13 of the Stupidest Things the Hippies Ever Attempted

Carly Tennes Published 07/10/2024 in Funny

Though they may have been generally right about the Vietnam War, music, and then-President Richard Nixon, the hippies got really weird with it during their heyday. Between enjoying festivals and calling for world peace, a handful of young people decided to throw logic to the wind, denouncing the laws of gravity, nominating a pig for president and even attempting to telepathically levitate the Pentagon.

From joining cults to trying — and failing — to get high on banana peels, here are the 13 stupidest hippie ideas ever.

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1. They Tried To Levitate The Pentagon
“In 1967, hippies attempted a ritual to levitate the Pentagon in the air to end the Vietnam War.”
2. They Snatched Food From Conservative New York Residents
“In 1969, Woodstock ran out of food after its first day and relied upon donations from the largely conservative residents of Sullivan County, New York to feed 400,000 hungry hippies.”
3. They Mass Produced LSD … To Get A Discount On More LSD
“TIL of the Brotherhood of Eternal Love, a church composed of LSD users that was active in 60's and 70's California. The Brotherhood distributed mass-produced LSD in an effort to lower the drug's price. They also smuggled Afghan hashish (one method was stashing the drugs in hollowed-out surfboards).”
4. They Staged a Funeral For The Summer of Love
After roughly 100,000 young people flocked to the Haight-Ashbury district in San Francisco and other Northern California locales, leading to overcrowding and other issues, like homelessness and an increase in crime, several hippies hosted a mock funeral on October 6, 1967, urging young people to stay at home. “We wanted to signal that this was the end of it, to stay where you are, bring the revolution to where you live and don't come here because it's over and done with,” organizer Mary Kasper said of the event.
5. They Didn’t Actually Hook Up
While hippies got it on more than the average American, per the Washington Post, free love was largely a myth. “We had parties where people would smoke too much or drink too much and sleep with their friends, but there were emotional repercussions the next day,” recalled Micah Lee, author of “Hippies: A Guide to an American Subculture.” “Free love is like a free lunch — there’s no such thing. . . . Even n—ituy was rare.”
6. They Tried To Smoke Banana Peels
In March 1967, underground tabloid Berkeley Barb published a satirical article alleging that people can get high off of banana peels thanks to a fictitious psychoactive substance known as "bananadine.” Several hippies fell for the story, leading many to try smoking bananas for themselves. This fiasco dubbed “the Great Banana Hoax of 1967” by historian John McMillan, was so widespread that it is said to have inspired the song “Mellow Yellow” by Donovan.
7. They Scoured Yosemite For Free Weed
“In the 1970's, a plane carrying 6,000lbs. of marijuana crashed in a remote area of Yosemite National Park. Local mountaineers, rock climbers, hippies, and drug dealers made excursions to the area to take as much product as they could, all while the US government tried to secure the drugs.”
8. They Called For The End Of Gravity
In 1970, Youth International Party leader Abbie Hoffman decided to take breaking rules to the next level, telling students at the University of Maryland that gravity was just a formality. “We defy every law in the world, including the law of gravity,” he said. “What goes up doesn’t necessarily have to come down.”
9. They Fumbled The Bag
“The iconic "Make Love, Not War " anti-Vietnam war poster was created by Wilfred Weisser a globe-trotting hippie from Germany, living in San Francisco in the mid-'60s. He then disappeared and has never collected a single cent in copyright royalties.”
10. They Inspired Sketchy Candy
“In the late 1960s, a candy company produced the "Hippy Sippy", a toy resembling a syringe that contained small, multi-colored candy pellets. The intent was to mimic drug usage in the hippie culture, primarily through the toy being a reminder of heroin.”
11. They Nominated A Pig For President
In 1968, the Youth International Party nominated a pig named Pigasus the Immortal for President before the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. Despite their slogan of "if we can't have him in the White House, we can have him for breakfast,” their plan backfired after Pigasus was confiscated by police and several Yippies were arrested for disorderly conduct.
12. They Tried To Take On Nixon Through ’The Cosmic Love’ Party
“TIL about Louis Abolafia, man who ran against Richard Nixon in 1968 elections as the naked hippie ‘love candidate’ under the Cosmic Love party with the slogan ‘What have I got to hide?’ for his performance art. He also was president candidate under the Nudist Party, and was friends with Bob Dylan.”
13. One Hippie Left Fleetwood Mac To Join A Cult
“[Jeremy Spencer,] one of the original members of Fleetwood Mac went out to the store while on tour in California in 1971. He never returned and, after the band, record producers, and the police searched for him for several days, it was discovered that he had joined a cult called The Children of God.”

1. They Tried To Levitate The Pentagon
“In 1967, hippies attempted a ritual to levitate the Pentagon in the air to end the Vietnam War.”
2. They Snatched Food From Conservative New York Residents
“In 1969, Woodstock ran out of food after its first day and relied upon donations from the largely conservative residents of Sullivan County, New York to feed 400,000 hungry hippies.”
3. They Mass Produced LSD … To Get A Discount On More LSD
“TIL of the Brotherhood of Eternal Love, a church composed of LSD users that was active in 60's and 70's California. The Brotherhood distributed mass-produced LSD in an effort to lower the drug's price. They also smuggled Afghan hashish (one method was stashing the drugs in hollowed-out surfboards).”
4. They Staged a Funeral For The Summer of Love
After roughly 100,000 young people flocked to the Haight-Ashbury district in San Francisco and other Northern California locales, leading to overcrowding and other issues, like homelessness and an increase in crime, several hippies hosted a mock funeral on October 6, 1967, urging young people to stay at home. “We wanted to signal that this was the end of it, to stay where you are, bring the revolution to where you live and don't come here because it's over and done with,” organizer Mary Kasper said of the event.
5. They Didn’t Actually Hook Up
While hippies got it on more than the average American, per the Washington Post, free love was largely a myth. “We had parties where people would smoke too much or drink too much and sleep with their friends, but there were emotional repercussions the next day,” recalled Micah Lee, author of “Hippies: A Guide to an American Subculture.” “Free love is like a free lunch — there’s no such thing. . . . Even n—ituy was rare.”
6. They Tried To Smoke Banana Peels
In March 1967, underground tabloid Berkeley Barb published a satirical article alleging that people can get high off of banana peels thanks to a fictitious psychoactive substance known as "bananadine.” Several hippies fell for the story, leading many to try smoking bananas for themselves. This fiasco dubbed “the Great Banana Hoax of 1967” by historian John McMillan, was so widespread that it is said to have inspired the song “Mellow Yellow” by Donovan.
7. They Scoured Yosemite For Free Weed
“In the 1970's, a plane carrying 6,000lbs. of marijuana crashed in a remote area of Yosemite National Park. Local mountaineers, rock climbers, hippies, and drug dealers made excursions to the area to take as much product as they could, all while the US government tried to secure the drugs.”
8. They Called For The End Of Gravity
In 1970, Youth International Party leader Abbie Hoffman decided to take breaking rules to the next level, telling students at the University of Maryland that gravity was just a formality. “We defy every law in the world, including the law of gravity,” he said. “What goes up doesn’t necessarily have to come down.”
9. They Fumbled The Bag
“The iconic "Make Love, Not War " anti-Vietnam war poster was created by Wilfred Weisser a globe-trotting hippie from Germany, living in San Francisco in the mid-'60s. He then disappeared and has never collected a single cent in copyright royalties.”
10. They Inspired Sketchy Candy
“In the late 1960s, a candy company produced the "Hippy Sippy", a toy resembling a syringe that contained small, multi-colored candy pellets. The intent was to mimic drug usage in the hippie culture, primarily through the toy being a reminder of heroin.”
11. They Nominated A Pig For President
In 1968, the Youth International Party nominated a pig named Pigasus the Immortal for President before the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. Despite their slogan of "if we can't have him in the White House, we can have him for breakfast,” their plan backfired after Pigasus was confiscated by police and several Yippies were arrested for disorderly conduct.
12. They Tried To Take On Nixon Through ’The Cosmic Love’ Party
“TIL about Louis Abolafia, man who ran against Richard Nixon in 1968 elections as the naked hippie ‘love candidate’ under the Cosmic Love party with the slogan ‘What have I got to hide?’ for his performance art. He also was president candidate under the Nudist Party, and was friends with Bob Dylan.”
13. One Hippie Left Fleetwood Mac To Join A Cult
“[Jeremy Spencer,] one of the original members of Fleetwood Mac went out to the store while on tour in California in 1971. He never returned and, after the band, record producers, and the police searched for him for several days, it was discovered that he had joined a cult called The Children of God.”