Speaker 1: The control group contains scenes of realistic violence and graphic sexuality.
Speaker 1: It is intended for mature listeners. In the field of
Speaker 1: psychiatric medicine, it was an exciting time, a time of
Speaker 1: innovation and discovery, a time when mental health institutions struggled
Speaker 1: to redefine themselves, to become something more than repositories of
Speaker 1: the sick. Unorthodox methods and aggressive therapies were not only permitted,
Speaker 1: but encouraged. This is a record of that time. This
Speaker 1: is the control group. Good Good. This is Tuesday, January.
Speaker 1: This morning saw the unsuccessful release of Charlotte Benton to
Speaker 1: the care of her husband. Her emotional breakdown on the
Speaker 1: front walkway of the hospital was witnessed by many of
Speaker 1: the hospital personnel and was completely unacceptable to maintaining the
Speaker 1: morale staff and patience. In response to this incident, I've
Speaker 1: decided to initiate a long term sleep there before and
Speaker 1: implement a more aggressive psychic driving tape than I prescribed
Speaker 1: for the other patients. In order for these recorded statements
Speaker 1: to have a more authoritative tone, I've decided to record
Speaker 1: them myself. Charlotte, I feel that I have been too
Speaker 1: lenient with you and have not given your I feel
Speaker 1: like the staff of Virgery and myself have for too
Speaker 1: long encouraged a sense of comfort, of artificial confidence and
Speaker 1: well being. Well and smoke, m take two. I look
Speaker 1: at you, Charlotte, and I see I see a woman
Speaker 1: whose pleasing countenance, your poise and grace. It may be
Speaker 1: the object of any man's desire. And I want you
Speaker 1: to return to your home, or you can resume a
Speaker 1: nor a more healthy sexual relationship and satisfy your husband. No, no, no,
Speaker 1: I shouldn't do that, you know, what the hell with it? God,
Speaker 1: damn you've Charlotte. I swear to God, if you create
Speaker 1: another scene like the one you did outside the hospital,
Speaker 1: I will personally deliver so much electricity to your brain
Speaker 1: that your eyes will pop up like burnt toast. And
Speaker 1: if summer Hill and his boys had seen that sad
Speaker 1: little spectacle, you wouldn't be here today to wine and
Speaker 1: moan and prance around the Warld like some kind of
Speaker 1: price poodle. Okay, all better. In order for these recorded
Speaker 1: statements to have a more authoritative own, I've decided to
Speaker 1: record them myself, all right. Psychic driving Tape for Charlotte Benton,
Speaker 1: January nine, sixty two. You have failed, Charlotte, as a woman,
Speaker 1: as a housewife, as a mother. You have failed. You
Speaker 1: will never become a healthy, mentally functioning, desirable woman until
Speaker 1: you take responsibility for your failures and acknowledge that you
Speaker 1: simply lack the strength, the strength, and character to be
Speaker 1: a proper wife and woman. You need to undo all
Speaker 1: the damage you've done to your life and prepare to
Speaker 1: be taught the rules of proper behavior that I, Dr Hayes,
Speaker 1: and still in you. I want to reduce you to
Speaker 1: a blank slate, completely free of your own will, your
Speaker 1: mind erased, so that we can rebuild it the way
Speaker 1: it should be. You must trust Dr Hayes, Charlotte. You
Speaker 1: must bend your will, submit yourself to me, heed my
Speaker 1: every instruction, comply with my every command, and allow yourself
Speaker 1: to be shaped into the kind of woman I expect
Speaker 1: you to be, the kind of woman you should be.
Speaker 1: Any command I care to make you will obey. No
Speaker 1: matter what I instruct you to do, You will obey.
Speaker 1: You will obey me and only me, For only by
Speaker 1: absolute compliance can we help you attain the mental health,
Speaker 1: the moral happiness, and the personal confidence that will allow
Speaker 1: you to become a fully functioning member of society with
Speaker 1: no further need of medical attention. Is his patient Karen Myers, Wednesday,
Speaker 1: February ninth, Head of View nine, after seventeen weeks in
Speaker 1: the sleep room. Awaken from deep sleep this morning. Dual
Speaker 1: drip of sodium amitol mhm, and we should be ready. Yes, yes,
Speaker 1: dr good, that'll be all verdery m darkening the room
Speaker 1: with the exception of one directional lamp behind my right shoulder.
Speaker 1: Patient will be largely immobile due to the two I
Speaker 1: V tubes. Just watching now, waiting for the patient to emerge.
Speaker 1: Here she comes, Relax and hear me. Careen, allow me
Speaker 1: to come inside and join you in your mind. There
Speaker 1: should be no barriers between us, no barriers to separate
Speaker 1: us from the realm of your memory. It is all
Speaker 1: there for both of us to see clearly, as if
Speaker 1: it were happening before us. How's that sound. As your
Speaker 1: body relaxes, you will see the interior of room five
Speaker 1: twelve materializes around you the Dixie Motel. You're inside that room. Now.
Speaker 1: As you move about the room, you will allow me
Speaker 1: to observe you're there. Now, look around. Is there a
Speaker 1: bed in the room. Yes, you're lying on the bed.
Speaker 1: Look around. What else is in the room? A dresser
Speaker 1: with a mirror, a chest of drawers, a mirror above that,
Speaker 1: the door to the bathroom, the door to the hallway.
Speaker 1: Is anyone else here? Not? Now? Just me and you,
Speaker 1: doctor forget I'm doctor Hayes. Just pretend I'm an ordinary man.
Speaker 1: I want you to show me what it is you
Speaker 1: do what he wants you to do when you were
Speaker 1: in room five twelve on August. I I want you
Speaker 1: to be the woman you were on August in room
Speaker 1: five twelve at the Dixie Motel. And you want meets
Speaker 1: you what he want you to do. You want me
Speaker 1: to seduce you. I know. I mean I want you
Speaker 1: to describe to me, demonstrate what you did that night
Speaker 1: in room five twelve exactly so you are a man?
Speaker 1: Big pardon? Are you a man? Or are you the
Speaker 1: man the man I brought here? Ronnie? Yes, yes, m
Speaker 1: let's say that I am anything you want without actually
Speaker 1: touching me. Don't be shy, relax, then let me fix
Speaker 1: you a drink. Okay, wait, wait, wait, wait just a moment.
Speaker 1: Because of the I need you to show me without
Speaker 1: moving from this spot. I can't unhook the end. Just
Speaker 1: stay in the spot. I can try. You could just
Speaker 1: fix me a drink here? Anything you say, gin anything?
Speaker 1: I'm right, you know what? Make it to bourbon. You're
Speaker 1: becoming more relaxed already. There's really nothing to be nervous about.
Speaker 1: A little ice, a big red cherry, a little something
Speaker 1: sweet and here you go, cheers. How are you having
Speaker 1: one now while I'm on duty? What's wrong? What? What
Speaker 1: do you mean? Aren't you going to drink it? Yeah? Yeah,
Speaker 1: of course, m delicious. Now you can really relax here
Speaker 1: undo me what there's a hook at the top and
Speaker 1: a zipper? Can you get that for me? Dr Ronnie?
Speaker 1: Remember I remember when you're with a man in room?
Speaker 1: When you were with Ronald Grant? Did you have sex
Speaker 1: with him? That's what you want, right, okay, Karen, For
Speaker 1: the sake of ourt therapy, let's say that you and
Speaker 1: I have you and Ronald Grant have just have just
Speaker 1: had it. Usually takes about forty five minutes, sometimes an
Speaker 1: hour or more, but sometimes as little as fifteen yes, yes, yes, yes,
Speaker 1: well let's say sometimes past how much like thirty or
Speaker 1: or forty five an hour? Goodness, most men don't have
Speaker 1: that kind of it's tolerance. Yes, I'm show what's wrong?
Speaker 1: He didn't finish. Huh, you have to finish. He has
Speaker 1: to see. Oh, the man watches me in round five twelve,
Speaker 1: he insists, but you can't touch me. I need you
Speaker 1: to relax and quite down. Slowly come back to the office,
Speaker 1: away from room five twelve, back to the Central State Hospital.
Speaker 1: I don't understand. I am no longer Ronald Rant. I
Speaker 1: am Dr Hayes, And you're in my office with me.
Speaker 1: Is that clear? Karen? Can you hear my voice? Karen?
Speaker 1: What is it? Yeah? Who's here? You know the man
Speaker 1: you're so curious about. He knows up here watching us, right,
Speaker 1: that's always watching, always listening. Can you see him? Of
Speaker 1: course not, you can't see busy real more imaginary, very real.
Speaker 1: Does he know my name, Karen? Does he know my name? Yes?
Speaker 1: Continuation of interview with patient Karen Myers, Wednesday, February nine.
Speaker 1: So this man, this other man, not Ronald Grant, the
Speaker 1: other man. He is real. Yes, he watches you, Yes,
Speaker 1: but you can't see him. That's right. Was he in
Speaker 1: the room the night Ronald Grant was killed? Not exactly
Speaker 1: he was or he wasn't he was that he wasn't
Speaker 1: enough of this. I'm removing the patient from the sodium
Speaker 1: amatur trip. In the meantime, I'll continue the end of
Speaker 1: year to see if her response is changed while she's
Speaker 1: returned to a liminal state. Karen. Yes, one of the
Speaker 1: nurses said, you asked to make a telephone call. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: you want to call him? Yes? If I give your phone,
Speaker 1: would you call him now? Mm? Hm? He might be angry.
Speaker 1: There's nothing to be frightened us. I am unplugging the
Speaker 1: office phone from the jack and placing it next to
Speaker 1: the patient. There you go, Karen. Are you sure you
Speaker 1: want me to do this? Yes? What should I tell him?
Speaker 1: I'll tell you what to say. Oh. Hi, it's Karen.
Speaker 1: I wanted to talk to you about the man I
Speaker 1: was with m last night. I don't understand what went wrong,
Speaker 1: but he must have had some mm hmm oh, I
Speaker 1: see what what's he saying? He thinks it was something
Speaker 1: to do with the dosage. No, I'm I'm here. I
Speaker 1: was just okay. I was worried that I had done
Speaker 1: something wrong. Okay, so just call me ask him what
Speaker 1: the drug is. No, it's nobody. I've got the television
Speaker 1: on Karen, shut No, I told you it's it's just
Speaker 1: a TV set. I know, I know, I know it
Speaker 1: is there someone win? No, Yes, yes, it's the man
Speaker 1: from last night. He followed me here. He's been asking
Speaker 1: lots of questions. I'm sorry, all right enough, I swear,
Speaker 1: And he doesn't know anything. He's just he's just very confused.
Speaker 1: Please don't. I'll get rid of him. Okay, Um, he
Speaker 1: won't ask any more questions. No, no, you don't have
Speaker 1: to do that. Please don't. He's not He's not gonna
Speaker 1: make any trouble. I'll make a promise. Okay, he won't
Speaker 1: say anything. Doesn't do anywhere. Stop me. I don't know
Speaker 1: what you're doing it to me. I didn't I didn't
Speaker 1: mean to do that. Just a second. Hello, okay, okay,
Speaker 1: Dr Hayes. Yeah, he wants to talk to you to me, yes, hello, Hello,
Speaker 1: Oh Jesus Christ, you just hung up, Karen. He's not
Speaker 1: going to be happy about that. He's on his way
Speaker 1: over here right now, and I think I think he
Speaker 1: wants to kill you. Could you come back in? Probably
Speaker 1: killed me too, but maybe not if I tell him,
Speaker 1: If I confess, yeah, phone doesn't work. If you don't
Speaker 1: plug it in. I have no secret. Gloria, where's virtue?
Speaker 1: She went down to admissions, said she when she gets back,
Speaker 1: have her take Karen off the I V S and
Speaker 1: preper free c T. But Dr Hayes isn't She's just
Speaker 1: do it, Gloria. Don't argue, Dr Hayes. God damn it, Gloria,
Speaker 1: what were you making a phone call? What? No? Well
Speaker 1: one O two is blinking. That means your line is engaged.
Speaker 1: Oh Jesus, yes, mm hmm that's right. I tried to,
Speaker 1: but they wouldn't let me. Paren. What are you doing
Speaker 1: your phone? It wasn't loved in? I fixed it. Put
Speaker 1: down the phone. I will, Morgan, I'll try it. Karen. Yes,
Speaker 1: Dr Hayes. Who what is it? He wants to speak
Speaker 1: to you? To me? Yes, huh Hello? Who is this? M?
Speaker 1: Don't you worry her this? Tell me where you are,
Speaker 1: Tell me where she is so I can come get her.
Speaker 1: That's quite impossible. Nothing's impossible. You will, of all people
Speaker 1: should know that, Dr Hayes. Dr Walter hay m hm M.
Speaker 1: The Control Group is a production of How Stuff Works,
Speaker 1: written and directed by Brett Wood, recorded and mixed by
Speaker 1: Rob Gal, starring John Schmids as Dr Hayes, Hannah Fearman
Speaker 1: as Karen, Lisa Paulson as Verdery, Jim Bates as Charlotte,
Speaker 1: and Daniel May as summer Hill. Also featuring Andrew Nader,
Speaker 1: Rachel Frawley, Mary Kraft, Kelly O'Neill, Joe Sykes and Troy Willis.
Speaker 1: Music by Rob Gal and Bretwood. M m m