The Pont-Saint-Esprit mass poisoning of 1951 confounded scientists and doctors alike for decades. At first blamed on ergot mold poisoning, almost 300 people who ate bread from a local bakery in the French village of Pont-Saint-Esprit were affected by hallucinations, insomnia and psychosis, resulting in 7 deaths and 50 asylum internments. The theories as to how such a large population of people suffered from the poisoning have ranged from ergot mold – which mimics the symptoms of LSD ingestion – to mercury, mycotoxins, or nitrogen trichloride poisoning. At the time, the world was reeling from World War II, and the United States and U.S.S.R. were in the thick of the Cold War. The C.I.A. was heavily involved in covert medical experiments, trying to infiltrate the human mind in the name of conflict. In later years, these experiments came to light, and the public learned the insidious truth behind the experiments with LSD, syphilis and mind-control. Citing reasons of “defence,” human experiments, most often soldiers, were used as test subjects and fed various poisonous substances. In 2008, researcher Hank P. Albarelli Jr came out with explosive accusations about the Pont-Saint-Esprit mass poisoning – that it was in fact a new testing ground for the C.I.A., who used the French village for a chemical weapon test. Unbelievable? Probably to many. But there’s a line of rational evidence leading to his conclusions, outlined in the documentary below.
