TV Show on Magic Mushrooms From 1961
From January of 1959 to July of 1961, John Newland directed and hosted a unique television program entitled One Step Beyond. Newland and his creative crew combed the literature and produced 96 episodes of excellent programming based on real stories of psychic and paranormal phenomena. When the Twilight Zone series was about to go into production, Rod Serling actually met with Newland and assured him that his new program was not going to step on his toes or rip off One Step Beyond.
Newland dramatized actual (or reported actual) events, such as premonitions and other psychic episodes surrounding the Titanic disaster, or Abraham Lincoln’s presentiment of his own assassination. The most interesting show of the entire series has to be “The Sacred Mushroom,” which aired on January 4, 1961. Accompanied by three research scientists, and leaving the cloistered atmosphere of Hollywood sound stages, Newland traveled to a small village in the mountains of central Mexico to investigate the mysterious mushrooms. As he remarked in a 1999 interview with television historian John Muir:
That was our most popular episode. It was a spooky trip. We landed in a tiny airstrip in Mexico near a mission. From there, it was a donkey trip of four days to reach the village. It was a dangerous journey, but we got phenomenal footage.
When sponsor Alcoa (Aluminium Corporation of America) got antsy about airing the episode (even though psychedelic mushrooms were not illegal at the time) Newland suggested that he should visit a laboratory to take the mushrooms himself and prove that they were not only safe, but might enhance psychic abilities, which was what the show was trying to prove.
Perhaps the most bizzarre fact about this show was that the idea that mushrooms enhanced some users’ psychic senses came from none other than (in)famous scientist Andrija Puharich. Newland and his producers appreantly read Puharich’s book, The Sacred Mushroom: Key to the Door of Eternity, published in 1959. Indeed, Puharich appears in the episode as one of the scientists who make the trip to Mexico.
Puharich with Newland trippin’ out
Later, in Puharich’s Palo Alto laboratory, Newland allows himself to be subjected to tests of his ESP abilities before and after eating a couple of psilocybe stems. Although the results in the program are not strictly scientific, they were probably convincing to the casual viewer. Newland did quite well identifying photographs while blindfolded, at least as the scene was edited. From all accounts, he strikes me as the kind of person who would not try to decieve the viewer, or himself. He mentioned experiencing minor flashbacks for about a month after his mushroom trip.
There is much more to be said about this landmark episode, filmed when people had a healthy curiosity about the unknown properties and effects of psychedelic compounds and the cultures that had been using them for centuries, but readers should watch the three part post up at youtube and comment here. I’d be interested in your reactions.
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Jul 15 2008 
July 15th, 2008 at 6:53 pm
Really really interesting. Thanks for sharing that Greg.
Of course, a bit over-dramatized, like the way they portray the town of Santa Catarina Juquila as a God-forsaken little village lost in the middle of nowhere, when it seems this town is actually the head of the municipary district, and has a very important religious sanctuary that receives many peregrines annually
But the thing that striked me the most was—aside from Puharich being a LOUSY acto—the reaction of surprise from Newland right after he took the mushrooms, when Puharich told him they were going to make some medical tests to evaluate his reactions. I wonder if the man was propperly warned of the inherent dangers of ingesting those mushrooms.
I also wonder about this program’s real impact on all those gringos pachecos that years later ended up flooding the Sierra Madre, seeking to trip out with Maria Sabina’s “holy children”
July 15th, 2008 at 8:31 pm
quite a find, greg
I have a 50 episode boxed disc set of this but it doesn’t have this episode (the set can be had cheap at Wal Mart - $5)
but, damn, puharich–judging from how stiff he is on camera you’d think he never touched a mushroom
saw an ep of Jonny Quest the other day that was about “hallucinogens”
July 22nd, 2008 at 8:44 am
“What we know is just a grain of sand in
the Sahara of the unexplained.” ONE
STEP BEYOND was off its time, hokey, melodramatic, and absolutely wonderful. I’ll have to go looking for the box set, much as I loathe Wal-Mart…
July 22nd, 2008 at 8:46 am
OF its time, I meant to say…I wonder
about Newland reactinfg to the mushroom
so quickly, but I suppose they could have edited it a bit…
July 22nd, 2008 at 5:23 pm
RPJ,
Maybe it WAS a little town in the middle of nowhere in 1960. Don’t you mean “pilgrims” and not “peregrines?”
Puharich was a pretty bad actor, but I do like how he says “You’ll see” when Newland asks what’s supposed to happen when the mushrooms come on.
Speaking of pachecos, I’m reading a great book called God’s Middle Finger. The (British) author traveled he length of the Sierra Madre a couple of years ago, in spite of warnings from his friends and people in the area. It really explains a lot for me, especially why people are leaving Mexico in droves.
There was one passage about the Huichol Indians that didn’t portray them as peaceful, peyote-eating, yarn painting-making hippies. Maybe it’s what they’ve become, or the report came from someone whom they didn’t like.
There’s probably nothing in the book you haven’t heard of yet, but the stories often had me laughing and helped me to better understand the culture, which is even more fascinating because of it.
In one small town near the beginning of the book, the author saw a statue of Jesus with stickers over his eyes. The weird thing was that the stickers were printed with blue “Smurf” faces. A woman explained that Jesus had seen enough suffering, and they didn’t want him to see any more. The point was made that the stickers were there for a specific reason, and no one cared what was on them, they just happened to be the only thing handy that someone could find that would do the job. Makes sense.
July 22nd, 2008 at 5:35 pm
Kenn,
There was a video rental place in West LA that used to give the episode out for free with rentals, and Jeremy found about about it that way. I kept looking for it online for a few years.
I wouldn’t think that Johnny Quest or Dr. Quest had anything good to say about psychedelics. My favorite Harvey Birdman Attorney At Law episode was about Dr. Quest and that other guy who hung out with them being gay.
July 22nd, 2008 at 5:38 pm
Craig,
Yes, I think that they edited the time, since it supposedly takes 20-30 minutes for the effects to materialize. At one point, I think Puharich actually looks at a stopwatch or something and says that it’s been about 20 minutes since Newland ate the ’shrooms.
July 26th, 2008 at 1:47 pm
One Step Beyond…
Do Magic Mushrooms unleash your psychic powers? Let’s ask 1961! John Newland of One Step Beyond takes us on a Trip!Hat Tip, UFO Mystic….
October 4th, 2008 at 3:04 am
You forgot to categorize this under “psychedelia.” (Perhaps there are other unclassified psychedelic threads.)
============
Incidentally, I notice that you (Greg) did not include Edward de Bono in your list of authors who influenced you. I suggest you read his book, I Am Right–You Are Wrong for a wonderful critique of how “table-top logic,” or “rock logic,” unrealistically excludes the middle.
November 21st, 2008 at 3:43 pm
Roger,
Sorry, your comment was posted almost three months after the original post, so I didn’t see it until now. I’ve heard of de Bono from reading Robert Anton Wilson, but never actually read the man himself.
The next time I post on psychedelics, I’ll create a category.