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Radiohead and the Creation of Barnum
LSD (possibly not LSD)
by B
Citation:   B. "Radiohead and the Creation of Barnum: An Experience with LSD (possibly not LSD) (exp107269)". Erowid.org. Oct 5, 2022. erowid.org/exp/107269

 
DOSE:
2 hits oral LSD (blotter / tab)
BODY WEIGHT: 165 lb
My first experience with acid was definitely life changing in a lot of ways. Me and my girlfriend had acquired it from our source, Chris, who had brought some back from his honeymoon in Las Vegas. Now let me give you a little bit of background on Chris. At the time, he was my manager, and the go-to guy for about 90% of the employees. He could get pretty much anything, and loved to share his extensive knowledge, talking your ear off about his different strains of pot, and going into great depths about which psychedelics will affect your psyche in which ways, and so on. He would often describe the effects as they would pertain to your own personality in a way that made him sound like he knew you better than yourself, which a lot of people found extremely annoying. But Chris was a good friend to me, and I trusted him. Though I would begin to question some of the validity of his claims. He later told me that what he sold me could have been or been mixed with DOC.
Chris was a good friend to me, and I trusted him. Though I would begin to question some of the validity of his claims. He later told me that what he sold me could have been or been mixed with DOC.


Chris had sold us one and a half hits each on plain white paper, wrapped in tin foil and sealed in a ziplock. He stressed to me how sensitive it was to light and temperature, explaining that it had lost some of its potency while in transit in the cargo bay of the plane, and that he'd upped our dosage to compensate. I used extreme caution storing and handling the product until it's use.

When the day came, I got out of work early and my girlfriend and I took the acid in the kitchen of our bottom floor apartment. We sat in the living room afterward with our roommate and watched tv while we waited for it to kick in. The effects started with a vague tingly feeling throughout my body, and a general shift in consciousness. I felt a bit apprehensive. Colors started to become more vibrant and significant. I don't remember what it was that my roommate was watching, but it was violent and my girlfriend and I became uneasy, so she asked him to change it. He put on Rocko's Modern Life instead, which was definitely more palatable for our state. I zoned in on the animation, while my mind began to swirl with abstract thoughts.

We decided that we wanted to get outside, so the three of us went to bundle up. When I stood, I remarked about how very tall I felt. Or very short. I couldn't tell. I felt like I was living in a fish-eye lens. I grabbed my iPod. Originally I had intended to listen to Iron and Wine, but as I scrolled through the artists, I realized that I couldn't make sense of what I was seeing. Alphabetical order became difficult to grasp and I didn't know which way to go to get to the letter I was looking for. Eventually, I recognized a familiar name. I remember Chris recommending OK Computer as an album to trip to, but I didn't have it, so I put on Amnesiac instead. My earbuds burst to life in a breathtaking array of sounds. I'd never heard anything like it. It was perfect, and as we ventured out into the cold, I was amazed by how beautifully the music complimented the snow covered setting.

We walked down the sidewalk toward a park down the road. I saw colors in the snow, fractals of rainbow and sparkling glitter everywhere. Houses had a greenish tint. Light was reflecting off every surface and casting colorful hues. We stomped through a snowy clearing toward a playground. The rainbow fractals looked like veins branching out across the field. We sat in the swings and smoked a cigarette. I took my earbuds out for a moment and gazed upon the scenery. The sky was becoming orange with the setting sun, and casting blueish shadows across the landscape. The contrast was very striking.

We decided to continue walking, so I put my earbuds in and we ventured into a nearby wooded area. Again, the music was perfect, an eerily intriguing soundtrack and the line 'cut the kids in half' made me feel as though I were in some enchanted forest in a Grimm's fairytale. We emerged along another sidewalk and followed it back to the playground. By now the sun had just set and the shadows were in full play. Everything was red and blue. Our roommate started building a mound in the snow. He shaped it into a stool of sorts and sat down. I was listening to Life in a Glass House, and the robust horns made it seem like he was some sort of drunken king on his throne. I sat down next, feeling very posh and smitten in a way. I told my girlfriend she needed to listen to what I was hearing and I handed her the earbuds. After only a few seconds, she made a sour face and handed them back. Apparently it was too much for her.

I relinquished my throne and my roommate started messing with it again. From where I was standing I could see a face begin to emerge. I pointed it out to him excitedly, and the two of us began to sculpt and dig away at the snow mound to further reveal the face. We gave it more definition, a pronounced brow, nostrils, teeth. We stood back to look at our progress and burst into hysterical laughter. We named him Barnum. He was absolutely perfect. He looked like a demon, so we molded him a pair of horns and I rolled him a snow cigar. Finally, we broke one of the horns off to signify that he had been in a battle, and left the park immensely pleased with ourselves.

We followed a lamplit street back to the apartment, and I sloshed through the slush. I felt like we were in the amazon or something, pausing at a streetlight to stare curiously at the vines growing up it. When we got back we sat out on the porch for awhile and talked. Then we returned to the living room. I felt that we had come down for the most part, but when I closed my eyes I saw a kaleidoscope of patterns swirling outward from the center of my perception. Images of birth and death, fetuses turning to adults, then dissolving into skeletons only to be reborn. I laid there for a while, enjoying these visuals, then went to take a bath. I put on Amnesiac again and soaked contently in the warm water. When I came out, I went into my room and laid on my bed in the dark with my headphones until my girlfriend came to see where I was. Something had gotten her thinking about her friend who had passed away a few years back, perhaps a picture. I left the room to look for something and I could hear her start to cry inside. I wasn't in any condition to be consoling at this point, so I just listened, acknowledging her sorrow, but feeling a sense of inner peace. Moments later, she came back out telling me what happened and how random it had been. She said that she'd felt the need to cry and was feeling better now. We cuddled for a bit, ate some dinner and went to lie down. I convinced her to listen to Radiohead with me, and we laid in bed together and listened to the whole album, eventually falling asleep.

Since that day, Radiohead has become one of my favorite bands. I'd listened to them before and liked them, but it wasn't until that first acid trip that I developed such a strong affinity. That was the first time that I really 'got' them.

Exp Year: 2014ExpID: 107269
Gender: Male 
Age at time of experience: 27
Published: Oct 5, 2022Views: 622
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LSD (2) : Small Group (2-9) (17), Music Discussion (22), What Was in That? (26)

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