Ten fun facts about Fitz Hugh Ludlow

Fact 1
He is best known for his autobiographical book The Hasheesh Eater (1857).

Fact 2
The explorations of altered states of consciousness in The Hasheesh Eater are at the same time eloquent descriptions of elusive subjective phenomena and surreal, bizarre, and beautiful literature.

Fact 3
He was also the author of many works of short fiction, essays, science reporting and art criticism.

Fact 4
He devoted many of the last years of his life to attempts to improve the treatment of opiate addicts.

Fact 5
Ludlow wrote several college songs, two of which were even fifty years later considered the two most popular Union College songs.

Fact 6
Ludlow’s sole foray into drama was an adaptation of Cinderella which he wrote for the New York Sanitary Fair in 1864.

Fact 7
He found the drug to be a boon to his creativity.

Fact 8
The Hasheesh Eater was published when Ludlow was twenty-one years old. The book was a success, going through a few printings in short order, and Ludlow, although he published both the book and his earlier article The Apocalypse of Hasheesh anonymously, was able to take advantage of the book’s notoriety.

Fact 9
Ludlow became a “hasheesh eater,” ingesting large doses of this cannabis extract regularly throughout his college years.

Fact 10
Ludlow passed the bar exam in New York in 1859, but never practiced law, instead deciding to pursue a literary career.

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