Urban legend had it that Kesey worked in a mental hospital and was high on LSD the whole time and thus the idea for the story.

Another piece of trivia; When the publication of Keseys second novel, “Sometimes a Great Notion” in 1964 required his presence in New York, Kesey, Neal Cassady, and others in a group of friends they called the “Merry Pranksters” took a cross-country trip in a school bus nicknamed “Further.”This trip, described in Tom Wolfe’s The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test (and later in Kesey’s own screenplay “The Further Inquiry”) was the group’s attempt to create art out of everyday life. In New York, Cassady introduced Kesey to Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg, who in turn introduced them to Timothy Leary. When I was in High School the book to read amongst my friends was “The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test” which I did read and found fascinating:) I will never forget that book or the Merry Pranksters. I wanted to run away and join them:P

I live in Salem, Oregon and the Oregon State Hospita is but five minutes away. The government hospital is where One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest was filmed and also, where many individuals were treated for drug addiction and mental health. Ironically, Kensey was first introduced to LSD through a CIA program that was researching mind control with hallucinogenic and other drugs. Kensey’s promotion of LSD actually helped promote LSD as a drug of choice for the swinging 60′s.