For nearly a century, scientists have been baffled by bizarre reports of hallucinations that leave people seeing dozens or even hundreds of tiny human figures.
Now, researchers from the University of Utah think they have finally found the culprit.
Using DNA sequencing, scientists traced reported hallucinations in Southwest China, the northern Philippines, and Papua New Guinea to a single rare mushroom.
And researchers say it contains a hallucinogenic compound that is entirely unknown to science.
This innocuous–looking mushroom, named Lanmaoa asiatica, is a wild member of the bolete family.
While it is widely eaten in parts of China’s Yunnan province, locals warn that undercooked mushrooms cause extremely vivid hallucinations.
Colin Domnauer, co–author of a new study identifying the mushroom, says: ‘People pretty much always report seeing dozens or hundreds of little people, about 3 to 30 centimetres tall, in incredible detail, like they’re actually there.
‘About 90 per cent of people describe them as little elves or clowns or other fairy–like figures dressed in colourful clothes.’
Scientists have identified the wild mushroom that is responsible for causing vivid hallucinations of tiny elf–like people
These so–called ‘Lilliputian hallucinations’ get their name from the small people who inhabit the fictional island of Lilliput in the novel Gulliver’s Travels.
What makes these visions so unusual is how consistent people’s reports tend to be, with almost everyone describing the same tiny people.
In Yunnan, which is home to more than 40 per cent of the world’s edible fungi, hospitals treat hundreds of cases every single year, all describing the same thing: dozens of elf–like creatures marching over tables and climbing under doors.
‘What’s fascinating is they interact with the physical world using the laws of physics that govern us,’ says Mr Domnauer.
‘They’re not walking through walls or anything. They’re falling off the edge of tables, walking around objects.
‘One person told me that while they were eating soup, the little people were jumping off their spoon into the bowl and swimming around. As they scooped a bite, the little people remained in their mouth.’
However, the first reports of these effects actually date all the way back to 1934.
Missionaries in Papua New Guinea brought back reports of people hallucinating tiny humans after eating wild mushrooms, which they called ‘mushroom madness’.
These mushrooms caused so–called ‘Lilliputian hallucinations’, named after the small people who inhabit the fictional island of Lilliput in Gulliver’s Travels (pictured)
Researchers travelled to Yunnan province, China, where the mushrooms are well known to cause hallucinations, in order to collect samples
In the 1950s and 1960s, anthropologists travelled to Papua New Guinea and brought back samples of the supposedly hallucinogenic mushrooms.
But scientists couldn’t find a single known psychoactive compound, even after sending samples to Albert Hofmann, the scientist who isolated psilocybin and discovered LSD.
Mr Domnauer says: ‘Eventually, they concluded that maybe these mushrooms weren’t bioactive at all—maybe this was all just a sociocultural phenomenon.’
It wasn’t until the 1990s that scientists in Yunnan started describing similar hallucinations in people who ate bolete mushrooms.
Mycologists suggested that the mushroom in question could be Lanmaoa asiatica, which had only recently been discovered.
Then in 2024, Mr Domnauer started hearing accounts from an indigenous community in the Philippines’ remote Northern Cordillera region.
People who consumed a wild mushroom, locally known as Sedesdem, would occasionally see visions of little people.
He travelled to China and the Philippines, speaking with locals to collect samples of Lanmaoa asiatica and as many specimens in the Lanmaoa genus as possible.
Researchers say that the mushroom found in China is the same species causing hallucinations in the Philippines and Papua New Guinea; a species called Lanmaoa asiatica
DNA analysis soon revealed that Sedesdem and Jian Shou Qing were indeed the same species.
Mr Domnauer says: ‘Now, three completely independent cultures have reported the same specific type of hallucination, and two cases are attributed to the same DNA–verified mushroom species.
‘That indicates that these bizarre psychological effects aren’t cultural manifestations or coincidences – they must have a shared underlying chemical and neurological basis.’
The researchers then tested the mushroom samples for any trace of a known psychoactive compound but nothing could be found.
That means the mushrooms must contain an unknown hallucinogen that is uniquely capable of producing Lilliputian hallucinations.
Lilliputian hallucinations aren’t unique to this mushroom, and have been linked to alcohol withdrawal, dementia, macular degeneration and other neurological conditions.
However, until now scientists haven’t understood the mechanisms behind the visions, meaning there is no way to treat them.
If Lanmaoa asiatica can reliably induce Lilliputian hallucinations, Mr Domnauer says it could be ‘a very powerful tool’ for future research.
HAVE SCIENTISTS UNRAVELED THE ‘RECIPE’ FOR ‘MAGIC SHROOMS’?
Research over the last few decades has suggested that the compound psilocybin may have a number of therapeutic benefits, with potential to help treat anxiety, depression, and even addiction.
But until now, the ‘recipe’ for psilocybin has remained a mystery.
In a new study, scientists have characterized the four enzymes mushrooms use to make this compound for the first time, setting the stage for pharmaceutical production of the ‘powerful psychedelic fungal drug.’
Scientists have characterized the four enzymes mushrooms use to make psilocybin
After identifying and characterizing the enzymes behind psilocybin, the team from Friedrich Schiller University Jena was able to develop the first enzymatic synthesis of the compound, reports C&EN, a publication from the American Chemical Society.
To get to the correct ‘recipe,’ the team in the new study sequenced the genomes of two mushroom species.
Then, they used engineered bacteria and fungi to confirm gene activity and the order of the synthetic steps, according to C&EN.
Their efforts revealed a new enzyme, dubbed PsiD strips carbon dioxide from the tryptophan, while another adds a hydroxyl group – or, oxygen and hydrogen.
Another enzyme, known as PsiK acts as a catalyst for phosphotransfer.
Then, an enzyme known as PsiM catalyzes the transfer of methyl groups.
Based on their discovery, the researchers developed a ‘one-pot reaction’ to create psilocybin from 4-hydroxy-L-tryptophan, using three of the enzymes: PsiD, PsiK, and PsiM.
According to the team, the results could now ‘lay the foundation’ for the production of pharmaceutical drugs based on psychedelic mushrooms.
