TIL there’s a mushroom in the Philippines that makes you hallucinate little people.
Scientific name: Lanmaoa Asiatica
Common name: two-colored bolete
Northern Luzon name: sedesden
Bisaya: ogong
Saw an article by a scientist named Colin Domnauer found this mushroom in China (as it’s considered a food jngredient there), Papua New Guinea and Luzon and have documented the same experience from residents of those countries those who’ve eaten them raw or improperly cooked. They see hundreds of little people a few cm in height interacting with the environment, jumping or dancing around, and the visions can persist for a week. This is different from taeng baka or kachubong which has an active compound psilocybin where the compound in ogong is yet to be determined. There’s also a debate if it’s considered a hallucinogen since, compared to kachubong where hallucinations may vary from person to person, the visions in “ogong” seems to have a consensus from various different cultures in china, philippines and PNG: they see little people.
Have you met people who’ve had the experience? Do we think this was where the myth of dewende came from?
Source: https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20260121-the-mysterious-mushroom-that-makes-you-see-tiny-people