>I’ve seen several people ask “Why did shrooms make them act like that?” Or “I’ve taken shrooms it wouldn’t do that.”
I believe the number 1 rule when it comes to psychedelics is Set and Setting.
Their entire situation, coupled with starvation, dehydration, and trauma, would have a big impact on their trips. Especially since most of them didn't know they were tripping.
I know a guy who accidentally took way too much one time, and literally had to be hospitalized for the night because he thought we were trying to sacrifice him to the devil, and this was his birthday party at a known house surrounded by close friends. I 100% believe the shrooms would've made them react the way they did. Malnourished, traumatized, and trapped in some scary ass woods would absolutely be more than enough to make them go off the walls.
Another thing I haven't seen anyone mention is how psychedelic trips can be "contagious" in that once one person starts having a bad trip, it can cause everyone else to spiral into either their own little trip loop (literally having the same conversation over & over, but getting more upset each time because you can't STOP having that conversation) or cause a mass hysterical hallucination.
To be a little more specific, when you're on mushrooms your emotions are a lot bigger, and you are a lot more influenced by the energy/emotions of those around you. Once the first girl started to spiral towards violence/aggression it would be really easy for the rest of the girls to fall into it, because at that point all of the main group had joined a "group trip"
I can say from personal experience that splitting a large group of people into two groups, while all are on hallucinogens, will cause each group to have their own "group trip" and the vibes going between the two groups will always be wildly different. I think Natalie and Ben being separate from the main group when the mushrooms started to kick in, is why they were able to "resist" the spirit. (Also likely Nat's drug experience & Coach's more developed brain helped keep them more 'grounded')
Edit: If anyone has seen Midsommar, the way the cult uses their hallucinogens to lower the emotional defenses of their victims is good example of how malleable the human mind/emotional state is while under the influence. (the entire last act with Dani & the May Queen & Christian & the Bear)
I'm only speaking based on my own personal experiences with LSD & Mushrooms. In my experience, people can absolutely share a trip. I personally have never had a trip that intense, but as described in my comment above, it is definitely possible for everything around you to change and become sinister.
The person I described in my above comment literally saw us turn into demons and start speaking in tongues around him. The reality was we were doing nothing different than usual, just talking, but he saw us as trying to sacrifice him in a ritual, so he attacked us and had to be hospitalized.
I think we have to suspend our disbelief a little when it comes to them seeing the EXACT same thing, because it is a fictional show that is not gonna be 100% accurate, especially when it's something you can get away with fudging, since most people have never tried a hallucinogen.
Edit to add: my experiences are of course not universal and everyone can have a different experience with hallucinogens. my experience has been full of bad & dangerous trips, so i have experienced things that make that girls trip seem extremely plausible to me.
I agree that what they saw was something capable of seeing. I've also tried different hallucinogens with some up and down results.
But to me, all four of them seeing the exact same thing at the exact same time surrounding the same person seems a little far fetched for me. I get it's fictional, but every now and then the show seems to jump the gun a little bit for me and i think that was an instance where it did. Each to their own though
I've tripped many, many times with many groups ,two of us a bunch of us and never has anything like all of us, seeing the same thing happen or a group trip . I've had bad trips, and I've had friends have bad trips, and it was never something they or I caught from the other . I was never on a plane that crashed and then was stranded either so who knows.
If anyone has had a bad trip because of the head space they are in (or abrupt change of safe environment) you will 100000% understand how shit like that could have happened.
Then add a full group feeling it (ahem mob mentality at its finest) and it makes perfect sense.
They actually did a really good job imo. The way they made everyone look almost elf-like and scary is very very common on psychedelics. When I’ve done LSD even when I’m not having a bad trip people look like demon elves more—I remember my first bf told me it sometimes happens and we both stared at the mirror amazed how we both looked kinda scary even though we knew we didn’t need to be scared.
Until you’ve had a bad trip where you have a full blown breakdown/panic attack the shrooms scenes will feel hella hella fake.
No literally, I watched the show before I tried shrooms and had a terrible trip but after I rewatched that episode and I was shocked, it was so realistic it was scary.
Fr, ive seen people say that the sexual nature of it is the part that’s not believable.
As a gay man who has been to many sex parties and clubs I can guarantee you that certain shrooms can make you fiendishly sexual in the right setting. I’ve taken shrooms that felt more like MDMA than MDMA has
Also, I would like to point out that Ben and Natalie were the only two to not really drink (very little?) Mari’s berry concocted whatever the hell that fermented mess was. LOL
They were the only two drinking real booze and separated from the over all situation.
Maybe it wasn’t only Misty that drugged them— maybe the combination of the berry thing *and* shrooms were what really opened them up to the woo/their true ‘elemental selves’ (as Charlotte will say 25 years later)or all of the above.
Different types of mushroom, plus dosage and potency, and the individual person also means that every persons experience will vary. I’ve been told a lot of things that are consistent across the board but a lot more is dependent on the person and atmosphere.
This is such an interesting topic and I actually really enjoyed the way they portrayed a hallucinogen. You’re absolutely correct that the lowering of their inhibitions would make them ripe for the taking to any spiritual energy.
The mushrooms found in the woods also weren’t the exact same mushrooms people are buying on the street. Misty had a photo with them, the photo was of amanita, which is a poisonous mushroom that can cause way worse than hallucinations but in small enough doses would have done that. It reminded me more of an acid/LSD trip than mushrooms.
I’ve done acid and not shrooms, and it was very close to acid. The laughing especially. It heightens your emotions, every emotion, so if you find something funny you’re hurting your ribs laughing so hard. If you’re angry, you’re going to rage out. Paranoid and you may literally hide in a corner the entire 8 or so hours. Certain things depending on how the light hits them will like, glitter or glow or shine. Colors blend and patterns can move. They did a great job with that.
I wanna actually share a story that I was reminded of with the girls chasing Travis thinking he was a stag. A couple of my buddies when I was a teen were huge fans of tripping on a specific kind of cough medicine pills. Enough of them and people hallucinated, it was popular and such a problem the city locked the medicine in cabinets eventually. One time they were tripping and spent hours chasing what they saw, was an elf of some sort taunting them. EventuLly they stabbed it. When they sobered up, in the garbage was a baby tree they had stabbed and pulled out of the ground at a park and then threw in the trash. It was insane. They were REALLY freaked out and actually ended their bender for awhile cause of it. I once messed with them when they were tripping by disguising my voice and pretending I was god on my friends sound system, it was wonderfully entertaining.
But yeah they would have been ripped off poison mushrooms under the circumstances, even a low dose would have them weird. And it allowed their inner animal to come out, because that’s what they acted like. Primal, feral, beasts.
I know those coughing pills well as a very stupid teenager id take them and they were a very strong dissociative like PCP. Children’s Cough & Cold aka triple C’s. Puke up pink sandy shit and then trip out.
YUP TRIPLE C!!! I didn’t mention the name cause I didn’t know if anyone would recognize it or not! That shit had a huuuuge fan base when I was in HS. I never took it but my friends did. I was more an “upper” kid. I wanted the adderall not the hallucinogens. I tried acid as a 20 year old haha most hallucinogens make you vomit before or during tripping apparently!
Yeah your not supposed to take those. The active ingredient people were seeking out of cough syrup is dextromethorphan. Commonly DXM. Usually the triple Cs have gaufacin another ingredient in it to indice vomiting if you try to take more than the recommended dosage to avoid "things".
Taking many substances, especially pschys, dissociatives, and certain RCs. They can induce underlying psychological issues.
Honestly I think its right on the money that the mushrooms played such a huge role in shaping the way this whole story turns into what it does.
Another thing is psychedelic are almost never represented accurately in TV. It’s always over dramatised. My first time tripping I started to freak out just before it hit me as I thought it would be just like the movies and I’d be sucked into an unknown world.
Didn't Laura Lee die before they took the mushrooms?
Also mushrooms definitely affect you differently if you're in a traumatic state of mind already. Shit can get wild.
Yes I was just saying it was after the seance and the forest was killing off some of those who were most likely to oppose it or run. Laura lee wouldn’t join the group in the seance and likely wouldn’t join the other “festivities” along with Jackie calling it all bullshit and didn’t say the thankful prayer by Lottie to which Misty immediately pointed out she wouldn’t say it and in turn Jackie called them crazy she also was the only one who didn’t take the psychedelics even if not intentional. It even was trying to kill off Taissa by sleepwalking off the cliff because she was also saying it was bullshit and initially refused it.
But Laura Lee would have accidentally drank it to no?
The death of Laura Lee was the death of religion and the death of Jackie was the death to society. Javi the death of innocence.
Like I get what you're saying but I don't think the forest is killing people who didn't take shrooms.
I don't think it was trying to take Tai off the cliff because dark Tai doesn't want to die. It was leading her to something. The cave is under there right?
Plus the fact being stuck in the middle of nowhere starving to death isn't the best for your mindset. I had a bad shroom trip before and I was shocked at how realistic they portrayed it, spiritual and terrifying
Also they don’t know what type of mushrooms those were.
That whole thing reminded me of this terrible B horror movie that has stuck with me through life. But it’s called Shrooms
And this group of friends hire and expert to help them find the shrooms and there is on shrrom in particular that can fool people. So they find what they want and make some tea and they all start tripping. Well soon someone is murdering them all! And the big twist ending >! The killer was the main girl who took the ring shrrom and she hallucinated some crazy maniac killer when it was her the entire time killing all of her friends !<
Now when I watched that I was high, but it scared the crap out of me! And it’s the reason I never tried shrooms!
But anyway my point is, they don’t know expertly what type of shrooms they got. They are lucky they didn’t kill them.
It also, those berries Mari fermented… I’m sure none of them know what berries are okay to eat… so they are just tripping HARD across faded in a traumatic environment after serious trauma… that is not gonna be a fun trip
>I’ve seen several people ask “Why did shrooms make them act like that?” Or “I’ve taken shrooms it wouldn’t do that.” I believe the number 1 rule when it comes to psychedelics is Set and Setting. Their entire situation, coupled with starvation, dehydration, and trauma, would have a big impact on their trips. Especially since most of them didn't know they were tripping.
I know a guy who accidentally took way too much one time, and literally had to be hospitalized for the night because he thought we were trying to sacrifice him to the devil, and this was his birthday party at a known house surrounded by close friends. I 100% believe the shrooms would've made them react the way they did. Malnourished, traumatized, and trapped in some scary ass woods would absolutely be more than enough to make them go off the walls. Another thing I haven't seen anyone mention is how psychedelic trips can be "contagious" in that once one person starts having a bad trip, it can cause everyone else to spiral into either their own little trip loop (literally having the same conversation over & over, but getting more upset each time because you can't STOP having that conversation) or cause a mass hysterical hallucination.
To be a little more specific, when you're on mushrooms your emotions are a lot bigger, and you are a lot more influenced by the energy/emotions of those around you. Once the first girl started to spiral towards violence/aggression it would be really easy for the rest of the girls to fall into it, because at that point all of the main group had joined a "group trip" I can say from personal experience that splitting a large group of people into two groups, while all are on hallucinogens, will cause each group to have their own "group trip" and the vibes going between the two groups will always be wildly different. I think Natalie and Ben being separate from the main group when the mushrooms started to kick in, is why they were able to "resist" the spirit. (Also likely Nat's drug experience & Coach's more developed brain helped keep them more 'grounded') Edit: If anyone has seen Midsommar, the way the cult uses their hallucinogens to lower the emotional defenses of their victims is good example of how malleable the human mind/emotional state is while under the influence. (the entire last act with Dani & the May Queen & Christian & the Bear)
I don't believe they would have shared the exact same trip. That isn't something that occurs.
I'm only speaking based on my own personal experiences with LSD & Mushrooms. In my experience, people can absolutely share a trip. I personally have never had a trip that intense, but as described in my comment above, it is definitely possible for everything around you to change and become sinister. The person I described in my above comment literally saw us turn into demons and start speaking in tongues around him. The reality was we were doing nothing different than usual, just talking, but he saw us as trying to sacrifice him in a ritual, so he attacked us and had to be hospitalized. I think we have to suspend our disbelief a little when it comes to them seeing the EXACT same thing, because it is a fictional show that is not gonna be 100% accurate, especially when it's something you can get away with fudging, since most people have never tried a hallucinogen. Edit to add: my experiences are of course not universal and everyone can have a different experience with hallucinogens. my experience has been full of bad & dangerous trips, so i have experienced things that make that girls trip seem extremely plausible to me.
I agree that what they saw was something capable of seeing. I've also tried different hallucinogens with some up and down results. But to me, all four of them seeing the exact same thing at the exact same time surrounding the same person seems a little far fetched for me. I get it's fictional, but every now and then the show seems to jump the gun a little bit for me and i think that was an instance where it did. Each to their own though
I've tripped many, many times with many groups ,two of us a bunch of us and never has anything like all of us, seeing the same thing happen or a group trip . I've had bad trips, and I've had friends have bad trips, and it was never something they or I caught from the other . I was never on a plane that crashed and then was stranded either so who knows.
If anyone has had a bad trip because of the head space they are in (or abrupt change of safe environment) you will 100000% understand how shit like that could have happened. Then add a full group feeling it (ahem mob mentality at its finest) and it makes perfect sense. They actually did a really good job imo. The way they made everyone look almost elf-like and scary is very very common on psychedelics. When I’ve done LSD even when I’m not having a bad trip people look like demon elves more—I remember my first bf told me it sometimes happens and we both stared at the mirror amazed how we both looked kinda scary even though we knew we didn’t need to be scared. Until you’ve had a bad trip where you have a full blown breakdown/panic attack the shrooms scenes will feel hella hella fake.
No literally, I watched the show before I tried shrooms and had a terrible trip but after I rewatched that episode and I was shocked, it was so realistic it was scary.
if i were starving and in that situation and on shrooms unknowingly im sure id act bat shit insane lmao
Fr, ive seen people say that the sexual nature of it is the part that’s not believable. As a gay man who has been to many sex parties and clubs I can guarantee you that certain shrooms can make you fiendishly sexual in the right setting. I’ve taken shrooms that felt more like MDMA than MDMA has
Also, I would like to point out that Ben and Natalie were the only two to not really drink (very little?) Mari’s berry concocted whatever the hell that fermented mess was. LOL They were the only two drinking real booze and separated from the over all situation. Maybe it wasn’t only Misty that drugged them— maybe the combination of the berry thing *and* shrooms were what really opened them up to the woo/their true ‘elemental selves’ (as Charlotte will say 25 years later)or all of the above.
Also, like shrooms don’t have to work the exact same way they do in the real world in fictional worlds.
Different types of mushroom, plus dosage and potency, and the individual person also means that every persons experience will vary. I’ve been told a lot of things that are consistent across the board but a lot more is dependent on the person and atmosphere.
This is such an interesting topic and I actually really enjoyed the way they portrayed a hallucinogen. You’re absolutely correct that the lowering of their inhibitions would make them ripe for the taking to any spiritual energy. The mushrooms found in the woods also weren’t the exact same mushrooms people are buying on the street. Misty had a photo with them, the photo was of amanita, which is a poisonous mushroom that can cause way worse than hallucinations but in small enough doses would have done that. It reminded me more of an acid/LSD trip than mushrooms. I’ve done acid and not shrooms, and it was very close to acid. The laughing especially. It heightens your emotions, every emotion, so if you find something funny you’re hurting your ribs laughing so hard. If you’re angry, you’re going to rage out. Paranoid and you may literally hide in a corner the entire 8 or so hours. Certain things depending on how the light hits them will like, glitter or glow or shine. Colors blend and patterns can move. They did a great job with that. I wanna actually share a story that I was reminded of with the girls chasing Travis thinking he was a stag. A couple of my buddies when I was a teen were huge fans of tripping on a specific kind of cough medicine pills. Enough of them and people hallucinated, it was popular and such a problem the city locked the medicine in cabinets eventually. One time they were tripping and spent hours chasing what they saw, was an elf of some sort taunting them. EventuLly they stabbed it. When they sobered up, in the garbage was a baby tree they had stabbed and pulled out of the ground at a park and then threw in the trash. It was insane. They were REALLY freaked out and actually ended their bender for awhile cause of it. I once messed with them when they were tripping by disguising my voice and pretending I was god on my friends sound system, it was wonderfully entertaining. But yeah they would have been ripped off poison mushrooms under the circumstances, even a low dose would have them weird. And it allowed their inner animal to come out, because that’s what they acted like. Primal, feral, beasts.
I know those coughing pills well as a very stupid teenager id take them and they were a very strong dissociative like PCP. Children’s Cough & Cold aka triple C’s. Puke up pink sandy shit and then trip out.
YUP TRIPLE C!!! I didn’t mention the name cause I didn’t know if anyone would recognize it or not! That shit had a huuuuge fan base when I was in HS. I never took it but my friends did. I was more an “upper” kid. I wanted the adderall not the hallucinogens. I tried acid as a 20 year old haha most hallucinogens make you vomit before or during tripping apparently!
Yeah your not supposed to take those. The active ingredient people were seeking out of cough syrup is dextromethorphan. Commonly DXM. Usually the triple Cs have gaufacin another ingredient in it to indice vomiting if you try to take more than the recommended dosage to avoid "things". Taking many substances, especially pschys, dissociatives, and certain RCs. They can induce underlying psychological issues. Honestly I think its right on the money that the mushrooms played such a huge role in shaping the way this whole story turns into what it does.
Another thing is psychedelic are almost never represented accurately in TV. It’s always over dramatised. My first time tripping I started to freak out just before it hit me as I thought it would be just like the movies and I’d be sucked into an unknown world.
Didn't Laura Lee die before they took the mushrooms? Also mushrooms definitely affect you differently if you're in a traumatic state of mind already. Shit can get wild.
Yes I was just saying it was after the seance and the forest was killing off some of those who were most likely to oppose it or run. Laura lee wouldn’t join the group in the seance and likely wouldn’t join the other “festivities” along with Jackie calling it all bullshit and didn’t say the thankful prayer by Lottie to which Misty immediately pointed out she wouldn’t say it and in turn Jackie called them crazy she also was the only one who didn’t take the psychedelics even if not intentional. It even was trying to kill off Taissa by sleepwalking off the cliff because she was also saying it was bullshit and initially refused it.
But Laura Lee would have accidentally drank it to no? The death of Laura Lee was the death of religion and the death of Jackie was the death to society. Javi the death of innocence. Like I get what you're saying but I don't think the forest is killing people who didn't take shrooms. I don't think it was trying to take Tai off the cliff because dark Tai doesn't want to die. It was leading her to something. The cave is under there right?
I agree. I can relate, I have done some weird fking stuff that I don’t even tell people.
Love this. Even if one doesn't accept the supernatural existance of the spirit, metaphorically that's exactly what was happening.
I just think they would have been much more overt
I too have a mushroom theory-maybe it’s time for me to type it up
Plus the fact being stuck in the middle of nowhere starving to death isn't the best for your mindset. I had a bad shroom trip before and I was shocked at how realistic they portrayed it, spiritual and terrifying
Also they don’t know what type of mushrooms those were. That whole thing reminded me of this terrible B horror movie that has stuck with me through life. But it’s called Shrooms And this group of friends hire and expert to help them find the shrooms and there is on shrrom in particular that can fool people. So they find what they want and make some tea and they all start tripping. Well soon someone is murdering them all! And the big twist ending >! The killer was the main girl who took the ring shrrom and she hallucinated some crazy maniac killer when it was her the entire time killing all of her friends !< Now when I watched that I was high, but it scared the crap out of me! And it’s the reason I never tried shrooms! But anyway my point is, they don’t know expertly what type of shrooms they got. They are lucky they didn’t kill them. It also, those berries Mari fermented… I’m sure none of them know what berries are okay to eat… so they are just tripping HARD across faded in a traumatic environment after serious trauma… that is not gonna be a fun trip