QUEBEC-RESEARCH-L ArchivesArchiver > QUEBEC-RESEARCH > 2004-04 >
1081470065 Subject: Excerpt Of History Date: Thu, 8 Apr 2004
20:21:05 EDT "The common wild rye grasses of New England often
caused cows to get sick, but a witch could cure any animal
sickness with marshwort. If she wanted to make a human feel
sick, however, she'd mix rye grass with the victims food in some
clever undetected manner. To much rye grass, or an intended
overdose, would cause fits and possibly blindness to the witches
prey. There is even a popular theory today that moldy rye was
the real cause of the Salem witch hysteria. Rye, which grows in
low, wet ground, yields ergot. Judge Sewalls diary states that
before the rye was harvested for the 1692 season, to be eaten in
Salem in bread and cereals, it was rainy and warm, hot and
stormy. Ergot according to Dr. John Stearns, the man who
discovered the fungus in 1807, causes hallucination, violent
fits, choking, pinching, itching, a crawling sensation in the
skin, and muscular contractions.