It all began with a bag of mushrooms… and a bolt of lightning. Today, Paul Stamets is the world’s most famous mycologist (mushroom scientist) but we begin by going back to the fateful day when young Paul, loaded up on psilocybin, climbed a tree in the middle of a thunderstorm. In this episode, Paul’s story is our gateway to learning about the long strange history of psychedelics in America, and how the Dead brought mushrooms mainstream.

Credits:
America’s Dead is produced by work by work: Scott Newman, Jemma Brown, Kathleen Ottinger, Alex Kapelman, and Ben Montoya. Additional production from Josh Agajanian. The show is mixed by Sam Bair and Josh Hahn. Our theme music is by Jake Longstreth, John Nixon, Aaron Olson, and Ryan Adlaf of Mountain Brews and Richard Pictures. The show art is created by Andy J. Pizza. Special thanks to Joe Dawson at Sonos.