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A Tale of Nudity, Arrest & Insanity.....
Datura
Citation:   Crystallinesheen. "A Tale of Nudity, Arrest & Insanity.....: An Experience with Datura (exp17700)". Erowid.org. Sep 24, 2002. erowid.org/exp/17700

 
DOSE:
150 seeds oral Datura (seeds)
BODY WEIGHT: 175 lb
Here's a life changing experience for ya'll....I was just re-reading the stories in the Datura vault, and I decided that my experience would be one that folks would like to read.

So, let's go back a ways...to August 22, 1998, a date that will live in infamy for me. At the time, I had just finished my first year in college, and had been working with relatives in Mississippi that summer to save money & go out to work as a roofer in New Mexico with a college buddy. My father thought I was 'wasting my time' dropping out of college to go roam about the country, but I was ready to get out of my home state of Louisiana and take to the road.

The road led to Dallas, TX, where my buddy (we'll call him Lucifer) was staying with another friend (let's call her E)for a time. The plan was for me to leave Mississippi, go home to Louisiana, and storm out to Dallas......to be free from the clutches of home for the first time of my life. The day I left Louisiana for Texas, I felt a trememdous surge of freedom, almost orgasmic in it's implications. I felt like I had been released from a kind of prison, & was ready to hit Dallas and party for a week before heading on to New Mexico with Lucifer.

The stage is set.....

I arrive in the sprawling metropolis, and experience the debilitating effects of the worst heat wave in the city in years. (Temps were up over 110 with the heat index) It was godawful hot, ya'll! I make my way through the scramble to E's apartment she shared with her mother (a cool hippie type) There, I reunited with my good friends, and we chill and get stoned, catching up on each other's summer adventures up to that point. Eventually, we feel like going out, so Lucifer goes off to visit a girlfriend and E & I go to her boyfriend's apartment complex to go swimming in the pool.

I put on my shorts, placing my wallet & keys into my luggage (an action I was very glad I did later on) and we went off to take a nice cool dip. We arrive, I meet E's boyfriend for the first time, and we splash around for a while. As it starts to get dark, an inpromptu party erupts around the pool, a keg gets brought out, and everyone proceeds to get fucked up, Texas style. The complex seemed to house many college-aged party kids, so there was just partiers coming out of the woodwork! All different kinds of folks, from ghetto gangstas to rave kids to cowboys crowded around, having a mellow time. But this benevolent vibe didn't last for very long. A couple of people pull knives, and I hear someone say, 'He's got a gun' so everyone scatters. We all run into E's boyfriend's apartment to escape the carnage.

Inside, everyone chills out, and soon the bong's going around & the beer is flowing again. I check out the motely collection of people around me: I didn't know a soul, but everyone seemed to be fairly cool, and ready to seriously get down. I had no idea that one of the party attendes was about to unveil something for which there is no words, no explanations, just a magic plant that takes you to the edge of death, and pushes you right over.

That's right, kiddies, enter Jimson Weed onto the stage....

Now, I was familiar with Jimson Weed, having read Carlos Castaneda's experiences with this plant ally. But I had no idea what awaited me........

This guy pulls out a gallon size Ziploc baggie, about halfway filled with some kind of seed. 'This, everyone, is Jimson Weed. It'll make you trip for like, two days...usually, I charge 40 bucks for a dose (indicating that a handfull was a dose) but I'll dose anyone who wants to for free.'

Good god, when someone starts handing out drugs, I'm usually first in line, but the earlier violence outside & the fact that I knew no one there kept me from swallowing the seeds that the dealer handed to me. I decided to wait for my friend Lucifer to return from his girls' house to see if he wanted to trip. A couple of other fellows immediately swallow their handfulls. (In retrospect, after reading hundreds of trip reports on this substance, this guy's recommended dose was WAY too much, I don't even think calling this a 'heroic dose' is doing it justice) I sit and watch to see what the seeds will do to these guys....then after about ten minutes, I'm like 'fuck it' and down the seeds with a swig of beer.

Five minutes later, I know I'm fucked.

One of the guys starts to stare at the wall, unblinking, unresponsive. His behavior is weird because earlier, he had been very lively, but now he was catatonic. I mean this guy was out of it! People started to get worried, when the guy suddenly comes to, leaps up, and dashes out the door. (Later on, the guy said that he realized he was in for the trip of his life, so he went to his apartment, locked himself inside, and spent the next two days destroying his place & locked into the worst form of insanity.) The other guy stood up like the other dude, but started to run into walls as hard as he could. Everyone tried to restrain him, but it was like he was on PCP or something.

Oh shit, I thought, I'm about to become VERY fucking derranged. It was a horrible feeling, and a few minutes later, I started to get the worst stomach cramps of my life,and my body told me, 'You've just poisoned yourself badly, and you might not make it.'

I got very scared, and ran into the bathroom where my stomach proceeded to turn itself inside out. I think this action probably saved my life. After I was finished, I had this feeling like I had drank a couple of cases of beer, and my legs were so wobbly I couldn't hardly walk. Every muscle in my body felt flabby and loose. I returned to the living room, where I felt concern from people.....E was repeatedly asking me, 'Are you OK?' I tried to tell her I wasn't, but my tongue wouldn't work properly. At about this time, I started to feel like there were insects crawling around under my skin, an EXTREMELY uncomfortable sensation. It was so bad that I began to claw at my flesh in order to rip them out. The last thing I remembered was leaping up off of the couch, and running out the door, then, blackness.

I don't know what happened, it was like being in a dream.....entities swirled around me, I had the vague sensation of being around people, but my memories of this time are kinda like recalling a hazy dream...nothing was substantial.

Finally, I woke up. It was morning, and I was in an apartment, lying on the floor curled up in a fetal position, naked. How I had arrived at this particular point in space & time was a mystery to me. My eyes were dry as a desert, and my contacts were sticking to my eyelids, making everything look really fuzzy. The odd thing was, it was like I had woken up into a dream, but I was aware that the dream was 'consensus reality' but a dream, nonetheless. I felt incredibly happy, and full of elation. Suddenly, I was aware of human presences entering the room. Intrigued, I studied them to become aware of their intent. One of the people seemed to be a average middle-aged man, but to my surprise, the other two were wearing uniforms and were armed. 'Why, it's the police!' I thought. 'But why are they here? What is going on?'

The police came over to me and started to ask me questions. I couldn't tell if they were real or not, but I jabbered my jaws in a manner resembling speech, and they seemed satisfied with my answers. One of the officers gets a bedsheet from somewhere and wraps it around me, toga-style. I thought I had changed into someone from Ancient Greece, and couldn't figure out why my hands were being cuffed. Surely the Greeks need their hands free! I was led out into the bright sunshine, when I realized just how thirsty and sensitive to light my eyes were. But I was just having the greatest time getting arrested! It was like I was aware of this happening to me, but I was so far away, I was like, 'It's a dream, and I'll wake up back in my bed in Louisiana.' So I went along with the officers to see where they would take me. Along the way, I tried to make jolly conversation from the backseat, realizing that I'm being arrested. 'So tell me, gentlemen, what exactly am I being arrested for?' They wouldn't respond. 'Oh well, I thought, and continued my conversation with the other people in the backseat with me. It was weird, I was talking to this guy in the backseat and he promptly dissappeared! But I really wasn't disturbed by this.

The cops continued to ply me with questions, like 'Which day is this? The year? Who's the President', and other such inanities. I answered them all with gusto & personality, because I wanted them to like me. In response to their question, 'So what drugs do you like to do?' I responded, 'Well, I just got really drunk at the kegger last night, officer, and I just don't know what happened after that!' Now that I look back on that, I am glad I instinctly knew to not admit the fact that I was blasted on Jimson Weed, therby saving me three days in the Psycho Ward.

We pull into the giant structure located in the heart of Dallas which is the Dallas county jail. I was led into the heart of processing, and I was convinced that I was in an airport for some reason, what with all of the hubbub around me. My toga kept falling off, revealing my nakedness to hundreds of people, but I was so far out there, I didn't even notice until cops kept putting my sheet back on. After the volley of fingerprinting & paperwork, I was led into a single cell and given an orange jumpsuit to wear. Man, getting locked into a cell while mad on Jimson Weed is something to behold. I immediately realized my situation, and got 'serious' in a dissociated sort of way. It was the first time I had ever been in jail, but the emotional impact of this was lost on me, as I was totally oblivious to everything. It was like the feeling you get when you wake up out of a deep sleep, you know, that 'out of it' feeling? It was like that, except about 100 times stronger. I tried to get my faculties in order, but was tripping so hard still, I couldn't do anything but wait.

I think I was put in my cell at about eight in the morning, and stayed in there until about ten o'clock at night. It was like I turned on my 'survival mode', and even ate the shitty prison food, because I knew I needed to keep up my strength. As the day wore on, I started to come back to reality, and I started to worry about exactly what I had done to get here. Had I killed somebody? Attacked someone? I had no idea of the seriousness transgression that had landed me here, and no one would tell me. Finally, at long last, a jailer came and let me out, handcuffing me to a group of about ten other people. 'Okay, people, it's time to go see the judge!'

Alright, I thought, now I get to find out what I had done. After arriving in the courtroom, the judge scrolled down the list, and finally, when she got to my name, I feared the worst. The charge:

Disorderly Conduct.

'Whew,' I thought, 'doesn't sound so serious!' I was elated in a way. The next thing I know, I'm going through another set of corridors to stand in another line. The friendly jailer keeps us all there, joking about what we were we all going to do when we got out. 'I bet ya'll all will go get drunk, huh?' he grinned, and looked at me, 'What in the hell did you do'? 'I don't know, but I got seriously wasted last night and got into some shit!' Everyone laughed, as obviously I was on very powerful drugs and probably looked like shit. The jailer gives me some street clothes and shoes ( I had been wandering around the jail all day shoeless as well) and miraculously, lets us go!

I was elated, until I realized I had no money, had no idea where I was, and was still tripping VERY fucking hard. In jail, I had been surrounded by a lot of people, and I kept feeling like they were all still around me. I was at a loss of what to do, so I just set out walking. Spirits kept revolving around me, kinda like the way electrons surround an atom. As I walked, my trip seemed to grow in intensity. I recall myself just having great conversations with all of my friends, then just realizing, 'Wait, they aren't here,' and then seeing another one of my friends walking beside me and renewing my conversation. I remember seeing Lucifer, and running up to him to tell him about my experience so far. 'Man, you should have kept me from the cops, like, what the fuck, dude!' and he would just smile and then disappear. Eventually, I found myself rapidly walking out of town into some weird area, the kind of place I'd normally be paranoid driving through at night sober....not to mention on foot, out of my head on Jimson Weed. Amazingly, I felt no fear, as the spirits surrounding me revealed themselves to be my 'guardian angels'. They were spirits of my ancestors, and of people I had never met. I somehow knew they were gonna help me survive this experience, and keep me from harm.

I decided to walk back into the city, and a new problem manifested itself. As I stated previously, Dallas was in the middle of a heat wave, and I was desprately hot & thirsty. Earlier that summer, I had suffered heat exhaustion, and I felt my body slipping back into that state. My survival instinct kicked in, and I managed to keep myself hydrated by drinking out of water sprinklers and gutters. I knew if I didn't keep myself hydrated, I would die. I imagine that a lot of the thirst was directly caused by the Jimson Weed, man, that stuff just sucks it out of you!

I finally reached a point, after walking around the city for several hours, that my body needed rest, so I found a spot under an overpass with an spectacular view of the city. I went to sleep, and woke up at dawn. Immediately upon waking, I resumed my walking. My delierium seemed to be increasing as the day progressed & the temperature climbed. It seemed like I just couldn't keep enough fluids in me, and that I was slowly dying. Suddenly, I had a flash of memory. I remembered the name of the street that E's apartment was on! Encouraged by this recall, I asked everyone I ran into until I was pointed in the right direction. 'It's about six miles that way,' said some denizen of the city.

Great. Another six miles in this heat, along the side of one of the main expressways in the city. It was like the Battan Death march to me, I knew that I was in a struggle for my life-and there was no more water to be found. I knew I was getting very close, but the heat exhaustion claimed me, and I knew my situation was getting critical. I called on my guardian spirits to help me, but they were nowhere to be found. Out of the blue, I hear a cry, 'Hey man, come over here and get some water! You don't look so good!'
I looked to where the voice was coming from, and spied a city workcrew, and a black man was waving me over to their water cooler. At first, I thought these were imaginary people like all of the rest, but then a took a swig of water and realized that the spirits had saved me once again. I looked at the man who had called me over, and realized that his spirit was one of the ones that had accompanied me since I had gotten out of jail. He was like a redeeming angel. I gushed thanks to him, and asked him if I was close to the street I was looking for. 'Yeah, it's right over there, about a couple of blocks up.' Eureka! I was going to survive after all!

I stagger the rest of the way to the street, and then follow it to the apartment building where E lived. I went to her door, and knocked. Lucifer opens the door, and totally flips out. We were very glad to see one another, as they all thought I was dead. I don't remember anything except falling out on the floor in a dead faint, aware that I had made it out of the most trying event of my life.

The Aftermath

It took me about four days to get back to 'normal'. I had to use a cane to walk for about a week after, as my body had been smashed like I had been in a motorcycle accident. Evidently I had fallen repeatedly during my blackout phase. I pieced together what had happened to me with the help of people who had been at the party. Seems that I had jumped up out of the apartment, took off all of my clothes, and spent the rest of the evening jumping in and out of the pool (accounting for all of the abrasions & lacerations suffered from banging into concrete repeatedly) What got the cops called was that I started to go up to people's apartments (stark naked, of course) and saying, 'I am the TERMINATOR,' then laughing gleefully and running away. So I didn't do anything too bad. The worst thing that came out of the entire ordeal was that E's boyfriend got kicked out of his apartment because of my behavior. Turns out the guy who had been with the cops when I came to was the apartment manager, and that my arrest was enough to get E's boyfriend & roomates kicked out. Pretty weak reasoning, but shit happens, I guess. Surprisingly, the boyfriend & roomates weren't really mad at me, saying 'It could have happened to any one of us, dude.' I was decent and helped them move their shit out, while I did this, I had all of these people who lived in the complex make comments like, 'Fucked up, weren't ya?' and 'nice ass' and shit like that. Hey, I would have laughed at me too!

I will NEVER do Jimson Weed again, but I am glad for the experience. If any of ya'll do it, be out somewhere FAR AWAY from civilization, with plenty of good trip-sitters. And prepare to have one foot in the land of the dead, and one in the land of the living for about three days. This experience changed me as much as my first acid trip did, but this plant will make you realize what death is all about. It was said that Jim Morrison, known for his seemingly superhuman ability to consume substances without any ill effect was permanently changed by this weed, as was I. Be careful, ya'll, and stay away from this stuff, because its trip is a death trip.

Love and light........

Exp Year: 1998ExpID: 17700
Gender: Male 
Age at time of experience: Not Given
Published: Sep 24, 2002Views: 300,683
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Datura (15), Police / Customs (60) : First Times (2), Train Wrecks & Trip Disasters (7), Various (28)

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