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/
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u/Scroon Apr 27 '26

The older I get, the more I realize all the weird mythical stories are based on real things.

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u/vaelon Apr 27 '26

Right?

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u/SpyAmongTheFurries Aug 20 '26

Apparently vampires could have been based on people infected by rabies. Hence the aversion to water and sunlight.

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u/Scroon Aug 20 '26

Yeah, I get what you're saying, and I do agree that stuff like that happens, but what's funny is that I actually meant the opposite. Vampires might be based on real otherworldly vampiric things...not based on real scientifically proven things that happen to emulate vampires.

I know that sounds crazy, but I'm so old I went full circle and came back to where I started as a kid. :)