← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · toddbrendanfahey
Thread ID: 6291 | Posts: 13 | Started: 2003-04-23
2003-04-23 06:31 | User Profile
Documents on "Captain" Al Hubbard: The "Johnny Appleseed of LSD"
at TheMemoryHole.org (click link above)
[img]http://www.thememoryhole.org/hubbard/hubbard.gif[/img]
For such a pivotal character in recent history, Al Hubbard is remarkably little known. He is the unsung man who almost single-handedly introduced the world to LSD, as well as (to a lesser degree) mescaline and psilocybin. Albert Hoffman may have invented LSD, but Hubbard is the one who, in the very early years, gave it away like candy to some of the most influential people on the planet.
A true cipher, Hubbard was visionary, eccentric, friendly, and mysterious. At various times, he was an intelligence agent, an inventor, a millionaire, a clinical therapist, and more. There appear to be links between Hubbard and MKULTRA, the CIA program that researched behavior modification using LSD and other substances and techniques.
The definitive article on Hubbard is "The Original Captain Trips" by Todd Brendan Fahey, who also wrote a novel (Wisdom's Maw) that prominently features Hubbard. While researching Hubbard, Todd was given access to a cache of primary documents about the "acid messiah." This material has never been seen publicly until now. Todd has scanned these rare, one-of-a-kind documents and graciously sent them to us for posting.
2003-04-23 16:41 | User Profile
I am particularly impressed by the document that makes reference to LSD as a "weapon aimed at political change." I have not had the opportunity to read Wisdom's Maw itself, but what I have read written about it is certainly now confirmed by this document--the "fact" portion of the term "factionalization" that describes that novel's genre seems to be reaffirmed.
And I wonder why the names of 2 SF-area psychiatrists are blacked out on the FDA form....
Also, who has these documents that were scanned into the memoryhole site? Are these still in your personal possession, TBF, in Korea? If so, are they copies or the actual originals themselves? If the originals, which I think they may be since the term "primary" is used in the memoryhole intro, then you have done a tremendous service to future political and scientific historians by scanning them and making them publically available.
I say this especially because we know that there are forces at work in the world which would seek to suppress the true extent of government "experiments" aimed at effecting political change. At least if government agents came and burned your house down or something, the documents are electronically preserved and knowledge of their existence is more widely known as a result of the web exposure. No wonder they hate the Internet (another government creation, ironically).
2003-04-23 18:24 | User Profile
Related OD threads:
[url=http://forum.originaldissent.com/index.php?act=ST&f=11&t=1838]Alfred M. Hubbard: The Original Captain Trips, CIA + LSD = MKUltra[/url]
[url=http://forum.originaldissent.com/index.php?act=ST&f=10&t=1018]Wisdom's Maw: The Story Behind the Story, CIA + LSD[/url]
2003-04-23 23:40 | User Profile
Thanks again for the kind words, PaleoconAvatar.
I think the less is said about the whereabouts of the documents and whether they are originals the better. ...for reasons you alluded to in yr post above.
I can say that there are more materials, which were misplaced in moving my documents from a storage locker in Louisiana; two of these are Al Hubbard's original typescript resumes, on fragile onion-skin paper. Might take some time to recover those, but I know they're not lost; just in a place wherein I have no easy access to them.
& I have a cache of analog audio-tapes (microcassettes) from my interviews with about 10 people, related to the Al Hubbard article and Wisdom's Maw which need to be transferred into digital format, for 'net upload.
Am also interviewing right now a woman who lived on the island right next to Hubbard's (Daymen Island and Thetis Island) in the Puget Sound near Vancouver, Canada. Mind-bending first-hand remembrances, of drug- and weapons-running (her late father was an associate of Hubbard) and other weirder skullduggery.
Al Hubbard was a true original. Timothy Leary told me that he (Hubbard) was also a spy with diplomatic immunity from and of the Vatican, in addition to his spook-work for the U.S. and Canada.
I'll continue on w/ the Hubbard research until I run out the road of material. It's a fascinating subject to me, and has brought me into contact w/ some strange and occasionally powerful characters.
Best, TBF
2003-04-24 01:16 | User Profile
Al Hubbard was a true original. Timothy Leary told me that he (Hubbard) was also a spy with diplomatic immunity from and of the Vatican, in addition to his spook-work for the U.S. and Canada.
The Vatican? Didn't expect that one. Of course, I was wondering why that document from the Church source was included in the memoryhole.org collection you posted the link to. It gets more and more interesting the deeper you dig down.
I'll continue on w/ the Hubbard research until I run out the road of material. It's a fascinating subject to me, and has brought me into contact w/ some strange and occasionally powerful characters.
Excellent! Good luck with your research. Keep us informed here at OD.
2003-04-24 01:31 | User Profile
Paleo:
Will do. ...but I get the distinct drift (from the silence at these threads, aside from your interest) that OD ain't really the best audience at which to air this kind of material. If you know what I mean.
2003-04-24 02:26 | User Profile
**Paleo:
Will do. ...but I get the distinct drift (from the silence at these threads, aside from your interest) that OD ain't really the best audience at which to air this kind of material. If you know what I mean.**
I see. My interests are very eclectic. I tend to become curious whenever I detect that there is information of a political nature that I'm "officially not supposed to know." If the government (or influential major corporation or other private entity) is hiding things, or somehow doing something that it doesn't want to have seen in open view, I want to know about it. I like knowing "the rest of the story," and about history that has been overlooked or deliberately whitewashed. I feel that it's in my interest to keep myself as connected and well-informed as possible, so here I am, poking into obscure (and not-so-obscure) corners of the Internet. That's the sort of inquisitive nature that got me here in the first place, and why I have the politics that I do--I'm open to info and sources that other people might be too blind or programmed to give a chance to. The funny thing is that the liberals and neocons of the world say that as a rabid right-winger, I'm supposed to be the "closed minded" one. As may now be apparent, I'm far from closed-minded. That's their loss, though--that's what they get for "assuming." I can only hope they meet with more "complex" surprises from unknown quarters in the future, the bastards.
You, TBF, have something valuable that I want: information derived from experience and hard-to-find research resources. I also know I can trust that information since you're on the side of the "good guys" as an America-First Constitutionalist, et al. I'm a bit younger than you (at 25), so you know things I can learn. That's why it's in my interest to read your threads, poke around at your websites, etc. I do appreciate your work, and the interesting "behind the scenes" stories you often tell. I, for instance, never knew that "Torie" was McCain's PR woman--it becomes so clear to see those connections among the incestuous elite that (mis)governs this country.
If you feel you'd be wasting your time posting your wares at OD, please feel free to PM me a link to where I might reliably find them in the future. [I can be e-mailed at pfallavollita@aol.com as well.] I know about sianews.com and that you're working with thememoryhole.org, and there's an old archive at the Disinfo site, but if there are other sites you post to or publish articles at, please let me know the URL. Keep me abreast of your projects. I do try to stay "in the loop."
Of course, maybe you shouldn't give up on OD just yet. It could be that people are following your threads and finding your work informative and relevant to their lives, but just haven't spoken up about it. When people hate a TV show, for example, they write letters in to the network to complain, but the loyal viewers may not think to write in and say that they support the show since to them, on their end, they are satisfied and everything seems good.
2003-04-24 04:21 | User Profile
I'm not "giving up on OD." I like this site...aside from flame-baiters/single-issue assholes like "weisbrot," that is, ho ho...
But I'm realistic in that my libertarian and conspiracist tendencies put me in a marginal corner here. That said, as a Jeffersonian anti-federalist, the limited government angle of this site is what I come here for.
I'll keep posting here, even though only a coupla folks ever respond to my posts. I know by the "thread viewed -- times" that folks READ my posts...but for whatever reason aren't inclined to respond. (Except for "weisbrot," who's been told by moderator Sertorius to "keep it on-topic," avoid ad-hominae and red-herrings, but chooses to disregard the moderators' counsel...which leads more and more, to disregard the moderators' legitimacies here).
Mo' latte. TBF
2003-04-25 04:50 | User Profile
TD: If you are interested, I do read your posts and find them to be interesting. I also find that your flaming and cursing at Weisbot to be wrong and wish you would knock it off, along with your complaining about the moderators here on OD.
Anyway, was looking over your stuff of Hubbard and found it interesting, though confusing.
A couple of questions came to mind about this LSD stuff: namely, did anything positive come out of the LSD "movement?" I understand it was used to treat problem drinkers: did this pan out? Also, did LSD ever help develop some sort of "cosmic conciousness"?
Do you see a positive side to these drugs?
I understand that Huxley came to look at them in a negative light.
If you are inclined would be interested in your comments.
BTW thanks for the info you did on good old "Torie".
If you are interested, I took "EtherZone" off my list of favorites and no longer go there.
2003-04-25 05:38 | User Profile
Lane,
Thanks for the interest and constructive criticisms. My problem w/ "weisbrot" is, that Moderator Sertorius assured me that he ("weisbrot") was told to stay on-topic or stay off my threads; but every time I begin a thread, "weisbrot" links to the notorious Carbon 14 interview of mine, apropos of nothing. Thus, "weisbrot" is either thumbing his nose at Sertorius; or, Sertorius has no power/authority here; or, Sertorius ain't enforcing his original warning to "weisbrot."
So if "weisbrot" is free to issue antagonistic posts, I'll sure as f*ck dish it back. (Have never been a fan of "Moderators," anyway, which is why I spend so much time on LibertyForum...but that's another story).
As to LSD:
1) Huxley took 100mic straight into his atrophied thigh, by his own request (intermuscular injection) on his death bed, and his wife read to him from the Tibetan Book of the Dead as he was shedding the mortal coil. He was a Believer in psychedelics to the very second of his death. & a highly-articulate and reasoned champion of them (he counseled against solo-tripping; encouraged that it be done in small groups and with a non-tripping guide always present; and spoke always of the power of "set and setting"--e.g., know and trust those with whom you're tripping and do it in a comfortable, low-anxiety locale).
Read Huxley's The Doors of Perception (mescaline) and Heaven and Hell (LSD), if you haven't already.
2) Speaking only for myself, I've certainly learned a lot via use of psychedelics, and don't regret a single minute of any of my substantial journeys. Your mileage may vary. I would never recommend that anyone "try it," as the mind is a singular thing, and you ain't got mine and vice versa. But for me, psychedelics are beneficial to mind and spirit (and non-toxic, so far as their effects on the body).
I grew magic mushrooms in Louisiana (from a kit); picked whole garbage bags full, straight out of cow-sh*t in the sticky August/September months. Fun fun. Am more cautious about LSD these days (have taken it only a few times since 1996); 10 hours is a long time, and I've found that I don't "learn much" anymore from the experience.
I avoid Ecstasy (MDMA), as it wreaks havoc on the synapses (neuro-muscular jitters; twitching of the optical muscles), and the next-day crash is brutal. Would never take MDMA again (have done it mebbe 6 times total).
Am dope-free these days; but when I return to Thailand, I will smoke marijuana. Wd rather puff a reefer than drink a beer (my choice; & Gubm't can stuff it).
I guess that kind of libertarian honesty is off-putting to some OD members; never portended to be a Puritan, and I don't ask others how much coffee/tea/chocolate/beer/cigarettes they might indulge in, all of which are Mood Altering Substances.
Best, TBF
2003-04-25 05:56 | User Profile
Originally posted by toddbrendanfahey@Apr 23 2003, 06:31 A true cipher, Hubbard was visionary, eccentric, friendly, and mysterious. At various times, he was an intelligence agent, an inventor, a millionaire, a clinical therapist, and more. There appear to be links between Hubbard and MKULTRA, the CIA program that researched behavior modification using LSD and other substances and techniques.**** I'm sure you know a lot more about this Todd than I know or really want to know. I wonder if you might elaborate a little on the CIA connection. Most references I'd heard regarding this did not view this connection positively.
2003-04-25 06:15 | User Profile
I wonder if you might elaborate a little on the CIA connection.
Okie: There's no way to "elaborate a little" on the CIA/LSD axis. That's why I wrote a book about it, which took me 4 years to research and complete.
Try a Google search, and then refine yr question(s) down to something manageable and I'll be happy (to try) to answer.
Best, TBF
2003-04-25 06:23 | User Profile
Todd:
I don't find your "libertarian honesty" to be a problem.
You might be surprised to find out what upright (and sometimes uptight) conservatives like me were up to when we out roaming around.
I did find that things like the study of good books, doing "walkabouts", going off by myself in lonely places and just raising a family and interacting with the "normal" world was better than LSD, etc.
Anyway, will read Huxley and probably even buy your book.