Jimi came straight out and denied that Purple Haze was about drugs, despite the possible obvious references. Sorry kids.

Some previous posts linked the song to a dream he once had, which was getting close, one of you even mentioned love, which was right on.

My understanding:
The song was about the effects Jimi felt when he was falling in love with a girl. He felt absolutely entraced by her, to the point where he had dreams about her.

He had trouble describing just how significantly she affected him, until he saw a documentary on so called "alien abductees" (Stay with me now...). Many of the people likened their experience onboard as an:
out of body ("'Scuse me while I kiss the sky")
timeless ("Tomorrow, or just the end of time")
experience while surrounded by a Purple Haze.

The give away line for me was always "What ever it is, that girl, put a spell on me."

But take this version with a mountainous pile of salt.

xox

P.S. Didn't word check, be nice.