The very small island of Alicudiwhich is part of the archipelago of the Aeolian Islands in Sicily, has long been at the center of a long dispute involving scientists, occult boasters and the local population who, for three years, have been victims of one of the larger mass hallucinations of history.
Ghosts and flying women
From 1903 to 1905 the inhabitants sighted on the island strange creaturesghosts and flying women, some even said they had seen disturbing animals, which however had nothing to do with the supernatural, although the island was later considered a magical place where strange things happened. These are not just legends handed down from father to son: for years the locals have said they actually saw those creatures. Fishermen returning to shore or women going to the fields suddenly found themselves in front of them black crowsabove their heads flew women who transformed into birds, in short, something never seen before on earth.
Because they were hallucinating
Many scientists but also magicians and pseudo-sorcerers arrived on the island, certain that something magical truly existed in this place, the last islet of a volcanic archipelago in Sicily. However, the fantasies of the latter were soon swept away when it was discovered that the mystery could be revealed by the use of the inhabitants of black bread done with the ergot.
This is a type of cereal infested with a parasitic fungusThe claviceps purpureamore commonly said ergot, very well known above all for its psychedelic power given by the presence of an alkaloid; thelysergic acidthat is to say the main ingredient of LSD later synthesized by the Swiss Albert Hofmann.
The hallucinogenic effects of this cereal have been known since the times of the Greeks who took it before performing magical rites. The name derives from the fact that small black protuberances (similar to horns) appeared on the ears which indicated the presence of the fungus. According to careful historical reconstruction, this sort of parasite arrived on the island at the beginning of the twentieth century brought by the English who arrived to stock up on Malvasia and absinthe.
The unsuspecting inhabitants
If, until that moment, bread had been produced using rye from the fields, the inhabitants found nothing strange in continuing to make it with these ears of black protuberances, unaware of the very powerful hallucinogenic effect that anyone who ate from it found himself living.
The consequences were devastating precisely because of the recklessness in which this hallucinogen was ingested. In fact, many tests have proven that if taken without knowing it, ergot causes much deeper and uncontrollable hallucinatory experiences. It is therefore very likely that the inhabitants continued to see these strange creatures for years without realizing that they were essentially under the influence of a powerful acid.
Ergot disappeared from Filicudi around the 1960s when the population was already aware of the fact that it caused this sort of collective trance, especially because the island became one of the favorite destinations for groups of hippie who knew the effects well and went to that lonely place for that very reason. The local church then put a seal on the few who continued to use it, prohibiting the use of that type of black bread because it was considered Devil’s bread.
Ergot doesn’t explain everything
However, many continue to think that black rye bread does not explain everything and there are still several questions that have not been answered. “First of all, it seems strange that it only happened in the span of three years. – explains the History of Religions researcher and expert on Southern witches Massimiliano Palmesano – Then, it must be taken into consideration that the intake of large quantities of the mushroom causes gangrenous ergotism, or shingles also known as sacred fire. How is it possible that there wasn’t an epidemic?“, .
“Nothing can exclude – he then continues – that in reality it may have been a conscious and cultural use of the plant, a legacy of ancient religious practices, by the mahare (witches) of Alicudi who knew its visionary properties well and used it for ritual purposes. We must not forget that ancient spirituality in the Mediterranean area was made up above all of ecstasy“.
These populations of fishermen and farmers have always been custodians of millenary traditions: “and they couldn’t be so naive as to eat for
all that time of bitter food: who tells us – concludes Palmesano – who were not already capable of separating the toxic parts from the psychoactive components and using the former voluntarily?“.