Trip Stories: LSD

The following are stories and thoughts by the users of Lysergic Acid Diethlyamide about their experiences and events while on the drug.

LSDT(rip)S(tory)#

Mind Over Matter
''A couple years ago me and a few of my friends, who were heavy into acid back then, were sitting around one of their houses. My friends, whose names I will leave as A and N, were getting a few hits of LSD that day. They asked me if I wanted to try it, it being my first time. I accepted kind of nervously at first, but after hearing their stories I was actually really excited. They were getting ten hits, which they were going to divide amonst themselves, but since I was going to join them, they were going to split it three ways obviously. We went and got the acid and went back to N's house. We each downed three hits and saved the last for whoever needed it the most. Seeing as how it was my very first time, they suggested I try not to do anything that I would do on a normal day. They said I should just relax and let the trip overtake me; so I listened.

''About half an hour later, nothing was really happening except for some weird feeling in my hands. It didn't bother me though. After about ten minutes I started noticing things about N's house that I hadn't noticed before (or at least I didn't think I noticed). He turned on all the lights because it was getting to be twilight and the lights were a bit too orange for me to think they were real; they reminded me of the color of the lights in city parking lots. I started getting really excited because I could feel the effects were starting.

''I went to go look in my mirror and I got really startled, not really scared, but surprised. My pupils were about the size of my irises. I didn't know that they would do that. I decided to go lay down on N's couch while he and A were trying to explore the beginning's of their trip. I closed my eyes and I could see reddish and green patterns of curvy checkers. And these checker shapes would spin and change color frequently. I started seeing actual pictures of recognizeable things about ten to fifteen minutes later. I could see, in what seemed to be worldly colors, images of anything from the silhouettes of people to cars to vivid trees and plants. I layed there with my eyes closed for about an hour, but then I decided to open them and explore the room.

''Upon opening, almost every object was a different color. Like N's oak furniture would be a dull red, and his gray carpet looked pure white; I coulnd't see the individuals fibers. This scared me a little bit; I thought I was becoming color blind. I went up to stare at a wall for some reason, and N and A started laughing hysterically at me, which made me laugh until my sides hurt and started cramping up. After that though, I was still looking at the wall. I would see unique patterns in it. They would be like fractals sort of, but with actual depth into the wall. It's hard to describe. For about two hours I was just going around and staring at things with weird textures and bumps like the carpet (which I could see detail if I got close enough), the walls, the wood on his furniture, the patterns on my clothes, etc. N also had a pretty cool painting of perfectly smooth beach with a diving cliff to one side. I stared at that for awhile because the waves would actually move and I could somewhat hear them crashing on the sand. It was fascinating honestly. It was like I was half there (saying half due to the fact that I coulnd't feel the breeze or smell the ocean or anything like that.

''A couple hours after doing this, things started to return to normal. It wasn't like the greatest experience of my life or hugely spiritual like a lot of people often have, but it was amazing and I woulnd't mind doing it again. And for about a month afterwards, I noticed that everything was brighter and seeing my friends and my girlfriend made me much happier than it should have. All in all, it was spectacular.''

—LSDTS1

Lysergic Halloween
''On October 31st of 2005, I dove head first into the world of pure, psychedelic euphoria. To be completely honest, dropping acid was the last thing I would imagine myself doing that day. Here is how things transpired:

''At approximately 10:30 PM on October 30th, I decided to get on the bus and go to the apartment some older friends of mine shared. I was granted a key to their place, because they knew they could trust me and didnt want me stranded outside if I showed up when they werent home. When I arrived at approximately 11:15 PM, the place was empty, because they were all still at work. I sat down on the couch thinking of how to kill the few hours I had until they returned. Feeling tired, I plopped my head down and fell asleep.

''At approximately 2:30 AM, my three friends returned. I was awakened by the sound of shoes coming up the stairs and keys jangling to open the door. They all greeted me, and we just chatted for a bit. A friend who would not be tripping, we'll call him W, retired to his room after awhile. So, I was sitting on the couch in the living room with B and M. Later, a friend T dropped by. So, the four of us sat on the couch in the living room watching Adult Swim on Cartoon Network. A few times in the duration of whatever show we were watching, B and M kept getting up from the couch and running into the bathroom. T and I could hear their voices from inside. He leaned over to me and asked 'whats going on with them?'. I replied, 'I dont know...'. I thought it was just B and M acting like B and M, but I was mistaken. After the third or fourth unexpected run to the bathroom, M sat back down on the couch and said 'Hey... Me and B are on acid right now.' I replied... 'Oh... hmm... thats sort of odd.' B was standing across from the couch to my right and added 'Yeah, we would've told you earlier, but we didnt want you to be upset.'

''The hardest drug I had ever used at that time was weed, so I guess they were uncertain about my attitude towards drug use... however, B and M would singlehandedly change my attitude towards drug use in the moments which followed. 'Would you like to try some?', B said. I thought about it. My attitude was 'I don't have anything else better to do today, so why not embark on a drug trip for the first time. It seems like the right thing to do.' It was all very nonchalant to me. I told them that I did. B handed me two hits of acid and said 'You understand that nothing is ever going to be the same again, right?' I chuckled and said 'Yes, but let me think about this one last time.' She said 'Well, don't do too much thinking because all the LSD is going to rub off on your hand.' 'Oh, alright', I said, and decided to pop the piece of blotter paper into my mouth. They also asked T if he wanted to drop. He said 'yes', and was quite enthusiastic about it.

''After dropping, the four of us headed to T's apartment to wait for the drug to kick in. B and M seemed in awe of everything around them. Me and T's trip had not yet begun, so we sort of waited around for something. M asked me if I felt any different. The full effects of LSD had not yet started, but I felt something, like a stirring inside me. Something that let me know that an 'experience' was in my future. I said 'Yeah, I think I feel something...'. M said 'okay, we should all go for a walk!'. So, we left T's apartment.

''As we walked, I couldnt stop smiling, even though I was rather quiet. I was just waiting for everything to change dramatically. We all walked to Walgreens to pick up some pictures which M had dropped off to be developed a while ago. What an excellent idea that was. B, T and I stood outside of Walgreens and waited for M to return. He returned with a bottle of Sunny Delight, a few cans of Arizone Green Tea and some incredibly beautiful pictures he had taken on his drive from Seattle to Chicago. As we stood looking at these pictures, a man walked up to B and asked if she had a light. As she lit his cigarette, and the man exhaled those grey puffs of smoke, my trip began.

''The smoke which left his mouth had incredible depth. I felt as if that smoke would ascend to the sky, and become a cloud, not dissipate and clear from the air. As the cigarette man walked away, the four of us stood outside of Walgreens, gazing at the magnificent pictures M had taken for what seemed like hours. I'm sure it wasnt more than ten minutes. M put the pictures into the Walgreens bag and suggested that we do some more walking.

''As we walked down Belmont ave., M pulled the Sunny Delight bottle from the bag and asked me 'You want some vitamin C? Its good for the triiiiip!'. As he spoke these words, thousands of tracers were eminating from his body. This was one of my most vivid memories from the trip. I replied, 'No, I'm.... alright' in that confused, disoriented way you would expect someone on a heavy psychedelic to speak. We crossed Belmont ave., which was not an easy task, seeing as though we were not at a cross walk and it is a very busy street. We made it to the other side, and decided to walk down a side street near the apartment.

''Since this was autumn, we entered a world of color by venturing down that little side street. Before we came upon some houses and trees, we came upon a large brown building (which looked purple to me). The side of this building seemed to breathe and pulsate, as if it were alive. B said 'hey! do you see that!?' and pointed towards it. I didnt reply. I was in awe. I was almost unable to speak for some minutes afterwards. We continued down the side street until we came upon a residential portion of it. For a moment, I felt as if I was outside of my body. I could see M, T, B and myself gazing down at the ground to look at all the leaves which had fallen, looking as if we were utterly entranced by everything we had seen, which we were. Things began to take on a cliched 'druggy' feel at this point, since M, T and B were being so vocal, shouting 'whoa!' and pointing to a bush or a tree or a fence. As they walked, I felt as if they were dancing around me.

''I walked next to B, pointed downward and said 'look at the patterns the leaves make on the sidewalk.... look at those.' It had rained some days before, so the rain had left an outline in the shape of leaves on the sidewalk. I dont think I would've noticed something like this if I was walking down this street on any average day. The drug was now taking over my thought process. We kept walking and came upon a rose bush next to an old apartment building. We stopped and stared at it for a few minutes. The reds and pinks of the roses were overwhelmingly vivid.

''We headed back to the apartment, where we began to look at M's pictures once again. I grabbed one of them. It was a picture which was taken from the inside of M's car while he was driving down a windng highway road. In this photograph, the sky was a cloudy blue/grey. It looked as if a storm was brewing. A blurry road sign, and an out of focus car were in the foreground. I stared at this photograph for what seemed like lifetimes. I couldnt put it down. I stood near the front door with the photograph in my hand for about twenty minutes. However, I felt as if I had been standing there looking at this photograph for years. W was now awake. He made himself a cup of coffee and infered that we were all tripping. I think he could tell that I was, since I was standing in the corner with a blurry photograph in my hand. He turned to B and said 'getting people hooked on drugs, eh?'. This didnt make me feel uneasy. I actually smlied when I heard those words. W had many experiences with psychedelics previously and would not have made me feel bad about tripping.

''After a while, me and T decided to grab two of the Arizona Green Tea cans (to keep us hydrated) and go sit on the back porch of the apartment. We talked of how the drug had changed everything, (since it was a first time trip for the both of us). We shared our experiences thus far, but realized that we still had many hours of tripping ahead of us. T went inside to use the bathroom and asked if it was okay to leave me out here alone. I agreed. I still had the photograph in my hand.

''I started to look at it once again. This time, looking at the photograph was like watching a movie. I saw the out of focus car travel down the winding road. The road sign dissapeared. I was moving along with the car. I was making a journey into realms unknown. As I watched the car inside of the photograph travel down the winding road, I stretched out my arm, so I could get a clear view of the photograph in my hand. I saw the photograph melt, and then reappear in my hand. It was like something out of a Salvador Dali painting. At this point, I experienced what may have ended up being a 'bad trip'. After viewing the transformation the picture had made inside of my hand, I felt as if I was transforming as well. I dropped the picture and started to stare at the planks of wood which made up the floor of the porch. During this moment, I closed my eyes. I started to feel a rush of pure, unbirdled mania. I felt as if I had gone insane. I felt like I was living the text in an old H.P. Lovecraft paperback. It seemed as though I would transform into some hideous, lycanthropic creature. I waited for the change to come, knowing there was no return from this hideous physical state I would adopt.

''T said 'hey!' as he stuck his head through the screen door which lead from the apartment to the back porch. 'Are you alright?', he added. This terrible mindset had left me and I felt much better. The awful feelings I had dissapeared as soon as I heard T's voice. I decided to go back inside. I walked into the kitchen and made myself a cup of coffee. When I had finished my coffee, I gazed inside of the cup. I felt as if there were worlds inside of this cup. Tangible worlds that I could dive into. I did not attempt to do so, since I still had some rationality to my thoughts. I set the cup down on the counter and walked over to M and B, who were feeding a slice of balogna to B's kitten. This was highly amusing to all of us. Something like watching a cat eat balogna was incredibly hilarious in this state. After we chuckled at B's kitten, B, M and myself stared out of the screen door. I remarked on how I was seeing everything in a color scheme which mimicked the Dario Argento film, 'Suspiria'. This made M and B laugh. In a sense, I think they thought it was 'cute', introducing a younger friend of theirs to the psychedelic experience. We stood there in the kitchen for a bit, absorbing the 'life' that seemed to radiate from everything around us.

''After a few more hours, and as the effects of the LSD were still prevalent, but dwindling, I decided to head home. M, B and T wanted to go get some food at Taco Bell, which was on the way to my bus stop, so we all walked together. We all remarked on what the experience had been like. B and M (who had tripped before) were just dying to know what I thought about the chemical wonderland of LSD. I told them I enjoyed it. As we walked, we kept looking at eachother with odd looks on our faces... because people wearing costumes, masks, make up, etc. were parading all around us. We remembered... today is Halloween. Picking October 31st really hightened my trip. The one day on the calandar where 'anything goes', where you think nothing of coating yourself in fake blood and running up to your friends shrieking like a madman in order to say 'hello'... that was the day I decided to drop acid for the first time. It made perfect sense to me. As M, B and T walked into Taco Bell, we parted ways. They asked if I wanted to come eat with them, but I wasnt very hungry. I felt as if I truly bonded with the three of them. I gave B a hug, and shook hands with M and T, and thanked them for the experience I had that day.

''As I stood at the bus stop, I remembered how I hadnt recieved the full effects of music while on LSD. I heard music in the form of sounds from video games people played in the other room and whatever people played from their cars outside, but I craved more. In my bag, I had a portable CD player and my headphones. I put them on. The album I brought with me was 'Blessed Black Wings' by High On Fire. High On Fire is a band which I would consider one of the 'heaviest' of all time. I pressed play. I made sure the volume knob was all the way up and the bass boost was switched to 'ON'. As the first track came blasting from my headphones, the bus pulled up.

''I suddenly fumbled for the money to put into the fare collection machine, since it was mostly in quarters at the bottoms of my pockets. After paying my fare, I shuffled to the back of the bus and sat down. Here, I abosrbed the crashing, overly-distorted sounds hitting my eardrums at full force. Near the end of the first track, I shifted in my seat and something else in my bag hit the track selection button. I realized this later on, but at the time, I felt as if my CD Player was posessed by some unknown force. Suddenly, it started playing a later track in the album called 'Silver Back'. As this song met my ears, I felt as if I were listening to elephants stomping around me. Distorted elephants. The bass-laden guitars sounded like thunder. This was an incredible thing. Even though I had an interest in music ever since I was four years old, I felt like I never appreciated the power of the recorded sound until now.

''I listened to the remainder of the album, got off the bus and started to think of what other albums I should listen to. When I arrived home, I went into my basement, where a good stereo system was waiting to greet me. I dug out my copy of De-Loused In the Comatorium by The Mars Volta. I listened to that entire record while coming down from my trip. It was a beautiful experience. I just sat in front of the speakers, absorbing the sounds eminating from them, until the entire album was complete.

''Once the album had finished, I noticed I still had my cell phone in my pocket. I felt the need to call someone. I needed to tell someone else about what happened to me. I needed to speak to someone I trusted about the experience. I called my best friend, J. He was more than happy to listen to me. This helped me come to grips with reality, since I was not prepared for the magnitude of this experience. I had little to no knowledge of the effects of LSD, I didnt plan out my trip carefully, I didnt read up on acid before ingesting it for the first time, however, I was in the company of people I trusted, in a very comfortable environment. Hence, my first expereince was nothing short of astounding. After talking with J, I started to feel as if I could actually go to sleep if I tried. However, I needed something to eat. I microwaved a frozen hash brown patty and slathered it in mustard and ketchup. This was amusing to me. I felt as if I couldnt eat a plain, ordinary hash brown patty. It needed to be VIVID and COLORFUL. Yay! As I devoured my hash brown patty, I decided that I needed a movie to fall asleep to. I chose 'Ichi The Killer'. I popped the DVD in, layed down on my bed, and absorbed the few fading visuals the acid would give me before leaving my system and letting me rest.

''After my slumber, I was quite willing to return to normalcy the next morning. I saw with a new set of eyes.''

—LSDTS2

The Blind Can See
''I have been blind my entire life; I was born blind. I have wanted to see what the world looks like for thirty-four long years, and on December 13, 2008, I finally saw a part of it. I got help from LSD though, not medicine or surgery or anything like that. I was told I took around two hundred micrograms, which is a lot from what I have heard. But this is going to be almost impossible to describe since (not knowing any colors) I can not describe the colors that I saw.

''For years I have been interested in hallucinogenic drugs because I remember hearing somewhere that they had the potential of being extremely moving, profound, and spiritual substances. So I called one of my good good friends, who just so happened to have a hookup for LSD. He came over at around noon with five blotter tabs. I told him not to be on any while I was going to be on it and to wacth me and be my sitter. He obliged happily. I think he was happy that I wanted to try it so bad for some reason, though I do not know why. Anyways, I swallowed the five tabs and relaxed and had a nice conversation with my friend. We talked about what I was going to experience in the hours to come. He didn't really know the answer (due to the fact that I was blind) and that really excited me. I couldn't wait, I was jittery and filled with adrenalin.

''In the next one or two hours, I felt very strange. I felt as if I was moving very rapidly. I was being pushed, pulled, twisted, and bent in all different directions. It felt good for awhile, but then it started becoming a little nauseating.

''I began to focus on the television which my friend had turned on. I had absolutely no idea what show or movie I was listening to. The voices seemed to be coming from light-years away, but I could hear them with the clarity of as if they were right beside me. They sounded mechanical, and I began to realize that humanity is the primitive life-form on Earth because we can't survive without technology, but animals cope with that fact everyday. We would die out while they would prosper. This is where things really start to entrance me.

''It seems like days into my trip, but it was really only four hours. I know this because I asked my sitter. At around this time. I noticed flashes of a different color than what I am used to seeing. This excited me beyond belief. I was truly happy with my life for the first time. In the minutes to follow, many dozens of different colors, all seemingly unique in a way, exploded into my vision. These began forming pictures only the visually equipped would be able to tell. I had no idea what the outlines were, or what colors I was seeing, but for the first time in my entire life, I saw more than one color. I began to realize that maybe I had hope of renewing my eyes to see this way indefinately, but then I thought it through and new in my mind that this was never going to happen. This depressed me for what seemed like a lifetime.

''Then just as suddenly as they came, the colors faded. This brought me into a huge slump. I felt that I could never be happy again. But over time, I came to accept that fact and just enjoyed the time I was having. I greatly enjoyed the pulling and pushing forces because by this time they were mellowing and not overwhelmingly nauseating. I enjoyed thinking about my life; where I was headed, what had I accomplished, etc. Then surprisingly, my friend had turned on some music on my computer. It was overwhelmingly beautiful. I could hear into the deepest depths of the beats and sounds. I felt like I was the music at one point. He did not shut this off for the rest of my trip. I finally came down off the LSD and I couldn't believe what I had just experienced. It dawned on me that the only chance I had to see color was with the use of LSD. So, I use it every now and then and each successive trip I see more and more detailed images and colors. I hope to see what a normal person sees, but I know it will not happen. For now though, I am completely blissed that I get to experience color at all.''

—LSDTS3