Cleve Backster Addendum (Some "Secondary Perceptions")

Jeffrey MacDonald vs. Joe McGinniss, more on Mankind Research Unlimited, and curious connections to Silva Mind Control

Read my “Primary Perceptions” of Cleve Backster here.

In my previous article, I mention that within Fatal Vision, Joe McGinniss’ book on the Jeffrey R. MacDonald murder case, the accused killer alleged that he was given a polygraph examination by Cleve Backster. This was supposedly a very unconventional test, with Backster repeatedly bringing the topic back to accusations of MacDonald’s sexual exploits or infidelities. But when McGinniss went to Backster to receive confirmation, he was told that it would be breaking confidentiality. I assumed that was the end of the story, but apparently Backster was drawn into the legal proceedings once MacDonald sued McGinniss for breach of contract. The former Special Forces doctor had expected McGinniss to write a book professing his innocence in the crime of murdering his wife and children, but by the time that the author was done with his investigation, he was all but certain that MacDonald was lying to him. In turn, MacDonald wound up “alleging McGinniss had tricked him by pretending to believe in his innocence” and eventually “received an out-of-court settlement of $325,000” in subsequent litigation.¹

Backster served as the final witness called to the stand by the defense, where he reiterated that he had performed a polygraph test on MacDonald which he failed miserably. The Los Angeles Times reported Backster as saying: “I told him that in my opinion, he was being deceptive on that—questions relating to the crime. (…) I told him I could not be of help to him because he had failed his polygraph.”² Strangely, there is no mention of the lurid questioning that MacDonald reported to McGinniss—almost as if MacDonald is not a figure to be trusted. Instead, Backster indicated that the accused “reacted calmly, and the discussion drifted to Backster’s interest in Eastern philosophy.”³ The polygraph expert testified that he told MacDonald to be wary of the karmic implications his acts. “If you have to pay for your crimes in another lifetime, it would be better for him to clear this up in this lifetime rather than waiting till the next,” he reported telling MacDonald.⁴ Strangely, this is the only place the metaphysical comes up with Backster’s involvement in the case. There is no mention in the article of Backster’s plant experiments, indicating that he was still known in public at the time as primarily a professional authority on the polygraph.

Additionally, due to the incredible assistance of Special Collections at the University of West Georgia—a remarkable organization which also holds the papers of remote viewer Ingo Swann—I was provided scans of documents related to Mankind Research Unlimited in Backster’s archives. I had previously noted that Backster’s work was studied and continued by MRU, but other articles on the organization would remark that Paul Sauvin “the instrumentation specialist” specifically based his approach to research on Backster’s plant polygraph tests and subsequent discovery of the “Backster effect.”⁵ Beyond this, papers from Backster’s archive indicate that he was close enough from the group to receive an MRU Christmas card⁶ and respected enough to appear in a list of “maligned or unappreciated ‘frontiers of science’ researchers and pioneers” compiled by MRU President Carl Schleicher.⁷ Indeed, Schleicher expressed direct interest in supporting Backster’s plant experiments by several means:

Subject to your convenience, ­­I would greatly appreciate meeting with you in my office, and discussing all areas of mutual interest, and particularly those areas where MRU can be of assistance to you. I would also like to take that opportunity to go into detail with the government and non-government funded programs (although this is rather modest at this stage) with you, and perhaps we can find some way where we could help to promote or obtain funding for your own work in the appropriate areas.⁸

While it is not clear if Backster accepted any funding or support from MRU directly—and the prior article noted that he had rejected a similar offer from entrepreneur Bill Church—his research into plant consciousness was nevertheless continued by others at the organization. He also remained on good terms with Scheicher and MRU beyond this this offer of assistance, receiving an invite from the organization to a “Metaphysics Tea Party for its consultants, friends, and associates” one year later.⁹

Calling back to my research into the Gulf Breeze Six and, by extension, Jimmy Falun Gong’s excellent exploration into Silva Mind Control, there is connective tissue between Cleve Backster and the Silva Method. This arises in the same batch of MRU documents within Backster’s archives, specifically a “Memorandum for the Record” sent to “selected addressees” on November 1^st, 1972.¹⁰ This memo was sent from the aforementioned Carl Schleicher, an exceptionally bandied about figure within the topic of military applications of psychic, psychotronic, and psychological warfare. A.J. Weberman notes in his Covert Action piece on the subject that “Schleicher was cleared to receive and to hold—and did so—classified Navy publications with such titles as ‘Ship Exercises,’ ‘Anti-Air Warfare,’ and ‘Air and AAW Exercises’” through his position at Systems Consultants, Inc.—the company that actually “wholly owned” Mankind Research Unlimited as a “subsidiary.”¹¹ A 1973 article in The Arizona Republic called SCI “a more conventional Washington-based research and development firm,” but this did not preclude the more woo ventures from also searching for military funding. The article continues:

“We have proposals under view at various government agencies, and a word like (occult) smacks of witchery and a lot of mystique things.” As far as exactly what proposals are at view at what agencies, Schleicher won’t say, claiming that any type of publicity would prejudice his case.¹²

But in a memo sent out to a selected mailing list, one of them Cleve Backster, Schleicher expressed that the government or military components of Mankind Research Unlimited’s goals and research was overblown. “We are not a front organization for any branch of the U.S. Government, or any other government for that matter,” he asserted. At apparent charges that the group was given government/military money to acquire data from “East European parapsychologists,” Schleicher states plainly that “the stockholders and Board of Directors of (his) parent company, Systems Consultants, Inc.” were the ones who footed the bill.¹³ Never mind the fact that said company’s name screams “FRONT ORGANIZATION” (this is speculation) and was indeed involved in military applications (noted by Weberman and expressed by Schleicher himself). Regardless, Schleicher assures recipients that Mankind Research Unlimited is only trying to fund studies on the edges of science, listing a variety of researchers whose work they were interested in “develop(ing) and apply(ing),” Cleve Backster among them. Also listed was José Silva, the creator of the Silva Method and director of Silva Mind Control International.¹⁴

Schreiber mentions in another letter to Backster that they were both going to attend the Mind Science Conference in 1972—assumedly an event set up by the Mind Science Foundation, but I am not certain.¹⁵ The MSF is a philanthropic foundation set up by Texas oil heir Tom Slick, Jr. focused on research into human consciousness, often falling into the woo pitfalls that crop up throughout this field of study. As such, the organization often intertwined with José Silva and Silva Mind Control, going as far back as 1965 when Silva set up experiments in mental projection with a NASA scientist willing to go along with his extraordinary claims. From A.M. Powers’ doctoral thesis on the Silva organization:

Three of Silva's most experienced and accurate clairvoyants were chosen as senders. The orbital flight of Grissom and Young was chosen as the target. The objective of the first experiment was to get the astronauts to hallucinate/receive smells, tastes, sounds, sights and touches. The second was designed to increase the astronauts’ blood pressure and heartbeat. The exact time of every projection was recorded and both experiments were witnessed by a representative from the Mind Science Foundation.¹⁶

The data of the NASA flights was classified, so Silva and the friendly NASA scientist were never able to confirm whether the experiments worked, but the presence of an MSF representative is curious. Further documentation provided by Powers shows that a consultant with the organization had been “observing the work of (Silva’s) Laredo group for about one year.”¹⁷

Separate from any MSF connection, Backster was well-respected by Silva International, lecturing for the group on “biocommunication in plants and animals” at the 1987 Silva Method International Convention.¹⁸ According to more recent literature from the Silva organization, Backster also appeared at the 1995 conference, where “he showed split-screen videos of a woman watching television in her home in San Diego and some of her white cells in a container in Backster's laboratory a couple of miles away.” Remarkably, “the cells in the laboratory (…) reacted when she saw a scene on the television of a woman being assaulted,” a result which Silva Mind Control International views as “good evidence that human cells are unique to each person's body.”¹⁹ Certainly an attention-grabbing experiment, but I do have questions about the process. Robert B. Stone, a frequent coauthor with José Silva and eventual Silva biographer, wrote a book dedicated to Cleve Backster’s research in 1989, The Secret Life of Your Cells, which expanded on Backster’s varied primary perception experiments.²⁰ Later material from the Silva organization—a book written by Silva’s son—notes Backster’s work as evidence that thoughts can have a physical effect on the world, further proving that Silva courses are worth purchasing.²¹

The world of metaphysical organizations, foundations, and corporations were—and still are—the wild west. But the networking between members and researchers of these different entities is certainly interesting to observe. If anything, it indicates why Backster’s work on plant consciousness, spread throughout different new age or parapsychological channels, is the one facet of his life that has reached common knowledge in the present day. Those other intrigues—whether they be participation far-right groups, enhanced interrogation techniques, or other such spooky nonsense—fall by the wayside. At the same time, the wildly different elements of Backster’s life are never completely disconnected from one another.

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1. Italie, Hillel. “‘Fatal Vision’ author Joe McGinniss dies at age 71.” Associated Press. 11 March 2014. https://apnews.com/general-news-ee85b5605c2a413ab9abadd8541c11ff.

2. United Press International. “‘Fatal Vision’ Jurors Told MacDonald Failed Lie Test.” Los Angeles Times. 12 August 1987. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-08-12-me-427-story.html.

3. Ibid.

4. Ibid.

5. Turan, Kenneth and Nancy Meadors Kline. “Do leaves have feelings? Mankind Unlimited explores unknown.” The Arizona Republic. 7 October 1973. https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-arizona-republic/153509307/.

6. Mankind Research Unlimited, Inc. “May the holiday spirit…” 22 December 1971.  Cleve Backster papers, University of West Georgia Special Collections. Box 2, Identifier: I5.

7. Schleicher, Carl. “Memorandum for the Record.” 1 November 1972. Cleve Backster papers, University of West Georgia Special Collections. Box 2, Identifier: I3.

8. Schleicher, Carl. “Letter to Cleve Backster.” 15 November 1972. Cleve Backster papers, University of West Georgia Special Collections. Box 2, Identifier: I2.

9. Schleicher, Carl. “Metaphysics Tea Party, New York City.” 12 February 1973. Cleve Backster papers, University of West Georgia Special Collections. Box 2, Identifier I4.

10. Schleicher, Carl. “Memorandum for the Record.” 1 November 1972. Cleve Backster papers, University of West Georgia Special Collections. Box 2, Identifier: I3.

11. Weberman, A.J. “Mind Control: The Story of Mankind Research Unlimited, Inc.” Covert Action Information Bulletin, no. 9. June 1980. Page 15-16. https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP90-00845R000100190004-3.pdf. (I should state for the record that I enjoy citing Weberman because I think it’s cool that he went through Bob Dylan’s garbage.)

12. Turan, Kenneth and Nancy Meadors Kline. “Do leaves have feelings? Mankind Unlimited explores unknown.” The Arizona Republic. 7 October 1973. https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-arizona-republic/153509212/.

13. Schleicher, Carl. “Memorandum for the Record.” 1 November 1972. Cleve Backster papers, University of West Georgia Special Collections. Box 2, Identifier: I3.

14. Ibid.

15. Schleicher, Carl. “Letter to Cleve Backster.” 15 November 1972. Cleve Backster papers, University of West Georgia Special Collections. Box 2, Identifier: I2.

16. Powers, Analine Marie. Silva Mind Control International: An Anthropological Inquiry. Doctoral thesis, Wayne State University, 1984. Page 36-37. https://www.proquest.com/openview/2692f9eab69dd696e841a22c6807798f.

17. Ibid., page 238.

18. “Silva Method Convention offers positive environment.” The Silva Method Newsletter 18, no. 3. 1987. Page 8. https://www.academia.edu/93832702/Silva_Mind_Control_Newsletter_1969_2001.

19. Bernd Jr., Ed. “Primary Perception.” Silva Method UltraMind. 25 August 2023. https://silvamethodultramind.com/primary-perception/.

20. Stone, Robert B. The Secret Life of Your Cells. Atglen: Whitford Press, 1989. https://archive.org/details/secretlifeofyour0000ston.

21. Silva Jr., José and Ed Bernd Jr. José Silva’s Everyday ESP: Use Your Mental Powers to Succeed in Every Aspect of Your Life. Franklin Lakes: New Page Books, 2007. 155-157. https://pdfrat.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Jose-Silvas-Everyday-ESP.pdf.