Ergot poisoning and witch trials and communists

An article I updated, written in 2014.
https://conservativeweasel.blogspot.com/2020/11/mon-16th-november-2020-current-affairs.html
Salem Witch hunt and Ergot poisoning

The disease of wheat that can lead to effects similar to LSD is caused by the fungus Claviceps purpurea, which results in a condition known as ergotism. Ergotism arises from consuming grains contaminated with ergot, which contains alkaloids like lysergic acid, the precursor to LSD.

A theory doing the rounds regarding the Salem Witch trials is that a substantial role was played by ergot poisoning. The LSD like effects of the mould found in uncooked affected wheat has been said to have substantially explained other events too, like when a French Village went mad shortly after WW2 after a popular bakery distributed some affected wheat. The theory is attractive to the writer because it positions Arthur Miller's The Crucible as a polemic which was more propaganda than reality. Although the late unlamented Senator Joseph McCarthy went about his witch hunt the wrong way, he had investigated communists, many of them, while it is arguable that none of the women accused at Salem was really a witch. But sometimes witch hunts take on a life of their own.

So, consider Miller’s account of the Crucible. Jealousy within a farmstead led to accusations of witchcraft. A specialist is brought in and in a series of errors and compromise, people are hanged. This was said to be similar to the late unlamented Joseph McCarthy’s communist trials.

The reality is more telling.

An account of witchcraft was reported and a judge was summoned. Affected people had been dancing in the forest together. In 1478, the Spanish Inquisition had begun, initially into backsliding of Muslim or Jewish converts to Christianity. People like Christopher Columbus escaped their murderous practice. A practice of witch burning began to take shape in Europe and the colonies. Today, we are confident that witchcraft was not real. In Salem, in 1692, a mere fifty years after George Spencer was executed for fathering piglets, mere accusations were not enough to execute someone.

The tests employed by inquisition were not perfect. Witnesses were required. Facts had to be established. In the Connecticut case of Spencer, an injustice occurred after piglets were born resembling Spencer. He was promised clemency if he confessed. He confessed. Then he was told God would forgive him after he was executed. He recanted his confession. The existence of the piglets were considered witnesses, and the Sow was put to the sword. Modern science assures us that George had not fathered the piglets, but the tests applied did not, and Spencer was not liked.

In Salem, there were tests too. One test had a dog drinking the urine of one of the girls affected. The dog was affected too and began biting rocks and snarling and had to be put down. It is doubtful, but not certain to modern scientists the dog had caught COVID. But, the testimony of affected females with the dog test was damning. Rather than the judges wanting to kill, as Miller writes, the judges had no choice.

Miller got his Salem account wrong. But was he wrong about McCarthy? It is worth noting that McCarthy did identify communists. Maybe Nixon’s prosecution was better, but McCarthy was also aiming at politicising the trials, and we now know significant Democrat figures of the day were ensnared. Again, Miller was wrong to suggest modern communists did not exist and only by chasing modern ‘witches’ were people unfairly found guilty.

One explanation for Salem and a few other witch trials is ergot poisoning. The behaviour of the dog suggests something similar. The kidneys would not have filtered it out and the dog would have been affected by it.

So how do schools present these topics today? Are students aware of these details? Or is Miller’s presentation of a world where Democrats are unfairly called out by Republicans, jealous of their popularity, more prevalent?

But what of the French Village, post WW2? It may have been affected wheat in poorly baked bread. Or, it may have been an experiment by a Paperclip CIA scientist into the effects of LSD in an unsanctified experiment that went wrong. And, maybe, that scientist suicided soon after. But, that is a story for another time.