If you're interested in psychedelic history, listen to the Otherworld podcast interview with journalist Susanna Cahalan, who discusses her new book, The Acid Queen, a biography of Rosemary Leary, the largely forgotten wife of Timothy Leary.
Rosemary was far more than just Timothy Leary's wife — she was a key architect of the psychedelic movement who later spent 24 years living underground.
Cahalan describes how Rosemary helped orchestrate Timothy Leary's dramatic 1970 prison escape, arranged their flight to Algeria, and connected him with radical groups like the Weather Underground and Black Panthers. But when Leary later cooperated with federal authorities and tried to turn her in, Rosemary refused to betray anyone and disappeared into a life on the run using assumed identities.
Before meeting Leary, Rosemary had already lived several lives — as a model, stewardess, and fixture of the New York jazz scene. At the Millbrook commune in upstate New York, she became known as the "queen of setting," an expert at creating the right environment for psychedelic experiences.
"She believed that because of her prolonged psychedelic use, she probably believes in everything, but also in nothing," Cahalan says.
Previously:
• Rosemary Leary describes her life as a psychedelic pioneer and her decades as a fugitive
• Tim & Rosemary Leary, John Lennon & Yoko Ono in conversation in 1969 – released for 1st time today
• Timothy Leary's archivist on Leary's prison escape, Algerian exile, and Swiss prison-time
