The real story behind the long-lost, drug-fuelled 'Holy Grail' letter that inspired On The Road

Beat movement figure Gerd Stern carried the blame for 60 years for losing a 16,000-word typewritten letter, about to go up for auction, that inspired the revolution style of Jack Kerouac's celebrated novel, On the Road. The 1950 drug-fuelled letter, written by Beat legend Neal Cassady and valued at over $500,000, was thought to be thrown…