An engineer who was repairing a vintage 60s synthesiser has revealed how he ended up tripping balls for nine hours straight after touching one of the knobs that was apparently doused in LSD.
Eliot Curtis from the US was repairing the Buchla Model 100 synth, which had been uncovered from a cupboard in California State University East Bay in San Francisco. This particular synth model is famed for its mind-bending sounds and sat at the heart of the hippy counter culture of the era.
While he was working on the device, Curtis said he noticed what appeared to be “a crust or a crystalline residue”. As he tried to figure out what it was, he said it dissolved on his fingers – and that’s when shit started to get weird.
It felt like I was tripping on LSD… a strange tingling sensation.
After about 45 minutes, he was tripping out, not knowing that this feeling would last for nine hours.
Once it was over, Curtis took himself and the instrument for testing which confirmed that the substance was LSD.
It makes sense considering the synth that Curtis had his hands on was developed by the late Don Buchla of the University of California, Berkeley, a man who was pals with the Grateful Dead sound engineer and LSD supplier Owsley Stanley.
And if you’re wondering how it’s possible that the drug remained so potent, apparently it can last for an indefinite amount of time so long as it’s stored in a cool, dark space (aka the cupboard of a university).
So there you have it – an engineer was unwittingly sent on a trippy journey back to the counter culture of yesteryear. Are we jealous? You betcha.
