Meet the mushroom that makes you see tiny people
Imagine tucking into a mushroom hotpot and spotting a parade of thumb-sized humans dancing on your plate. That’s not a fever dream for some folks in parts of Asia — it’s a real (and wildly specific) side effect reported after eating a particular forest mushroom.
What people actually experience
Patients have described dozens of little, elf-like figures crawling on furniture, hiding under doors and even clinging to clothing while they dress. The visions are vivid — sometimes more pronounced with eyes closed — and they’re so consistent that doctors and mushroom sellers both know to warn diners: cook it properly or you might get a fairy-sized extrashow.
The modern mystery hunters
Biologists and mycologists have been on the trail of this fungus for decades. Recent fieldwork involved asking market vendors which mushroom “makes you see little people,” buying those specimens, and then running genetic tests and lab analyses to confirm whether the mushroom is what people say it is. The mushroom shows up in markets and on menus in some regions, usually eaten as food rather than sought out for trippy effects.
Weird lab results — and very long trips
Lab tests hint that chemical extracts from the mushroom alter behavior in animals, producing a burst of activity followed by a long, sleepy stupor. In humans, reported episodes can begin slowly and last an extraordinarily long time — from a day to several days in some cases — which helps explain why it hasn’t become a recreational favorite. These aren’t quick magic-mushroom flash trips; they’re marathon viewings of the tiny-person show, and can come with side effects like dizziness and delirium.
Not psilocybin — something stranger
Unlike classic “magic mushrooms,” the compound responsible here doesn’t look like psilocybin and seems to work differently. One striking detail is reliability: many people report the same lilliputian imagery, which is unusual for psychedelic experiences that typically vary wildly between people and sessions.
Why scientists care
Figuring out what molecule causes these consistent tiny-person hallucinations could teach us about how the brain builds scale, social imagery and perception. It might also shed light on rare cases where people experience spontaneous tiny-person hallucinations without any mushroom involved — a condition that, while uncommon, can be medically serious for some.
Where the mystery grows
The mushroom has been reported in different countries, and sometimes specimens that look different turn out to be genetically the same species. That raises fun evolutionary questions: did one species spread across regions, or did multiple different mushrooms evolve the same mind-bending trick independently? Either answer would be cool to biologists.
Broader lessons (and a gentle reminder)
This story is also a reminder that fungi are an enormous, mostly unexplored biochemical library. Scientists estimate we’ve described only a small slice of fungal diversity, so surprises like this mushroom probably aren’t the last. And practical note: if you’re ever at a mushroom feast in the regions where this fungus grows, follow the server’s timer — and maybe keep the silverware handy for any tiny, unexpected dinner guests.
