Dear Readers,
In the fifth installment of the History on Drugs podcast, John O’Connor joins me to discuss his recently published book—The Secret History of Bigfoot: Field Notes on a North American Monster (Sourcebooks, 2024)—along with his new project on psychedelic guru Terence McKenna.
We talk about the psychedelic renaissance, John’s trip to Colombia’s Putomayo region, how to successfully combine your coca and tobacco, the similarities between the “psychonauts” of the 1970s and today’s Bigfoot hunters, and many other topics, from life in the social-media age to fishing in Vermont.
As always, the episode is available through Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, Pocketcasts, and the Substack app.
Episode Outline
0:00-5:18: Introduction.
5:18-12:58: Social media and its discontents.
15:58-19:10: Origins of John’s Terence McKenna project.
19:10-27:47: McKenna, La Chorrera, psilocybin, and hashish smuggling.
27:47-36:02: John’s trip to Colombia and Isaac’s decision to abandon that trip.
36:02-45:00: Visiting La Chorrera, life there, and taking coca and tobacco with the locals.
45:00-59:05: John’s dad pursues psychedelic therapy, the Saskatchewan LSD experiments, treating alcoholism with LSD, Erika Dyck, Roland Griffiths.
59:05-1:08:16: Psychedelic legalization versus marijuana legalization, what is the economic model for legal psychedelics? Will LSD make a comeback?
1:08:16-1:24:06: Bigfoot hunting versus psychedelic hunting, academics in the wild, conspiracy theories versus expertise, encountering Bigfooters while on tour.
1:24:06: Outro.
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