"The taste was something like chicken"

from Steven Pollock, J. Psych Drugs Oct-Dec 1975.

Substances: Amanita muscaria

When we returned to a friend's residence, we boiled six caps of various dimensions. Frank consumed two in his mushroom soup and I ate four (the usual dose being one to four caps). The taste was something like chicken. Curiously, I became nauseated within minutes but the feeling was fleeting. Within a half hour I noticed many peculiar effects. Audition became enhanced and synesthesias became prominent with multi-modality overflow. I began to taste odors, to small tastes, and even to hear odors and tastes. Visual disturbances were almost non-existent, but I noticed frequent recurrent gustatory, olfactory and auditory flashes. Tactile sensation became markedly enhanced. Occasional moments of nausea occurred during the first two hourse of the experience, but then the pseudo-delirium settled into a profound euphoric state of consciousness. Equilibrium was affected as by ethyl alcohol throughout the intoxication, but mentation in contrast remained unimpaired. After six hours, though still under the Amanita influence, I retired for a night of sound sleep. Frank experienced a state of wellbeing and restfulness without any nausea. He felt a sharpening of auditory, gustatory, and tactile sensations. While taking a shower during the evening, Frank seemed to taste cleanliness and he later slept well.

A few days later we again tempted our fate but with dried Amanitas. I ate four caps and Frank consumed three. Each of us experienced a pleasant intoxication with only mild sensory alterations including subtle echo patterns. Frank did feel nauseated, however, for the first half hour, but the predominant effect afterwards was induction of euphoria. A nonintoxicated observer noticed no distinctive changes in our behavior.