Secrets of the Dead
I heard about (but did not see) an episode of this new "Secrets of the Dead" series on Channel 2, Tuesday night. Turns out, the hysteria that lead up to the Salem Witch trials was caused by Ergot fungus that infected the rye crop. The physical effects were the equivalent of a bad trip on acid.... Not bewitchery!
I personally find LSD and anything psylocybin a fascinating topic, but... it's not something I'm sure we need to blog about.
posted by CatsFive @ Thursday, June 02, 2005
1 Comments:
I'd heard that about the rye-fungus, although I'd always heard it as what the witches would use in their Black Masses and whatnot (though, of course, that it was never really what outside folks said it was, mainly some of the freaks/outcasts of the community getting together and having fun, rather than, you know, some overly complex way of summoning Magick to, I dunno, kill folks or wither crops), so that's kind of interesting that the Ergot was working both sides of the fence, apparently!
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