SOME SPECULATE THAT MERTON WAS KILLED

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000404210002-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 22, 2010
• Sequence Number: 2
• Publication Date: May 23, 1980
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/22 : CIA-RDP90-00552R000404210002-0
STAT
CATHOLIC REVIEW
23 May 1980
Same
~~~iOte t
AA e__ r- t 60' W' a s'.
By JOSEPH SWEAT
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (NC)=
Some close friends of Thomas
Merton still speculate that his
death 12 years ago was caused
"And.then, to compound the
problem, here he was coming
out of the monastery and
traveling to see a leader of 244
million Buddhists about a
by agents connected with the possible spiritual effort to force
Central Intelligence Agency.. a halt to the war. This journey
Merton, the Trappist monk took him to an area of Southeast
and- spirituar-writer, was Asia which at that time was
electrocuted when he came in
contact with an ;electric fan
while bathing in a hotel room in
Bangkok, Thailand. He was in
that city to visit the Dalai
Lama, leader of Tibetan
Buddhists..
The theory that the CIA was
connected with Merton's death,
while held for some time by
certain close friends of the late
monk, has apparently never
been published. The Tennessee
Register, Nashville diocesan
newspaper, uncovered it while
working on a feature story on
Merton.
"Tom -was becoming a
serious threat to the policies of
the U.S. government," said one
of Merton's., long-time,' con-'
fidants, who, asked to remain
anonymous. "Increasingly
people were reading what, he -
had to say in opposition to the
Vietnam war, which was raging, at tbgtime he went to Thailand.
Here `-,was, a man deeply
respected as a spiritual writer
crawling with all types of CIA
agents. Some -were directly
connected with the agency,
others only loosely so.
"k.-have reason to believe
some agent, -perhaps an
overzealous native of the area
with only loose ties to the CIA,
saw a golden opportunity to
help the cause and tipped the
electric fan ?over.into Tom's
bath water."
The . cursory investigation
made by Bangkok authorities
on that December day in 1968
shed little light on the subject.
Their report listed the death as
accidential and - said simply
,that- investigators were .unable
Ito determine whether the fan
!fell into the tub or Merton
inadvertently touched it while
getting out. -
Before most- of the world
learned of his death. Merton's
body was aboard a U.S. Air
Force plane en route back to
the United States for in-
by millions of Roman Catholics terment at the Abbey of Our
and others in the United States, I Lady of Gethsemar,i in
and here - he -was.. telling them Kentucky.
how immoral their war was.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/22 : CIA-RDP90-00552R000404210002-0