Daturascapes

Datura, or Jimson Weed, contains tropane alkaloids that dehydrate the body and stupefy the mind. Many indigenous cultures use Datura as a "rite of passage," they use it when one of their own is making the transition to adulthood. A predatory group of Kali-worshippers in India used Datura as a veritable poison---when the victim was down and immobilized, and quite possibly tripping out, they would choke them to death. Hmmmm...

"When the sun came up the next morning, I thought, I'm straight now. Let's go see Colin and Francois. But when I reached their campsite, they were gone and there was no sign of their gear. The only indiction they'd been there was a mound of dirt. I dropped down and put my ear to it, and darn if I didn't hear breathing and two sets of heartbeats. One part of me said, "This isn't happening. This is the effects of the datura." But the other part of me was convinced they were in there. I inferred that they had been buried alive by the eidolon that the temple had inhaled the night before. This was the most poigant moment in my life, the V in my path, where I went one way and left the other."- Matthew S. Kent

Supposedly people experience something called the "disappearing people puzzle" when under the influence of the deliriant. This means that people randomly appear, have frank discussions with the tripper, and then disappear into thin air. Sometimes the tripper knows the person, and at other times the tripper doesn't. Sometimes the tripper doesn't know if the experience is a dream, or a masquerade being performed by some impish elemental beings. Maybe there is really no difference.

"The deliriants (or anticholinergics) are a special class of acetylcholine-inhibitor dissociatives. The name comes from their primary effect of inducing a medical state of frank delirium, characterized by stupor, utter confusion, confabulation, and regression to "phantom" behaviors such as disrobing and plucking. Other commonly reported behaviors include holding full and lifelike conversations with imagined people, finishing a complex, multi-stage action (such as getting dressed) and then suddenly discovering you had not even begun yet, and being unable to recognize one's own reflection in a mirror (and thus becoming angry with the "stranger's" acts of mimicry). The effects have been likened to sleepwalking, a fugue state or a psychotic episode. (particularly in that the subject has minimal control over their actions and little to no recall of the experience). This is a notable departure from typical hallucinogens."- Wikipedia.

How could such an innocent looking plant wreak so much havoc on the mind?