. (Joseph) Bernard Hut\u00adton. This is a book on exact\u00adly that: sto\u00adries of famous, infa\u00admous, and un<\/span>famous female spies dur\u00ading the Cold War. Hut\u00adton wrote sev\u00ader\u00adal books on espi\u00adonage, includ\u00ading \u201cSchool for Spies: The ABC of How Rus\u00adsi\u00ada\u2019s Secret Ser\u00advice Oper\u00adates\u201d and \u201cWomen in Espi\u00adonage: The Role of Female Agents Includ\u00ading the Work\u00adings of East\u00adern and West\u00adern Secret Ser\u00advices\u201d, which may be this book under a dif\u00adfer\u00adent title.<\/p>\n

\u2018Rita, an Unusual Variety Artiste\u2019<\/h2>\n

Rita was a Sovi\u00adet spy in Aus\u00adtralia in the 1950\u2019s with an unusu\u00adal espi\u00adonage method: hyp\u00adno\u00adsis. Her cov\u00ader sto\u00adry allowed her to meet peo\u00adple, invite them to her apart\u00adment for drinks, where she would drug and then, under the drug\u2019s influ\u00adence, hyp\u00adno\u00adtize them and inter\u00adro\u00adgate them. She would also induce amne\u00adsia so her sub\u00adjects would\u00adn\u2019t real\u00adize what she did. It sounds fan\u00adtas\u00adtic, but the offi\u00adcial report stated:<\/p>\n

There she plied her guests with drinks in which she mixed a drug, tem\u00adporar\u00adi\u00adly con\u00advert\u00ading them into a will-less object. She could then eas\u00adi\u00adly hyp\u00adno\u00adtize the sub\u00adject and sug\u00adgest they were mak\u00ading a report to his superior.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The book\u2019s chap\u00adter relates she was oper\u00adat\u00ading for at least five years, until she went dark when the Aus\u00adtralian spy agen\u00adcies sus\u00adpect\u00aded her. She lat\u00ader dis\u00adap\u00adpeared into East Asia.<\/p>\n

Okay, good, good. But is this good enough to con\u00adfirm the sto\u00adry? After all, the sec\u00adond book was print\u00aded five years after<\/em> the first book. There is always the pos\u00adsi\u00adbil\u00adi\u00adty that the sec\u00adond book just lift\u00aded the sto\u00adry from the first, since there is no attri\u00adbu\u00adtion in either to show where the sto\u00adry came from.<\/p>\n

Confirmation?<\/h1>\n

After some Intenet sleuthing, I think I found the orig\u00adi\u00adnal source of this sto\u00adry: a New York Times news\u00adpa\u00adper arti\u00adcle enti\u00adtled \u201cCom\u00adpos\u00adite Por\u00adtrait of a Sovi\u00adet Spy\u201d<\/a> from Feb\u00adru\u00adary 16, 1964.<\/p>\n

The tech\u00adniques employed by the Sovi\u00adet woman spy today are far in advance of any\u00adthing prac\u00adtised in the last war. One is to doc\u00adtor her vic\u00adtim\u2019s drink with a par\u00adtic\u00adu\u00adlar drug that vir\u00adtu\u00adal\u00adly destroys his will to resist her ques\u00adtion\u00ading. She then hyp\u00adno\u00adtizes him into a trance, in which he thinks he is mak\u00ading a report to a supe\u00adri\u00ador offi\u00adcer. Under her expert inter\u00adro\u00adga\u00adtion, he usu\u00adal\u00adly answers with the utmost can\u00addor. Before he comes out of his trance, she orders him to for\u00adget what has hap\u00adpened and to remem\u00adber noth\u00ading more than their hav\u00ading a social drink together.<\/em><\/p>\n

A Russ\u00adian woman who went by the name of Rita Elliott recent\u00adly employed this tech\u00adnique in Aus\u00adtralia to find out what was going on at the Woomera range and atom\u00adic research sta\u00adtions. She posed as a cir\u00adcus artiste, and even\u00adtu\u00adal\u00adly, feel\u00ading she was under sus\u00adpi\u00adcion, she left the coun\u00adtry in a tour\u00ading cabaret, mak\u00ading her way back to the Sovi\u00adet Union via India and Afghanistan.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The arti\u00adcle itself has no byline, so it appears that the infor\u00adma\u00adtion in the arti\u00adcle derives from H. Mont\u00adgomery Hyde, who served in British Intel\u00adli\u00adgence in World War II. His book \u201cRoom 3603: The Incred\u00adi\u00adble True Sto\u00adry of Secret Intel\u00adli\u00adgence Oper\u00ada\u00adtions Dur\u00ading World War II\u201d  has a for\u00adward by one of his co-work\u00aders in the Intel\u00adli\u00adgence ser\u00advice, Ian Flem\u00ading. The arti\u00adcle details the process of train\u00ading Sovi\u00adet spies that was also includ\u00aded in the Man From U.N.C.L.E. book.<\/p>\n

So, is the sto\u00adry con\u00adfirmed? I would say, yes<\/em>.<\/p>\n

So, are spies using the same tech\u00adnique, today? I would say, maybe. <\/em><\/p>\n

Addenda<\/h1>\n

This post is based on two posts on BlueSky:<\/p>\n