What a long, strange trip it’s been for this psychedelic library book returned 13,437 days late

Tuesday, March. 19, 2024

What a long, strange trip it’s been for one very overdue High Plains Library District book — 36 years, 9 months and 13 days, to be exact.

“Psychedelics” by Bernard Aaronson and Humphry Osmond — a 1970 dispatch that includes first-hand reports of psychedelic experiences, scientific theories and the sociology of drugs — was due back to the Weld County Library in Greeley on May 30, 1987.

Someone returned the book somewhat worse for wear last week to the Riverside Library and Cultural Center in Evans.

“If anyone can beat the current record of 13,437 days, I’m offering you total amnesty for the safe return of your items,” library officials wrote in a Facebook post Monday about the belated return. “Although I’m not encouraging you to check something out TODAY and return late enough to beat the record, which would be… January 1st, 2061. We’ll be closed New Year’s Day. Probably. Maybe. By 2061, who knows?”

The returned copy features a psychedelic cover design atop a dinged-up blue background with frayed corners and a peeling spine. That copy is headed for an archive, the library said, but a different copy is attainable through a catalog of nearly 200 academic, public and special libraries in Colorado and Wyoming.

The Denver Post is waiting to hear whether the tardy return resulted in any fines.

While the culprit is not identified, we do know one thing about them: They have a sense of humor.

A sticky note inside the book read, “Sorry so late!! It’s been a long, strange trip!!”

“Far be it from us to suggest that a book on psychedelics may, MAY, have affected someone’s perception of time,” library officials wrote on Facebook post.

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