Reposted by Mike Jay
The tragic story of James Tilly Matthews, a former peace activist of the Napoleonic Wars confined to Bedlam asylum in 1797 for believing that his mind was under the control of the “Air Loom” — a terrifying machine which was brainwashing politicians: publicdomainreview.org/essay/i...
September 5, 2026 at 11:45 AM
The tragic story of James Tilly Matthews, a former peace activist of the Napoleonic Wars confined to Bedlam asylum in 1797 for believing that his mind was under the control of the “Air Loom” — a terrifying machine which was brainwashing politicians: publicdomainreview.org/essay/i...
Reposted by Mike Jay
From fairy-rings to Lewis Carroll's Alice, mushrooms have long been entwined with the supernatural in art + literature. @MikeJayNet on early reports of mushroom-induced trips and how one species became established as a stock motif of Victorian fairyland. publicdomainreview.org/essay/f...
September 3, 2026 at 2:15 PM
From fairy-rings to Lewis Carroll's Alice, mushrooms have long been entwined with the supernatural in art + literature. @MikeJayNet on early reports of mushroom-induced trips and how one species became established as a stock motif of Victorian fairyland. publicdomainreview.org/essay/f...
Reposted by Mike Jay
“Brilliant Visions: Peyote among the Aesthetes”, @MikeJayNet on how the 1890s saw the first systematic explorations by non-indigenous Americans and Europeans into the powerful psychedelic effects of mescaline: https://publicdomainreview.org/essay/brilliant-visions-peyote-among-the-aesthetes
July 13, 2026 at 2:18 PM
“Brilliant Visions: Peyote among the Aesthetes”, @MikeJayNet on how the 1890s saw the first systematic explorations by non-indigenous Americans and Europeans into the powerful psychedelic effects of mescaline: https://publicdomainreview.org/essay/brilliant-visions-peyote-among-the-aesthetes
Reposted by Mike Jay
The story of Humphry Davy's workplace in Bristol told by @mikejay.bsky.social in 'Free Radicals'.
The astonishing & often untold story of the world's first psychedelic commune, in Bristol, is the subject of a new book - released just as the home's new owner is restoring it & opening it up.
Read the full story of the Pneumatic Institution here:
www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol...
Read the full story of the Pneumatic Institution here:
www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol...
Astonishing story of the world's first psychedelic commune - in Bristol
A new book tells the story of the first time Bristol sparked moral panic and outrage
www.bristolpost.co.uk
June 20, 2026 at 10:51 PM
The story of Humphry Davy's workplace in Bristol told by @mikejay.bsky.social in 'Free Radicals'.
Reposted by Mike Jay
In his essay “The Ether Dreams of Fin-de-Siècle Paris”, @MikeJayNet explores how consuming powerful solvents shaped the writings of Guy de Maupassant and Jean Lorrain: https://publicdomainreview.org/essay/ether-dreams
June 11, 2026 at 4:46 PM
In his essay “The Ether Dreams of Fin-de-Siècle Paris”, @MikeJayNet explores how consuming powerful solvents shaped the writings of Guy de Maupassant and Jean Lorrain: https://publicdomainreview.org/essay/ether-dreams
Reposted by Mike Jay
did Ecstasy end football "hooliganism"?
finally finally out OA, in time for the end of the season: link.springer.com/chapter/10.1...
finally finally out OA, in time for the end of the season: link.springer.com/chapter/10.1...
May 28, 2026 at 9:21 AM
did Ecstasy end football "hooliganism"?
finally finally out OA, in time for the end of the season: link.springer.com/chapter/10.1...
finally finally out OA, in time for the end of the season: link.springer.com/chapter/10.1...
Talking nicotine in London, 10th June
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/vice-ritua...
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/vice-ritua...
Vice, Ritual and the New Nicotine: Panel Discussion
Programmed as part of My Lady Nicotine, this panel brings together writer Mattha Busby, cultural historian Mike Jay and exhibiting artists.
www.eventbrite.co.uk
May 20, 2026 at 4:02 PM
Talking nicotine in London, 10th June
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/vice-ritua...
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/vice-ritua...
Paperback £6 this month from Yale, same deal on Psychonauts and Free Radicals
yalebooks.co.uk/book/9780300...
yalebooks.co.uk/book/9780300...
Mescaline - Yale University Press London
A definitive history of mescaline that explores its mind-altering effects across cultures, from ancient America to Western modernity Mescaline became a popul...
yalebooks.co.uk
May 11, 2026 at 4:57 PM
Paperback £6 this month from Yale, same deal on Psychonauts and Free Radicals
yalebooks.co.uk/book/9780300...
yalebooks.co.uk/book/9780300...
Reposted by Mike Jay
“On May 5th, at night, after walking for an hour amidst the scenery of the Avon, at this period rendered exquisitely beautiful by bright moonshine; my mind being in a state of agreeable feeling, I respired six quarts of newly prepared nitrous oxide....” publicdomainreview.org/essay/o...
May 5, 2026 at 2:15 PM
“On May 5th, at night, after walking for an hour amidst the scenery of the Avon, at this period rendered exquisitely beautiful by bright moonshine; my mind being in a state of agreeable feeling, I respired six quarts of newly prepared nitrous oxide....” publicdomainreview.org/essay/o...
Reposted by Mike Jay
“a peculiar lightness ... a horrible feeling of impending death ... a beautiful purplish hue ... My body seemed to be fashioned from wood” — from a New York physician’s 1884 “trip report” after ingesting cannabis and ergot (proto-LSD). More in our latest post: publicdomainreview.org/collection/e...
“A Beautiful Purplish Hue”: Frank Dudley Beane’s Experience with Ergot and Cannabis Indica (1884)
An early contribution to drug literature, in which a man came to be fashioned out of wood.
publicdomainreview.org
April 20, 2026 at 12:50 PM
“a peculiar lightness ... a horrible feeling of impending death ... a beautiful purplish hue ... My body seemed to be fashioned from wood” — from a New York physician’s 1884 “trip report” after ingesting cannabis and ergot (proto-LSD). More in our latest post: publicdomainreview.org/collection/e...
When the legend becomes fact…
mikejay.net/bicycle-day-...
mikejay.net/bicycle-day-...
Bicycle Day Revisited - Mike Jay
What really happened on the first acid trip?
mikejay.net
April 19, 2026 at 4:44 PM
When the legend becomes fact…
mikejay.net/bicycle-day-...
mikejay.net/bicycle-day-...
Reposted by Mike Jay
I wrote a piece about why America, perhaps surprisingly, is falling out of love with cocaine.
It's about cultural and economic shifts, plus exaggerated fears that most cocaine contains fentanyl.
san.com/cc/why-ameri...
It's about cultural and economic shifts, plus exaggerated fears that most cocaine contains fentanyl.
san.com/cc/why-ameri...
Why America is falling out of love with cocaine
America's cocaine use is quietly collapsing — even as the drug floods the market at record purity and historic low prices.
san.com
April 13, 2026 at 10:16 AM
I wrote a piece about why America, perhaps surprisingly, is falling out of love with cocaine.
It's about cultural and economic shifts, plus exaggerated fears that most cocaine contains fentanyl.
san.com/cc/why-ameri...
It's about cultural and economic shifts, plus exaggerated fears that most cocaine contains fentanyl.
san.com/cc/why-ameri...
Reposted by Mike Jay
Finished @mikejay.bsky.social's PSYCHONAUTS. Been a fan since reading his essays in Fortean Times and Anomalist (great piece on Coleridge!). Approachable, with deep insights. Text runs from Freud to Yeats, H.G. Wells, to Crowley, Blavatsky to Baudelaire. Bold, rich, nuanced.. and fun! 🔥 #BookSky
April 9, 2026 at 11:57 AM
Finished @mikejay.bsky.social's PSYCHONAUTS. Been a fan since reading his essays in Fortean Times and Anomalist (great piece on Coleridge!). Approachable, with deep insights. Text runs from Freud to Yeats, H.G. Wells, to Crowley, Blavatsky to Baudelaire. Bold, rich, nuanced.. and fun! 🔥 #BookSky
www.arte.tv/de/videos/12...
Have humans always intoxicated themselves? My thoughts, from the Poison Garden in Alnwick, overdubbed in German
Have humans always intoxicated themselves? My thoughts, from the Poison Garden in Alnwick, overdubbed in German
Haben Menschen sich schon immer berauscht? - Stimmt es, dass ...? - Die ganze Doku | ARTE
Ist der Drogenrausch ein neues Phänomen – entstanden in einer genusssüchtigen Gesellschaft, die keine Grenzen mehr kennt? Funde tausende Jahre alter Drogenartefakte wecken Zweifel. Der Rausch scheint ...
www.arte.tv
April 1, 2026 at 12:04 PM
www.arte.tv/de/videos/12...
Have humans always intoxicated themselves? My thoughts, from the Poison Garden in Alnwick, overdubbed in German
Have humans always intoxicated themselves? My thoughts, from the Poison Garden in Alnwick, overdubbed in German
Reposted by Mike Jay
The Dream-God (1874) - One man's account of his intense and elaborate visions while under the influence of morphine, including 500 foot lizards and conversations with Confucius and Zoroaster. Read it here: http://bit.ly/17TOGOF
March 14, 2026 at 5:46 PM
The Dream-God (1874) - One man's account of his intense and elaborate visions while under the influence of morphine, including 500 foot lizards and conversations with Confucius and Zoroaster. Read it here: http://bit.ly/17TOGOF