Scientists Still Can’t Explain Mushroom’s Tiny-people Visions

WHO:

Science Daily - Scientists identified *Lanmaoa asiatica* as the mushroom responsible for reports of tiny-human hallucinations in China and the Philippines.

BBC Wildlife Magazine - Colin Domnauer is a doctoral researcher in biology at the University of Utah and the Natural History Museum of Utah.

BBC Wildlife Magazine - Gordon Wasson, an American author, and Roger Heim, a French botanist specializing in mycology, searched for the mushroom linked to “mushroom madness”; Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann tested specimens they collected.

BBC Wildlife Magazine - Domnauer’s supervisor searched for the mushrooms in Papua New Guinea but did not find them.

WHAT:

Science Daily - People who eat certain wild mushrooms have reported seeing dozens or hundreds of tiny, colorful humans moving through the real world.

BBC Wildlife Magazine - The clinical term for visions of miniature people is “Lilliputian hallucinations,” named after the tiny inhabitants of the fictional island in Jonathan Swift’s *Gulliver’s Travels*.

BBC Wildlife Magazine - *L. asiatica* is a reddish bolete mushroom, formally described and named in 2015. It can cause the hallucinations when eaten raw or undercooked.

BBC Wildlife Magazine - The mushroom’s reported effects include trips lasting one to three days, beginning 12 to 24 hours after consumption; delirium and dizziness sometimes lead to hospital stays. A Yunnan hospital treats hundreds of such cases each year.

BBC Wildlife Magazine - Chemical and genomic analyses found that *L. asiatica* lacks the gene clusters associated with psilocybin and ibotenic acid.

BBC Wildlife Magazine - Domnauer said, “I don’t know of anything else that produces such consistent hallucinations.”

WHERE:

BBC Wildlife Magazine - *L. asiatica* is locally popular in China’s Yunnan Province, where it is sold in markets and served in restaurants; the species is also reported in the Philippines’ Cordillera Administrative Region.

BBC Wildlife Magazine - Reports of mushroom-induced miniature-creature visions came from Papua New Guinea’s Western Highlands.

WHEN:

BBC Wildlife Magazine - Missionaries’ reports from Papua New Guinea date to the 1930s; Wasson and Heim searched for the mushroom in the 1960s.

BBC Wildlife Magazine - Domnauer’s DNA sequencing confirmed in 2024 that mushrooms from China and the Philippines were the same species.

WHY:

BBC Wildlife Magazine - Scientists do not know what causes the hallucinations; analyses indicate the mushroom lacks the gene clusters associated with two well-known fungal hallucinogens.

HOW:

BBC Wildlife Magazine - Most restaurants serving the mushroom observe a 15-minute cooking timer as a precaution; Domnauer said eating it before the timer ends could mean “you might see little people.”

(UPDATED October 25, 2026 13:07 UTC)

Scientists have identified *Lanmaoa asiatica* as the mushroom behind reports of people seeing tiny, colorful figures moving through the world around them. The visions, known clinically as Lilliputian hallucinations, have been reported in China and the Philippines. This reddish bolete is popular in China’s Yunnan Province, where it is sold in markets and served in restaurants, and it is also found in the Philippines’ Cordillera region. Eating it raw or undercooked can trigger hallucinations that may begin 12 to 24 hours later and last one to three days; some people experience delirium or dizziness severe enough to require hospital care. A Yunnan hospital treats hundreds of cases each year. Researchers have found the mushroom lacks gene clusters linked to psilocybin and ibotenic acid, but the cause of its effects remains unknown. Restaurants commonly cook it for at least 15 minutes as a precaution.