Gee, I’m really hoping it wasn’t rye bread. Ergot, the mold that likes rye grain may have been responsible for several outbreaks of madness in Europe during the Middle Ages. It tended to occur after a wet, warm summer when they grain had time to spoil.
Some of the effects were hallucinations, mad dancing, and auto-amputation. That’s right, blood flow gets cut off to the extremities, and fingers and toes, sometimes whole limbs will just . . . fall off.
Cheerful stuff, isn’t it?
“Knowing others is wisdom. Knowing yourself is enlightenment.” - Lao-tzu, Chinese philosopher
Man, that rye smut is nasty stuff - I just heard it’s the agent responsible for abnormal facial hair growth, a la Jo-Jo the dog-faced boy and bearded ladies in the circus.
TennHippie - you’ve got some crust, but it’s nice to know you’re not a heel.
Anybody know anything about a connection between moldy rye grain and the Salem witch unpleasantness? I’ve heard that rye was the pricipal grain at the time, and records showed a couple of years of bumper crops and mild moist winters before the outbreak, or is that just some rationalist trying to explain away the occult?
Larry
My microbiology teacher told us about that theory, Larry. It’s possible the ergot poisoning had a part in the Salem witch trials, but you can’t discount the other factors involved- the political and religious climate, for example. In any event, there was no witchcraft involved.
Oh yeh,Holly? When Goody Felicity’s cow went dry,she,with a wry glance at his fields and muttering in an unknown argot, cast a spell on Goodman Mather’s fields.
Hey all. I’m doing just fine, no adverse effects what so ever. I did get quite violently ill Saturday night, but I suspect that the open bar at the wedding i was at was likely responsible, not the bread.
Had I known that this thread would produce so many brutal puns, I would have reconsidered starting it.
“…the Salem witch unpleasantness” now thats funny!
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