The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test

Following Stark Naked’s episode in Houston, she is taken by police to the county psychiatric ward. The Pranksters seem to think that she already suffered from mental illness and that her actions were not a result of the drugs. The attitudes and feelings on the bus become somewhat tense because of the lack of sleep, the smoldering heat, and the fact that Kesey has chosen to take a route to New York through the Deep South. In New Orleans, the Pranksters visit a beach and some go for a swim without realizing that it is a racially segregated beach. Next, they visit a friend of Ken Babbs in Pensacola, Florida, where Sandy Lehmann Haupt, known on the bus as “Dis-mount,” takes a large dose of unauthorized acid in an attempt to overcome his lack of sleep. The result is a paranoid acid trip which he tries to hide from the others. Eventually, Sandy admits what he did, and at first he is consoled by Kesey, but then is told by him “if you think I’m going to be your guide for this trip, you’re sadly mistaken” (97).