I think most anybody with the least bit of an adventurous nature who attended college from the late sixties right on through the eighties had a brush with them. Mine came in an old “cracker” shack in Central Florida while on Spring Break. One of our group was from down there, we went out to visit and party. Nothing out of the ordinary at first, music, beer, a few shots of Jack, then a thunderstorm came up, ended, then one of the sort of hippyish chicks who actually lived in the shack got a gleam in her eye, went and got a basket and said come on, let’s go before the sun’s been out too long.
The shack was out in the middle of nowhere on the edge of a huge pasture, it’s big business down there, cattle in Central Florida. Looked like we were on the edge of the Everglades or something to me, palm trees, forest more like jungle, standing water here and there.
But, we went out and picked these little mushrooms, a specific kind that she pointed out, most were springing up out of cow patties but some weren’t and those were the ones we picked. Got her little basket about half full, went back to the shack on the edge of the pasture and she went to work. Washed them, trimmed the stems, discarded some, cut some of the larger ones into smaller pieces. Then she made a big boiling pot of grape koolaid, put them in there and let it simmer with the lid on for an hour or two, then let it cool.
We drank the koolaid. It was interesting to say the least. Everything was funny for a while, everything. That faded then colors started getting intense, like they were alive, it was like stepping out of black and white into the Land Of Oz. It got more peculiar after that, very meaningful behavior from wildlife, felt telepathic. Some of our group didn’t take it very well, and started getting afraid, which was like stepping back into black and white.
I won’t go on about it but I can see why certain creative types have done it. I can also see why some people do very disturbing things while on it. I wouldn’t do it again and do not recommend it at all, not because of what I experienced but because of what I saw others experience. I guess I’m not all that threatened by objective reality as I know it coming undone. Some are. Hard to know where you fall beforehand.
That’s my mushroom story.