I mean, look, there's things that you can do to protect the youth, but like, you're not afraid because of how big of a threat it is.

You're afraid because it seems to be helping them to establish a counterculture that you don't understand and you can't control.

And so, you know, just be honest.

Yeah. And so, you know, just be honest. Have you ever heard the urban legend about the group of hippie college students that went blind while staring at the sun during an LSD trip, their retinas essentially burned to a crisp.

This tale became a very powerful anecdote in the 1960s, as acid was entering public consciousness,

and politicians were working to regulate its spread across college campuses.

For this episode, the legend-tripping, psychedelic Sarah Marshall of the podcasts

You're Wrong About and You Are Good jumps down two rabbit holes with me, one that leads

to a messy political hoax in Philadelphia and another to a conspiracy theory created

for once by little old me. I'll show her a record of this alleged tragic incident through

the archives of newspapers.com, where we can see how a sensational story like this one can be

just what the anti-LSD doctor ordered, helping to drum up the kind of public support against

a newly declared national drug menace that can become the law and order victory of an opportunist politician's dreams.

I'm your host, Chelsea Weber Smith, and this is American hysteria. I am so excited to be joined on a psychedelic trip with my dear friend and collaborator Sarah Marshall.

Thank you so much for taking a tab of acid and going along what I think is a very strange trail.

You're welcome, Chelsea Webbersmith. For people who are confused, I'm not literally on acid, but I hope that what you're about to tell me makes me feel like I am.

I will do my best, babe. So I want to just start

before we get into our specific story. I want to ask you what urban legends you heard about acid

growing up. Okay. There's sort of the general like, oh, the hippies are painting LSD on doorknobs. And if you touch the doorknob, then you'll have a bad trip or whatever. And kind of the er, maybe urban legend, it's probably not even detailed enough to be called a legend. Because, you know, did you hear this guy jumped off a roof? Because he was on acid and he thought he could fly.

Yes.

Which I believe there's a Bill Hicks routine about like, you know, that story proves that

guy's an asshole.

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