The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test

In Chapter 11, Wolfe makes the case that “things were getting very psychic” with the Pranksters, referring to the “group mind” that had developed (124). He also makes the case that an unmistakably religious element exists in the Kesey and Merry Prankster subculture. Salvation or immortality isn’t their goal, and their religiosity is based instead on “the experience.” Wolfe notes that all of the great religions “began with an overwhelming new experience” (126-27). Wolfe writes at some length about similarities between Kesey and the Merry Pranksters and the origins of religion, explaining that it has always been the case that seminal religious groups divide the world into the “aware” and “unaware,” just as Kesey has divided the world into those who have had “the experience” and those who have not, or those who are “on the bus” or “off the bus” (129).

Soon there are new people showing up in La Honda. They are never turned away as long as they are “attuned” (130). Most prominent of these is Carolyn Adams, a smart 18-year-old from a middle-class background nicknamed “Mountain Girl,” and “The Hermit,” an 18-year-old runaway who had been living in the nearby woods. The days at Kesey’s are spent mostly trying to complete “The Movie,” editing the 45 hours of film shot during the bus trip into a real film that could be shown commercially (136). Wolfe points out that Kesey is not only bankrolling the film, which will cost roughly $70,000, but also paying the living expenses of all the Pranksters, roughly $20,000 for the year (137). The money comes from royalties on his books. Their experiments with acid and audio/video recording continue in La Honda and a fascination with synchronicity develops among them.

Wolfe begins Chapter 12 with a satirical police warrant and then goes on to explain that “the citizens of La Honda were becoming more and more exercised about Kesey and the Pranksters, and so were the San Mateo County Sheriff and federal narcotics officials” (150). Authorities began surveilling Kesey’s place in 1964, but the Pranksters were aware of it, so they made a game out of it and mocked the authorities with handmade signs (150). When a raid finally takes place the following spring, they find no drugs, but Kesey is arrested for hitting an officer. With the arrest of Kesey and the ensuing legal process, the San Francisco papers take an interest in the group and the lifestyle of the Pranksters becomes truly public for the first time (152). This results in even more newcomers turning up at Kesey’s home.

One of them is a 17-year-old playwright and journalist named Norman Hartweg. Hartweg wants to write a story about the group and also agrees to edit their movie. He came expecting to find an atmosphere like that of Tibetan monks, but instead finds the entire place strange. An intellectual, he has a hard time fitting in. Eventually, some of the Pranksters chide Hartweg for being lazy and not contributing to the group. One of them suggests Hartweg reads too much and this is bad for the group dynamic (162). According to Wolfe, discussions such as this one about Hartweg amounted to group therapy, but “like a marathon encounter in group therapy, in which everybody is together for days, probing everybody’s weaknesses, bringing everything out front” (164-65).