The Control of Candy Jones

Candy Jones was the stage name of Jessica Wilcox (b. 1921) who became famous as a model and pinup girl in the early 1940s. Her story seems too bizarre to be true. One of America's most famous models, brainwashed by the CIA? Yes, it is another example of truth being stranger than fiction.

The story begins with Candy's wedding to Long John Nebel, New York's most successful radio talk-show host. During the wedding, and regularly thereafter, Candy's personality would seem to shift. She would suddenly change from her affable, self-effacing self to a brusque, aggressive stranger. For the first few months of the marriage, these shifts were infrequent enough that Nebel didn't worry much about it, but as time went on, they got worse.

Nebel began trying to relax his wife by hypnotizing her. Although Candy insisted that she couldn't be hypnotized, she slipped easily into a relaxed state, and then into a healthy, deep sleep. But during the third session, with no suggestion from Nebel, Candy spontaneously regressed to a young age. After that, Nebel began to record their sessions.

The result of these sessions was that Nebel discovered his wife had been brainwashed into have a second identity, Arlene, whom a CIA doctor had used to carry messages all over the world. Eventually, Candy was tortured at CIA headquarters, so that her doctor could display her successful programming.

The Control of Candy Jones sent shockwaves through the corridors of power when it was first published in 1976. After reportedly being suppressed by the CIA, it became an instant classic, and remains so today.