Timothy Leary’s LSD ranch is for sale in the San Jacinto Mountains
This 80-acre desert dwelling tucked away in the San Jacinto Mountains seems innocuous enough, but it once played host to a multimillion-dollar LSD operation known as the Brotherhood of Eternal Love.
It’s called Fobes Ranch, and it’s on the market for $1.495 million.
Led by Timothy Leary – the famed psychologist and drug enthusiast responsible for the Concord Prison Experiment – the brotherhood descended upon the retreat in the late ‘60s. Also known as the Hippie Mafia, the group of 30-or-so surfers and friends reportedly used the Mountain Center residence to take and manufacture LSD, as well as worship nature amid the mountain-lined landscape.
Leary and his wife, Rosemary, lived in a bungalow, while others populated teepees across the land.
Today, the ranch stands as the only private property in Duchess Canyon, according to the listing. Structures include a two-bedroom home, guesthouse, workshop, barn and two-car garage, with a total of 2,450 square feet of combined living space.
Entered through double doors, the main residence is anchored by a bright living room with a freestanding fireplace. Other spaces include a kitchen with wood countertops, a master suite with a custom fireplace and a 500-square-foot studio bathed in light from oversized windows.
Lofts are found in the guesthouse and workshop, and the bunkhouse offers two built-in bunk beds. Elsewhere, a pavilion topped with solar panels holds a brick-and-stone fireplace.
For water, two springs feed 4,000 gallons per day into a 70,000-gallon tank.
Timothy McTavish of Pacific Sotheby’s International Realty holds the listing.
Leary, who died in 1996 at age 75, was a clinical psychologist at Harvard University. He’s known for overseeing the controversial Concord Prison Experiment and Marsh Chapel Experiment, which tested the effects of psilocybin, a psychedelic drug, on prisoners and theology students, respectively.
jack.flemming@latimes.com | Twitter: @jflem94
