Chapter IX The Crypt Trip Summary and Analysis

The Merry Pranksters leave New York City and head north toward Millbrook to visit Timothy Leary and his League for Spiritual Discovery. They receive a cool reception, which hurts Kesey. He had expected to be greeted with open arms and enthusiasm. The Merry Pranksters find the Millbrook estate to be frosty and stilted, and so leave. The Crypt Trip is how Babbs refers to the place as he leads an improvised tour that is full of sarcasm toward the place and its inhabitants. Kesey never meets Leary.

Timothy Leary is remembered as the man who tried to legitimize LSD as a way to higher consciousness in the Eastern religious sense, most notably Buddhist philosophy. His is serious work, or so those around him think, while Kesey is not serious. His band of Pranksters...