This is the story about a molecule. A molecule that I believe has had a great hand in history. The ergot molecule grows on rye, the grain that was most widely consumed in Europe and much of Asia. The weather conditions have to be just right for the ergot molecule to grow, you have to have an exceedingly wet spring and early summer and then excessively dry conditions just before and during harvest. When these conditions are met there will be a pink hue to the tops of the grain, the coloring indicates the presence of the ergot molecule. The pink is the first sign of something bad.
When the ergot infected rye is made into dough, that is when the second sign of something bad comes to light. The dough has a blueish grey color and smells of fish. After it has been baked though, there is no indication of there being anything wrong with the bread. People initially consuming the bread would have no warning that there was anything wrong with it at all. Within a reasonable time, the time it takes to digest the bread, the person would begin to feel the effects of the ergot. What I am going to describe comes from a case study done during the last outbreak of "ergotism" in Europe in 1955, it took place in Marseille France and involved three bakeries serving hundreds of people.
The effects on the people were witnessed by thousands of people who had not consumed the "bad rye". The people who consumed the "bad rye" found that initially they just were very energetic and lucid, witnesses described groups of ergot infected people standing around street corners, parks and bus stops on the first night of the outbreak. The people just seemed to be talking and socializing, then one by one they began peeling away from the groups screaming in terror, most screamed of being chased by giant animals, predators that wanted to kill them. These people could not be controlled or consoled by health care personnel, they were confined and the ergot wore off.
This one episode of "bad rye" had a profound effect on the people who had consumed the bread, many required hospitalization. Many required psychiatric care. These people were exposed to the ergot because in modernizing our growing and processing methods, we do so well that we seem to forget some of the things our forefathers knew. The bakers in Marseille had never even heard of ergot or bad rye, when the dough looked and smelled funny they baked it anyway. After the dough was baked no one knew. Ergot had become so controlled in the field no one even looked for it anymore, the memory of ergot/ bad rye was gone. Can you imagine hundreds of people running through the streets screaming about being chased by giant monsters. Think about how it would be today, in 2016. How would it be in 1955? Now think about how that was taken back in 1016.
Back in the day the people had figured out "bad rye". They knew what to look for and understood what happened to people who consumed "bad rye". Imagine being a serf to a lord, and your lord looks the rye crop over, he sees the good rye and the bad rye. He watches the harvest to ensure the good rye goes to the castle, he leaves the bad rye to the servants in the village. Imagine being a serf and knowing what is about to happen in your village, you have to eat the grain or you will starve to death. Eating the grain causes hallucinations but you have to eat it. How many people were burned at the stake because of "bad rye"? How many witches and werewolves and vampires etc were put to death? What happens to the genetics of people who are chronically exposed to something like this? What happens to the emotional stability of people who survive chronic exposure?
I believe ergot has had more of an effect on history then many know, if you clean the molecule up you can extract lysergic acid diethylamide. LSD. Imagine being exposed to that both acutely and chronically, now picture millions of people being exposed to it over and over. What kind of world would we live in......we are living in it.
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