30 Facts About Candy Jones

Candy Jones, born Jessica Arline Wilcox, was an American fashion model, writer and radio talk show hostess.

In 1972, Jones married her second husband, popular radio show host Long John Nebel, and became the co-host of his all-night talk-show on WMCA in New York City.

Candy Jones controversially claimed to be a victim of Project MKULTRA, the CIA mind-control program, in the 1960s.

Candy Jones was shuttled among relatives, and her mother, Jones insisted, often kept her cloistered or locked in dark rooms.

Candy Jones was a quick success, becoming a runner up for Miss New Jersey in the Miss America contest.

Candy Jones was able to parlay this into a hostess job at the main Miss America contest, and a successful career.

Candy Jones was one of the leading pin-up girls of the World War II era: In one month in 1943, she appeared on 11 magazine covers.

In 1946, Candy Jones married fashion czar Harry Conover, one of the first model agents.

When he returned after a long binge, Candy Jones sued for divorce in 1959.

Candy Jones opened a modeling school, and she began appearing regularly on NBC's weekend radio news program Monitor.

On December 31,1972, Candy Jones married radio host Long John Nebel after a one-month courtship; they briefly met decades earlier when Nebel was a photographer.

Candy Jones was the regular co-host of Nebel's popular overnight radio talk show, which usually discussed various paranormal topics.

Shortly after their marriage, Nebel said he noted that Candy Jones exhibited violent mood swings, and at times, seemed to display a different personality.

Nebel began hypnotizing Candy Jones, and uncovered an alternate personality named "Arlene".

Under hypnosis, Candy Jones related a lengthy, elaborate account of her being trained in a CIA mind-control program, often at west coast colleges and universities.

Candy 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 asked to use Candy Jones' modeling school as a mailing address to receive some letters and packages.

Candy Jones agreed, she said, out of a sense of patriotism.

Again, Candy 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.

Candy Jones said that Jensen and his associate, Dr "Marshall Burger" offered hefty amounts of cash if she was willing to engage in further plans; in their earlier meetings, Jensen had noted that Candy Jones was an ideal subject for hypnosis.

Candy Jones agreed, she said, because her modeling school was faltering, and she wanted to keep her sons in their costly private schools.

Candy Jones allegedly made trips to locations as far away as Taiwan.

Again with the USO, Candy 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.

However, Nebel was a prankster and hoaxer of long standing and as he was not above hoaxing his radio audience, some doubted the recovered memories of Candy Jones's past were genuine.

Several years later, Candy Jones' story gained more notice after the public disclosure of MK-ULTRA in 1977.

Bain writes that another piece of evidence came forth when "Candy Jones inadvertently held onto a passport of 'Arlene Grant': Candy Jones in a dark wig and dark makeup".

Candy Jones says she had no memory of dressing in such an outfit or of posing for a passport in a different name.

When Candy Jones telephoned the number and asked for Cynthia, she was told that no one of that name worked at the reservations desk.

Bain notes that in 1971, an article by hypnosis expert George Estabrooks was published in Science Digest, wherein Estabrooks openly discussed the successful creation of amnesiac couriers of the type Candy Jones claimed to have been.

Candy Jones died of cancer on January 18,1990, at Lenox Hill Hospital.

Candy Jones was 64 years old and had been living in Manhattan.