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Drugs & Hallucinogenics During the Slavery Days (USA)

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Anonymous

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First, I'd like to say hello to everybody. I'm new to the board, and there are many interesting topics that I look forward to commenting on, and I have several personal stories to tell as well.

A couple of months ago, I did a report on Nat Turner for a writing class I was taking. If you don't know about Nat Turner's Insurrection, it's a very interesting subject to read about. I'm a native Virginian, so I like to study the history of my state, and when I read about this I realized that this was one of those incidents that blur the line between "good" and "evil", on both sides of the skirmish.

To make a long story short, Nat Turner was a slave preacher in Southampton County, VA. In August 1831, he led a slave uprising with 60-80 other slaves, and murdered a bunch of white people with a variety of crude weapons. While I can understand their point of view, they also violently murdered at least one small child, which I cannot condone. Due to this uprising, slaves as far south as South Carolina lost their lives, as some sort of "retribution" by whites. You know how it was back then.

When I was doing the report, I also researched Nat Turner's life. He was sort of a special person, who was considered a prophet by many in the area. He talked of the "visions" he'd had throughout his life. Here's some excerpts describing these visions from 'The Confessions of Nat Turner':

Describing his return to his slavemaster after escaping:

But the reason of my return was, that the Spirit appeared to me and said I had my wishes directed to the things of this world, and not to the kingdom of Heaven, and that I should return to the service of my earthly master -"For he who knoweth his Master's will, and doeth it not, shall be beaten with many stripes, and thus have I chastened you." And the negroes found fault, and murmured against me, saying that if they had my sense they would not serve any master in the world. And about this time I had a vision - and I saw white spirits and black spirits engaged in battle, and the sun was darkened - the thunder rolled in the Heavens, and blood flowed in streams - and I heard a voice saying, "Such is your luck, such you are called to see, and let it come rough or smooth, you must surely bear it."

Another vision of Nat Turner:

And from the first steps of righteousness until the last, was I made perfect; and the Holy Ghost was with me, and said "Behold me as I stand in the Heavens" - and I looked and saw the forms of men in different attitude - and there were lights in the sky to which the children of darkness gave other names than what they really were - for they were the lights of the Saviour's hands, stretched forth from east to west, even as they were extended on the cross on Calvary for the redemption of sinners. And I wondered greatly at these miracles, and prayed to be informed of a certainty of the meaning thereof - and shortly afterwards, while labouring in the field, I discovered drops of blood on the corn, as though it were dew from heaven - and I communicated it to many, both white and black, in the neighbourhood - and I then found on the leaves in the woods hieroglyphic characters and numbers, with the forms of men in different attitudes, portrayed in blood, and representing the figures I had seen before in the heavens.

The whole story can be found at http://odur.let.rug.nl/~usa/D/1826-1850/slavery/confesxx.htm

As I was reading these stories, it got me thinking that some of these visions could very well describe the effects from psilocybin mushrooms. The effects of these mushrooms have been known for thousands of years, especially with old native shamans and medicine men in almost every country, including Africa. This knowledge could've been passed from that continent to this one in the slave trade, and only held by esteemed or learned African-Americans. Could it be that Nat Turner had learned about old medicines and remedies from Africa?

These mushrooms are commonly found in the dung of farm animals, making them very likely to be easily available to the field workers.

I've done some research, and finding information concerning hallucinogenics at that time has been difficult, but I've found a sentence here and there kind of pointing in that direction. One thing I found referred to the kids of the slaveowners spiking the slaves' drinks/food with different items, then pretending to be ghosts or spirits, and messing with the slaves at nighttime. As a result, many stories of "conjurers" and interaction with spirits must be examined, in order to see if there's evidence that it was a prank done to the slaves by the "white elite". I'll see if I can find this in one of my books and post it word-for-word.

I brought this theory to my teacher, and she kind of blew me off. I think it's possible, though.

I'm not sure if this is considered "fortean", but this is definitely a subject that isn't talked about often.

Does anyone have an opinion on this little theory of mine?
 
It's not completely outside the bounds of possibility. Hallucinogenic mushrooms were (I think) also well known to native American shaman, so there are a number of ways he could have found out about it. It could even be possible that he found out about them by accident, if they did grow readily in manure from livestock.

Of course, it's also possible that he had schizophrenia which is also often to be found at the heart of religious visions.
 
It's quite possible; maybe your tutor was a tad hasty to dismiss the theory out of hand without researching the subject 1st.
Hard to comment definitively without doing some research of my own.
 
As far as psilocybin mushrooms are concerned, there's a problem with the theory.

Psilocybin mushrooms are not found growing naturally outdoors as far north as Virginia, where Nat Turner lived.
 
As far as psilocybin mushrooms are concerned, there's a problem with the theory.

Psilocybin mushrooms are not found growing naturally outdoors as far north as Virginia, where Nat Turner lived.

Datura would though and was commonly used in colonel times. Might explain the violence too. Although obviously it's not necessary to ingest a psychoactive substance to have visions.
 
Datura would though and was commonly used in colonel times. Might explain the violence too. Although obviously it's not necessary to ingest a psychoactive substance to have visions.

Agreed ... I just wanted to point out that whatever psychoactive fungi may have been involved were almost certainly not Psilocybe.
 
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