Joe Mellen, The Man Who Drilled Hole In His Own Skull To Stay Constantly High

In the midst of the Swinging Sixties acid revolution, Joe Mellen found himself on a quest for something more - a way to achieve a perpetual state of altered consciousness.

Credit: Youtube/Breaking Convention

He turned to an archaic practice known as trepanation, the process of drilling a hole into the skull to allegedly increase blood flow and expand consciousness.

Despite the daunting risks and discomfort involved, Mellen was determined to achieve his goal and attempted the procedure not once, not twice, but a jaw-dropping three times.

Finally, after hitting the nail on the head - quite literally - he emerged with a newfound sense of enlightenment and a story that would go down in history as one of the most bizarre and daring experiments in the pursuit of consciousness.

Joe Mellen's pursuit of a never-ending high led him to explore the strange and ancient practice of trepanation, giving the phrase 'chasing a high' a whole new meaning.

It was during the heyday of Ibiza in 1965 when Mellen first encountered Bart Huges, who introduced him to the bizarre concept of drilling a hole into the skull to expand consciousness.

Trepanation, also known as trepanning, is an ancient surgical procedure that involves removing a circular piece of bone from the skull and is believed to be one of the oldest known surgical procedures in human history.

"I'd heard about this guy who had drilled a hole in his own head, and I thought, 'Well, he must be a nutcase!'" the Brit told Vice back in 2016.

Little did he know...

In his book Bore Hole, Mellen starts the text with the confession: "This is the story of how I came to drill a hole in my head to get permanently high."

Joe Mellen's journey into the world of trepanation was not for the faint-hearted. In his book, "Bore Hole," he goes into graphic detail about his experiences with the procedure, which he admits can be quite unsettling for some readers.

After all, the thought of drilling a hole into one's skull is not something that most people would even consider. However, for Mellen, it was a means to an end.

He believed that by expanding the space inside his skull, he could achieve a higher level of consciousness and permanently alter his state of mind.

The physical and emotional pain that he endured during the process, which he describes as "intense" and "mind-blowing," was a small price for the enlightenment he sought.

Credit: Youtube/Breaking Convention

He revealed: "When I first heard about it I thought, 'This is ridiculous!'

"And the idea that someone would do it to himself or herself was absurd.

"But you get used to ideas eventually, don't you?"

Just two years after learning about trepanning in 1967, Mellen conducted his first attempt.

"At that time, I was broke, and I certainly couldn't afford an electric drill, so I bought a hand trepan from a surgical instrument shop," he recalled.

The man described the instrument as a bit like a corkscrew but with a ring of teeth at the bottom.

Yikes.

He continued: "It was difficult. It was like trying to uncork a bottle of wine from the inside."

Bet you'll never unscrew a bottle of vino the same ever again.

Despite the first attempt failing, Joe Mellen remained undeterred and tried his hand at trepanation two more times.

He explained the decision: "The human being needs more blood in its brain.

"And this isn't a great high; it's just restoring you to that youthful level of vitality. This vitality that you lose when you hit adulthood."

Credit: Youtube/Breaking Convention

About a year on, he tried again and did 'remove some skull' but not enough to be satisfied, as he told the outlet: "There was kind of a 'schlurping' sound as I took the trepan out and what sounded like bubbles."

In 1970, Mellen made his third and final attempt at trepanation, and amazingly, the whole process took just thirty minutes, from start to finish, including clean-up.

Mellen recalled: "I was feeling great because I'd done it, but then I noticed after about an hour I started to feel a lightness, like a weight had been lifted off me.

"I did it in the evening and went to bed at 11pm feeling good, and I could still feel it when I woke up the next morning. And then I realized, 'This is it. It's done'."

It seems that the old adage of 'third time's a charm' held true in Mellen's case.