Who is Dr. Louis West and what did he do? Details about Chaos: The Manson Murders subject, explored
Netflix’s latest documentary, Chaos: The Manson Murders, features a lesser-known figure associated with the Manson murders, Dr. Louis West. The documentary, based on Tom O’Neill and Dan Piepenbring’s book, CHAOS: Charles Manson, the CIA, and the Secret History of the Sixties, theorizes that Manson was part of a covert CIA operation involved in mind control.
The documentary explores O’Neill’s theory, which suggests that Dr. Louis West, an American psychiatrist, hypnotist, and brainwashing expert, was associated with Manson. However, there is no concrete evidence to support these claims.
The documentary was released on March 7, 2025, on the streaming platform. The official logline reads:
“Charles Manson’s followers killed on his command, without mercy or remorse. This documentary delves into mind control and murder amid a web of conspiracy.”
Dr. Louis West was a part of the CIA campaign Project MKUltra
Dr. Louis West was born in New York and completed his medical residency at the Payne Whitney Psychiatric Clinic of Cornell University. He was later recruited by the CIA to work for MKUltra subproject 43.
As per CIA.gov, Project MKUltra, which ran from 1953 to 1973, was a secretive operation started by the CIA, which was designed to develop methods and recognize drugs that would assist in interrogations by psychologically weakening an individual and get confessions out of them through brainwashing. Since the operation drugged people against their will, all the records related to the project were destroyed in 1973 to evade criminal charges.
According to a Decider report of March 2025, while contributing to the project, Dr. Louis West would frequent the Haight Ashbury Free Medical Clinic in Northern California to enlist young, carefree people. He experimented on them using LSD to execute mind control.
As per the same outlet, Charles Manson also frequented Haight Ashbury Free Medical Clinic when his girls required abortions or treatment for se*ually transmitted diseases. In the documentary, O’Neill also mentioned that Mason’s parole officer, Roger Smith, insisted Manson have his parole meeting at the clinic.
As per Decider, in the documentary, O’Neill implied that Dr. Louis West and other members of the CIA conducted meetings with Manson at the hospital, made his followers subjects of the drug experiment, and urged them to murder people on behalf of them.
The documentary also speculates that Manson’s parole officer, Roger Smith, was also involved in the operation. Manson was allegedly arrested six times while Smith was his parole officer, and Smith let it slide each time.
In the documentary, O’Neill further alleged that Dr. Louis West left the Haight Ashbury clinic, the same time Manson came to the limelight in 1967. By then, the CIA operation was already successful.
“...Exactly what they were trying to create—those girls. People who would kill, on command, without remorse, who would do whatever they were told to do. That group left and went down to LA, and then a year later, committed these horrific crimes,” O’Neill said.
However, he also noted several times that there is no concrete evidence to back these speculations and that there was no resolution to the case, resulting in all the chaos.
After Project MKUltra was concluded, Dr. Louis West submitted a proposal titled Psychophysiological Studies of Hypnosis and Suggestibility. Even after the project ended, West continued his research on the effects of drugs and their usage in mind control and brainwashing.
Dr. Louis West passed away from metastatic cancer at the age of 74. His career remains shrouded in mystery and gives rise to new speculations each day.
Chaos: The Manson Murders is available to stream on Netflix.
