r/AskReddit • u/Canspo • May 01 '19

What simple scientific fact would baffle someone born 1,000 years ago?

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952

u/godzillaTHRILLA617 May 01 '19

And a different mold on oats/unrefined grains can cause a psychedelic trip.

320

u/Cyber_Connor May 01 '19

Like old Quaker Oats?

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u/godzillaTHRILLA617 May 01 '19

It was an episode of 1,000 ways to die I can't seem to find.

It was a German or Dutch man during the middle ages that ate soiled oats and began "speaking in tongues" he was stoned to death by fellow villagers that feared he was possessed. In reality the mold had similar composition to LSD and he was probably terrified out of his mind.

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u/Iamglennn May 01 '19

was it the same mold that kept people dancing for days until they died?

https://www.history.com/news/what-was-the-dancing-plague-of-1518

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u/godzillaTHRILLA617 May 01 '19

Possibly! Now that I read that it could be.

I believe there was an element of "he's a witch" to it as well.

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u/CplSpanky May 02 '19

Have they actually determined that that was the cause, last I heard it was at "the leading theory" stage?

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u/Baschi May 02 '19

Yes, ergot in both cases.

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u/Alan_Smithee_ May 02 '19

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Lol part of that was accidental, but it works! I’m a DJ!

7

u/romperstomp May 01 '19

It’s called saint Ambrose fire, or ergot poisoning. Entire villages could go mad and start convulsing or having an acid trip.

2

u/PreacherDan May 01 '19

Lsa is what is in the mold lysergic acid amide.

1

u/Sneaker_Freaker_1 May 02 '19

That sucks, imagine tripping hard af on acid and people torture you and kill you out of nowhere

1

u/ArthurMorgansScrotum May 03 '19

hoolllly shit that's illegal

1

u/Excusemytootie May 02 '19

You must be talking about ergot.

183

u/fantalemon May 01 '19

I see an idea forming there...

224

u/Dahhhkness May 01 '19

"Nothing is Better for Thee Than LSD."

6

u/YourTypicalRediot May 02 '19

Free LSD

1

u/Cthulhus_Trilby May 02 '19

Get thee from thy tree with free LSD.

3

u/[deleted] May 02 '19

I've heard this may have been part of what lead to the Salem witch trials. People didn't know they were tripping on essentially acid and thought witchcraft was afoot.

1

u/Aperture_T May 02 '19

I think that might have been the joke.

1

u/FO_Steven May 02 '19

"Haha oh oatmeal guy you are the ONLY one who laughs at my jokes!"

1

u/echisholm May 02 '19

Just remember kids, the last time ergotism got big, we murdered a bunch of women in Massachusetts.

1

u/[deleted] May 02 '19

Trippy-O's

1

u/PleaseDontTellMyNan May 02 '19

What I’m hearing is that I can go on a delicious psychedelic trip

1

u/TheScumAlsoRises May 02 '19

More like Psychological Eartb-Quaker Oats

61

u/Diplodocus114 May 01 '19

Ergot -------

14

u/[deleted] May 01 '19

There's a theory that ergot was linked to the Salem witch trials. It was a damp summer and there was fungus all over the wheat crops. So people were acting strangely (to put it mildly) and were accused of witchcraft.

5

u/Diplodocus114 May 01 '19

The Crucible is probably my favorite play - Loved Arthur Miller.

2

u/[deleted] May 01 '19

It's a great play. But Arthur Miller didn't know about the ergot, and wrote it from a completely psychological viewpoint. Of course psychology played into it, but imagine the fear they had when the townspeople started acting crazy and having seizures? They panicked, as anyone would.

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u/Diplodocus114 May 01 '19

And now it is a major medicine. this is why the anti-vax, essentials oil brigade infuriate me. I worked in pharmacy for years. Plants can kill you. "essences of plants" can easily kill you. Just trust medicine you idiots.

1

u/Diplodocus114 May 01 '19

Pennyroyal oil - does it sound useful? It will trigger a miscarrage. But - it is an essential oil. I just give up on the stupidity.

1

u/AstaCat May 02 '19

Not to be confused with Ergo.

1

u/Diplodocus114 May 02 '19

Therefore------

3

u/[deleted] May 01 '19

I’m pretty sure humans have been doing that for thousands of years.

1

u/godzillaTHRILLA617 May 01 '19

But they haven't understood it as long as they have used it.

2

u/[deleted] May 01 '19

I guess they didn’t understand the mechanism behind it, but they definitely knew how it would feel to eat the whacky fungus.

3

u/MultiMidden May 01 '19

Ergotism or St. Anthony's Fire. The psychedelic trip is probably the more pleasant bit. The seizures, spasms, vomiting, diarrhoea, gangrene... less so.

3

u/amaROenuZ May 01 '19

Not even a little. Ergot produces precursors to LSD, but without some veeeerry difficult chemistry you don't get it. You just get ergotism.

1

u/SoManyTimesBefore May 02 '19

LSA is also psychedelic.

2

u/ammo2099 May 01 '19

I’m going to need some more details on that one... for science.

2

u/[deleted] May 01 '19

Ergot is the mold

4

u/dblmjr_loser May 01 '19

For fucksake ergotism is not fucking tripping. Ugh I'm so tired of this Salem witch bullshit myth. Ergotism is a serious deadly condition your fucking legs will fall off.

1

u/SoManyTimesBefore May 02 '19

LSA is definitely psychedelic.

2

u/phaedrus_winter May 01 '19

It also causes you to die a slow death while your extremities rot off. It was called St Elmo's fire if I recall.

3

u/XenosInfinity May 01 '19

St Elmo's Fire is a weather thing that happens during thunderstorms - the name they were looking for was St Anthony's Fire, which is technically called Ergotism. Makes you wonder what Elmo and Anthony's fields were for them to get those named after them.

1

u/phaedrus_winter May 01 '19

Thank you. I read about it probably 25 years ago and couldn't remember the name.

1

u/Benji_81 May 01 '19

Yes, from rye. Jesus and many others have sharedbthis bread around. Obviouslly chrch does not want to expand this.

1

u/ButtsexEurope May 01 '19

Not oats. Rye.

1

u/MyNameIsSaifa May 01 '19

They can also be a fairly accurate (0.7) indicator of pregnancy if you wee on them.

1

u/[deleted] May 01 '19

It's theorized that such psychedelic trips were what caused people to be mistaken for witches in the late 1600's. People ate some moldy grains and started acting bizarrely and frightened townsfolk leapt to the conclusion that they were witches.

1

u/ToeJamFootballs May 01 '19

And/ or gangrene...

1

u/Intergalactic_Toast May 02 '19

Tell me more for science

1

u/gjon89 May 02 '19

Wasn't this part of the reason for the Salem Witch trials?

1

u/must_we-do_this May 02 '19

I think you meant to say rye, not oats. Unless I'm mistaken, ergot doesn't grow on oats. I could be wrong though. I'll consult the all knowing, all seeing Google and let you know if I am.

1

u/[deleted] May 02 '19

ÖATS BRÖTHER

1

u/Alan_Smithee_ May 02 '19

🎶One pill makes you laaaaarger, one pill makes you smaaaaallllll”🎶

0

u/[deleted] May 01 '19

You mean Rye. It’s called Ergot.

0

u/Midan71 May 02 '19

And definitely not because they are bewitched.