Berserker rage was reached from psychoactive substances

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

The aggressive behavior of the berserkers during the battle may have been caused by the reception of black henbane (Hyoscyamus niger), and not broths from fly agarics, as previously thought. An ethnobotanist from Slovenia came to this conclusion, who compared the well-known symptoms of the action of psychoactive substances contained in amanita with the action of alkaloids of black henbane and other nightshades. The study is described in the Journal of Ethnopharmacology.

Berserkers were Scandinavian warriors who, it is believed, during the battle were in an altered state of consciousness: in a fit of rage they did not distinguish between friends and foes, tore off their clothes and armor, felt almost no pain and were supposedly invulnerable, shouted loudly, chattered their teeth and bit the shields. Berserkers were known until the 12th century: after Norway became fully Christian, references to them disappeared in religious literature.

The exact reasons for this behavior of berserkers are unknown, but since about the 18th century, it was believed that berserkers ate or drank a decoction of fly agarics, substances in which cause a similar effect: confusion, hallucinations, tremors, hyperthermia, delirium, as well as vomiting and diarrhea and often lead to lethal outcome.

Karsten Fatur of the University of Ljubljana drew attention to the fact that the consumption of fly agarics does not explain the rage experienced by berserkers in battle, since there is almost no evidence in the scientific literature that taking fly agarics causes such a reaction. The rest of the signs are similar, but it is unlikely that the Vikings used the mushroom to achieve a rare effect, while obtaining others that were not very appropriate in battle.

Fatur, who is studying nightshade plants containing anticholinergic (disrupting the work of acetylcholine) alkaloids, put forward a new hypothesis that suggests the use of black henbane by berserkers. The henbane contains hyoscyamine, atropine and scopolamine - alkaloids with anticholinergic properties. These compounds cause confusion, hallucinations, dry mouth, dilated pupils, decreased concentration, hyperthermia, impaired ability to communicate, memory impairments, and decreased sensitivity to pain.

Helen was widely used in Europe as a medicine - since antiquity it has been used as a pain reliever and as a medicine for insomnia. In addition, during the Middle Ages, henbane was used as an affordable means of changing consciousness for recreational purposes: unlike alcohol, for example, this weed did not even need to be bought.

Now components from henbane are included in drugs for motion sickness. At the same time, the author writes, fits of insane rage were quite a common consequence of the use of henbane: evidence of this has been preserved even in the folklore and language of European peoples. For example, in Serbo-Croatian the verb “buniti”, derived from the local name for henena “bunika”, means “to fight, to protest,” and the expression, which translates as “as if they ate Hyoscyamus niger,” is used to describe people in anger. In addition, in Russian there is an expression "henbane overeat".

The described effects are largely the same as those caused by eating a fly agaric, but henbane gives critical for berserkers: an increase in the pain threshold and falling into a rage. In addition, in a state of confusion caused by the alkaloids of the nightshade, which are also found in henbane, people often do not distinguish between faces, and this may explain why berserkers did not distinguish between themselves and others.

Berserkers could also rip off their clothes under the influence of henbane: according to the author of the work, he himself witnessed more than once how people using anticholinergic nightshade plants for recreational and spiritual purposes did the same.

The author also cites archaeological evidence: a woman's burial was found in Denmark, in which a bag of bleached was found. It is believed that the woman had something to do with pagan worship, so it is possible that the henbane was needed for ritual purposes. In addition, archaeological finds show that henbane was widespread in Scandinavia since the beginning of our era, and by the Middle Ages it had become a common weed growing everywhere.

The author admits that his hypothesis does not explain why the berserkers chattered their teeth and bit the shield. Perhaps, he suggests, they were simply cold without clothes in the Scandinavian climate, and they shivered: in this case, the bites of the shield were needed to calm the chattering of teeth. Fatour also clarifies that his research is only an attempt to understand the problem, to the solution of which archaeologists, historians and biologists must make a decisive contribution.

We have already written about how people achieved an altered state of consciousness before. For example, the Indians used for this another nightshade plant - datura. After using it, they could eat poisonous snakes - possibly for ritual purposes.