What does an elephant on acid look like?

One of the things that's interested me with the recent flurry of articles about Elephants On Acid, is how the artists who illustrated the articles chose to depict an elephant on acid. So here's a small collection I've put together of artistic depictions of elephants on acid. The two popular options are either to show an angry-looking elephant, or a psychedelic one.

(left) from the cover of my book; (right) from an album by Tusko Fatale, a Virginia-based band.



(left) from the Daily Mail; (right) from the Daily Telegraph.



(left) from the New Scientist; (right) from the London Times



A sad-looking elephant from the Guardian:



This looks like it should be a picture of an elephant on acid, but it's actually the logo of the 2008 Republican National Convention to be help in Minneapolis-Saint Paul, Minnesota.



And finally, here's the one published picture of an actual elephant on acid, that appeared on the front page of the Daily Oklahoman on August 4, 1962. There are other pictures of elephants on acid from the two elephant-lsd experiments that have been conducted, but they're all hidden away in an archive at UCLA, having been deemed too controversial for the public to see.

Animals

Posted on Thu Nov 01, 2007



Comments

The picture of "Tusko Fatale" appears to be a variant of Ganesha, the Hindu god of worldly wisdom, as he appears on display at the art Museum in Richmond. Just FYI.
Posted by Thomas  on  Thu Nov 01, 2007  at  08:26 PM
That last one is so sad. That poor thing.
Posted by Sakano  on  Fri Nov 02, 2007  at  05:57 PM
Come to think of it, "Elephants on Acid" is a pretty accurate description of a Republican National Convention, and a dead-on description of the Republican party platform.

Somebody had to say it.
Posted by Big Gary  on  Thu Nov 08, 2007  at  02:49 PM
Hey i like the way you have thought of yourself to be an expert on exposing / reporting 'Hoaxes' that you have started one. The second picture which you have picked up IS of Lord Ganesha.
Please remove it from a derogatory article titled elephants on acid.
Posted by Raghav Kochhar  on  Tue Dec 04, 2007  at  05:29 AM
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