Wikipedia: Ergotism is the effect of long-term
ergot poisoning, traditionally due to the ingestion of the alkaloids produced by
the Claviceps purpurea fungus which infects rye and other cereals... also known
as ergotoxicosis, ergot poisoning and Saint Anthony's Fire. Ergot poisoning is
one of the explanations of bewitchment...The symptoms can be roughly divided
into convulsive symptoms and gangrenous symptoms... Usually the gastrointestinal
effects precede central nervous system effects. As well as seizures there can be
hallucinations resembling those produced by LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide, to
which the ergot alkaloid ergotamine is an immediate precursor and therefore
shares some structural similarities), and mental effects including mania or
psychosis...
History: Epidemics of the disease were identified
throughout history...Rye, the main vector for transmitting ergotism...the
earliest reference to ergotism in the Annales Xantenses for the year 857: "a
Great plague of swollen blisters consumed the people by a loathsome rot, so that
their limbs were loosened and fell off before death." In the Middle Ages the
gangrenous poisoning was known as ignis sacer ("holy fire") or "Saint Anthony's
fire", named after monks of the Order of St. Anthony who were particularly
successful at treating this ailment. The 12th century chronicler Geoffroy du
Breuil of Vigeois recorded the mysterious outbreaks in the Limousin region of
France...The blight, named from the cock's spur it forms on grasses, was
identified and named by Denis Dodart who reported the relation between ergotized
rye and bread poisoning in a letter to the French Royal Academy of Sciences in
1676 (John Ray mentioning ergot for the first time in English the next year),
but "ergotism" in this modern sense was first recorded in
1853.
Notable epidemics of ergotism, at first seen as a
punishment from God, occurred up into the 19th century. Fewer outbreaks have
occurred since then, because in developed countries rye is carefully
monitored.According to Snorri Sturluson, in his Heimskringla, King Magnus, son
of King Harald Sigurtharson, who was the half brother of Saint King Olaf
Haraldsson, died from ergotism shortly after the Battle of
Hastings.
Salem Witchcraft Accusations: The convulsive symptoms
that can be a result of consuming ergot tainted rye have also been said to be
the cause of accusations of “bewitchment” that spurred the Salem witch
trials.....References: Timothy Taylor, 2003. 'The Buried Soul: How Humans
Invented Death' (Fourth Estate Ltd) Fuller, John. The day of St
Anthony's Fire. London: Hutchinson. ISBN 0-09-095460-2. ; Caporael,
Linnda (April 1976). "Ergotism: The Satan Loose in Salem". Science 192: 21.
doi:10.1126/science.769159. PMID 769159. Matossian, Mary (July-August
1982). "Ergot and the Salem Witchcraft Affair". American Scientist 70;
Spanos, Nicholas; Jack Gottlieb (December 1976). "Ergotism and the Salem Village
Witch Trials". Science 194: 1390. doi:10.1126/science.795029. PMID
795029. Sidky, H. (1997). Witchcraft, Lycanthropy, Drugs and Disease:
An Anthropological Study of the European Witch Hunts. Peter Lang.