Sawbones: Little People Hallucinations

Episode 590

18th August 2026

There’s been some social media talk about a psychoactive mushroom that causes visions of small people, like the Lilliputians from Gulliver’s Travels. This is a rare but real phenomenon with several causes. Dr. Sydnee talks about the documented experiences of seeing these little guys, where they comes from, and what is happening in the brain to cause this.

Episode notes

There’s been some social media talk about a psychoactive mushroom that causes visions of small people, like the Lilliputians from Gulliver’s Travels. This is a rare but real phenomenon with several causes. Dr. Sydnee talks about the documented experiences of seeing these little guys, where they comes from, and what is happening in the brain to cause this.

Music: “Medicines” by The Taxpayers https://taxpayers.bandcamp.com/

Native Women Lead: https://www.nativewomenlead.org/

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About the show

Dr. Sydnee McElroy and her husband Justin welcome you to Sawbones: A Marital Tour of Misguided Medicine. Every Friday, they dig through the annals of medical history to uncover all the odd, weird, wrong, dumb and just gross ways we’ve tried to fix people over the years. Educational? You bet! Fun? We hope!

Send topic suggestions to sawbones@maximumfun.org and follow @Sawbones on Twitter.

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