Rye Dog

In the spirit of Halloween, we will tell some of rye's dark history. It's truly unsettling, so here's the content warning and read on only if you dare...

Coming hand in hand with growing and storing rye is a fungus called ergot, claviceps purpurea. While ergot hasn’t been a major issue for almost a century, it has wreaked havoc on civilizations through the ages. Ergotism could cause virtual insanity (hallucinations), convulsions, burning (nicknamed “holy fire”), gangrene (loss of limbs), and sometimes death. Any culture reliant on rye bread might have dealt with this catastrophic problem at some point. The link between rye ergotism and much that we consider folklore today is fascinating, including witches and werewolves!

Ergot was a particular problem when cold winters were followed by wet springs. A 1982 New York Times article discusses a comprehensive study by historian Dr. Mary Matossian linking witches to rye bread.

“Diaries kept in Boston during the intervening winters showed they were 'very cold.' The households chiefly stricken by the 'bewitchment' were those closest to marshy land. New Englanders believed in witchcraft both before and after 1692, yet in no other year was there such severe persecution of witches."

The accounts of the affected people from this time closely match the symptoms of ergotism - convulsions, burning under the skin, and hallucogenic fits. It's hard to imagine any ergot-induced behavior slipping under the radar in the Puritan society of the time. While being cared for by family or scrutinized by onlookers, the victims must have felt possessed themselves, suspecting something demonic and otherworldly at play!

It wasn't for another 250 years that Swiss chemist Albert Hoffman would accidentally discover lysergic acid, a component of LSD, with its hallucinogenic effects while studying ergot fungus. 

"Legend has it that’s where the imagery of a witch flying through the night sky came from: people tripping balls after ingesting hallucinogenic fungus." (California Witchcraft) 

What could not be rationalized in the day of Salem led to the imprisonment and murder of many, including women, young and old, and a handful of men. Witchhunts became an excuse for opportunistic "cleansing" of society based on strict, Puritan values. Rifling through the charges of over 150 "witches" makes obvious that personal vendettas were being settled to maintain the status quo of religious and moral conservatism.

It doesn't stop at witches! 

While LSD is not poisonous, ergot definitely is. In past times of famine, poor people would play rye roulette, knowingly eating grain that might be contaminated with the fungus to prevent starvation. It is a horrible coincidence that these especially cold and wet winters brought both famine and ergot. 

Anecdotal accounts of towns going mad from tainted rye are aplenty. Roggunhund, or rye dog, is just one of many colloquial names for ergot. Certain effects of eating the fungus, like itchy skin, ferocious appetite, and irritability fit the image of a human transforming into a wolf. Townspeople would witness this behavior in neighbors, and possibly experience the effects themselves. It's a frightening picture to imagine a malnourished town suffering this terrible affliction en masse. 

Much like what happened with witches, people were tried in court for being werewolves. Another opportunity for society to ostracize the most vulnerable. In 18th and 19th century France, more than 30,000 people were tried and put to death for being werewolves.(Were They Bitten?)

Wolves and witches are entwined with rye's history because of ergot. Rye, as an open-pollinated cereal, is more susceptible than other grains. Ergot is one of the few plant diseases that can pass on to infect humans and animals. While ergot doesn't occur in dangerous levels today, it's still something farmers monitor in their rye crop. Be safe out there if Halloween is something your family observes. For us, it's a thanksgiving - a time to be with each other, keep warm and light spirits, and eat pizza.

Happy Halloween!!

Matt and Zena