1962: Elephant Tusko given record 297mg LSD dose, dies 100 minutes later

On August 3, 1962, a 14-year-old Indian elephant named Tusko at the Oklahoma City Zoo became the victim of a controversial experiment involving a massive dose of LSD. Two psychiatrists, Dr. Louis Jolyon West and Dr. Chester M. Pierce, along with the zoo's director Warren Thomas, were responsible for the experiment. Dr. West, a known figure from Project MKUltra, a CIA experiment to identify methods of brainwashing, psychological torture, and confessions, injected Tusko with 297 milligrams of LSD.

This dose was almost 3,000 times the normal human recreational dose, making it the largest single dose of the hallucinogenic drug ever administered, according to Guinness World Records. The experiment was meant to induce a state known as 'musth' in Tusko, an aggressive, hormonal surge seen in bull elephants. However, the experiment did not achieve the desired outcome and tragically ended with Tusko's death 100 minutes after the injection.