Helen in Wonderland (Hatchet)

Before she became the iconic Dr. Helen of The Night She Said Hatchet, she was just a curious grad student with a clipboard, a kombucha buzz… and a front-row seat to the strangest therapy session in the desert.

Burning Man was never meant to be part of her dissertation—but when UCSF psych student Helen Sage found herself inside a tie-dye dome at sunset, flanked by a topless tea circle and a coconut penguin named Poppy, the research took a turn.

Enter: Cactus Dan. A sunburnt, sandal-melting eni...