Naked Guy On LSD Arrested After Chasing Seagulls On Lake Michigan Beach
On the northeastern shores of Lake Michigan sits Petoskey State Park, a place where families spend sunny summer days enjoying the park’s idyllic beach on Little Traverse Bay, taking in the magnificent scenery of one of America’s famous Great Lakes. Typically, the seagulls of Lake Michigan frolic on the beach unprovoked, but that changed this past Sunday afternoon when one Ann Arbor man, tripping on LSD and missing all his clothes, decided to start chasing them around the beach and making what must have been quite a scene for the weekend beachgoers.
According to Petoskey News, police were called to the scene, by which time the naked man had reportedly already dove into the pavement of the parking lot as if it were a body of water. The man began screaming at and threatening the trooper who arrived at the absurd scene but was eventually calmed down verbally by the officer and arrested without a physical altercation. The 22-year-old man, who police have not identified, was taken to McLaren Northern Michigan Hospital and treated for the injuries he sustained from his dive into the pavement.
Witnesses on the scene told police that the man had taken LSD earlier in the day, which could explain his odd behavior. Police said the man was charged with disorderly and obscene conduct, indecent exposure, possession of marijuana, and resisting arrest. He was booked at Emmet County Jail after being treated at the hospital for his injuries.
LSD, or lysergic acid diethylamide, was first synthesized by Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann in 1938. According to the New York Times, Hofmann discovered the psychoactive properties of LSD five years later when he accidentally ingested the substance in his lab and began to feel some strange effects. A few days later, Hofmann took a larger dose and experienced the world’s first “LSD trip.”
Hofmann went on to experiment with LSD throughout his life and believed it could be used as a powerful psychiatric and spiritual tool. He believed that LSD could be used to help people get more in touch with the natural world. He was, however, not a fan of the casual use of LSD as a form of personal entertainment, and believed it should be experienced in the same way that cultures historically approached the use of sacred plants, such as psilocybin mushrooms and peyote cactus.
It’s not clear if the naked Michigan man had such lofty pursuits in mind when he initially decided to drop LSD at Michigan’s Petoskey State Park on Sunday, but the result was obviously not something that would make Dr. Albert Hofmann proud. Perhaps his arrest will result in the decision to avoid LSD, or at least take more care when using it in the future.
[Featured Image by Artsy Imagery/Shutterstock]
