John Mulholland

John Mulholland (June 9, 1898 - February 25, 1970) was an American stage magician, active for some fifty years from the 1920s until his death. During the Second World War, Mulholland lectured on propaganda techniques and the "psychology of deception," this activity culminating in his becoming a consultant to the Central Intelligence Agency in the 1950s.

Selected Bibliography


Mulholland was also the editor of the The Sphinx from 1930 until 1953.

CIA Manuals
According to The Official C.I.A. Manual of Trickery and Deception, written by Robert Wallace, a former CIA officer, and H. Keith Melton, an intelligence historian, Mulholland wrote at least two manuals on sleight of hand and covert communication techniques as part of Project MKULTRA.


 * &mdash; "The manuals reprinted in this work represent the only known complete copy of Mulholland's instructions for CIA officers on the magician's art of deception and secret communications written to counter Soviet mind-control and interrogation techniques."