Yes, ergot poisoning can be fatal if left untreated. Symptoms can include hallucinations, severe convulsions, gangrene, and death due to lack of blood circulation. It is important to seek medical attention immediately if there is suspicion of ergot poisoning.
1. The accused were not the ones who went mad. The supposedly bewitched accusers went mad. 2. There is no concrete proof there was any poison, but one theory suggests Ergotism, poisoning from ingesting ergot fungus.
Poisoning produced by eating food affected by ergot, resulting in headache, vomiting, and gangrene of the fingers and toes
St. Vitus Dance, "Chorea sancti viti," also known as Sydenham's Chorea. St. Anthony's Fire, or Ergotism, poisoning by the ergot fungus.
1. There were no witches in Salem 2. They were never accused of/ believed to have ingested poison 3. The only mention of poisoning in Salem literature is the theory that the afflicted got that way from Ergotism, poisoning by eating wheat or rye infected with the fungus Ergot.
Ergot is the name of a toxic fungus that affects the rye plant.
Ergot is a kind of fungus that can infect cereal grains.
St. Anthony of Padua died of ergotism. Also known as ergot poisoning, ergotism has been suggested as the cause of symptoms formerly attributed to witchcraft.
Ergot alkaloids are derived from a fungus, Claviceps purpurea, which grows primarily on rye grain. The fungus forms a hard blackish body known as a sclerotium, which contains alkaloid compounds that can be used to treat migraine headache.
Ergot is the common name of a fungus in the genus Claviceps that is parasitic on certain grains and grasses.
ergot poisoning. Symptoms include headache, muscle pain, numbness, coldness, and unusually pale fingers and toes. If not treated, the condition can lead to gangrene (tissue death).
In the context of the Salem witch panic, maybe. The hallucinogenic effects of ergot, a fungus that grows on rye, barley and other wheat crops does match up with many of the symptoms of witchcraft in Salem. But, the distribution pattern of the afflictions doesn't match up with how ergot poisoning would reasonably appear. The afflictions were sporadically spread throughout Salem, but ergot is likely to affect whole households and not just scattered persons. Put simply, one would expect that more people from the same households would be affected by ergot because they would have all eaten from the same bag of possibly infected grain. To shorten this, ergot is plausible in terms of symptoms, but a shaky theory in regards to other details.