Joe Mellen, a British man born in 1939, became famous for doing something wild—he drilled a hole in his own skull to feel “permanently high.” This happened years ago, back in the 1960s and 1970s, but his story still shocks people today. Joe was part of a group in London who loved trying drugs like LSD, a mind-altering substance popular in the “Swinging Sixties.” He learned about an old idea called trepanation from a Dutch man named Bart Huges. Trepanation means making a hole in the skull, something people did thousands of years ago, thinking it could fix health problems or change how the mind works.
Joe got obsessed with this idea after meeting Bart in 1965 on the island of Ibiza. Bart believed that when our skulls close up as we grow into adults, it traps energy in our brains and makes us less lively—like we lose the fun, free feeling of being kids. He thought drilling a hole could let that energy out, keeping you “high” all the time without drugs. Joe liked this and decided to try it on himself, even though it sounded crazy and dangerous.
His first try was in 1967. Joe couldn’t afford an electric drill, so he bought a hand tool called a trepan, which looks like a corkscrew with teeth. He attempted it while on LSD, thinking it would help, but it didn’t work—he couldn’t get through his skull. A year later, in 1968, he tried again with the same tool. He heard a squishy sound and thought he’d done it, but it still wasn’t enough. Finally, in 1970, he used an electric drill. It took him 30 minutes, and he said it felt like “uncorking a wine bottle from the inside.” This time, it worked—he made a small hole in his head.