After a "Long, Strange Trip," Psychedelics Returned to Library More Than 36 Years Late

There was something unusual about the book Kaylee Miller picked out of the return bin, and it wasn't the subject matter.

Sure, the cover of Psychedelics by Bernard Aaronson and Humphry Osmond might grab a few eyeballs, but the High Plains Library District material supervisor was fixated on what was inside of the weathered book cover: an old check-out sheet with a due date of May 30, 1987.

The book, originally from the Weld County Library in Greeley, was returned to the Riverside Library and Cultural Center in Evans last week, according to Miller. If the worn condition didn't give away its age, the Weld County stamp on the back showed her that the book was checked out before the High Plains Library District was formed in 2008.

Libraries in Weld County had moved to digital tracking long before that, she says, so there's no way for the library to find out who borrowed Psychedelics, which was 13,437 days late by the time she received it.

Whoever had the book last was aware of its tardy return and wrote an apology. "Sorry so late!! It’s been a long, strange trip!!” the note read, with a smiley face drawn next to it.

Not that anyone is in trouble.

"I thought it was so funny," says Miller, who immediately told her colleagues about it. The story quickly made its way to the library district's social media team, which put up a Facebook post. Media inquiries quickly followed, Miller says, first from the Denver Post, then a handful of TV news stations.

"This was easily the biggest amount of traction we've gotten," she says, noting that her previous record for an overdue book was shattered by this one. "When we check in an item,the system will tell us how many days overdue it is, and the longest I'd ever seen before this was just shy of a year."

The library's current rule for overdue books is to charge members the cost of the book after 42 days, according to Miller, but they will reverse the charge if the book is returned in good shape. However, the old policy under which Psychedelics was checked out called for a ten-cent fine each day, amounting to $1,343.70.

There will be no fines, though, so the culprit might as well ’fess up. In fact, the library will probably thank the mysterious person for the artifact. According to Miller, books like Psychedelics, which are full of scientific and anecdotal information, are usually replaced every so often with volumes with more up-to-date research, so this is the only copy in the district's possession now.

Because this copy is so old and has had such a unique journey home, library administrators are going to add Psychedelics to the district's institutional collection. "They're starting an archive, and they plan to put it in there," Miller explains.

Although the archive's conservation efforts will prohibit people from taking the book home, they will be able to make appointments with the library to look at it. "I mostly just flipped through it, but it was pretty interesting," Miller says. "It was mostly chapters and very text-heavy about psychedelics."

Colorado legalized the supervised medicinal use of psilocybin mushrooms and decriminalized a handful of natural psychedelics in 2022. Although she hasn't noticed more interest in books about psychedelics at the library so far, Miller says she's seen several online inquiries about the book.

She'd love to meet whoever returned Psychedelics, and stresses that there's no entrapment involved.

"I would totally love to chat with them," she adds. "If they ever want to reveal themselves, I doubt they ever expected this to happen. But if they ever do come forward, know you're not in trouble. We all think it's so funny."

The saga inspired us to make a Seinfeld joke about library detective Lieutenant Bookman — but High Plains beat us to it.