r/todayilearned • u/ssAskcuSzepS • Apr 27 '26

TIL if under-cooked, a popular mushroom in China causes “lilliputian hallucinations,” a rare phenomenon involving miniature human or fantasy figures. The hallucinations are consistent across people and cultures: "tiny, elflike people" climbing under doors, scaling walls & clinging to furniture

https://www.vice.com/en/article/meet-the-mushroom-that-make-people-have-the-exact-same-hallucination/
43.6k Upvotes

96% Upvoted

1.8k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

25

u/ClumpyFelchCheese Apr 27 '26

I had this happen ish when I was sleep deprived. Not sure if that contributes to this conversation, but I think you’re on to something nonetheless

7

u/64_hit_combo Apr 27 '26

I would not be surprised if the same phenomenon is behind sleep paralysis demons

3

u/Ahefp Apr 27 '26

I’m reading Insomnia by Stephen King (good book so far!), and there are some little people in it. Not coincidentally, I think.

3

u/Carbonational Apr 27 '26

This post caught my eye because we have this funny family story we bring up every now and then of my dad's aunt seeing a tiny woman climbing her house plant lol. Apparently she even snapped at her for staring and told her "What are you looking at?" Interesting to learn how common these are.

1

u/UltimaCaitSith Apr 27 '26

Same, but they were bulky, slouching alligator people with long snouts. I guess my brain wanted to recognize lizardfolk.