It was an ordinary day in 1951, when a tranquil French town was suddenly and mysteriously plagued with hallucinations and mass insanity.

Dozens of average people were interned in asylums, five people died and hundreds more were afflicted by horrifying visions.

Villagers experienced strange and terrifying hallucinations of snakes, dragons and fire. Many people believed that they were going mad.

For decades, the mystery of Le Pain Maudit (Cursed Bread) haunted the inhabitants of Pon-Saint-Esprit in southeast France.

At first, it was assumed that the local bread had accidentally been poisoned with a psychedelic mold or perhaps organic mercury.

But no one knew for sure, that is until one American investigative journalist uncovered evidence of a covert CIA experiment in the region...

Read more on the next page!

Investigative journalist, H P Albarelli Jr., stumbled upon some damning evidence that linked the small town's sudden insanity to a covert CIA operations in the region.

There was nothing pleasant about what happened to the innocent victims of Pont-Saint-Esprit. One man attempted to drown himself because he believed that he was being eaten by snakes.

A teenage boy tried to murder his grandmother, while another man jumped off a building believing he was an airplane. He broke both his legs.

Hundreds more were fitted into straight jackets and chained to beds in a local asylum. With very little to explain the sudden madness, the only thing to do was wait it out.

For decades, the townspeople were left in the dark as to what exactly caused the temporary madness. While many blamed it on bad bread, US investigative journalist, Albarelli suspected it was something much more sinister.

It began when he discovered some documents while investigating the suspicious suicide of Frank Olson. The man was a biochemist who worked for the US Army's top-secret Special Operations Division.

A note transcribed a secret conversation between a CIA agent and an official from Sandoz Pharmaceutical Company.  The Swiss-based company was secretly supplying both the Army and the CIA with LSD.

The conversation mentions the "secret of Pont-Saint-Esprit" and says that the event was not "at all" caused by mold but by diethylamide, the D in LSD.

In his book, Albarelli revealed that former colleagues of the allegedly murdered Olson confirmed that the incident at Pont-Saint-Esprit was actually a part of a Cold War mind control experiment run by the CIA and US army.

Scientists told the journalist that agents had sprayed LSD into the air and contaminated "local food products."

None of the sources could confirm if the French secret services knew about the supposed operation. French intelligence officially denies rumors that they demanded an explanation from the CIA following Albarelli's revelations.

Watch Albarelli's interview below:

Do you think he's onto something? Or Is this just another elaborate conspiracy?

[h/t The Telegraph / The New York Times / Awareness Act]