Candy Jones
Encyclopedia
Candy Jones, originally known as Jessica Arline Wilcox (December 31, 1925 - January 18, 1990), was an American
fashion model, writer and radio talk show
hostess.
Born in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania
, she was raised and educated in Atlantic City, New Jersey
.
In the 1940s and 1950s she was a leading model and pin-up girl
, and afterwards established a modeling school and wrote several books on modeling and fashion. In 1972, Jones married the popular radio show host Long John Nebel
(he was her second husband), and became the co-host of his all-night talk-show on WMCA
in New York City
. The show dealt with paranormal
, UFO, and conspiracy theory
claims.
Controversially, Jones claimed to be a victim of the CIA
mind-control program, Project MKULTRA
, in the 1960s.
by her parents, and that she had vague memories of sexual abuse in her youth. She was shuttled between relatives, and her mother, Jones insisted, often kept her cloister
ed or locked in dark rooms. As a child, Jones said she had an imaginary friend
named Arlene to help through her lonely episodes.
She grew into an attractive, statuesque young woman who was very tall, about 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m). Changing her name, she pursued a career as a fashion model. She was a quick success, becoming a runner up for Miss New Jersey
in the Miss America
contest. Jones was able to parlay this into a hostess job at the main Miss America contest, and a successful career. She was one of the leading pin-up girl
s of the World War II
era: in one month in 1943, she appeared on 11 different magazine covers.
During a lengthy United Service Organizations
(USO) tour in the Philippines
, Jones fell ill in 1945, and was treated by a doctor who was still alive when Candy publicised her mind-control claims; Donald Bain gave this doctor the pseudonym
"Gilbert Jensen". According to researcher Martin Cannon,Cannon, Martin. "The Controllers: A new hypothesis of Alien Abduction." who interviewed Jones before she died in 1990, the "Marshall Burger" pseudonym in Bain's book who worked with Jensen on the Jones case was actually Dr. William Kroger, a psychologist at once time associated with UCLA.
.
Without notice, Conover disappeared in late 1958. Jones notified police, and Conover's absence made the news. When he returned after a long binge, Jones sued for divorce
in 1959. After the divorce, she was left with $36, and considerable debts.
Jones opened a modeling school, and she also began appearing regularly on NBC's weekend radio news program Monitor
.
after a one-month courtship; they had briefly met decades earlier when Nebel was a photographer. Jones was soon the regular co-host of Nebel's popular overnight radio talk show, which usually discussed various paranormal
topics.
Colin Bennett writes, "A few weeks after their marriage, [Jones] did tell Nebel that she had worked for the FBI for some time, adding mysteriously that she might have to go out of town on occasion without giving a reason. This left Nebel wondering whether there was a connection between the 'other' personality within Candy and the strange trips she said she made for the FBI."
Nebel began hypnotising
Jones, and uncovered an alternate personality named "Arlene". Under hypnosis, Jones related a lengthy, elaborate account of her being trained in a CIA mind-control program, often at west coast colleges and universities. Jones and Nebel eventually recorded hundreds of hours of these hypnotic sessions.
Jones said she had some conscious memories of her involvement in the mind-control program: it began in 1960, she said, when an old USO acquaintance (an unnamed retired army general) asked to use Jones' modeling school as a mailing address to receive some letters and packages. Jones agreed, she said, out of a sense of patriotism
.
Eventually, said Jones, she was asked to deliver a letter to Oakland
, California
on a business trip she had scheduled. Again, Jones reported she agreed, and was surprised to discover the letter was delivered to the same Dr. Jensen who had treated her in the Philippines nearly two decades earlier. Jones said that Jensen and his associate, Dr. "Marshall Burger" (another pseudonym) offered hefty amounts of cash if she was willing to engage in further plans; in their earlier meetings, Jensen had noted that Jones was an ideal subject for hypnosis. Jones agreed, she said, because her modeling school was faltering, and she wanted to keep her sons in their costly private schools.
During hypnosis sessions, an alternate personality called "Arlene" was reportedly groomed by Jensen, so that Jones would have no memory of Arlene's activities. Jones allegedly made trips to locations as far away as Taiwan
. While hypnotized, Jones claimed that she was subjected to painful torture
s in order to test the effectiveness of the alternate personality. Donald Bain writes, "[Jones] would be a messenger for the agency in conjunction with her normal business trips."
Again with the USO, Jones visited South Vietnam
in 1970; she later suspected her visit had some connection to a disastrous attempt to free American prisoners of war from North Vietnam
.
Jones's and Nebel's claims were first made public in 1976 (in Donald Bain
's The Control of Candy Jones, published by Playboy Press
). Nebel apparently accepted his wife's claims, and openly discussed killing Dr. Jensen in revenge. However, Nebel was a prankster and a hoaxer of long standing and as he was not above hoaxing his radio audience, some of whom doubted the recovered memories of Candy Jones's past were genuine. later skeptics would argue that an alleged false memory syndrome was a more plausible explanation.
Several years later, Jones' story gained more notice after the public disclosure of MK-ULTRA in 1977.
Bain reported that associates in Jones' modeling schools asserted that Jones indeed had some puzzling absences — supposed business trips where little or no business seemed to be conducted. Bain also writes that another piece of evidence came forth when "Candy inadvertently held onto a passport
of 'Arlene Grant': Candy in a dark wig and dark makeup." Jones says she had no memory of dressing up in such an outfit, or of posing for a passport in a different name.
Bain also claimed that a tape recorded answering machine
message was left on Jones and Nebel's home telephone number on July 3, 1973:
Bain speculates that "Cynthia" might have been a code word for "CIA."
Additionally, Brian Haughton notes that "There was also a letter [Jones] wrote to her attorney, William Williams, to cover herself in case she died or disappeared suddenly or under unusual circumstances; she told him she was not at liberty to reveal exactly what she was involved in. Bain wrote to Williams who corroborated this fact."
Bain also notes that in 1971, an article by hypnosis expert George Estabrooks was published in Science Digest
, wherein Estabrokks openly discussed the successful creation of amnesiac couriers of the type Jones claimed to have been.
Dr. Herbert Spiegel
, a nationally-recognized hypnosis expert, wrote the foreword to The Control of Candy Jones.
Candy Jones is the subject of the Exit Clov
song, "MK ULTRA."
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
fashion model, writer and radio talk show
Talk radio
Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues. Most shows are regularly hosted by a single individual, and often feature interviews with a number of different guests. Talk radio typically includes an element of listener participation, usually by broadcasting live...
hostess.
Born in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania
Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania
Wilkes-Barre is a city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, the county seat of Luzerne County. It is at the center of the Wyoming Valley area and is one of the principal cities in the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre metropolitan area, which had a population of 563,631 as of the 2010 Census...
, she was raised and educated in Atlantic City, New Jersey
Atlantic City, New Jersey
Atlantic City is a city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States, and a nationally renowned resort city for gambling, shopping and fine dining. The city also served as the inspiration for the American version of the board game Monopoly. Atlantic City is located on Absecon Island on the coast...
.
In the 1940s and 1950s she was a leading model and pin-up girl
Pin-up girl
A pin-up girl, also known as a pin-up model, is a model whose mass-produced pictures see wide appeal as popular culture. Pin-ups are intended for informal display, e.g. meant to be "pinned-up" on a wall...
, and afterwards established a modeling school and wrote several books on modeling and fashion. In 1972, Jones married the popular radio show host Long John Nebel
Long John Nebel
Long John Nebel was an influential New York City talk radio show host.From the mid 1950s until his death in 1978, Nebel was a hugely popular all-night radio host, with millions of regular listeners and what Donald Bain described as "a fanatically loyal following" to his syndicated program, which...
(he was her second husband), and became the co-host of his all-night talk-show on WMCA
WMCA
WMCA, 570 AM, is a radio station in New York City, most known for its "Good Guys" Top 40 era in the 1960s. It is currently owned by Salem Communications and plays a Christian radio format...
in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. The show dealt with paranormal
Paranormal
Paranormal is a general term that designates experiences that lie outside "the range of normal experience or scientific explanation" or that indicates phenomena understood to be outside of science's current ability to explain or measure...
, UFO, and conspiracy theory
Conspiracy theory
A conspiracy theory explains an event as being the result of an alleged plot by a covert group or organization or, more broadly, the idea that important political, social or economic events are the products of secret plots that are largely unknown to the general public.-Usage:The term "conspiracy...
claims.
Controversially, Jones claimed to be a victim of the CIA
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, responsible for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers...
mind-control program, Project MKULTRA
Project MKULTRA
Project MKULTRA, or MK-ULTRA, was the code name for a covert, illegal CIA human experimentation program, run by the CIA's Office of Scientific Intelligence. This official U.S. government program began in the early 1950s, continued at least through the late 1960s, and used U.S...
, in the 1960s.
Early life and career
Candy Jones was born to a well-off family. Jones reported vivid, conscious memories of physical abusePhysical abuse
Physical abuse is abuse involving contact intended to cause feelings of intimidation, injury, or other physical suffering or bodily harm.-Forms of physical abuse:*Striking*Punching*Belting*Pushing, pulling*Slapping*Whipping*Striking with an object...
by her parents, and that she had vague memories of sexual abuse in her youth. She was shuttled between relatives, and her mother, Jones insisted, often kept her cloister
Cloister
A cloister is a rectangular open space surrounded by covered walks or open galleries, with open arcades on the inner side, running along the walls of buildings and forming a quadrangle or garth...
ed or locked in dark rooms. As a child, Jones said she had an imaginary friend
Imaginary friend
Imaginary friends and imaginary companions are a psychological and social phenomenon where a friendship or other interpersonal relationship takes place in the imagination rather than external physical reality. Imaginary friends are fictional characters created for improvisational role-playing. They...
named Arlene to help through her lonely episodes.
She grew into an attractive, statuesque young woman who was very tall, about 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m). Changing her name, she pursued a career as a fashion model. She was a quick success, becoming a runner up for Miss New Jersey
Miss New Jersey
.The Miss New Jersey competition is the pageant that selects the representative for the state of New Jersey in the Miss America pageant.Two Miss New Jersey winners have gone on to become Miss America titleholders: Bette Cooper and Suzette Charles...
in the Miss America
Miss America
The Miss America pageant is a long-standing competition which awards scholarships to young women from the 50 states plus the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands...
contest. Jones was able to parlay this into a hostess job at the main Miss America contest, and a successful career. She was one of the leading pin-up girl
Pin-up girl
A pin-up girl, also known as a pin-up model, is a model whose mass-produced pictures see wide appeal as popular culture. Pin-ups are intended for informal display, e.g. meant to be "pinned-up" on a wall...
s of the World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
era: in one month in 1943, she appeared on 11 different magazine covers.
During a lengthy United Service Organizations
United Service Organizations
The United Service Organizations Inc. is a private, nonprofit organization that provides morale and recreational services to members of the U.S. military, with programs in 160 centers worldwide. Since 1941, it has worked in partnership with the Department of Defense , and has provided support and...
(USO) tour in the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
, Jones fell ill in 1945, and was treated by a doctor who was still alive when Candy publicised her mind-control claims; Donald Bain gave this doctor the pseudonym
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
"Gilbert Jensen". According to researcher Martin Cannon,Cannon, Martin. "The Controllers: A new hypothesis of Alien Abduction." who interviewed Jones before she died in 1990, the "Marshall Burger" pseudonym in Bain's book who worked with Jensen on the Jones case was actually Dr. William Kroger, a psychologist at once time associated with UCLA.
First marriage
In 1946, Jones married fashion czar Harry Conover, one of the first model agents. They had three sons, and Jones says she didn't realize Conover was bisexual until some years into their marriage. She recognized some people might consider this naive, but Jones insisted her abusive childhood had made her wary of intimate relationships, and though she had many suitors, she was rather sexually inexperienced when she married. She reported that Conover initiated sexual activities with her very few times, and only when he was intoxicatedDrunkenness
Alcohol intoxication is a physiological state that occurs when a person has a high level of ethanol in his or her blood....
.
Without notice, Conover disappeared in late 1958. Jones notified police, and Conover's absence made the news. When he returned after a long binge, Jones sued for divorce
Divorce
Divorce is the final termination of a marital union, canceling the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage and dissolving the bonds of matrimony between the parties...
in 1959. After the divorce, she was left with $36, and considerable debts.
Jones opened a modeling school, and she also began appearing regularly on NBC's weekend radio news program Monitor
Monitor (NBC Radio)
NBC Monitor was an American weekend radio program broadcast from June 12, 1955, until January 26, 1975. Airing live and nationwide on the NBC Radio Network, it originally aired beginning Saturday morning at 8am and continuing through the weekend until 12 midnight on Sunday...
.
Second marriage and radio career
On December 31, 1972, Jones married radio host Long John NebelLong John Nebel
Long John Nebel was an influential New York City talk radio show host.From the mid 1950s until his death in 1978, Nebel was a hugely popular all-night radio host, with millions of regular listeners and what Donald Bain described as "a fanatically loyal following" to his syndicated program, which...
after a one-month courtship; they had briefly met decades earlier when Nebel was a photographer. Jones was soon the regular co-host of Nebel's popular overnight radio talk show, which usually discussed various paranormal
Paranormal
Paranormal is a general term that designates experiences that lie outside "the range of normal experience or scientific explanation" or that indicates phenomena understood to be outside of science's current ability to explain or measure...
topics.
Mind-control claims
Shortly after their marriage, Nebel said, he noted that Jones exhibited violent mood swings, and, at times, seemed to display a different personality. Nebel called this "The Voice ... a look, a few moments of bitchiness." The Voice usually vanished rather quickly, but the change was so drastic from Jones's usually pleasant demeanor that Nebel was startled and distressed.Colin Bennett writes, "A few weeks after their marriage, [Jones] did tell Nebel that she had worked for the FBI for some time, adding mysteriously that she might have to go out of town on occasion without giving a reason. This left Nebel wondering whether there was a connection between the 'other' personality within Candy and the strange trips she said she made for the FBI."
Nebel began hypnotising
Hypnosis
Hypnosis is "a trance state characterized by extreme suggestibility, relaxation and heightened imagination."It is a mental state or imaginative role-enactment . It is usually induced by a procedure known as a hypnotic induction, which is commonly composed of a long series of preliminary...
Jones, and uncovered an alternate personality named "Arlene". Under hypnosis, Jones related a lengthy, elaborate account of her being trained in a CIA mind-control program, often at west coast colleges and universities. Jones and Nebel eventually recorded hundreds of hours of these hypnotic sessions.
Jones said she had some conscious memories of her involvement in the mind-control program: it began in 1960, she said, when an old USO acquaintance (an unnamed retired army general) asked to use Jones' modeling school as a mailing address to receive some letters and packages. Jones agreed, she said, out of a sense of patriotism
Patriotism
Patriotism is a devotion to one's country, excluding differences caused by the dependencies of the term's meaning upon context, geography and philosophy...
.
Eventually, said Jones, she was asked to deliver a letter to Oakland
Oakland, California
Oakland is a major West Coast port city on San Francisco Bay in the U.S. state of California. It is the eighth-largest city in the state with a 2010 population of 390,724...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
on a business trip she had scheduled. Again, Jones reported she agreed, and was surprised to discover the letter was delivered to the same Dr. Jensen who had treated her in the Philippines nearly two decades earlier. Jones said that Jensen and his associate, Dr. "Marshall Burger" (another pseudonym) offered hefty amounts of cash if she was willing to engage in further plans; in their earlier meetings, Jensen had noted that Jones was an ideal subject for hypnosis. Jones agreed, she said, because her modeling school was faltering, and she wanted to keep her sons in their costly private schools.
During hypnosis sessions, an alternate personality called "Arlene" was reportedly groomed by Jensen, so that Jones would have no memory of Arlene's activities. Jones allegedly made trips to locations as far away as Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
. While hypnotized, Jones claimed that she was subjected to painful torture
Torture
Torture is the act of inflicting severe pain as a means of punishment, revenge, forcing information or a confession, or simply as an act of cruelty. Throughout history, torture has often been used as a method of political re-education, interrogation, punishment, and coercion...
s in order to test the effectiveness of the alternate personality. Donald Bain writes, "[Jones] would be a messenger for the agency in conjunction with her normal business trips."
Again with the USO, Jones visited South Vietnam
South Vietnam
South Vietnam was a state which governed southern Vietnam until 1975. It received international recognition in 1950 as the "State of Vietnam" and later as the "Republic of Vietnam" . Its capital was Saigon...
in 1970; she later suspected her visit had some connection to a disastrous attempt to free American prisoners of war from North Vietnam
North Vietnam
The Democratic Republic of Vietnam , was a communist state that ruled the northern half of Vietnam from 1954 until 1976 following the Geneva Conference and laid claim to all of Vietnam from 1945 to 1954 during the First Indochina War, during which they controlled pockets of territory throughout...
.
Jones's and Nebel's claims were first made public in 1976 (in Donald Bain
Donald Bain (writer)
Donald Bain is a United States author and ghostwriter, having written over 80 books in his 40-year career. A graduate of Purdue University, he is the recipient of many writing awards. Bain is a professional jazz musician as well as a writer. He is married to Renée Paley-Bain, who is also a writer...
's The Control of Candy Jones, published by Playboy Press
Playboy
Playboy is an American men's magazine that features photographs of nude women as well as journalism and fiction. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. The magazine has grown into Playboy Enterprises, Inc., with...
). Nebel apparently accepted his wife's claims, and openly discussed killing Dr. Jensen in revenge. However, Nebel was a prankster and a hoaxer of long standing and as he was not above hoaxing his radio audience, some of whom doubted the recovered memories of Candy Jones's past were genuine. later skeptics would argue that an alleged false memory syndrome was a more plausible explanation.
Several years later, Jones' story gained more notice after the public disclosure of MK-ULTRA in 1977.
Bain reported that associates in Jones' modeling schools asserted that Jones indeed had some puzzling absences — supposed business trips where little or no business seemed to be conducted. Bain also writes that another piece of evidence came forth when "Candy inadvertently held onto a passport
Passport
A passport is a document, issued by a national government, which certifies, for the purpose of international travel, the identity and nationality of its holder. The elements of identity are name, date of birth, sex, and place of birth....
of 'Arlene Grant': Candy in a dark wig and dark makeup." Jones says she had no memory of dressing up in such an outfit, or of posing for a passport in a different name.
Bain also claimed that a tape recorded answering machine
Answering machine
The answering machine or message machine, also known as the telephone answering machine in the UK and some Commonwealth countries) and previously known as an ansaphone, ansafone, or telephone answering device is a device for answering telephones and recording callers' messages.Unlike voicemail,...
message was left on Jones and Nebel's home telephone number on July 3, 1973:
- "This is Japan AirlinesJapan Airlinesis an airline headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo, Japan. It is the flag carrier of Japan and its main hubs are Tokyo's Narita International Airport and Tokyo International Airport , as well as Nagoya's Chūbu Centrair International Airport and Osaka's Kansai International Airport...
calling on oh-three July at 4.10 p.m. ... Please have Miss Grant call 759-9100 ... she is holding a reservation on Japan Airlines Flight 5, for the sixth of July, KennedyJohn F. Kennedy International AirportJohn F. Kennedy International Airport is an international airport located in the borough of Queens in New York City, about southeast of Lower Manhattan. It is the busiest international air passenger gateway to the United States, handling more international traffic than any other airport in North...
to TokyoTokyo, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
, with an option on to TaipeiTaipeiTaipei City is the capital of the Republic of China and the central city of the largest metropolitan area of Taiwan. Situated at the northern tip of the island, Taipei is located on the Tamsui River, and is about 25 km southwest of Keelung, its port on the Pacific Ocean...
. This is per Cynthia that we are calling." When Jones telephoned the number and asked for Cynthia, she was told that no one of that name worked at the reservations desk.
Bain speculates that "Cynthia" might have been a code word for "CIA."
Additionally, Brian Haughton notes that "There was also a letter [Jones] wrote to her attorney, William Williams, to cover herself in case she died or disappeared suddenly or under unusual circumstances; she told him she was not at liberty to reveal exactly what she was involved in. Bain wrote to Williams who corroborated this fact."
Bain also notes that in 1971, an article by hypnosis expert George Estabrooks was published in Science Digest
Science Digest
Science Digest was a monthly American magazine published by the Hearst Corporation from 1937 through 1986. It initially had an 8 x 5 inch format with about 100 pages, and was targeted at persons with a high school education level...
, wherein Estabrokks openly discussed the successful creation of amnesiac couriers of the type Jones claimed to have been.
Dr. Herbert Spiegel
Herbert Spiegel
Herbert Spiegel was an American psychiatrist who popularized therapeutic hypnosis as a mainstream medical treatment for patients suffering from pain, anxiety and addictions...
, a nationally-recognized hypnosis expert, wrote the foreword to The Control of Candy Jones.
Candy Jones is the subject of the Exit Clov
Exit Clov
Exit Clov is a five-piece indie rock band from Washington, DC, whose sound is often described as “kaleidoscopic pop noir". The group features twin sisters Emily Hsu and Susan Hsu along with Aaron Leeder , Brett Niederman , and John Thayer...
song, "MK ULTRA."
Books by Jones
- Make Your Name in Modeling and Television, Harper and Brothers, 1960
- Between Us Girls Harper and Row, 1966
- Just for Teens , Harper and Row, 1967
- "Modeling and Other Glamour Careers", Harper and Row, 1969
- Candy Jones' Complete Book of Beauty and Fashion, Harper and Row, 1976
- More Than Beauty: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Modeling World, Harper and Row, 1970