DOSE:

3.5 leaves

oral

Datura

(leaves)

BODY WEIGHT:

9.5 kg

An Evening With Datura

I have changed only the names of work colleagues for obvious reasons.

In the summer of 1987 I was 17yrs old and working on the parks and gardens for the local council in Penzance , Cornwall (UK). Up until this point I had never taken drugs before, except for 60 raw magic mushrooms which I ate at school aged 14yrs.I didn’t smoke or drink at the time either. My work mate Jamie 30yrs old told me stories about people who had tried Datura, I was inquisitive and wanted to try it out when I found out there were some growing in a glass house in Penzance’s (Morrab Gardens) public garden, I new what I had to do, I already had access as an employee. I am not 100% sure of quantity of leaves I picked, it was at least three or four large leaves, approx 8 inches long and wide (Datura white trumpet flowers hanging down). I folded the leaves and put them in a sandwich at lunchtime approx 1 p.m. I remember finding it very difficult to swallow because my mouth became really dry. Skipping forward to 6 p.m approx at home, I was left to baby sit my 9 yr old brother. I remember feeling sleepy so I lay on my bed and fell asleep for nearly 2 hrs; upon waking I looked at my watch and panicked, I was going to be late for work. I ran down stairs grabbed a coat my bag which I threw a banana and 2 slices of bread (it made sense at the time). I ran out of the door and continued running for about a mile to the nearest main road into town (Penzance), which is approx 10 miles from my house in Hayle.

I was lucky because I was only hitching for about 10 minutes when a man in a camper van stopped to pick me up, his wife was sitting in the passenger seat I climbed into a seat in the rear, the driver was asking me questions where are you going? “To work” I replied Him: Where do you work? Me: “For the parks and gardens department” Him: Do you work night shifts then? Me: After trying to make sense of his last question I replied “Yes” it seemed like the easiest option, even though I knew I didn’t work nights, I mean how could I, working as a gardener.

It was about this time I realized there was someone else in the van, a young girl, I assumed it to be their daughter, I think I may have missed her because it was dark and she appeared to be wrapped in a blanket. The man dropped me at the bottom of town, approx 20 minutes walk from my place of work, I thanked him for the ride and walked briskly up hill through the towns main street, I had no contact with anyone until I reached the top of the main street, it was there I saw two men walking towards me on the pavement, one of them brushed against my shoulder and as he walked past muttered something to me, I turned around to face them and said innocently “What did you say”, one of the men I assumed to be aggressive as he took a pace toward me and said something else I couldn’t understand, luckily his friend grabbed him by the shoulder and they carried on walking down the street, I turned around and proceeded up the hill towards my work, I remember thinking about these two men for a while and I later realized they were drunk. I eventually made it to the council car park which you have to cross in order to get to the council garden nursery which is like the main depot for employees on the parks, it’s also where bedding plants are grown for town display.

Just as I was approaching the main gate to the depot I noticed a camouflaged white soldier standing against the hedge row perfectly dressed to blend in with the hedge behind him, he had similar sticks and foliage sprouting from his helmet, shoulders and arms, I made a point of congratulating him on such a great outfit, as I walked closer to him he backed away in to the hedge and completely disappeared, which slightly unnerved me as he didn’t respond to my calls for him to show himself, it was then I then noticed about 15 feet to the left of where the hedge looked darker a large black man stood dressed in equally impressive camo gear to perfectly blend in with the particular stretch of hedge he was in front of, I approached him and as I did he too slunk back into the darkness and vanished, I had enough of these guys, they spooked me and I needed to get to work anyway, so I walked 100 yards’ down to the depot. I was the only one in the yard, by now it was not only dark but also spitting with rain so I took shelter under the large open fronted storage shed, this is where I met another colleague of mine Robin who was trying to sleep in a soil shredder, he was looking at me but was not responding to me in any way, I was intrigued to the way he had secreted himself in the very tight space of the shredder, which was only a couple of inches deep and some how he had managed to get his chest in that clearance, he looked comfortable enough though, I was more concerned of his ignorance toward me by not speaking when I addressed him.

I next heard someone giggling on top of the shed roof, I found it a little creepy. I was relieved when I saw my manager (John) approaching his van, I walked up to him and asked him for the keys to the green house, not only did he ignore me but he also disappeared when I was a matter of a couple of feet away from him, odd I thought. I retreated back to the shelter of the shed, Robin was still trying to sleeping in the soil shredder and I began to hear the giggles on the roof again, I shouted up to them, a couple of minutes later Jamie poked his head over the edge of the roof and looked down at me, “Hi Jamie, what are you doing, do you have the keys to the greenhouse?” He didn’t answer me but instead just grinned and went back to giggling on top of the roof again, I know he was with someone else because I could hear them laughing too, but never saw them, Jamie however appeared several more times, the last time I saw him with his head over the side of the roof I told him to stop messing around because it wasn’t funny any more.

During this time I saw John approaching his van twice more and twice more as he was putting his keys in the door he vanished at the same point when I was a couple of feet away from him, each time was exactly the same, he was acting as if I was not even there and then disappear each time I got near him, very strange I thought. I was beginning to get bored of all this now and my thoughts were turning to skiving off work and going back home, I gave Jamie one last chance to cooperate, Robin was still ignoring me so was Jamie, John and whoever else was on the roof with Jamie. I decided this was it I’m gonna leave, so I did, now as I was walking back through the council car park I noticed lights on in the foyer of the council building, and through the windows I saw a lot of people at least 50 I’d say, there was a party of sorts going on, I went up to the main doors entered the building and in there I saw an ex English teacher of mine and also John (manager), this was good. “Hi Justin is everything O.K.” said John, Me: “Yes thanks but do you have the keys to the greenhouse please?” John: ‘Why what’s the matter have you lost your wallet?” now without really taking in what he asked me and without much thought Me: “Err, yes I think so?” John: “We can have a good look tomorrow, do you need money to get home?” Me: “Err, no thanks I’m o.k. I’ll have a look tomorrow then”. I left the building bidding him and my ex teacher goodbye, when I knew they couldn’t see me I sneaked out of the car park heading home so as not to be caught skiving off work.

Maybe 20 minutes later as I was on the out skirts of Penzance I managed to get a lift from a really nice man driving a Citroen 2cv, I felt comfortable in his company and we had a good chat for during the journey of half an hour or so back to Hayley , this man was even kind enough to take me over a mile out of his way to where I live unfortunately just as we were within 200yrds of my house his car stopped and he couldn’t turn the engine over, I told him not to worry because my dad had some crocodile clips (I meant starter cables) off I ran knocked on door, a few seconds later the front door opened and I was greeted by my dad , Me: Hi dad can I borrow your crocodile clips please?” He immediately grabbed me by the scruff and dragged me into the house and while hitting me several times he wanted answers as to where I had been and why I had left my little brother on his own for the evening (3-4hrs I had been out). All I could stutter out whilst crying was “I went to work dad” which of course he didn’t believe. Maybe 20minutes later I was in bed when mum came and asked if I’d been taking anything this evening, I then almost started to think more clearly because I said “I did eat some leaves earlier today. I never did find out what happened to the poor man in the 2cv, I hope he wasn’t stuck for too long.

Separating Fact from Fiction:

I new categorically what was fact and what was not real from my Datura experience when I woke up the next morning

The next morning I awoke without any adverse side affects from the Datura, I could also remember vividly the whole evenings events from the point of waking to believe I was late for work. It was nearly eight but 8pm instead of 8am (hence the first lift I got into town the man thought I must be doing a night shift obviously made more sense now), that was the misunderstanding, which lead to the evening’s fun and games in the first place. The two men that were drunk walking toward me in town, was fact it did happen. The two soldiers in perfect camo gear didn’t actually exist. My manager (John) going to his van to unlock door 3 times was also a delusion of mine, Jamie on the roof with someone else also a delusion, Robin in the soil shredder also. The office council party was in fact true and I was glad I didn’t make too much of a fool out of myself. The man breaking down in the Citroen was true, my dad dragging me in the house was true as well as my mum asking if I had taken anything. Luckily for me and others nobody was hurt in the making, but I realized afterwards that with delusions as opposed to hallucinations you can be very vulnerable.

Conclusion:

I’ve done many stupid life endangering things in my life, one in particular was putting an Adder (venomous snake) on my head as a kid, and this episode with Datura was just as daft, it was only recently when talking to a friend who is interested in drugs etc told me I was very lucky I had a half decent experience on Datura because the majority of people don’t. Ignorance is bliss but also dangerous without you knowing. Would I do it again? I don’t think so.

My name is Justin, I have however changed the names of work colleagues.

Exp Year: 1987	ExpID: 94567
Gender: Male
Age at time of experience: 17
Published: Apr 11, 2012	Views: 43,096
[ View PDF (to print) ] [ View LaTeX (for geeks) ] [ Swap Dark/Light ]
Datura (15) : First Times (2), Retrospective / Summary (11), Alone (16)