The Sacred Mushroom – Andrija Puharich

The other subject who was unusually sensitive to the effects of Amanita muscaria was Peter Hurkos. The first occasion on which he was given the mushroom was October 19th 1956.I administered the mushroom to Peter, and to myself as a control, at 10.00 pm.  We both sat alone in the laboratory in silence, making notes of our own reactions. I, of course, was also making notes of Peter's reactions…..

"Andrija," he said, "I have seen things which I don’t believe I could ever describe to you in a million years. I was not here in this room. I don't know where I was. But I was in some far-off place of indescribable beauty. The colours, the forms are beyond description.

The only way I can give you an idea of what I saw is that everything around me here is filthy, dirty, and horrible. It looks so ugly here that I hope you don't give me that mushroom too many times; I might not want to come back."

"But, Peter," I said, "this is hard to believe. As far as I could tell, you were just sitting there asleep even though your eyes were wide open."

"Well, I'll try to describe it as best as I can. In the first place I don't know where I was, but I was somewhere outside of myself. A woman came to me. I don't know who she was because she would never turn her face to me, and it could all be in my imagination.

This woman guided me and took me I don’t know where. I don’t know whether I was walking or flying or what. I never had this before so I can't describe it. We came to a land. I didn't see trees. I can’t say that, but I did see flowers. I can’t describe them, they were so beautiful. I saw houses; there were many, many houses.

The only thing that I can tell you about the houses is that they all looked like cupolas, they were like beehives. They were round and all with beautiful colours. I know that where my mind was is real. Its beauty is beyond description. And this world is so ugly. I’m sorry I came back.