Scientists Identify Mushroom That Makes You Hallucinate ‘Tiny People’

Indigenous traditions across North America, Celtic folklore across the British Isles, and frankly cultures practically everywhere else in the world—from the West African nation of Senegal to China to Papua New Guinea—all have stories about fairy-like little people. And now, scientists have linked two of those folk legends to a single species of a psychoactive mushroom.

Researchers at the University of Utah have sequenced DNA from the mushroom species Lanmaoa asiatica , isolated from both southwest China and a remote region of the Philippines, confirming that this fungus induces hallucinations that can manifest dozens or even hundreds of tiny people. But, arguably, the strangest part of their discovery is that L. asiatica contains none of the usual suspects among known psychedelic compounds, leaving the actual mechanism behind this mushroom’s fairy tale trips an ongoing biochemical mystery.

“People pretty much always report seeing dozens or hundreds of little people, about 3 to 30 centimeters [1 inch to 1 foot] tall, in incredible detail, like they’re actually there,” study coauthor Colin Domnauer, a doctoral student specializing in mycology at the university, said in a statement.

“About 90% of people describe them as little elves or clowns or other fairy-like figures dressed in colorful clothes,” according to Domnauer, who travelled to China’s Yunnan province and the remote Northern Cordillera region of Philippines to collect these mushroom specimens. “What’s fascinating is they interact with the physical world using the laws of physics that govern us.”

“They’re not walking through walls or anything,” Domnauer explained. “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.”

Domnauer worked with University of Utah biologist Bryn Dentinger to perform full-genome sequencing on 53 mushroom specimens spanning the entire Lanmaoa genus on their hunt for genetic indicators on what produces L. asiatica ’s unusual effects. Although this effort managed to identify four potentially new mushroom species, Domnauer and Dentinger noted their analysis failed to uncover any of the genes typically associated with either psilocybin or ibotenic acid production. (Ibotenic acid, derived from mushrooms of the Amanita genus, metabolizes into a hallucinogen once digested.)

The duo identified a total of 17 species within the genus Lanmaoa , including the four seemingly new species, according to their study , published this summer in the journal Mycologia.

“Our analysis showed that L. asiatica is the only psychoactive species in this genus,” Domnauer stated. “Now we’re building an evolutionary map to understand how this trait evolved and if related species produce similar compounds.”

Domnauer had pivoted from studying planetary astronomy— including an internship with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab—to explore this psychedelic innerspace.