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The mushroom making people hallucinate tiny humans

bbc.com

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Re: The mushroom making people hallucinate tiny humans

#41

Post by Denatonium »

JohnLeitch wrote: post #35

>Current tests suggest it is not likely related to any other known psychedelic compound. For one, the trips it produces are unusually long, commonly lasting 12 to 24 hours, and in some cases even causing hospital stays of up to a week. Plenty of common psychedelics have durations in excess of 12 hours. Some even in excess of 24 e.g. high doses of 2C-P. This may be a novel compound, but the duration is not necessarily…

Another example, this one deliriant and not psychedelic, is atropine/scopolamine, found in certain nightshades, such as deadly nightshade, mandrake, plants in the Datura genus, and trees in the Brugmansia genus. The chemical weapon QNB, also called BZ is another example of a long-acting deliriant.

As far as classic psychedelics go, I've read mescaline (3,4,5-trimethoxyphenethylamine) lasts really long.

Re: The mushroom making people hallucinate tiny humans

#45

Post by pstuart »

WarmWash wrote: post #13
pstuart wrote: post #3

This sounds like a variation of Machine Elves -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dimethyltryptamine#Entity_enco... Those are primarily associated with DMT (the one time I tried it, I too had such an encounter and I didn't know it was a thing until years later). I'm sure I'll be corrected on this but I think DMT and Psilocybin ultimately affect the same pathways so it's just more evidence that Machine Elves are real! (/…

They are both serotonin analogues, but they definitely yield different experiences. In chemistry it often only takes a single atom difference to totally and radically change a molecule's properties.

It would be fascinating to have research into what is effectively manifesting the experience.

My (extremely limited) understanding is that humans are "hardwired" for pattern recognition (especially faces) -- could there be some sort of ROM equivalent of "this pattern is another human" that gets engaged by the chemical experience?

Re: The mushroom making people hallucinate tiny humans

#46

Post by vjvjvjvjghv »

creeble wrote: post #19

Almost all of the reports from people I know who have done ayahuasca have reported seeing "elves". It's not only common, they say it's not a "valid" trip unless you do, and even converse with them. Though I don't know any reports of profound conversations.

I didn’t see elves but I saw a dark jungle with a big cat’s reflective eyes looking at me. Kind of cool.

Re: The mushroom making people hallucinate tiny humans

#47

Post by duskwuff »

pstuart wrote: post #45
WarmWash wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They are both serotonin analogues, but they definitely yield different experiences. In chemistry it often only takes a single atom difference to totally and radically change a molecule's properties.

It would be fascinating to have research into what is effectively manifesting the experience. My (extremely limited) understanding is that humans are "hardwired" for pattern recognition (especially faces) -- could there be some sort of ROM equivalent of "this pattern is another human" that gets engaged by the chemical experience?

Maybe. It's certainly the case that there are areas of the human brain which are specifically associated with recognizing faces, like the fusiform face area - it's an intrinsic capability of the brain, not one that's learned. But I'm not certain that's sufficient to explain what's happening here. Increasing the activation of that area would most likely result in a person perceiving faces everywhere (e.g. an extreme form of pareidolia), not entire humanoid figures.

Re: The mushroom making people hallucinate tiny humans

#49

Post by mtlmtlmtlmtl »

JohnLeitch wrote: post #35

>Current tests suggest it is not likely related to any other known psychedelic compound. For one, the trips it produces are unusually long, commonly lasting 12 to 24 hours, and in some cases even causing hospital stays of up to a week. Plenty of common psychedelics have durations in excess of 12 hours. Some even in excess of 24 e.g. high doses of 2C-P. This may be a novel compound, but the duration is not necessarily…

I read this merely as not likely corresponding to any psychedelic compound known to occur in nature, not that it isn't psychedelic. Of course, even that isn't a given, since there could be some interaction between a known compound and a second compound affecting the metabolism of the first one. Although the description of its effects doesn't really sound like any psychedelic I've tried either, and I've tried quite a few

I'm still open to it being psychedelic(primarily acting on the 5-HT-2 receptor family) though. It could just be that there's enough folklore surrounding these mushrooms in the local culture to explain the very specific effects. After all, cultural beliefs are a part of "set and setting".

Re: The mushroom making people hallucinate tiny humans

#50

Post by tzs »

It would be interesting if it turned out that they are not hallucinations. The tiny people are real but for several hundred or maybe thousands of years have been slipping something into our food or water that makes it so we don't perceive them. The chemical in this mushroom temporarily neutralizes that.
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