At this time in America and elsewhere, ESP and any kind of psychic phenomena were very popular subjects. Shows like Perry Mason and others tread very carefully around the subject. The issue was so popular nobody wanted to condemn or disprove for fear of alienating viewers. It wasn't actually known for sure if this stuff was real. Even leading military and intelligence operations were experimenting with ESP.
Dr. Andrija Puharich was a researcher who specialized in parapsychology. He authored several books including "The Sacred Mushroom" (1959), concerning the effect of psychedelic mushrooms on psychic abilities. He brought the Israeli psychic Uri Geller to the US and wrote a book about their collaboration in 1974.