On March 2, 1967, twenty-four-year-old Luis Angel Castillo
was arrested by the Philippine National Bureau of Investigation
(NBI) on suspicion of conspiring to assassinate
President Ferdinand Marcos in Manila.- In a series of interrogation
sessions, the NBI and Philippine Army investigators
gave him truth serum (at his request) and put him
under hypnosis. During one of these sessions, Castillo revealed
that he had been involved in an assassination four
years earlier.
Castillo told the NBI, both under hypnosis and truth
serum and also in a normal state, that he had been hypnoprogrammed
to kill a man riding in an open car. Although
Castillo did not know the identity of his target, the scene of
his supposed "hit" was in Dallas, Texas. The date was November
22, 1963.
After revealing this information, Castillo asked for political
asylum in Manila. He was quoted in the Manila Times
as saying, "I am afraid to go anywhere anyway. I am as
good as dead now."
"I don't know how I got into Dallas and how I got out,"
Castillo told reporters, "but I am sure I did not carry a
gun."
The Manila Times story reported that Castillo had arrived
in Manila carrying a Philippine passport which identified
him as Antonio Reyes Eloriaga, a returning resident
who had been expelled from America for overstaying his
visa and stealing a car. While in the U.S. Castillo had traveled
under the aliases Angelo Rodriguiz, Razo Hernandez Mario Rodriguez, Ignacio Gonzales Gradjeda, and Antonio
Eloriaga.
Castillo told investigators that a woman had given him
his initial instructions in Dallas. According to Castillo, she
was just one of many individuals who worked on him to
place him in a deep hypnotic trance for the Kennedy job.
Castillo said that he had been a private in the Cuban militia,
the Segunda Organization Defensiva in Santiago, Cuba,
when he was initially chosen for training in espionage
work. He was subsequently trained by the Defensiva at a
camp located about fifteen miles from the Bay of Pigs.
Among the members of the training cadre, Castillo said,
were a communications expert, along with some other Cubans
and a handful of Americans.
Three years later, on October 2, 1966, Castillo was arrested
in New Mexico and charged with driving without a
proper auto registration. His arrest was made under the
Eloriaga identity. Castillo was brought before New Mexico
Justice of the Peace Elmer Bassett and sentenced to four
days in jail. "The reason I gave him a jail sentence," Bassett
said, "was, I figured when a fellow has a hard time
remembering what his name is, there's something wrong
with him." After serving his sentence Castillo was turned
over to U.S. immigration authorities because he had no
proof of U.S. citizenship.
Bassett reported that "Castillo said he was from Madison,
Wisconsin, but was born in the Philippines. He couldn't
show that he was from the Philippines or that he wasn't."
Bassett also revealed that someone had called him a few
hours after Castillo had appeared before him and asked
that the man be released. "I don't know who it was," Bassett
said, "I just told them I couldn't do that."
According to the NBI, Castillo had Antonio Eloriaga's
Philippine passport on his person when he was arrested in
Manila. Based on information provided by the intelligence
service of the Philippine armed forces, the NBI had been
searching for him since February. They had evidence that
Castillo, in the guise of Eloriaga, had made contact with a
guerrilla group that was constantly plotting to assassinate
Marcos and overthrow the Philippine government.
The NBI set to work grilling their captured suspect.
They knew something of his criminal past. They knew, for example, that he had been arrested in 1962 for carrying a
concealed weapon; they also knew that two years later he
had been sentenced to a state reformatory in Bordentown,
New Jersey, for larceny. But nothing prepared them for the
shocking story implicating him in the events of Dallas.
They asked Castillo to submit to a lie detector test and
were surprised when he said that he preferred truth serum.
Suspicious of both his strange story and his behavior, NBI
officials called in a psychiatrist to examine him. But even
after the psychiatrist judged Castillo normal, the NBI investigators
still refused to take Castillo's bizarre and contradictory
story at face value.
Later, reporters connected with the Manila Times were
equally dumbfounded by Castillo's strange behavior.
One reporter described him as a "now-talkative, nowreticent
cloak-and-dagger man." He clammed up when he
was asked whether he was in the Philippines to help implement
an assassination plot against President Marcos. In his
truth serum statement, he claimed he had worked with a
"cell of Reds" to end someone's life. But during his interview
with the press he said, "neither do I admit or deny it."
When quizzed about Lee Harvey Oswald, he drew a blank.
As a member of the Warren Commission, Gerald Ford
was queried by the Philippine authorities about Castillo's
revelations concerning the JFK assassination. Ford said
that he would not comment on the Castillo story until he
had more information. A spokesman for the Dallas Police
Department said that they had no record on Castillo.
Nevertheless, the U.S. embassy did agree to a closeddoor
meeting between embassy officials and NBI Director
Serafin Fausto on the subject of Castillo. After the meeting,
Fausto refused to comment further on the story, but he did
tell reporters that, "although publication of the story has
prejudiced investigation of the case, one good thing has
come out of it; needed information is coming in from the
United States to shed light on the case."
Fausto also made it clear that leads obtained from the
U.S. embassy justified continuing the investigation of Castillo's
link to the assassination of President Kennedy.
After making an official request for assistance from the
FBI, the NBI clamped a news blackout on the story, and
nothing further was published in the press. Private investi gations later revealed that Castillo was spirited out of the
Philippines, but not before a series of hypnotic sessions had
taken place, at the request of the FBI.
The FBI wanted to have Castillo, while under hypnosis,
place the time of the Kennedy assassination. They wanted
to know when Castillo had come to Dallas, what time he
arrived at the building, and from what location he was supposed
to shoot. They wanted to know the time he left the
building, the names of any people involved, and any information
which might indicate how the plot was hatched,
and by whom.
It came as a surprise to the NBI that the FBI also
wanted Castillo questioned about the Boyeros airport, eight
miles south of Havana, Cuba. The FBI requested that the
tightest possible security be kept on any testimony obtained
from the hypnotic sessions.
In the last of three sessions requested by the FBI, Castillo
was induced into deep hypnotic trance by the ordinary
talking method in an NBI interrogation room in Manila.
While in that trance state he was questioned for more than
three and one-half hours.
The hypnotist's report stated, "Initially, the subject indicated
an admixture of desired susceptibility to hypnosynthesis
but deep-seated resistance due to the presence of a
posthypnotic block. The total removal of this block may
pave the way for maximum results."
The hypnotist reported that during the pretrance warmup
he examined Castillo and found little scars on his forehead,
chest, stomach, and fingers. Castillo told him that the
scars were the result of a car accident in the U.S., which
happened when some men were chasing Mm while he was
trying to deliver "an envelope of some kind." Castillo mentioned
that after the crash he'd awakened in bandages in a
hospital bed.
Names which were presented to Castillo in the pretrance
interview were repeated while he was under hypnosis. He
recognized the names of several individuals who were then
gaining notoriety in connection with New Orleans District
Attorney Jim Garrison's JFK assassination investigation.
But Castillo revealed that he knew some of the people by
other names.
Throughout his recollections Castillo suffered stomach cramps, said he felt a "weight on his legs," and cried out in
pain a number of times. Through the manipulations of the
hypnotist, he was able to recall that on many different occasions
he had been taken to a factory. He had always
driven to the factory in a woman's car, and they had always
entered through the front door. Castillo could not remember
the exact location of the factory, other than that it
was located "way outside Chicago." He spoke of a romantic
relationship with the woman, but while one moment he
spoke of her as "nice" and "kind," in the next breath he
said that he hated her.
According to the hypnotist's report one thing was certain.
Whoever the woman was, she "controlled the subject's
activities and consciousness like a nightmare."
Eliciting information from Castillo was no easy task.
Over the course of many interrogations, the hypnotist discovered
that Castillo could be taken to four different hypnotic
levels. It appeared to the hypnotist that each level
came closer to the truth. He labeled these states "Zombie I,
Zombie II, Zombie III, and Zombie IV." Depending upon
which "Zombie" state Castillo was in, his mannerisms and
identity changed.
In the first state, "Zombie I," Castillo believed he was
Eloriaga, and he told tales of anti-American espionage.
During "Zombie II," he took on the identity of a toughtalking
CIA agent in trouble. While in "Zombie III," again
Castillo emerged as an agent whose coyer had been blown.
At this level, however, he experienced a compulsion to kill
himself. On the day he was to have assassinated Marcos,
Castillo responded to a program he had revealed in an earlier
interrogation. He attempted suicide in his jail cell by
swallowing a bottle of epoxy glue.
The "Zombie IV" state revealed that "Castillo's" true
name was Manuel Angel Ramirez, a twenty-nine-year-old
native of the Bronx, New York. In this state he had no
recollection of his youth, except for a hazy memory of his
father, who "Ramirez" believed was a highly placed official
at "the Agency."
As "Ramirez," Castillo said that most of his life had
been spent in training with, or on missions for, the Special
Operations Group of the CIA. He remembered one training
camp where he learned clandestine and martial arts. Throughout the interrogations the theme of "programmed
agent" emerged. Castillo's testimony under hypnosis was
that of an individual whose identity had been completely
erased and reconstructed several times over.
On May 30, 1967, Castillo spontaneously went from his
normal state into a "Zombie" state. In answering Castillo's
question about transfer from the hospital to jail, the hypnotist
unknowingly said, "That depends entirely on the big
chief, you know." Upon hearing these words, a blank look
came over Castillo's eyes and all efforts to wake him were
at first unsuccessful. The hypnotist then called out a series
of phrases from Castillo's notebooks and found that the
phrases "I will win if I don't lose my nerve" and "I must
believe myself or no one else will believe me" awakened
him.
The next day was Castillo's birthday. The NBI planned
to give him a birthday party as an excuse to get him drunk
to see if his behavior changed. Castillo, it seemed, had a
huge capacity for liquor. Drunk to the eyeballs, he saluted
one of the NBI agents and called him "Colonel." "Where
do we fly tonight, Colonel?" he asked.
The agent quickly told him that he was to fly the same
mission as the last one. Castillo said, "Haiphong," then
drunkenly fell into bed. He dug his fingers into his throat
and vomited. He cried out for a doctor and between vomit
spasms, rattled out his mission to the hypnotist.
He said his real name was Manuel Angel Ramirez, his
rank was sergeant, and he was assigned to the Strategic Air
Tactical Command in South Vietnam.
He was in Saigon in January, 1966, he related, and had
flown B-26 missions over Haiphong and Hanoi. He came
to Manila, he said, to kill President Marcos in June, when
the president would make a public speech. If his assassination
attempt failed someone else would get Marcos before
the end of 1968, Castillo added.
"I am dying," he groaned, and pleaded again for a doctor.
He thought he was dying from a heart attack. "If I die
today," he warned, "my secrets die with me."
When the NBI doctor arrived, he examined Castillo and
pronounced him fit, except for his obviously drunken state.
He tried to give him a shot to calm him down, but Castillo protested violently. The doctor then asked him to take a
pill, which he did without resistance.
Two days later, Castillo was given another medical examination
by Dr. Alexis Guerrero of the NBI. A series of
tests were given to measure his breathing rate, pulse rate,
sweat production, and other functions. All of these tests
were performed in "Zombie" states I, II, and III. The doctor
noted that in each state there was a vast difference in
pulse rate, and assumed, because of what Castillo said, and
the reactions of his heart and respiration, that he was experiencing
some emotional agitation.
Sodium amytal was administered while he was in the
"Zombie III" state. According to the hypnotist, Castillo did
not even notice he'd been given the injection. Soon he began
to talk as he'd done previously while in the drunken
state. "I'm Sergeant Manuel Ramirez of the Tactical Air
Command," he said. When asked to reveal his base he said,
"You'll never know," adding, "I am a pilot. I've flown a
B-26."
"The NBI are suckers," he said a little while later. "They
thought they arrested me. But there I was, waiting for them
to get me. I know of a great plot. I am supposed to expose
it, after I'm arrested. I know I will eventually return to my
country [the U.S.]. I'll go through the motions of a trial,
conviction, and jail as a criminal. After a couple of months,
I will be released for my next assignment."
Awakened from the "Zombie" state, Castillo was told all
about these various states and his strange behavior while in
them. The hypnotist explained how he thought Castillo had
been programmed. Castillo seemed baffled by this news.
He said that he was not told by anybody about being programmed.
He said that "Papa" didn't even know about the
"Zombie" state. He grew agitated, saying that if he were in
the "Zombie" state he might even kill "Papa," and then
"the Agency would go to blazes. Hell will break loose on
the guy responsible for the Zombie."
Asked in a trance to identify "Papa," Castillo said that
he was not just a "guy," but was his real father. He described
him as having a moustache and smoking a pipe. He
said he was the only one who could send the Agency to
"blazes" if he, Castillo, was killed on this mission. He said wthhaet nh hee wgoout lbda cpke.rsonally tell "Papa" about the "Zombie"
After more than forty hypnotic sessions lasting from one
to five hours each, covering the period from April 3 to
June 25, 1967, the hypnotist reviewed the data and summarized
it for the Chief of the Defense Intelligence Division
of the National Bureau of Investigation. The summary report
not only involved Castillo in the assassination of John
F. Kennedy; it disclosed that Castillo was a hypnoprogrammed
"Zombie" who would kill on cue.
The summary report stated: "The Zombie phenomenon
referred to here is a somnambulistic behavior displayed by
the subject in a conditioned response to a series of words,
phrases, and statements, apparently unknown to the subject
during his normal waking state. While under the influence
of such a Zombie state, the subject closed his eyes, rose
bodily, walked, triggered a pistol, stared blankly, and fell to
the floor with no apparent sense of physical pain. As far as
could be determined experimentally, the Zombie behavior
had for its objective the assassination of President Ferdinand
Marcos of the Republic of the Philippines."
The report also added: "Neither the presence nor the
discovery of the Zombie states in our subject should be regarded
as noble or unique. If anything, the only remarkable
character of the Zombie state in our subject is its deeply
ingrained and systematic presentation, indicating a certain
disturbing degree of conditioning."
In a lengthy summary, the NBI hypnotist and deprogrammer
of Castillo recounted the details of exactly how he
had uncovered the key that unlocked the programmed assassin's
mind.
The letters "XBGUMIDUTYBX" were found scribbled
on the white surface of a cigarette package which was in
Castillo's possession at the time of his arrest. The paper
had been folded carefully and tucked into the back of his
watch. Castillo had told investigators that this piece of paper
was given him by a man named Luis Mauricio. Castillo
said that Mauricio also gave him money. Mauricio was
known to the NBI as a member of the Huk guerillas.
Placing Castillo in a trance, the hypnotist called out the
series of letters on the cigarette package. Castillo did not
react. He then tried calling out the letters, pausing at different places He found that when he paused between the G
and the U, saying "XBG,UMIDUTYBX," Castillo would
reply with "I am myself to kill."
The hypnotist then tried the letters one at a time, and
then in different combinations. While many of the combinations
produced no response, the following were significant:
When the hypnotist said "X," Castillo quickly answered,
"Mauricio."
When the hypnotist said "BGU," Castillo slowly said, "I
am myself."
When the hypnotist said "MI," Castillo answered, "to
kill."
In another session the hypnotist experimented with saying
"Luis Castillo" as a command. The hypnotist reported,
"A pathetic sight takes place after this. The subject turns
his pistol to his own temple and squeezes the trigger, as
many times as his name is repeated."
Whenever the hypnotist would say, "June 12, 1967, 12
o'clock," "June 22, 1967," "July 4, 1967," or "January 1,
1968," Castillo would invariably aim the pistol and squeeze
the trigger.
The hypnotist found that after the preparatory command
to put him in a trance, if Castillo's eyes were open and he
saw a photograph of President Marcos, he would, with no
verbal instructions, aim and repeatedly squeeze the trigger
of his pistol, following the photo wherever it was taken
around the room. If the hypnotist said the word "kill"
while Castillo was following this program, he would drop
heavily to the floor and remain motionless.
The hypnotist's report also includes Castillo's amazing
story about his participation in yet another organized assassination
attempt. Under hypnosis, Castillo said that the assassination
had happened "before noon." He remembered
being with a tall man, weighing about 190 pounds, with a
hawklike nose, black hair, and Oriental eyes set in a long
face. He spoke with a foreign accent which Castillo could
not identify. He said that he remembered meeting the man
along with four or five other men in an airport. They then
drove together in a black car to a building. Castillo said
that he thought the group included both Americans and
foreigners, and he thought one man was Spanish. When the group arrived at the building, Castillo said
they climbed to a second-floor room which he described
after some uncertainty as brown. The room contained
packing crates, a short brown table, a typewriter, and two
"lift-up glass windows overlooking a street."
The first man opened a black suitcase, which Castillo
described as a bowling bag with a zipper and lock. It contained
a scope and pieces of a rifle, which he assembled.
He set the scope at 500 yards and gave the rifle to Castillo.
Castillo did not seem certain about the make or caliber of
the rifle, but finally said that he thought it was Russian.
The man told him to shoot a man in the back seat of an
open car in the middle of the caravan. He said that the
man would be seated with a lady or another man. A mirror
was to be flashed twice from a building across the street, so
that Castillo would know when he was to shoot. When he
saw the two flashes he was supposed to shoot at the next
car coming into view. When he was questioned about the
identity of the man riding in the open car, Castillo said that
he did not know who the victim was.
After the man had assembled the rifle and had given
Castillo his instructions, he went downstairs. Later he
rushed into the room. "They got him already," he told Castillo.
"Let's get out of here." He then grabbed the rifle
away from Castillo, dismantled it, and stuffed it and the
scope into the black bag.
Castillo and the man rushed downstairs, got into a car
with two other men, and drove away from the building.
They picked up a bald-headed, skinny man after they
turned the first corner. Three or four blocks later the car
stopped and picked up another man.
Castillo said he was riding in the back seat between the
first man and the man who had joined them at the second
stop. As the car drove away from the scene of the crime,
this second man gave Castillo an injection while he wasn't
looking. He went immediately to sleep and woke up in a
Chicago hotel room with the woman hypnotist.
He and the woman got into a blue car and drove to
Milwaukee, Castillo said. While driving there, they heard
the news of the assassination of John F. Kennedy on the
car radio.
Within a few days after the hypnotist submitted his final
report, Castillo was out of the NBI jail and had left the Philippines for parts unknown. It was later uncovered
that Castillo was returned to the United States in 1967
and questioned by the FBI, whose spokesman said, "We
talked to Castillo and he told us that he'd fabricated his story
about the Kennedy assassination. Said he'd made it up in
Manila."
The official record says that Castillo was sentenced to six
years in the Missouri Penitentiary for robbery in June,
1971. On August 1, 1974, he was released after serving
thirty-seven months. Castillo's last known contact was with
his mother shortly after his release from prison. Since then
he has disappeared, from both his family and those researchers
who would like to question him further.
If Castillo had indeed "made it up in Manila," as the
FBI spokesman claimed, then he would have had to have
had a phenomenal memory, an incredibly high tolerance to
sodium amytal and alcohol, and virtuoso acting ability.
Neither the psychological profile nor the life history of Luis
Angel Castillo supports the conclusion that he possessed
any of these talents.

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