The bad trips kept coming, I wanted nothing more than to take back what I had done

The foul temptress that many of us know as mescaline…

Having never taken any type of hallucinogen before, I’ll start by saying that mescaline is intense, far beyond what any words really can describe. In hindsight, taking the drug at the time that I did was a very bad idea, my tale of adventure and horror will give a little insight as to why.

It was literally the day I returned from my winter break, and I was well aware earlier that I was going to take mescaline, mostly inspired through peer pressure and the fact that it’s always been in my personality to try new things.

I took the drug at exactly noon, my two friends, Mike and Eric, insisted that taking the drug at that point would be significant later on, having tripped on several occasions before, these guys were fully aware of what they were getting themselves into… I had no clue.

So this was all happening during the NFL playoffs, which meant all three of us were watching the Colts/Chargers game. It supposedly takes about 45 minutes to take affect, but time becomes very difficult to grasp while tripping, so I’ll take everyone’s word on this notion.

I began to feel very uneasy and nauseous before anything else. Supreme discomfort enveloped me, and before long parts of the wall and posters all around me began melting. At this exact point, the football game began to get incredibly intense, not just because of the drugs but because it was a very climactic game. I started to realize, actually believe, that the angry crowd from the game was actually all around me, causing even more intense paranoia. Things got much worse than this however, as the timing of this drug became a real issue.

As I said before, taking mescaline at noon would prove significant. I first realized this was true by the simple fact that it was during the day, which meant that people would be EVERYWHERE you looked. Anyone who does this drug, please do it primarily in isolation, with just a few people that you honestly trust, and do it near evening hours. This way most of your trip will be at late hours in the night while there is much less activity outside.

I began to acquire epiphanies, several of them. This is an experience that everyone shares, and is also what makes mescaline so interesting (and intense).

The words ‘bad trip’ literally began to pop in my head, henceforth making my first epiphany a very simple one, I was about to have a very, very wild ride.

It all became far too much for me to sit with my friends, I decided I needed some alone time as their reactions to the drug were making me very nervous. I walked into my room, which I usually refer to as my sanctuary, and immediately noticed my artwork on the walls. I should mention that I am an architecture major, and therefore most drawings I produce are either very technical in detail, or some form of visual advertising.

Artwork becomes its own experience on mescaline, no matter what the quality or attention to detail, every line drawn comes to life, every piece of contrast increases in saturation and intensity, almost to the point of inducing terror. My drawings began to get angry with me, and brought back many painful memories of the stressful all nighters I had to pull in order to complete them. I suppose that as an architecture major, saying my life is stressful is an understatement (making mescaline a bad choice of drug). But regardless, it began to sink in that there was no turning back at this point, epiphany number 2.

The bad trips kept coming, I wanted nothing more than to take back what I had done, guilt, anxiety, and unrelenting fear encapsulated me as I began to imagine my future self as some drug addicted homeless schizophrenic madman. It got even worse when I began to hear a clock ticking in my head, the familiar ticking that you hear on 60 minutes adds, except that I managed to make epiphany number 3 the realization that this clock was in fact counting down to my death… it gets worse.

Panic induced me at this point, I wasn’t ready to die at all. Sure, I had lost my virginity, but there was so much more I wanted to do, like see all the parts of the world I had only seen in photographs. I realized what I had to do, so I went to my laptop to say my goodbyes to all friends.

Luckily, concentrating was very difficult, and by the time I managed to reach my laptop, I barely remembered what I was trying to do. However, once reaching my laptop, I noticed its positioning next to my window, which looked out to a view from the top floor of my rather tall apartment building.

For whatever reason, the dead tree which I saw was not only moving, but also addressed me, in a rather angry manner. The tree was some old man, but furious with me for not speaking with it, when I finally mustered up the courage to talk with it, the angry tree said, ‘why don’t you tell me what you think you’re doing?!’

I responded out loud with, ‘Are you referring to the drugs?’ to which the following dialogue ensued...

Tree: The drugs don’t exist

Me: How?

Tree: You are the drugs, you didn’t take them, they took you, and you have been gone for years.

Me: But it happened today, how can it be years?

Tree: You only think its today, but your life happened years ago.

Me: Can I stop what’s happening?

Tree: Only if you realize…

Me: realize what?

Silence, the ticking began getting louder, turned into pounding, and apparently at some point I was talking so loudly that my sober friend, Brent the babysitter, came to investigate. I tried retelling the story to him (amongst what I’m sure was a bunch of insane babbling), to which he tried with great effort to calm me down. After a while he succeeded though, and the ticking clock in my head even began to subdue. Everything seemed to be calming down for me, until that bastard Ehren had to walk into my room…

The story continues, and yes, I do end up exploring the outside world (which is practically impossible to put in words) but do to the fact that I have a test tomorrow, I will have to continue this in the near future. Hopefully this will if nothing else provide some amusement and entertainment as far as how ridiculous mescaline is. I cannot stress enough however, how important precautions are, you will be thankful in hindsight if you are able to find strategies to avoid bad trips.


So far I have not met anyone who has had a trip as bad as I have, probably because of my lack of ever taking a hallucinogen before. I will say that although hallucinogens may end up happening for me again, I am not sure that mescaline is one that I can do again, it is quite tolling afterwards to say the least.