Enlightenment or Death by Entheogenic Mushrooms?
Posted: Fri Nov 28, 2014 7:09 am
Death by Mushrooms?
There has been much speculation about why Chris Mccandless eventually died in the bus. Jon Krakauer assigned blame to potato seeds which were photographed by Chris and mentioned in his journal. Ron Lamothe asserts that Chris simply wasn’t eating enough to sustain himself. Ron Hamilton recently threw in his ODAP poisoning theory.
Personally, I think it was a combination of factors. Starting with slow starvation and possibly giardia from the local water. We could add other parasites from the various birds and small mammals he ingested. And the potato seed apparently could have had an effect. I’d like to add another rather obvious idea which I’m surprised has not been mentioned. Along with the other wild plants Chris was gathering were a lot of mushrooms. In the picture Chris took of his mushroom stash there appears to me to be at least one amanita muscaria (it’s the reddish one with white dots just left of center) which are known to be both psychoactive and poisonous- occassionally even lethal.
I’m no expert on mushrooms but I have a friend who is a botanist so I sent him that picture. He sent it to another friend who is an expert. Gary Laursen, Phd. Director, High Latitude Mycological Research Institute, LLC. Wrote that…
“ This picture is quite 'cluttered' and out of focus, but I can see the suspect A. muscaria var. persicina or A. m. var. regalis, with THREE toxins, two of which are known to cause serious gastrointestinal upset and malaise. I also see Calchiporus piperatus, a very 'spicy' orange bolete, Leccinum cf. atrostipitatum, another bad actor have black stipe scabers, and then a whole host of russulas and other assorted species I cannot ID from this photo. I really do hope your friend is getting ID assistance of his fungi before ingestion, or he could end up in the hospital; albeit, edibility differences are noted given one's own personal biochemistry.”
Dr. Laursen later commented on the nutritional value of mushrooms,
“There is too little caloric value in eating mushrooms, but there is important micro-mineral nutrients of value along with amino acids, protein, and chitin-based non digestible ruff-age. Had he eaten the Leccinum, more so than the Amanita, I suspect he might have been violently sick for 18-24 hrs. and lost appetite for several recovering days.”
Wikipedia has a lot of info about these mushrooms- both the toxic effects of amanita muscaria and its entheogenic uses. There are also pictures of them. It’s good reading…
“Depending on habitat and the amount ingested per body weight, effects can range from nausea and twitching to drowsiness, cholinergic crisis-like effects (low blood pressure, sweating and salivation), auditory and visual distortions, mood changes, euphoria, relaxation, ataxia, and loss of equilibrium."
“In cases of serious poisoning the mushroom causes delirium, somewhat similar in effect to anticholinergic poisoning (such as that caused by Datura stramonium), characterised by bouts of marked agitation with confusion, hallucinations, and irritability followed by periods of central nervous system depression. Seizures and coma may also occur in severe poisonings.”
“The effect is highly variable between individuals, with similar doses potentially causing quite different reactions. Some people suffering intoxication have exhibited headaches up to ten hours afterwards. Retrograde amnesia and somnolence can result following recovery.”
And with reference to Leccinum, a type of boletas mushroom, Wikipedia says,
“They have generally been presumed to be edible for the most part, but there are reports of poisoning after eating as yet unidentified members of the genus in North America, even after thorough cooking. The orange- to red-capped species, including L. insigne, are suspected. Species of Leccinum often cause nausea when consumed raw.”
Amanita muscaria has quite a long history of use in a religious, shamanic, or spiritual context.
“In 1968, R. Gordon Wasson proposed that A. muscaria was the Soma talked about in the Rig Veda of India...”
“The notion that Vikings used A. muscaria to produce their berserker rages was first suggested by the Swedish professor Samuel Ödmann in 1784.”
“Philologist, archeologist, and Dead Sea Scrolls scholar John Marco Allegro postulated that early Christian theology was derived from a fertility cult revolving around the entheogenic consumption of A. muscaria…”
The mind altering and toxic effects of amanita muscaria are well established and can be very severe. The bad effects of Leccinum Boletas are less well known. But the Leccinum looks very similar and is easy to confuse with the commonly eaten King Boletas. All 3 varieties grow around the bus area.
On day 89 of Chris’s journal he reports food that he has gathered and presumably eaten. “Woodpecker, frog, many mushrooms.” On day 90 he writes the largest entry in the entire journal- the word “DREAM”. He draws a circle around it and adds arrows pointing back up to the words “many mushrooms”. Under DREAM he writes “under the belt, under the foot” along with other words I cannot decipher. Then on day 91 he writes “2nd dream”.
Just 3 days later he complains that he is “extremely weak, fault of potato seed, much trouble just to stand up, starving, great jeopardy.” Was he continuing to eat large quantities of possibly toxic mushrooms after convincing himself that it was the potato seed that was poisoning him? After all, he seemed to know he was starving. It takes a lot of time and energy to pick berries and hunt for small animals. But when weather conditions are right hundreds of mushrooms can suddenly become available. And while they may not be very nutritious they certainly will act like “comfort food” and fill your stomach.
Ironically, Chris does not mention fish. There are a few grayling in the Sushana River at some times of the summer. And about 25 miles downstream, where the Sushana runs into the larger Toklat River there is a summer run of thousands of king, chum and silver salmon. A healthy human can hook, shoot or literally chase fish down in the shallow water. Had Chris known this he could have imitated the food gathering preference used for thousands of years by the local natives of that area.
As an interesting aside, I’ve recently found in the Park records that on August 7th a helicopter flew two Rangers into the Sushana patrol cabin about 5 miles south of the bus. It’s possible that Chris might have heard that chopper if he was outside and the wind was right. Had he been prepared he could have lit a signal fire which the pilot would have investigated. But we’ll never know- on August 7, Day 102?, Chris wrote….nothing
There has been much speculation about why Chris Mccandless eventually died in the bus. Jon Krakauer assigned blame to potato seeds which were photographed by Chris and mentioned in his journal. Ron Lamothe asserts that Chris simply wasn’t eating enough to sustain himself. Ron Hamilton recently threw in his ODAP poisoning theory.
Personally, I think it was a combination of factors. Starting with slow starvation and possibly giardia from the local water. We could add other parasites from the various birds and small mammals he ingested. And the potato seed apparently could have had an effect. I’d like to add another rather obvious idea which I’m surprised has not been mentioned. Along with the other wild plants Chris was gathering were a lot of mushrooms. In the picture Chris took of his mushroom stash there appears to me to be at least one amanita muscaria (it’s the reddish one with white dots just left of center) which are known to be both psychoactive and poisonous- occassionally even lethal.
I’m no expert on mushrooms but I have a friend who is a botanist so I sent him that picture. He sent it to another friend who is an expert. Gary Laursen, Phd. Director, High Latitude Mycological Research Institute, LLC. Wrote that…
“ This picture is quite 'cluttered' and out of focus, but I can see the suspect A. muscaria var. persicina or A. m. var. regalis, with THREE toxins, two of which are known to cause serious gastrointestinal upset and malaise. I also see Calchiporus piperatus, a very 'spicy' orange bolete, Leccinum cf. atrostipitatum, another bad actor have black stipe scabers, and then a whole host of russulas and other assorted species I cannot ID from this photo. I really do hope your friend is getting ID assistance of his fungi before ingestion, or he could end up in the hospital; albeit, edibility differences are noted given one's own personal biochemistry.”
Dr. Laursen later commented on the nutritional value of mushrooms,
“There is too little caloric value in eating mushrooms, but there is important micro-mineral nutrients of value along with amino acids, protein, and chitin-based non digestible ruff-age. Had he eaten the Leccinum, more so than the Amanita, I suspect he might have been violently sick for 18-24 hrs. and lost appetite for several recovering days.”
Wikipedia has a lot of info about these mushrooms- both the toxic effects of amanita muscaria and its entheogenic uses. There are also pictures of them. It’s good reading…
“Depending on habitat and the amount ingested per body weight, effects can range from nausea and twitching to drowsiness, cholinergic crisis-like effects (low blood pressure, sweating and salivation), auditory and visual distortions, mood changes, euphoria, relaxation, ataxia, and loss of equilibrium."
“In cases of serious poisoning the mushroom causes delirium, somewhat similar in effect to anticholinergic poisoning (such as that caused by Datura stramonium), characterised by bouts of marked agitation with confusion, hallucinations, and irritability followed by periods of central nervous system depression. Seizures and coma may also occur in severe poisonings.”
“The effect is highly variable between individuals, with similar doses potentially causing quite different reactions. Some people suffering intoxication have exhibited headaches up to ten hours afterwards. Retrograde amnesia and somnolence can result following recovery.”
And with reference to Leccinum, a type of boletas mushroom, Wikipedia says,
“They have generally been presumed to be edible for the most part, but there are reports of poisoning after eating as yet unidentified members of the genus in North America, even after thorough cooking. The orange- to red-capped species, including L. insigne, are suspected. Species of Leccinum often cause nausea when consumed raw.”
Amanita muscaria has quite a long history of use in a religious, shamanic, or spiritual context.
“In 1968, R. Gordon Wasson proposed that A. muscaria was the Soma talked about in the Rig Veda of India...”
“The notion that Vikings used A. muscaria to produce their berserker rages was first suggested by the Swedish professor Samuel Ödmann in 1784.”
“Philologist, archeologist, and Dead Sea Scrolls scholar John Marco Allegro postulated that early Christian theology was derived from a fertility cult revolving around the entheogenic consumption of A. muscaria…”
The mind altering and toxic effects of amanita muscaria are well established and can be very severe. The bad effects of Leccinum Boletas are less well known. But the Leccinum looks very similar and is easy to confuse with the commonly eaten King Boletas. All 3 varieties grow around the bus area.
On day 89 of Chris’s journal he reports food that he has gathered and presumably eaten. “Woodpecker, frog, many mushrooms.” On day 90 he writes the largest entry in the entire journal- the word “DREAM”. He draws a circle around it and adds arrows pointing back up to the words “many mushrooms”. Under DREAM he writes “under the belt, under the foot” along with other words I cannot decipher. Then on day 91 he writes “2nd dream”.
Just 3 days later he complains that he is “extremely weak, fault of potato seed, much trouble just to stand up, starving, great jeopardy.” Was he continuing to eat large quantities of possibly toxic mushrooms after convincing himself that it was the potato seed that was poisoning him? After all, he seemed to know he was starving. It takes a lot of time and energy to pick berries and hunt for small animals. But when weather conditions are right hundreds of mushrooms can suddenly become available. And while they may not be very nutritious they certainly will act like “comfort food” and fill your stomach.
Ironically, Chris does not mention fish. There are a few grayling in the Sushana River at some times of the summer. And about 25 miles downstream, where the Sushana runs into the larger Toklat River there is a summer run of thousands of king, chum and silver salmon. A healthy human can hook, shoot or literally chase fish down in the shallow water. Had Chris known this he could have imitated the food gathering preference used for thousands of years by the local natives of that area.
As an interesting aside, I’ve recently found in the Park records that on August 7th a helicopter flew two Rangers into the Sushana patrol cabin about 5 miles south of the bus. It’s possible that Chris might have heard that chopper if he was outside and the wind was right. Had he been prepared he could have lit a signal fire which the pilot would have investigated. But we’ll never know- on August 7, Day 102?, Chris wrote….nothing