# Moses high on the mountaintop **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 6, 2008, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moses-high-on-the-mountaintop/440345 "2008-03-06T17:35:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2008, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moses-high-on-the-mountaintop/440345/1 "2008-03-06T17:35:54Z")
There might be a great debate [in here](http://www.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUSN0444950920080304) somewhere, but for now it’s just something I must share. > [@](#): > > An Israeli psychology professor says the biblical Israelites may have been affected by a hallucinogenic plant when Moses brought the Ten Commandments down from Mount Sinai, according to a new study. Dr. Benny Shanon claims to be intimately familiar with the effects of the hallucinogenic plant himself, and says it can induce profound religious feelings. He also admits he has no way of ever proving his hypothesis. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Credible](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a8b319/32.png) [@Justin\_Credible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Credible)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2008, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moses-high-on-the-mountaintop/440345/2 "2008-03-06T17:57:42Z")
I remember in one of my history classes hearing about some group of people who thought that Jesus was a mushroom. Unfortunately, I don’t remember who they were. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2008, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moses-high-on-the-mountaintop/440345/3 "2008-03-06T18:43:33Z")
[QUOTE=Justin Credible] I remember in one of my history classes hearing about some group of people who thought that Jesus was a mushroom. Unfortunately, I don’t remember who they were. [/QUOTE] Well, He’s not a fun guy. Those who get it, please don’t smite me. ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2008, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moses-high-on-the-mountaintop/440345/4 "2008-03-06T19:02:27Z")
_snort_ Wasn’t there a hypothesis floating around about the Salem witch trials being caused by some bad, bad ergot in the crops? Or the whole Pied Piper of Hamelin legend? ---
**Author:** ![bannerrefugee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c68b51/32.png) [@bannerrefugee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bannerrefugee)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2008, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moses-high-on-the-mountaintop/440345/5 "2008-03-06T19:06:54Z")
removed for inaneness ---
**Author:** ![Katriona](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/katriona/32/113_2.png) [@Katriona](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Katriona)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2008, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moses-high-on-the-mountaintop/440345/6 "2008-03-07T00:04:16Z")
[QUOTE=TWDuke] There might be a great debate [in here](http://www.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUSN0444950920080304) somewhere, but for now it’s just something I must share. Dr. Benny Shanon claims to be intimately familiar with the effects of the hallucinogenic plant himself, and says it can induce profound religious feelings. He also admits he has no way of ever proving his hypothesis. [/QUOTE] The best part was Olbermann’s reporting of this with “All You Zombies” in the background. “Holy Moses on the mountain…” ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2008, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moses-high-on-the-mountaintop/440345/7 "2008-03-07T02:14:00Z")
[QUOTE=Kythereia] Wasn’t there a hypothesis floating around about the Salem witch trials being caused by some bad, bad ergot in the crops? [/QUOTE] Yes, though Cecil found it [not likely](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/050114.html). ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2008, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moses-high-on-the-mountaintop/440345/8 "2008-03-07T12:00:31Z")
[QUOTE=Justin Credible] I remember in one of my history classes hearing about some group of people who thought that Jesus was a mushroom. Unfortunately, I don’t remember who they were. [/QUOTE] It also forms a central plot point in Philip K Dick’s _The Transmigration of Timothy Archer_. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2008, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moses-high-on-the-mountaintop/440345/9 "2008-03-07T12:53:36Z")
> [@](#): > > > [@](#): > > > > : > > Originally Posted by Kythereia > > Wasn’t there a hypothesis floating around about the Salem witch trials being caused by some bad, bad ergot in the crops? > > Yes, though Cecil found it not likely. The ergotism banner has been taken up by others in recent years, and you can buy new books at the sites in Salem championing it. I’m not a big fan of this explanation, but have to admit it’s possible. A lot of the counterarguments in Uncle Cecil’s column don’t convince me – it’s not the visions supposedly occurring during the trial that might have been caused by ergot (those are, indeed, rather suspicious in their timing), but the very vivid and bizarre visions that people had before the accusations, many of them not by the girls themselves, but by otherwise sober townspeople who _weren’t_ accused of the falling-down-frothing-at-the-mouth behavior. Read Chadwick Hansen’s **Witchcraft in Salem**. He reprints a number of the visions and the “possessions”. It’s pretty clear that something extreme was going on in Salem, and it’s hard to dismiss it as Bored or Scared teenage girls just making it up. Hansen pointed out the similarity to Charcot’s hysteria patients, and when you put descriptions side-by-side, they do match pretty closely. ---
**Author:** ![si\_blakely](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@si\_blakely](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/si_blakely)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2008, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moses-high-on-the-mountaintop/440345/10 "2008-03-07T14:36:17Z")
[QUOTE=Justin Credible] I remember in one of my history classes hearing about some group of people who thought that Jesus was a mushroom. Unfortunately, I don’t remember who they were. [/QUOTE] _The Sacred Cross and the Mushroom_, by **John M. Allegro**. A [Time Article from 1970](http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,909327,00.html) about the work. Few academics give credence to his theories, and his work is pretty much disregarded. I’m only familiar with the work because my wife’s grandfather wrote a refutation called _The Mushroom and The Bride_ which is sitting in our bookcase. Si