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#rye ergot fungus
mycoblogg · 8 months
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Tell me a shroom fact please
a recently-found amber fossil (dating to ~100 million years ago) suggests that dinosaurs ingested psychotropic fungi !!
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in this fossil, we see some of the earliest recorded evidence of grass. atop the grass? a fungal parasite. in comparison with our fungi today, this fungus is most similar to ergot - fungi that grow on rye & produce alkaloids. ergot has been used as a medicine, a poison & a hallucinogen by humans for thousand of years.
"there’s no doubt in my mind that it would have been eaten by sauropod dinosaurs, although we can’t know what exact effect it had on them." - george poinar jr, of the oregon state university's college of science.
the small chance that dinosaurs tripped on psychedelics keeps me going, tbh.
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pedropascalito · 1 year
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My theory:
We know fungus can spread on grains (ergot poisoning in rye for example) and they made a point of Joel/Sarah not eating any flour products: no pancake mix, no cake, no biscuits, she wouldn’t eat the raisin cookies.
I’m thinking the fungus spreads in flour.
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a-mag-a-day · 1 year
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The What the Ghost? episodes are so interesting because the Dancing Plague and the Highgate Vampire are REAL social phenomena that occured throughout history.
But since this is TMA, it's really fun to speculate which of the Fears were behind it! Here are my interpretations:
The Dancing Plague -- the Slaughter (w/ possible Corruption influence). I get very Grifter's Bone/Flesh Hive vibes....
Woman dancing to music only she could hear until she died, her feet torn and bloody. Her body continuing to move to the mysterious melody even in death.
Hundreds of thousands of people danced themselves to death or hurled themselves into the sea - a bloody, violent massacre!
100 children feverishly dancing all the way to Arnstadt.
The Pied Piper.... need I say more??
Ergotism is a poisoning caused by ingesting rye which has become contaminated with ergot fungus. Causes hallucinations and muscle spasms.
Highgate Cemetery -- the Hunt (Vampires)
Bonus Ads: Webly (the Web), Steakout (the Flesh), SparksFly (the Eye), Bedcetera (the Dark)
Hmmmm interesting!
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hidden-clue · 5 months
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I was looking up poisonous mushrooms, for foraging purposes, and I stumbled into one called 'Ergot fungus', and I thought, wait, I know this word, I've heard it somewhere. It went on to say it causes 'ergot poisoning' and it clicked - ergot poisoning from Midnight in Salem!
It turns out ergot fungi is a fungus that infects rye, wheat, barley and other cross-species of cereal, it grows inside of them like a little black worm. Then if the cereal is consumed, it poisons people. It does cause psychosis, seizures, migraines, nausea, vomiting, but the long term effects are as bad as gangrenes - skin falling off, loss of body tissue, limbs rotting and falling off, and in the end, death. Midnight in Salem did NOT impress just how intensely deadly this is.
There were outbreaks of ergot poisoning in the middle ages, and in the 19th century, and the effects were horrifying. People eventually figured out that ergot can be sterilized by placing the yield in a brine solution, deep plowing the infected fields and rotating crops.
There's an interesting article on wikipedia discussing whether the symptoms of ergotism were blamed on the witches during the witch trials in Salem, all of the symptoms were mentioned in the records. However it was concluded that the symptoms were already known by then, and would be recognizable as ergot poisoning, so it was not the case. It was interesting to find Salem directly on the 'ergot poisoning' wikipedia page!
It's making more sense now why Nancy was asking around who was eating cereal-based products and why ergot was used as a plot device, it was after all, connected to witches and to the history of Salem, and also a big problem in the middle ages.
Now would ergot also infect water from some infected plants being put into the water supply? I have no clue, that part is a bit far-fetched, but I am glad the poisoning wasn't as extreme as it could have been. Insane to want to revive such an awful plague.
Sorry for talking about Midnight in Salem! I still play it for Halloween so I wanted to share the extra knowledge I just gathered, getting real-life knowledge from Nancy Drew games still is one of my favourite things.
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sistervirtue · 2 months
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can u infodump about ergotism to me I don't understand the joke and know you're more interesting than google
ok so basically ergotism (st anthonys fire) is the result of an infection by ergot, a type of fungus that looooves 2 grow on grain and especially rye, which is problematic bc rye for a long time was the best crop to survive over a soggy winter.
it forms these strange purple sclerotium on the wheat (although some disguise themselves as ones that look more like seeds, making it harder to find) which can be accidentally ground in with the wheat if not properly filtered. they have an insane variety of alkaloids that give them their toxicity and while about 50% of them are cooked out, its more than enough to make you sick!
ergotism takes two forms: gangrenous and convulsive. convulsive is the most famous type: it causes convulsions, hallucinations, delirium, etc, but the gangrenous is the most common because ergot is actually used to make medications for migraines and other conditions, and the purified alkaloids only really cause the gangrenous type. you have to od for this tho
gangrenous as the name suggests causes vasodilation in extremities that cause gangrene to develop. you also get full body sores and gastrointestinal distress
the alkaloids in ergotism are also closely related to LSD, hence the hallucinogenic effects. it can also cause euphoria-- but it's really not worth the risk
theres a popular theory that it may be responsible for the salem witch trial hysteria, but ergotism has been known for hundreds of years in western europe, so some say its unlikely they wouldnt recognize it. then again, some argue that it may have been a different type of ergot that would have different alkaloid combinations, so who knows!
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littlegoldenbirdie · 11 months
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The Unfair Folk and Twisted History
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Why Fairy Ring mushrooms used to suck
Fairy ring mushrooms were considered really bad luck in Medieval Europe because it was believed that if you stepped into the circle the fairies would scoop your soul out and make off with it. Nobody would know it had happened. Not even you. You wouldn't have a clue you were essentially operating on battery power until you just keeled over for some reason.
How the stroke got its name
The word 'stroke' doesn't just cover the medical affliction. It's an archaic term for a blow, or a hit. What we now know as having a stroke was once believed to be an attack from the Fair Folk, as the term elf-stroke was used for a while. It eventually got shortened to just 'stroke'.
Changeling children
You remember the myths of the fairies stealing human children and leaving one of their own in the stolen child's place? That led to a lot of infanticide, but where it gets REALLY creepy is when one realizes that some of the indicators of a child being a changeling match up with autism symptoms...
How paranoia killed a third of Europe's population
Remember the witch craze in the Dark Ages? How everybody's grandmother got accused of witchcraft and so many people died? What you probably don't realize is that it extended to cats. All cats. ALL cats. Not just black cats, but cats in general were believed evil and killed off. This led to a nuclear explosion in the rat population, because you know what happens when you remove any prey species' main predator... And the rats coming off of trader ships were like "Holy shit, they're doing WHAT to your cats?! Grab our luggage, honey! We're moving in!" And what comes with rats? Fleas! Lots of fleas! And the rats coming off the trader ships had real nasty fleas, and THOSE fleas bore the Black Plague. See where I'm going? More rats, more fleas...
Bad bread, ball-tripping and Salem rye
There's a not-crazy hypothesis that the Salem Witch Trials took place because of bad bread. See, in Salem they ate mostly (if not all) rye bread, and rye is prone to a fungus called ergot. Ergot contains a diluted form of the active ingredient in LSD, and it builds up in the system of whoever eats it. Throw in some ignorance and a lot of paranoia, and...
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Or am I wrong? They certainly don't cover this stuff in History class...
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itsmemateinnit · 8 months
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Whitechapel series 4 press pack
Whitechapel IV – references to historical crimes used in the series
Block 1 (Ep 1 & 2) Witch hunts and espionage
Georgi Markov 7th September 1978, Georgi Markov was a Bulgarian dissident who was poisoned with the tip of an umbrella while walking across Waterloo Bridge. The murderer was never found and the assassination became one of the great mysteries of the Cold War. There was speculation that Markov’s death was a result of his criticism of the Bulgarian regime, and that the Bulgarian Secret Police and KGB had some involvement.
Matthew Hopkins The Witchfinder General Matthew Hopkins the Witchfinder General who set out to rid England of its witches, put hundreds of men and women to death between the years 1644 and 1646. They were convicted on 'evidence' such as 'third nipples' considered to be a witches mark; a 'dead spot' that wouldn't cause pain or bleed when pricked; or even owning a cat (not necessarily black) or other pet that Hopkins considered to be 'familiars'. Many died by drowning - the idea was that if the accused floated, she had been saved by her master, the devil, and so was guilty for rejecting the baptismal water. If she sank and drowned, she was innocent, but at least she died without a stain on her character.
Matthew Hopkins was never directly appointed by Parliament, he appointed himself. Belief in witches was widespread, and he was paid by local authorities to find them. Many people blamed any misfortune on witches and a language of ‘apotropaic marks’ was used, symbols scratched in doorways and around fireplaces to try and ward off witches.
Peine Fort et Dure A form of torture used in the 16th Century. One of the methods used to elicit confessions to witchcraft. Lying face up on the ground, a person would have heavier and heavier stones placed on their chest until they entered a plea, or died.
Ergot Poisoning Ergot is a fungus which infects rye crops, which if eaten can cause Ergot Poisoning. In 1646 there was an outbreak following the freezing of the river Thames and lack of supply of flour. Afflicted people behaved like they were bewitched and suffered from delusions. It can also cause deformation of the limbs and gangrene. It has also been suggested the bewitched accusers of the 1692 Salem Witch Trials may have been suffering from the delirium associated with ergot poisoning.
Block 2 (Ep 3 & 4 ) Flaying and historic art
Ed Gein Aka The Plainfield Ghoul, Gein had an obsession with his mother and became a murderer in the 1950s after her death. He abducted and killed Plainfield hardware store owner Bernice Worden in 1957. He wanted a sex change and wore a suit made of female human skin and exhumed bodies to gather more skin. He tanned this skin and used it to make various items in his home, from lampshades to belts.
Judge Jeffreys “The Hanging Judge” A noose hangs over the riverside at the Prospect of Whitby pub in Wapping. Judge Jeffreys used to drink there in the 17th Century while the death sentence was meted out. It was a macabre pastime: he enjoyed watching criminals hang, especially those whom he himself had sentenced to the rope.
Historic art references “The Flaying of Marsyas” by Titian - A painting of Marsyas a Satyr, half man half goat, flayed alive.
Michelangelo’s “The Last Judgement” – A painting in which St Bartholomew holds his peeled off skin, thought to signify awaiting a new rebirth during the final judgement of humanity by God.
“The Flaying of the Judge Sisamnes” by Gerard David. Depicts a judge who was flayed for accepting a bribe and delivering an unjust verdict. His skin was then used to cover the seat in which his son would sit in judgment.
Russian Criminal Tattoos Tattoos with recognised coded meanings, giving information about a person’s time in prison, offence, gang affiliation, date of birth. In the early 1950s, it became customary for thieves to tattoo dots or small crosses on the knuckles, the number of dots indicating the number of terms. Following the break up of the Soviet Union and the fierce gang wars that took place, the tattoos and coded meanings became more intricate. A prison guard made a study over years of the different tattoos and their meanings, often seen on members of gangs such as Vory v Zakone.
Dr Richard Smith Richard Smith, a surgeon at the Bristol Royal Infirmary in 1821, dissected the bodies of executed murderers and then used their skin as book bindings. Smith had the body of John Horwood skinned, tanned, and used to bind the papers in the case of the murder of John’s ex-girlfriend, Eliza Balsom. This document is now kept in a museum in Bristol. This technique is called anthropodermic bibliopegy and is known to have been practised since the Seventeenth Century, and it was common to use the murderer's skin in this manner during the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries.
Burke and Hare William Burke and William Hare sold the corpses of their 16 victims to Doctor Robert Knox as dissection material for his well-attended anatomy lectures. Burke’s skin is rumoured to have been preserved using the anthropodermic bibliopegy technique.
Block 3 (Ep 5 & 6) Underground tunnels, exotic dining and doomsday cults
The Black Swine Victorian Sewer Pigs which roamed around underground early 1850s in Hampstead. The story originated from among Victorian sewer workers who were interviewed in 1851. A pregnant sow is said to have accessed the sewers through a broken drain, in Hampstead, as the sewers were poorly maintained at this time. Getting lost in the underground tunnels she is said to have littered the piglets there and feeding on the offal and rubbish in the drain, the pigs bred and became numerous and feral.
Sawney Bean A story from folklore of 15th/16th Century cannibals in Scotland. Sawney Bean was the head of a bloodthirsty clan allegedly responsible for the murder and cannibalisation of hundreds of people. They stole from travellers on the roads, and lived in coastal caves, where they dismembered their victims, pickled parts of them and littered the ground with bones.
The Acclimatisation Society The Acclimatisation Society had many aristocratic and eminent members, who hoped to diversify the range of meats eaten in Britain in the 1860s. These Acclimatisation Societies existed around the world in the mid 19th Century, and imported strange and exotic animals, hoping to set up breeding programmes and offer a wider range of meats for the dinner table. Frank Buckland led the London Acclimatisation Society in introducing exotic species. Reportedly he had tasted buffalo, earwig, field mice, giraffe, kangaroo, leopard, mole, ostrich, porpoise, sea slug, snake, whale and zebra.
Doomsday cults The series mentions cults which ended in mass suicide motivated by a leader, such as the Solar Temple in 1994 and the Heaven’s Gate members who committed suicide in 1997 in order to reach an alien spacecraft following Comet Hale–Bopp. 909 members of the Peoples Temple Agricultural Project, aka "Jonestown", died in 1978, in an event termed "revolutionary suicide" by the leader Jim Jones.
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Witch History & the origins/culture of England, Ireland, Scotland & Wales
I never understood why modern day witches seem to be willfully ignorant of Witch history from the (14th-18th Century) in various countries including England, Ireland, Scotland or Wales & why they act like it never happened or they only focus on their country of origin. The witch-trials happened in various countries, men & women were accused of witchcraft but some of the accused never admitted or confessed to being a witch under duress due to torture, I respect their resilience & courage. I'll never understand why some disrespectful people claim white people supposedly don't have any culture, but England, Ireland, Scotland & Wales is Celtic, Druid, Pagan in it's origin, why would we have Stonehenge in Wiltshire if there were no Celtic people, Druids or Pagans? It is a place of worship, it is sacred. 💖😊 Why do we have places associated with witchcraft or witch's (The Ancient Ram Inn, The Witch's Cage, The Hellfire Club Caves, Loftus Hall, Leap Castle) if we supposedly have no culture? England, Ireland, Scotland & Wales all have their own individual mythologies, folklore, Lore, Urban Legends, Unexplained mysteries, Paranormal encounters, Cryptids, Witch History. This is our culture, our beliefs, I think people should educate themselves about all Witch History instead of having a biased opinion, perception, attitude, mentality & confirmation bias because they choose to only know one aspect of Witch History that's just based on their country of origin. It's narcissistic, boastful, arrogant, attention-seeking, dismissive of other countries, cultures, because you think your country of origin is better than the rest of the world for whatever reason 🙄😒😑
A lot of things that are celebrated now are "borrowed from Paganism, so it's witchcraft. I am aware that some of the people that were originally accused of being a witch were a very early version of a healer, botanist, physician, apothecary, herbalist. They were thought of as suspicious since not everyone at the time had knowledge of herbalism and how to use plants, herbs, spices for medicinal purposes.
The werewolf trials were just as interesting the (14th-18th Centuries) is a very interesting period of time, due to mass hysteria, people consuming ergot on rye bread which is a fungus that makes you hallucinate when consumed. So it makes sense that people thought that anyone they were suspicious, fearful, distrusting of was a witch, werewolf, or they sold their souls to the devil and consorted with demons.
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dorkfacedtheoo · 11 months
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chapters 1&2 preview for blackbird, my story :)
1 - Raven
Home is often defined as where you feel most comfortable and safe, whatever it may be. It could be a store, a shack, your garden shed, a person, or, in my case, old abandoned buildings full of mysteries and stories. Home can also be defined as where you live with your parents, legal guardians, grandparents, siblings, or whatever.  But that doesn’t apply to me.
My name is Raven (ray-ven) Crowe (cra-ow) Merle (mere-lay) Ergot (air-go) (not many people quite know how to pronounce my names, as a lot of them are french). My birth mother has an obsession with blackbirds. She was French. I technically shouldn’t have a last name, because my mother gave me up for adoption as a toddler, and I lived in an orphanage my whole life, but I am now a legal adult so I feel as if I should be able to pick a last name for myself. “Ergot” is a fungus that grows on rye-related plants, and it is rather ugly but has a nice name. I believe it is French, derived from the French word for “spur” (argot). I like to read, and I consider myself to be a rather good photographer. I take photos of the abandoned places I explore and post them to a social media account in which I don’t say anything to allow people to enjoy the liminality of these places and enjoy the lack of context in which I present them. I am 18, and I don’t have a real place to live, nor do I have any real friends. I sleep in alleyways and the abandoned places I visit. I work odd jobs to get money to buy myself the things I want, such as replacement SIM cards for my cameras, my laptop, gas masks, mask filters (I am extremely weary of black mold), showers at gas stations, clothes, and food at grocery stores.
Puddles line the cracked streets and sidewalks. The sky is gray and cloudy, and it is quite chilly. I am wearing an old striped sweater, a pair of old jeans, stained with wear, and vans hightops that need a wash. My dirty blonde hair is in a messy, low ponytail underneath my black knitted hat. I have my backpack slung over my back, and I have my camera safely in its case, slung around my shoulder like a purse. I am walking towards a house I spotted the other day. That day I was walking away from the grocery store. I had known this house had been abandoned for a while, but I let it be for a bit in case the family was away (you learn your lessons the hard way). But then I looked inside and noticed how the wallpaper was peeling and stained with mildew; it was abandoned.
Standing on the doorstep, I take a deep breath. I always have to prepare myself for these, as I always seem to come across items that give me deep, unrecognizable emotional memories. Those of other people, places, and things I can’t recall any real memories for. I call it false nostalgia.
Upon opening the door, I can smell the potency of the mildew, but not the awful, musty odor of toxic black mold, so I do not bother with a mask. The house is outdated and from approximately the 70s. The floor crunches below me, as there is broken glass from a vase underneath my feet and chippings from the ceiling, as the paint is peeling and coming away. It was sitting on an intricately carved end table. The wallpaper was faded beige color, and the brown spotted shag carpet was stained with water damage. I plugged in my headphones and played the same music I always listen to, a slew of calming indie pop. I continued through the house, taking pictures of small trinkets, dirty couches, old furniture, and toys all left behind. However, even after I finished documenting this time capsule’s downstairs, I still wasn’t satisfied. I wanted to figure out the history of this place.  Why were all of these possessions left behind? A lot of things I saw could be worth a fortune in today’s time. 
I am extremely against taking things from places like these. Everything has its memory, and stealing it and selling it only robs it of that glory and charm. The same goes for destroying these places with graffiti and vandalism. These places hold entire history; destroying it removes that documentation. Though it’s tempting to grab something worth lots of money, I always suppress that emotion. It’s robbery.
I ascend the creaky, warped stairs, ensuring they are stable enough to hold my weight as I walk up them. The upstairs has three rooms, two of them being bedrooms, and the other one is a bathroom. I always love when bedrooms are left untouched after they are abandoned. You can learn so much about someone from the contents of their bedroom. 
The first bedroom is a child’s bedroom. The walls are bright yellow, and the carpet is beige with brown spots, like the downstairs. The curtains on the window are falling, and there are no sheets on the bed. The child’s toys are strewn about the floor, dirty with the wear of time. I take photos of these too, taking care not to damage them with my fingers. I put on a pair of gloves because examining these objects is my favorite part. You never want to touch items like these with bare hands, because your skin’s oils can damage their surface.
One of the dolls is missing a head, and 3 more of them are missing clothes. There is one, though, that has on a red dress that seems in rather pristine condition. Her brown hair is done into a French braid, and she looks very clean. On her back, there was a sticky note, taped to the strap of the dress. It said, “Jay, if you find this, your mother loves you. She may be gone from the Earth, but she is still alive in our hearts and spirit. And, honestly, you may still hate me, but that’s fine. I deserve it. Signed, Dad.”
I felt a strange tug in my heartstrings. Who was Jay, and why was a doll like this left here? Does she know this is here? Why would she hate her father? I was thoroughly intrigued. 
It was about then that I heard a thumping coming from downstairs.; Boots, most likely. In an instant, I jumped out the window, landed on my feet, and sped towards a window, to check if it was the police. Sometimes, police or construction workers will go to some abandoned spots to check to see if it is capable of being destroyed and used for other means. This is the scary part. If you’re caught, you could be arrested for trespassing.
When I peered through the window, I noticed a boy. He looked somber, with droopy, deep brown eyes and freckles, much like me. He had curly auburn hair that was slightly longer and was wearing a dark-colored sweatshirt, dark-colored sweatpants, and a pair of hiking boots.  He looked to be about my age, maybe a bit older. He stared at everything with deep care, smiling sadly. What if this was Jay’s brother from the doll? What happened to his mother? Or his father? Why did his sister hate him? Was this his home? So many questions. I was determined to find all the answers, and I usually do. I tend to get obsessed with specific places and research meticulously on them until I am satisfied. But I am not satisfied.
Right as I was lost in thought, the boy spotted me in the window. I leaped down below the sill, hiding with my back against the cool, damp wall. I was shaking again, but I did not feel scared. Feeling scared can lead to bad decisions. He opened the window and stared down below him.
“Hello? Anyone there?” He called out, looking around hastily. His voice was slightly coarse, and he had a very thick German accent. “I’m not gonna call the police. I’m just curious…” and then he trailed off.
I stayed put. I wasn’t going anywhere. Letting my presence known can lead to bad things: arrest or distraction. Time is precious and I could never waste it.
The boy sighed wearily and shut the window with difficulty, walking back through the house. I looked up into the window again. He went upstairs finally, feeling around the steps to check if they were stable. I sighed.
I walked around to the front of the house. It was a cute little beige house, with white trim and a brown roof with more than a few shingles missing. There were lots of memories here, I could feel it.
I sat on the decaying chair outside the house, and let out a deep sigh, unloading my stuff onto the ground. This place had somehow drawn me towards it; I knew that if I didn’t find something extraordinary, my trek wouldn’t be complete. Something was being given to me, I just didn’t quite know yet.
Keyword: Yet.
2 - Jay
It’s not often I go visit this house, but sometimes, it feels like my only option. I know that one day, Mom will be waiting for me, right where I left her. In her chair in the living room. Maybe she wouldn’t be hooked up to those fancy machines.
But today wasn’t that day. She was still gone, the wafting scent of mildew beginning to drift over the house. Everything felt the same. No disturbances, no signs of change, no…nothing. Maybe some disturbances in the dust, but nothing.
However, I did spot a pair of eyes looking through the window. A blonde girl, who slipped away before I could say hello. A shame.
After going upstairs, I noticed a small doll on the floor by my mother’s old bed. This doll had dark brown hair in a french braid, much like Mom used to. She was wearing a gorgeous dress, and it looked brand new. There was a post-it note attached to the back of her dress as well, and it read, “Jay, if you find this, your mother loves you. She may be gone from the Earth, but she is still alive in our hearts and spirit. And, honestly, you may still hate me, but that’s fine. I deserve it. Signed, Dad.”
I hadn’t formally spoken to my dad in years. Hell, he abandoned me. But, it still felt reassuring to know that he still thought of me enough to give this doll to me. I couldn't help but wonder if it was my mom’s or not. Knowing him, it probably wasn’t. He didn’t care.  I pocketed the doll and began my trek to the door. It had begun to sprinkle a little bit.
On the deck, there is a singular, mildew-covered chair. And on the ground next to it was a camera in its case. There was a tag attached to it, reading, “If anyone is to find this, please attempt to return it to me immediately. My name is Raven Crowe Merle Ergot.”
Quite the name. I pick up the camera and take it inside, grabbing my notebook off of an end table. I decided to keep it in here, as it was supposed to rain tonight. I figured she’d come back for it; it looked expensive. I wrote her a note as well;
“Hello, Raven. I found your camera, and I like your name. I hope this finds you well. Signed, Jay.”
I left the note by the camera and walked out onto the street. It was beginning to get dark, so I began to head toward the subway. This was my usual routine; after classes, I would take the subway to the downtown where my grandmother lived. Thankfully it’s summertime, so I don't have to worry about classes.  
The ride was boring. No one I knew, so I just sat and read my book, 1984 by George Orwell, and listened to music. 
When I got home, my grandmother was asleep. I decided not to wake her. I made a sandwich and sat on the balcony overlooking the street. America is much more different than Germany, yes, but sometimes I feel like this might’ve been the right place to go. I had the option to go to the UK with another family member after my dad ran off with his mistress, but I chose America. I always had dreams of coming here as a kid. Though, I’ve found it isn’t perfect. But nothing ever is.
After I finished my sandwich (which was rather good, by the way), I went to bed. A very average day for me, if I say so myself.
However, I couldn’t quit thinking about the girl, Raven, and I couldn’t stop wondering if she was a little like me. A bit longing, a bit mysterious.
Maybe she was missing something important. Like me.
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coyoxxtl · 2 years
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if you don't mind me asking, which is better, tripping on acid or tripping on shrooms. also is it possible to get cross faded or do they cancel each other out?
not at all I love giving drug advice :3c
It’s hard to say what’s better bc I love both but I believe they serve different purposes and thus, different experiences.
Acid trips are like, a fun loud party you have to commit to. Their trips last about 12-14 hours, and tend to make one pretty active. You wanna do like Everything, like watch movies/shows, listen to music, walk around outside, etc. Drawing is also incredibly fun on acid, and I can safely say they helped me understand color theory better than any class. Colors are incredible and everything has a rainbow veneer, one time it made Metalocalypse looks SUPER HD and I was convinced that it was a part that didnt exist outside the trip ghrheh. The one downside I can say is that having a bad/weird trips is fairly easy, since they last so long. I took acid quite a few times and my last two trips ended up being weirdly scary even though I knew how to handle my acid. It’s a fickle mistress, but I have tons of fun on it and if you take your normal pre-trip prep it should be gravy.
Shrooms (the ones I took were psilocybe mexicana) on the other hand are like, it’s chiller less neurotic sibling. Shroom trips only last about 6-8 hours, and they don’t wanna make you do shit lol. The kinds of stimulus I want on shrooms is v different than acid, p much strictly natural stimulus; sunlight, trees, wind and water noises…also dancing lol. Colors are still vibrant but theres more patterns floating around (funnily enough they look like the patterns found in pre-columbian mexican codices; mexican flavored visuals lol) They also make you Super social, like when I took some w two other friends all we did that whole trip was talk about awful work stories. When I try to watch something w a friend we just end up talking about what we’re watching instead of actually paying attention. It’s like a homey lil trip that makes you feel good in a soft and comfortable way. In fact, I took shrooms the days after I felt I emerged from an acid trip wrong. tho I can’t say I took a HUGE dose of shrooms yet, only 2g doses, so I don’t think I had a chance to completely lose my gourd on them yet unlike acid ghggh
I think the difference between them lies in their purpose, acid is made to be a party drug, a good time to have in concerts. It comes from ergot, a fungus that grows on rye wheat, concentrated into liquid and saturated in paper. and is theorized to be why the mass hysteria in Salem broke out into the witch trials. (baking the fungus into their rye bread left trace amounts of LSD that may have drove them apeshit) while Shrooms we’re used as medicine, for rituals of internal healing, and they definitely act as such. You also consume them the way they are grown in nature, save for some processes.
As far as getting crossfaded w them I have no idea I haven’t actually done that yet🤔maybe one day
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Why do witches ride broomsticks?
 What comes to mind when you think of a witch? For most people, the first image that comes to mind is a witch flying across the night sky on a broomstick. But why in history were witches depicted flying on broomsticks?
While the image of a witch flying on a broomstick is the most common, the image of a witch standing over a bubbling cauldron preparing a potion is equally iconic. There is a great reason for this. The use of powerful hallucinogens was very popular at that time, which is closely related to the reason why witches were depicted flying on broomsticks.
At a time when witch hunts were gaining popularity in Europe, people ate large amounts of bread. At that time, bread was mainly made from rye, which was often infected with a disease called ergot, caused by the fungus Claviceps purpurea. As a result, many people have been ingesting ergot unknowingly, believing it to be part of the plant. Ergot has hallucinogenic properties, causing its users to experience LSD-like experiences.
Not surprisingly, many people liked the effect and began experimenting with it, as well as other plants that produced similar results. These include turmeric, mandrake, deadly nightshade and wild rosemary. Johannes Weyer, a Dutch physician, and occultist, in his 1563 work Praestigiis Daemonum called all these plants ingredients of the "flying ointment" of witches.
However, these hallucinogens also had unpleasant side effects. If swallowed, they caused rashes, nausea, vomiting, and even death. But some resourceful people quickly realized that besides ingestion, there are other ways to consume witches' brew that avoid these side effects. It was about the absorption of the drug through the skin. This is best done through the delicate mucous membrane under the armpits or, in the case of women, through the genitals.
These drugs were also studied by the 16th-century physician Andrés de Laguna. One day he took one of these potions from the home of a woman accused of witchcraft and tested it on another woman. According to de Laguna, the woman "fell into such a deep sleep that I thought I would never be able to wake her up." Fortunately, after 36 hours, it worked. The woman was incredibly nervous to be woken up.
This led Laguna to the following conclusion: "From all this, it can be concluded that everything these wretched witches do and say is caused by potions and ointments that have so corrupted their memory and imagination that they create their own misfortunes because they firmly believe when they wake up, into everything they dreamed of."
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leebird-simmer · 1 year
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All About: Hallucinogens
Hallucinogens = psychedelic drugs
- primary action is to produce hallucinations by altering cognition and perception
- all hallucinogens are Schedule I drugs
- Examples include:
mescaline
psilocybin
dimethyltryptamine (DMT)
lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD)
Mescaline
- Mescaline is found in several species of cactus, such as peyote (Lophophor williamsii).
- The crown of this small cactus is cut off and dried to form a mescal button or peyote button.
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- Peyote buttons can be eaten raw or cooked, or the mescaline can be extracted and consumed as a powder.
- Peyote cactus is native to the US Southwest and northern Mexico.
- Peyote has been used for thousands of years by Indigenous peoples for religious and healing rituals.
- Aldous Huxley tried mescaline in 1953 and described his experience in two books that helped spawn a rise in hallucinogenic drug use in the 1960s.
Psilocybin
- Mushrooms in several different genera produce alkaloids with hallucinogenic properties and are found in many places around the world.
- The dried mushrooms may be eaten raw or cooked or made into tea.
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- The main compounds are psilocybin and related psilocin.
- After ingestion, psilocybin is converted to psilocin, the actual psychoactive agent.
- Hallucinogenic mushroom use also goes back thousands of years in several parts of the world.
- They were used by the Mayan & Aztec civilizations in religious rituals.
- The Spanish suppressed mushroom eating in the conquered Aztecs but could not wipe out the practice completely.
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- In 1955, Gordon Wasson participated in a mushroom-eating ritual in Oaxaca, Mexico, led by an (alleged) Mazatec shaman (Maria Sabina). His experiences were described in a Life magazine article in 1957.
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- Timothy Leary and Richard Alpert at Harvard experimented with psilocybin and LSD and helped to popularize these drugs via the Harvard Psychedelic Drug Research Program.
October 2018: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has given the psilocybin “breakthrough therapy” status in addressing treatment-resistant depression.
May 2019: Denver, CO became the first city in the United States to decriminalize psilocybin mushrooms. This initiative prohibits Denver from spending any resources to prosecute people for use or possession.
November 2020: The state of Oregon became the first US state to both decriminalize psilocybin and legalize it for therapeutic use.
- Three more cities have decriminalized psilocybin: Ann Arbor (September 2020), Seattle (October 2021), and Detroit (November 2021).
- Psilocybin is currently in clinical trials to determine therapeutic use(s).
DMT
- Dimethyltryptamine (DMT) is found in several plants indigenous to South America.
- Native tribes make hallucinogenic snuffs from plants containing these compounds, and also a drink called ayahuasca.
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- In the United States, people occasionally brew a homemade version of ayahuasca, but more typically DMT is sold in powdered form and is smoked.
- DMT is usually devoid of psychoactivity when taken orally, but this is not the case when people drink ayahuasca - a brew with a source of monoamine oxidase inhibitor (MAOI).
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{note: MAOIs aren’t as popular as they used to be, but they are sometimes prescribed to people whose depression has not responded to more modern antidepressants. If you are taking MAOIs or have taken MAOIs within the last few weeks, please do not consume DMT! It can be very dangerous.}
- DMT has the shortest duration of action of all hallucinogens; it’s sometimes referred to as the “businessman’s trip” because it lasts no more than 20 minutes.
LSD
- Lysergic acid diethhylamide (LSD) is a synthetic compound based on fungal alkaloids.
- First synthesized by Albert (”Abbie”) Hofmann in 1938 from ergot, a parasitic fungus which grows on rye.
- LSD was intensely studied during the 1960s, when researchers were beginning to appreciate that nerve cells communicate chemically by means of neurotransmitters.
- There was tremendous excitement about the possibility of understanding human mental activity and behavior at a chemical and physiological level.
- The CIA investigated LSD as a potential psychological weapon (MK Ultra).
- LSD use exploded in popularity with the development of hippie counterculture in the 1960s.
- A 1965 law restricted research on LSD; recreational use was banned in 1967.
- Some researchers tried LSD as a tool in psychotherapy or psychoanalysis.
- Psycholythic therapy = drug-induced “psycholysis,” meaning psychic loosening or opening.
- Psychedelic therapy = patient was given a high dose of LSD in hopes of gaining insight into their problems.
- LSD is very potent. A single dose in crystalline form is barely visible.
- Larger amounts representing many doses are dissolved in water, then droplets containing single-dose units are applied to a sheet of paper (a “blotter”) and dried. The paper is divided into individual squares or “tabs.”
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Pharmacokinetics
- The potency of hallucinogens varies widely, ranging from LSD as the most potent to mescaline as the least.
- Effects of smoked DMT are felt within seconds, peak over a few minutes, and are gone within an hour.
- A mushroom trip typically lasts about 5-7 hours.
- An LSD “trip” can last 6-12 hours.
- Half-life:
Mescaline = 5-6 hours
Psilocybin/psilocyn = 50 minutes
LSD = 5-6 hours
DMT (smoked, injected) = 15-20 minutes
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Behavioral Effects
- An LSD trip can be divided into four phases: (1) onset, (2) plateau, (3) peak, and (4) “come-down.”
- Users experience vivid visual hallucinations, a slowing of the subjective sense of time, feelings of depersonalization, strong emotional reactions, and a disruption of logical thought.
- A hallucinogenic trip may be experienced as mystical and spiritually enlightening (a “good trip”) or disturbing and frightening (a “bad trip”).
- Whether the user has a good or a bad trip depends on the dose and individual + social factors.
- One cannot know for sure what the outcome of an LSD trip will be.
{Note: The setting you choose impacts your trip, the people around you impact your trip, and the mood you’re in when you take hallucinogens impacts your trip. I would suggest not taking hallucinogens unless...
you trust the people around you and feel comfortable with them. They should also be experienced hallucinogen users who know how to accommodate your mindset and physical needs while tripping.
you are in a neutral or better mood; taking hallucinogens while you are angry or sad is likely to lead to a bad trip.
the weather is pleasant; spending time in nature is conducive to a good trip. If the weather is unpleasant, skip the drugs or stay indoors in an environment that provides you with enjoyable visual stimuli}
- Researchers make use of the Altered States of Consciousness (ASC) rating scale, or the Hallucinogen Rating Scale.
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Physiological Effects
- Activate the sympathetic nervous system: pupil dilation; small increases in heart rate, blood pressure, and body temperature.
- Dizziness, nausea, and vomiting are more likely after consumption of peyote or mushrooms.
Mechanism of Action
- Serotonin receptors in the cortex are believed to be particularly important in the action of hallucinogens.
- A neuroimaging study found that 5-HT2A (serotonin) receptor antagonists block psilocybin-induced visual illusions and hallucinations.
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- Hallucinogens activate serotonin receptors on prefrontal cortical pyramidal neurons and increase their excitation.
- This disrupts the normal functioning of glutamatergic networks in the prefrontal cortex.
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Tolerance
- Most hallucinogens (except DMT) produce rapid tolerance with repeated use.
-  A likely mechanism is down-regulation of 5-HT2A receptors, which has been demonstrated in rats.
Dependence
- Hallucinogens do not have high abuse potential; there are no withdrawal symptoms, and they are not effective reinforcers.
- Dependence does occur in a small number of users, especially if exposed at an early age.
DSM-5: Other Hallucinogen Use Disorder
- The “Other” in the title distinguishes the hallucinogens causing the disorder from “Phencyclidine Use Disorder” and “Cannabis Use Disorder.”
- Drugs associated with Other Hallucinogen Use Disorder:
Mescaline, MDMA or ecstasy, psilocybin and psilocin, DMT, LSD
Various other plant compounds with hallucinogenic effects are also included.
- Unlike many other Substance Use Disorders, withdrawal symptoms are rare.
- The diagnosis of Other Hallucinogen Use Disorder can be given to an individual who takes hallucinogens of the types specified above, and exhibits at least two of the following symptoms within a 12 month period:
The person takes more of the hallucinogen than they intended to.
The person has difficulty cutting down or controlling their hallucinogen use.
The person spends a lot of time getting, using, and recovering from hallucinogens.
The person craves hallucinogens.
The person fails to carry out major roles in their life at work, school, or home, because of their hallucinogen use.
The person continues to use the hallucinogens, even though they have social or interpersonal problems as a result of their drug use.
The person gives up or reduces other activities that were important to them, such as social activities, recreational activities, etc.
The person uses hallucinogenic drugs in dangerous situations, such as driving or operating machinery.
The person continues to use hallucinogens even though they know it is causing or worsening a physical or psychological problem.
Tolerance for hallucinogens
Severe Reactions
- Hallucinogens can cause serious problems for some users.
- A user may have a “bad trip” with acute anxiety or panic.
- This effect appears to be related to the individual’s emotional state going into the trip, as well as the external environment.
- The most severe reaction is a psychotic reaction.
- With a few exceptions, prolonged psychotic episodes typically involve individuals who had already been diagnosed with a psychotic disorder or who had pre-psychotic symptoms before taking the drug.
- Flashbacks: re-experiencing the hallucinations some time after drug use has stopped.
- If they occur for a long time, the individual is considered to be suffering from hallucinogen persisting perception disorder (HPPD), which seems to be rare.
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psychetriper · 2 years
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DMT stands for N, N-Dimethyltryptamine. It is a powerful psychedelic drug, with serotonergic effects on the human brain, which can induce a rapid and intense psychedelic experience, often referred to as a ‘DMT trip’. The DMT experience is usually characterised by visual hallucinations, frequently involving powerful entities, and is often associated with deeper meaning. This meaningful experience is sometimes called a ‘DMT breakthrough’. When used as a recreational drug, DMT can be smoked, snorted, or injected in its crystal form.
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Hallucinogens are a diverse group of drugs that alter a person’s awareness of their surroundings as well as their own thoughts and feelings. They are commonly split into two categories: classic hallucinogens (such as LSD) and dissociative drugs (such as PCP). Both types of hallucinogens can cause hallucinations or sensations and images that seem real though they are not. Additionally, dissociative drugs can cause users to feel out of control or disconnected from their bodies and environment.
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elianaiscool · 25 days
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sbg phantom fungi theory!!
i was watching buzzfeed unsolved: supernatural (which you should totally watch) and on the episode about the Salem Witch Trials they mentioned ergot, which is a fungi and it made me start thinking about school bus graveyard and like what if that is the fungus causing the whole phantom thing (if the fungi thing is true and not a cover-up) because the symptoms of ergot poisoning it pretty similar to how they're acting. like muscle spasms (which happened to Tyler and Aiden when they woke up after being injured in the phantom dimension), hallucinations, tingly sensation on the skin (which kinda sounds like what it feels like when they got more minor injuries in and they went back to the human dimension), vomiting (all of them were vomiting when they woke up from the first night), gangrene (which may be a stretch but that may be what causes the people to turn and look like the phantoms), unconsciousness (which we learned is what happened to most other people who encountered the fungi), and also ergot is black like the phantoms. the only issue is I don't know what like caused it because to get ergot poisoning you have to consume it and I can't find anything showing they might have. ergot tends to grow on wheat, rye, and other stuff like that btw. I don't know if this is just a coincidence or if i'm just imaging all of this but making theories is the only thing keeping me sane between episodes (also as of writing this I've read up to episode 68)
I'd love to hear other peoples thoughts on this though!!
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thekimspoblog · 25 days
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Remember how I said I had tons of ideas for movies? Well here's another one:
An adaptation of Arthur Miller's "The Crucible" in the style of Ralph Bakshi.
The movie starts in sepia tone with very stiff rotoscoped animation. Then the ergot of rye is introduced, and instead of appearing as a black fungus like it does in reality, the infected grain bears a rainbow shimmer like a oil-slick. The characters who eat this grain develop colorful splotches in their pupils, and this is (one of) the onsets of the madness in Salem.
As more characters are put to death, as the paranoia mounts, as the crops and livestock rot in the field from inattention, the bright psychadelia takes over the muted environment. The previously humanoid characters begin to move more fluidly and cartoonishly as their perceptions of themselves and their neighbors change. The overarching message of the story being that moments of near collapse like the witch trials and McCarthyism are simply the necessary growing pains of a society. Like the biblical apple of knowledge, the mind expanding powers of LSD may serve a net positive for those who can handle it, but that doesn't mean it comes without a risk to health and sanity. Perhaps all things have a logical explanation in hindsight, but monumental shifts in race, religion, science, gender dynamics etc. can still feel like a clash with the supernatural in the moment. If we don't want to repeat the mistakes of the witch trials, we must come prepared to adapt to change.
Some of this concept has translated into "Slippin' Kimmy". The use of color to represent the onset of a sort of madness. The 70's aesthetic despite the story being set in 2016. But for SK, I'm taking more direct inspiration from Dario Argento than I am Ralph Bakshi.
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formeroklahoman · 3 months
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Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is a Gothic novella by Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson, first published January 5, 1886.
Drug took Stevenson face to face with Hyde
The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde was written by Robert Louis Stevenson under the influence of a hallucinogenic drug similar to LSD, according to new research.
Doctors believe the Scots author wrote the classic exploration of good and evil while being treated with a derivative of ergot, a potentially deadly hallucinogenic fungus.
The mould, which affects rye and wheat, caused mass poisonings during the Middle Ages. Victims suffered vivid hallucinations and convulsions, which were mistakenly believed to be symptoms of demonic possession. Many witch trials, including those in Salem, Massachusetts, in 1692, are believed to have been triggered by outbreaks of ergotism.
During the Victorian era, ergotine, a derivative of the fungus, was used by doctors to stop bleeding. Stevenson, who suffered from tuberculosis, was given injections of the drug to stop bleeding in his lungs.
Professor Robert Winston, the chair of the House of Lords select committee on science and technology, and Dr George Addis, a former consultant in medicine and therapeutics at Glasgow University, believe that the injections led to side-effects that created a "Mr Hyde-like" transformation in the author. Their findings will be revealed today in a BBC1 documentary.
They believe that they have found evidence in a recently uncovered letter, now held in Yale University's archive, that shows Stevenson experienced spasms and hallucinations characteristic of an ergotine overdose.
In the letter, dated "end of August, early September 1885", Stevenson's wife wrote to William Henley, her husband"s friend and literary agent: Louis's mad behaviour . . . I think it must be the ergotine that affects his brain at such time.
"He is quite rational now, I am thankful to say, but he has just giving up insisting that he should be lifted into bed in a kneeling position, his face to the pillow."
Two weeks later Stevenson began writing his famous work about the duality of human nature. The story recounts the adventures of Dr Jekyll, who takes drugs that separate the good and evil in his psyche. Although the doctor is purified, the evil Mr Hyde is created as a terrible side-effect.
Stevenson always claimed that the plot of Jekyll and Hyde came to him in a fevered dream while he was seriously ill. Yet in August 1885 his bleeding became so severe he was given at least one injection of ergotine, which is referred to in another letter.
In the BBC programme - The Adventures of Robert Louis Stevenson - Winston claims that ergotine was an important influence on Stevenson.
"Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is about drug taking and the power of drugs which overtake his body completely and drive Dr Jekyll in a way that really is completely alien to him," he says. "Maybe that's what Stevenson is feeling with the use of the drugs that he's taking, particularly ergotine. Perhaps he becomes a Mr Hyde himself.
Andrew Thompson, the documentary's producer and director, said the doctors' findings could lead to important insights into Stevenson's influences.
"The fact that Stevenson was injected with such a powerful drug just a couple of weeks before the writing of his famous story about personality-altering drugs has to be linked."
Karin Goodwin March 20, 2005 Sunday Times
#PsychedelicSynchronicity
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