Harvard Psychedelic Club: 1956 Footage Of Housewife's Acid Trip inspired by Aldous Huxley, Gerald Heard and Bill Wilson

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Submitted by JR Harris on Tue, 06/19/2012 - 19:15

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Harvard Psychedelic Club: 1956 Footage Of Housewife's Acid Trip

Don Lattin - Author of 'Jesus Freaks' and 'The Harvard Psychedelic Club'

Posted: 01/16/11 12:35 AM ET

Here's some rare footage of an experimental LSD session that I came across doing research for my next book, a group biography of British writer Aldous Huxley, philosopher Gerald Heard, and Bill Wilson, the co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous. It's from a television program, circa 1956, about mental health issues.

The researcher, Dr. Sidney Cohen, was dosing volunteers at the Veteran's Administration Hospital in Los Angeles. Aldous Huxley, who first tried mescaline in 1953 and wrote about it in his seminal book, The Doors of Perception, got Gerald Heard interested in the spiritual potential of psychedelic drugs.

Heard then turned on Bill Wilson, guiding him on an LSD trip supervised by Dr. Cohen in the summer of 1956 -- perhaps in the same room we see in this video. Wilson, who started AA in the 1930s, thought LSD could help alcoholics have the "spiritual awakening" that is such an important part of the twelve-step recovery program he popularized.

Heard and Huxley set the stage for better-known psychedelic research of Timothy Leary, Richard "Ram Dass" Alpert, Huston Smith and Andrew Weil, who are profiled in my 2010 book, The Harvard Psychedelic Club.

Read the story, see the video: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/don-lattin/harvard-psychedelic-club-1950s_...

Contact the Author: http://www.donlattin.com/pagecontact/dl_contact.html

JR Harris's picture

JR Harris

Tue, 06/19/2012 - 19:26

Current events on Don Lattin can be found at:

http://www.donlattin.com/pageevents/dl_events.html

On June 2, 2011, Don Lattin was one of ten authors to win the California Book Award for outstanding achievement for works of fiction, non-fiction and poetry published in 2010.Don won the Silver Medal in Nonfiction for The Harvard Psychedelic Club.

Past winners of that Silver Medal include Wallace Stegner, Will Saroyan, Fawn Brodie and Will Durant. The awards were presented at a ceremony in San Francisco at the headquarters of the Commonwealth Club of California. This was the 80th year that the award has been presented to honor the literary work of California authors.

Yunte Huang, an English professor at the University of California at Santa Barbara, won the Gold Medal in Non-fiction for Charlie Chan. Karen Tei Yamashita won the Gold Medal for her novel I Hotel, while Eric Puchner was honored with the Silver Medal in fiction for his book Model Home. University of California Press was honored for its contribution to publishing for its bestselling work, The Autobiography of Mark Twain, Vol. 1.

UC Press will publish Lattin's next work, titled DISTILLED SPIRITS – Getting High then Sober with Famous Writer, a Forgotten Philosopher and a Hopeless Drunk. The new book tells the compelling stories of three men – writer Aldous Huxley, philosopher Gerald Heard and Alcoholics Anonymous co-founder Bill Wilson – whose work and inspiring friendship transformed the landscape of Western religion and spirituality. Don blends this group biography with a revealing memoir of his own misadventures as a religion reporter "worshipping at the altar of drugs and alcohol."
Click to see video of the California Book Award ceremony.

"Tradition 10 - Alcoholics Anonymous has no opinion on outside issues; hence the AA name ought never be drawn into public controversy." Please follow orders from the Interchurch Center if you are an AA member and don't comment.

becket's picture

becket

Wed, 06/20/2012 - 16:51

published by becket on Sun, 06/10/2012 - 02:21
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDTsZn-eM5g&noredirect=1&oref=http%3A%2F%...

Already posted this video nine days ago.

“The essence of the independent mind lies not in what it thinks, but in how it thinks.”
― Christopher Hitchens, Letters to a Young Contrarian

JR Harris's picture

JR Harris

Wed, 06/20/2012 - 16:57

I believe it is called "selective amnesia" in the psychiatric world............... as the links to the cult of Alcoholics Anonymous slowly unwind.......

"Tradition 10 - Alcoholics Anonymous has no opinion on outside issues; hence the AA name ought never be drawn into public controversy." Please follow orders from the Interchurch Center if you are an AA member and don't comment.

becket's picture

becket

Wed, 06/20/2012 - 17:20

What story? The woman dropped acid. Big fuckin deal. Are you going to fabricate "significant" AA-hating studies to pair with this video? I didn't see anyone mention Bill Wilson or the Big Book or sign court cards in the video, did you, JR Harris? There's no selective amnesia involved. People all over the world took LSD back when it was legal and then many, many more when it became illegal. Is this some sort of fascist campaign or anti-drug rant you're on now? Does it look to you like this woman was out of control? Does she appear to be prepared for indoctrination in any cult?

You should drop some acid, JR Harris. It might mellow you out.

Are you sure you want to make this a highly visible release, JR Harris? "The new book tells the compelling stories of three men – writer Aldous Huxley, philosopher Gerald Heard and Alcoholics Anonymous co-founder Bill Wilson – whose work and inspiring friendship transformed the landscape of Western religion and spirituality." This appears to describe Bill Wilson as a legit mover and shaker in Western religion and spirituality - isn't that contrary to everything you believe, even when you're asleep?

“The essence of the independent mind lies not in what it thinks, but in how it thinks.”
― Christopher Hitchens, Letters to a Young Contrarian

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SandyB

Wed, 06/20/2012 - 17:03

Was Bill Wilson a member of the Human Potential Movement?

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Orange

Thu, 06/21/2012 - 14:44

Speaking of obscure old psychedelic links, does anybody remember the episode of "Route 66" where one of the two adventurers got dosed with an experimental drug that first made him messianic, and then suicidal? I think it was about LSD, way back in 1961 or 1962.