Zener Project

A young Viktor Grienko

The Zener Project (Russian: Зенер Проект) was a parapsychology research project headed by Professor Viktor Grienko.

History

A Cold War parapsychology research and eugenics project commissioned by Stalin and set up in Dubrensk by Grienko in 1953. It's aim was to investigate the potential for the use of psychic abilities in furthering USSR expansion. Proposed applications extended from covert intelligence gathering and espionage to the use of battlefield psychic shock troops. When the successes of the project, the so-called Zener Children, were found to be withdrawn, distant and uncooperative, the project was cancelled and funding suspended.

Members

• Professor Viktor Grienko
• Sasha Barranikov
• Zener Children
• Zener Doctors
• Villagers

Trivia

• The project was likely named after perceptual psychologist Karl Zener. Zener cards were used to conduct experiments for extrasensory perception (ESP). Zener designed the cards in the early 1930s for experiments conducted with his colleague, parapsychologist J. B. Rhine.