Lysergacide: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream
- Thread starter Whanztastic
- Start date
Haha those are some good titles. Except I see Hemingway going more along the lines of The Electric Scotch and Soda Test.
“You all act if I know what I was doing. All of history is full of accidents. Accidents are what makes history interesting. Creating LAD was not an accident, but me ingesting it on the very first day of synthesizing was definitely an accident. Me spilling it in my beer, even more so.”
Oscar Rennebohm, speaking on the 30th anniversary of “L Ride Day”
Chapter One: In the Beginning
The year was 1913. A cold and rainy day; it was a beautiful Chicago spring, perfect for a funeral. And that was exactly where Claude Howard Seale found himself. His father’s funeral, to be precise. Gideon Daniel Searle had just left the family company to his son. <1> G.D. Searle & Company had been incorporated just five years prior. The elder Searle had been a Civil War vet, who founded Searle and Hereth Co. in 1888 with friend, and former chief chemist at Eli Lilly, Frank Hereth. The company was moderately successful, becoming a regional powerhouse. Its chief business strategy was to sell directly to physicians, skipping the druggist middle man, thus making products marginally cheaper and more accessible.
With his father’s death, Claude Searle ascended to become President of G.D. Searle & Company. With this new blood came new ideas, both in the board room and the laboratory. The new President Searle instantaneously shifted his companies efforts towards research <2>, realizing with new innovations and products came opportunities that no one else could compete with. Those first five years were a time of great creativity and development for the newly renamed Searle Pharmaceuticals. Their first great achievement was Metamucil. Although not exactly the most exciting discovery, it was an overnight success in sales. Searle Pharmaceuticals began to grow beyond the Midwest.
With its grasp spreading, Searle dropped its long-standing tradition of dealing straight with physicians and returned to the usual business of selling to pharmacies. In the Chicago area, a deal was done that would change the face of American business forever. Searle Pharmaceuticals actually bought its own pharmacy brand, the recent upstart Walgreen Co. Charles Rudolph Walgreen, founder and owner, agreed to the buy-out only under the condition that Walgreen was kept on as the manager of the pharmacies division and he have total control of decision-making as long as Walgreen Co. kept in the black, which it did, even during the Great Depression. <3>
An interesting relationship developed between the Searles and Walgreens. Charles Walgreen Sr. was several years older than Claude Walgreen. Although he was his boss, Claude learned a great deal from Charles and would deliver his eulogy in 1940, calling him a “mentor and a friend.” Claude in return became a mentor to Charles Jr. after his father’s death. This symbiotic relationship continues to the present day with Kevin Walgreen acting as mentor to the latest scion of the Searle family, David.
Besides Metamucil, many other products and chemicals were invented and subsequently patented by Searle Pharmaceuticals. Most however had no apparent use and just stayed on the back shelf, never to see the light of day. Of interesting note, one drug that Searle developed and did not even bother to patent was Methylenedioxymethamphetamine, more commonly known as MDMA or “Rapture.” This drug was not even known to the wider world until the 1980’s when the German pharmaceutical company Merck started distributing it. In fact, Merck’s discovery of MDMA predated Searle’s creation, with Merck creating it in 1912 and Searle independently creating it in 1917. Of course, Rapture went on to become an infamous drug during the 1990’s. Only afterward did Searle realize it had the same drug sitting on its shelf since 1917.
One of its developments during this time that did not go unnoticed was lysergic acid diethylamide. LAD was first synthesized by Oscar Rennebohm <4> on April 19, 1918. It was also on that day that Oscar Rennebohm accidentally dripped a small amount of LAD in his Yusay Pilsner from the Pilsen Brewing Company during his lunch break. Although this incident may seem impossible to the modern reader, one must realize that workplace safety was not what it is today, even when dealing with unknown chemicals. When the drug began to take a hold on him, Rennebohm asked an underling at the labs to escort him home. Rennebohm took the elevated train or “L” home while going on the first LAD “ride” in history. Due to this event, the Chicago “L” has been a common place to experience an LAD ride, especially at night due to the effect that a glittering city scape whisking by the the windows has to a person experiencing an acid ride. It is of synchronistic historical occurrence that LAD has the slang name of “L,” the etymology being due to Lysergacide beginning with the letter “L,” and that the Chicago “L” share the same nickname and that the elevated train played such a vital role in the very beginning of LAD’s history. Rennebohm did not publish about his first experience with LAD until 1943 in the seminal work “The Chicago Connection.” (Chicago and LAD will be connected from the very beginning, with examples of the acid culture being still prevalent in the city today, especially in the neighborhoods of Hyde Park on the South Side and Lakeview on the North).
Upon arriving home, Rennebohm’s neighbor, manager at the Pilsen Brewing Company, the beer which held the first LAD dosage (which turned out to be roughly five times the necessary threshold dosage), assisted his friend through this first ride in history. The neighbor would later quote Rennebohm saying, “It is like he was singing to the moon!” Rennebohm survived the adventure and went back to Searle laboratories the next day to look for practical implications of his new discovery.
<1> I guess this is the POD. Gideon Searle would die several years later IOTL. His early death has a butterfly effect.
<2> Claude's focus on research is OTL. The background information about GD Searle and Co is all OTL. Searle is probably best known IOTL for Enovid, or "The Pill", which is ironic considering that the Searles are Catholic.
<3> Walgreen being pulled along should have some interesting impacts. Perhaps expect a Walgreen vs. Sears showdown. And Walgreen stayed afloat even IOTL.
<4> I guess this is another POD. I chose him, a minor Wisconsin Governor IOTL, as the inventor because he was a chemist/pharmacist and with Searle expanding the research wing of its company, he being from the region could head south to Chicago for a job. Also, this is the same day of the year as OTL's Bicycle Day. I didn't have the heart to change that.
Oscar Rennebohm, speaking on the 30th anniversary of “L Ride Day”
Chapter One: In the Beginning
The year was 1913. A cold and rainy day; it was a beautiful Chicago spring, perfect for a funeral. And that was exactly where Claude Howard Seale found himself. His father’s funeral, to be precise. Gideon Daniel Searle had just left the family company to his son. <1> G.D. Searle & Company had been incorporated just five years prior. The elder Searle had been a Civil War vet, who founded Searle and Hereth Co. in 1888 with friend, and former chief chemist at Eli Lilly, Frank Hereth. The company was moderately successful, becoming a regional powerhouse. Its chief business strategy was to sell directly to physicians, skipping the druggist middle man, thus making products marginally cheaper and more accessible.
With his father’s death, Claude Searle ascended to become President of G.D. Searle & Company. With this new blood came new ideas, both in the board room and the laboratory. The new President Searle instantaneously shifted his companies efforts towards research <2>, realizing with new innovations and products came opportunities that no one else could compete with. Those first five years were a time of great creativity and development for the newly renamed Searle Pharmaceuticals. Their first great achievement was Metamucil. Although not exactly the most exciting discovery, it was an overnight success in sales. Searle Pharmaceuticals began to grow beyond the Midwest.
With its grasp spreading, Searle dropped its long-standing tradition of dealing straight with physicians and returned to the usual business of selling to pharmacies. In the Chicago area, a deal was done that would change the face of American business forever. Searle Pharmaceuticals actually bought its own pharmacy brand, the recent upstart Walgreen Co. Charles Rudolph Walgreen, founder and owner, agreed to the buy-out only under the condition that Walgreen was kept on as the manager of the pharmacies division and he have total control of decision-making as long as Walgreen Co. kept in the black, which it did, even during the Great Depression. <3>
An interesting relationship developed between the Searles and Walgreens. Charles Walgreen Sr. was several years older than Claude Walgreen. Although he was his boss, Claude learned a great deal from Charles and would deliver his eulogy in 1940, calling him a “mentor and a friend.” Claude in return became a mentor to Charles Jr. after his father’s death. This symbiotic relationship continues to the present day with Kevin Walgreen acting as mentor to the latest scion of the Searle family, David.
Besides Metamucil, many other products and chemicals were invented and subsequently patented by Searle Pharmaceuticals. Most however had no apparent use and just stayed on the back shelf, never to see the light of day. Of interesting note, one drug that Searle developed and did not even bother to patent was Methylenedioxymethamphetamine, more commonly known as MDMA or “Rapture.” This drug was not even known to the wider world until the 1980’s when the German pharmaceutical company Merck started distributing it. In fact, Merck’s discovery of MDMA predated Searle’s creation, with Merck creating it in 1912 and Searle independently creating it in 1917. Of course, Rapture went on to become an infamous drug during the 1990’s. Only afterward did Searle realize it had the same drug sitting on its shelf since 1917.
One of its developments during this time that did not go unnoticed was lysergic acid diethylamide. LAD was first synthesized by Oscar Rennebohm <4> on April 19, 1918. It was also on that day that Oscar Rennebohm accidentally dripped a small amount of LAD in his Yusay Pilsner from the Pilsen Brewing Company during his lunch break. Although this incident may seem impossible to the modern reader, one must realize that workplace safety was not what it is today, even when dealing with unknown chemicals. When the drug began to take a hold on him, Rennebohm asked an underling at the labs to escort him home. Rennebohm took the elevated train or “L” home while going on the first LAD “ride” in history. Due to this event, the Chicago “L” has been a common place to experience an LAD ride, especially at night due to the effect that a glittering city scape whisking by the the windows has to a person experiencing an acid ride. It is of synchronistic historical occurrence that LAD has the slang name of “L,” the etymology being due to Lysergacide beginning with the letter “L,” and that the Chicago “L” share the same nickname and that the elevated train played such a vital role in the very beginning of LAD’s history. Rennebohm did not publish about his first experience with LAD until 1943 in the seminal work “The Chicago Connection.” (Chicago and LAD will be connected from the very beginning, with examples of the acid culture being still prevalent in the city today, especially in the neighborhoods of Hyde Park on the South Side and Lakeview on the North).
Upon arriving home, Rennebohm’s neighbor, manager at the Pilsen Brewing Company, the beer which held the first LAD dosage (which turned out to be roughly five times the necessary threshold dosage), assisted his friend through this first ride in history. The neighbor would later quote Rennebohm saying, “It is like he was singing to the moon!” Rennebohm survived the adventure and went back to Searle laboratories the next day to look for practical implications of his new discovery.
<1> I guess this is the POD. Gideon Searle would die several years later IOTL. His early death has a butterfly effect.
<2> Claude's focus on research is OTL. The background information about GD Searle and Co is all OTL. Searle is probably best known IOTL for Enovid, or "The Pill", which is ironic considering that the Searles are Catholic.
<3> Walgreen being pulled along should have some interesting impacts. Perhaps expect a Walgreen vs. Sears showdown. And Walgreen stayed afloat even IOTL.
<4> I guess this is another POD. I chose him, a minor Wisconsin Governor IOTL, as the inventor because he was a chemist/pharmacist and with Searle expanding the research wing of its company, he being from the region could head south to Chicago for a job. Also, this is the same day of the year as OTL's Bicycle Day. I didn't have the heart to change that.
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Just to note, I am kicking myself for using the term ride for trip ITTL. Every time I want I am supposed to type "ride" it still comes out "trip" out of habit. It will take some getting used to.
I expect the most probable pitfall I can run into is making this TL too over the top. I am very aware of this fact and will do everything I can to keep it grounded. Yes, a TL about 1920s flapper-hippies will try to be grounded.
EDIT: I choose Chicago because of its relevance to the 20s and also because I live there (suburbs rather) and I felt that I ought write about what I know.
I expect the most probable pitfall I can run into is making this TL too over the top. I am very aware of this fact and will do everything I can to keep it grounded. Yes, a TL about 1920s flapper-hippies will try to be grounded.
EDIT: I choose Chicago because of its relevance to the 20s and also because I live there (suburbs rather) and I felt that I ought write about what I know.
Hmm ... you could even play with English routes, given that this is a southern US evolution. To manifest kind of means to travel, right? So, mindcross? Mindwide? Hm ... "It's mindwide, cat, you dig?" ...
Does that work?
Orville_third
Banned
Hmmmm...
Even IOTL, psychedelics were being experimented with early on. Parke, Davis was selling Peyote in the late 1800's. (A few years after, one guy from the UK by the name of Crowley was able to order some...)
http://books.google.com/books?id=ZesN1ZJNMQYC&pg=PA7&lpg=PA7&dq=parke+davis+peyote&source=bl&ots=XT2hE-VoT9&sig=JTgmTawC_xQT4izXQHs2LLYWVCo&hl=en&ei=TM_pTJTSKMT7lwekxOmeCQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCkQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=parke%20davis%20peyote&f=false
As for Searle, I knew them more from NutraSweet...
Even IOTL, psychedelics were being experimented with early on. Parke, Davis was selling Peyote in the late 1800's. (A few years after, one guy from the UK by the name of Crowley was able to order some...)
http://books.google.com/books?id=ZesN1ZJNMQYC&pg=PA7&lpg=PA7&dq=parke+davis+peyote&source=bl&ots=XT2hE-VoT9&sig=JTgmTawC_xQT4izXQHs2LLYWVCo&hl=en&ei=TM_pTJTSKMT7lwekxOmeCQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCkQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=parke%20davis%20peyote&f=false
As for Searle, I knew them more from NutraSweet...
Bioshock just got Trippy.
"No, like, Gods or Kings, man. There's only, like, man, man. Far out!"
Totally OTL. Not enough time for it to have been changed by lysergacide.
I don't understand the video game reference. That's the way the drug feels.
archaeogeek
Banned
And in France you had poets writing odes to Absinthe, Hashish, Opium, etc (I have Baudelaire's Artificial Paradises somewhere around the house
) - people liked their getting high.Anyway good start.
In the Bioshock series, Rapture is an underwater series founded on the principles of Ayn Rand, basically, and things don't go well. But it is an unintentional reference. I just relabeled "ecstasy" "rapture" because I thought it was appropriate.
I have a good idea of the story arc but I still can't decide who all will make appearances, historical figures wise. Requests are acceptable.
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