Fifty Years Ago, a Rag-Tag Group of Acid-Dropping Activists Tried to "Levitate" the Pentagon

Counterculture leaders behind the 1967 March on the Pentagon planned a symbolic exorcism meant to “levitate” the Pentagon as a way to undermine the war-era authority of the US military. The scheme grew out of the Human Be-In organizers and anti-war activists, including Timothy Leary, Jerry Rubin, and Abbie Hoffman, with psychedelic-influenced spiritual ideas from John Starr Cooke and the Psychedelic Rangers. Rubin helped reshape the protest toward the Pentagon as the more resonant target, while Gary Snyder pushed for an exorcism framing and Michael Bowen proposed a ritual that would make the building “orange and vibrate” until evil forces fled. On October 21, 1967, organizers distributed ritual leaflets and staged simultaneous elements around the Pentagon: mantras from Allen Ginsberg, love-centered public displays arranged by Hoffman, Mayan-style healer cornmeal circles, and flower offerings led by Bowen, alongside chanting and calls to “out, demons, out.” The Pentagon itself never left the ground, but the performance worked as political theater that helped shift public perception about the Vietnam War and convinced some participants that levitation might truly happen.