Andrija Puharich

Henry Karel “Andrija” Puharich (1918–1995) was a prominent American physician, research scientist, and parapsychologist who became a central figure in the U.S. government's investigations into ESP and PK during the Cold War. His lifelong quest to understand the nature of consciousness and anomalous mental phenomena led him to explore the intersection of science, mysticism, and the supernatural¹.

Born in Chicago on February 19, 1918, to poor Yugoslavian immigrants, Puharich had an early experience that shaped his future. As a milk delivery boy, he claimed to have calmed a vicious dog by sending "feelings of calmness and peace," leading him to believe in mind-to-mind telepathy and inspiring him to pursue medicine to understand the biological basis of such phenomena¹. He excelled academically, attending Northwestern University for philosophy and premedical studies before entering medical school. During his studies, he deeply contemplated the nature of the mind and consciousness, stating, "Understanding the nature of man’s consciousness... is my lifelong quest"¹.

After completing his medical degree in 1947, Puharich worked with leading physicians, including his mentor, Dr. Andrew C. Ivy. During his residency at the Permanente Research Foundation, he formulated the Puharich Theory, which posited an unknown energy force linking the brain and nervous system to cells, with instructions flowing between them as "dynamics." He believed this energy radiated on the electromagnetic spectrum but was beyond current measurement technology. His theory gained traction when Lloyd H. Beck and Walter S. Miles of Yale University reported that the olfactory nerve of a bee radiated energy in the infrared spectrum¹.

Inspired by microbiologist Paul De Kruif, who warned him to "Beware the Establishment!"¹, Puharich began lecturing on his ideas, merging philosophy, mysticism, and science. This attracted wealthy benefactors, notably Joyce Borden Balokovic and Zlatko Balokovic, and later Alice Astor Bouverie and Marcella Miller du Pont. With their financial backing, Puharich established the Round Table Foundation in Glen Cove, Maine, in 1949. The foundation, named in homage to King Arthur, aimed to conduct experiments on ESP and related phenomena¹.

The Warrenton Estate, Puharich's home and laboratory, became the center of his research. Here, he conducted experiments on audio waves and human hearing, collaborating with ear surgeon Samuel Rosen, whose accidental discovery of the "Rosen stapes" operation brought prestige and grants to the foundation¹. Puharich's mystical beliefs deepened through his mentorship with John Hays Hammond Jr., a wealthy inventor and ESP advocate. Hammond, influenced by Nikola Tesla, believed scientific inspiration could come from an unknown energy force in dreams. Together, they built a Faraday Cage to test ESP on ELF waves. Their "Project I" involved psychics like Eileen Garrett, whose ESP abilities reportedly increased inside the cage¹.

Puharich also investigated audio aberrations, collaborating with Warren S. McCulloch, a cybernetics founder and Central Intelligence Agency asset. They discovered that a machinist hearing voices was actually picking up radio signals due to carborundum dust on his dental fillings, a finding that garnered attention from The New York Times and the U.S. Navy¹.

Puharich's work caught the attention of the Pentagon. In 1952, Lieutenant Colonel John B. Stanley of the U.S. Army's Office of the Chief of Psychological Warfare, who also served as an Army liaison to the CIA, met with Puharich. This led to Puharich delivering classified briefings and being recalled to military service in March 1953, where he worked at the U.S. Army Chemical Center in Edgewood, Maryland¹. His task was to find a drug that could enhance ESP, mirroring the Central Intelligence Agency's quest for a truth serum¹.

During this period, Puharich became obsessed with the hallucinogenic mushroom teonanáctl (God's flesh), after Alice Astor Bouverie informed him of Harry Stump's channeling of an "Egyptian persona" that spoke of such a drug. Puharich learned of R. Gordon Wasson's expeditions to Mexico in search of the mushroom and briefed his Army superiors on it¹. However, the CIA, through James Moore, bypassed Puharich and approached Wasson directly, leading to Puharich being sidelined from the MKULTRA Subproject 58¹.

Puharich's personal life suffered during his Army service. His wife, Jinny, battled severe depression and underwent insulin shock therapy. After their divorce, Jinny died by suicide in 1959¹. Puharich later married Bep Hermans.

Upon his return to civilian life in 1955, Puharich continued his research at the Round Table Foundation. He experimented with teonanáctl on himself and others, including Harry Stump, with Aldous Huxley as a witness. While the experiments did not yield the divinatory powers Puharich hoped for in Stump, they highlighted the ethical complexities of his research¹.

After the death of Alice Astor Bouverie, a key financial supporter, and growing paranoia about CIA interest in his research, Puharich and Peter Hurkos traveled to Mexico in search of more mushrooms. The Round Table Foundation eventually closed in 1957¹.

Puharich continued to work on secret government contracts, including for NASA and the Air Force Systems Command, exploring concepts like "skin reading"—the idea that the skin could function as an organ of sensory communication beyond touch. He demonstrated this with deaf individuals, convincing Paul S. Henshaw of the Atomic Energy Commission of its legitimacy¹.

His interests also extended to psychic healing, leading him to Brazil to study Arigo, a healer who reportedly performed surgeries with a pocketknife. Puharich documented Arigo's work, hoping to secure military interest in "psychic healing on the battlefield," though without success¹.

In 1970, Puharich met Itzhak Bentov, who introduced him to Uri Geller, an Israeli with extraordinary psychokinetic and telepathic abilities. Puharich became obsessed with Geller, believing he could secure a government research contract if he could test him under laboratory conditions. His efforts led to Geller being tested by the Central Intelligence Agency at Stanford Research Institute (SRI), though the CIA viewed Puharich as a "potential liability"¹. Puharich acted as Geller's official manager, often involving the press, which complicated the CIA's desire for secrecy¹.

Throughout his life, Puharich maintained a theory that extraterrestrials were trying to send messages to humans through psychic people, and that ELF waves were responsible for the sicknesses of the age¹.

Andrija Puharich died tragically in 1995, alone and impoverished, under threat of eviction from the estate of his last benefactor, R. J. Reynolds. He was 76 and suffering from dementia, kidney failure, and gangrene¹.