Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2024/10/14/amish-family-of-11-including-baby-sickened-by-toxic-mushrooms-but-have-no-phone-to-call-911.html
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At least it was unlikely that they bought an AI mushroom book on Amazon.
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I don’t think that being half a mile from a working phone is all that unusual even in today’s world, is it? I’ve certainly been on camping and backpacking trips where my family was further than half a mile away from a phone.
Glad that everyone recovered.
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And then there are the mushrooms that are technically edible multiple times, but you don’t want to eat even once.
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Kinda reminded me of this Ted animation I seen a few days ago
The earlier you get help, the better the recovery. Feel bad for the kids of those dumb parents
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I keep seeing this story in different places and I keep being frustrated because it never includes the species of mushroom. It might have been Amanita phalloides, but there are lots of other mushrooms that will give you serious GI trouble but not kill you.
I also wonder about the misidentification. Many A. phalloides poisonings in the US are due to recent immigrants from Asia mistaking them for the edible paddy straw mushroom that’s native there. But I’d really expect the Amish to know better.
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Paging @Fungal
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I think the surprise was that it was a phone booth. It’s my understanding that at least some Amish consider phones to be an acceptable technology, as long they aren’t inside the house. And so, there are phones mounted on outside walls, and yes, communal phone booths.
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But a working phone booth? I didn’t know those still existed!
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(and @anon29537550) My close work friend is in the greater Columbus OH area, and she and her husband hired Amish carpenters to build a pool changing shack on their property last year. She said that the Amish contractor paid a non-Amish driver, who kept a cell phone with the car and they’d sometimes use it for work communication. They will also keep a cell phone in a box just off their property for emergencies or to communicate with clients.
An interesting side note, these particular workers really, really liked pizza. She or her husband would treat them to pizzas for lunch, which made them extremely happy.
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theophrastus, it looks to me like both of your photos are of Amanita phalloides. Amanita caesarea has an orange cap and yellow gills and stem.
elliotk, it’s pretty common in poisoning cases that there are no mushrooms to look at, because they ate them all. Since it’s unlikely they took photos of their mushrooms, we may never know what they ate.
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I don’t have too much to add to what’s already been said, except that the mushroom was unlikely to be Amanita phalloides as people are speculating. A. phalloides is introduced in the US from Europe, and is invasive on the West Coast, but doesn’t seem to have spread on the East Coast. AFAIK, it’s only been seen on the East Coast in one pine plantation in New Jersey, although my information is old and might be out of date.
That being said, there are many poisonous mushrooms on the East Coast! Many that will kill you and many more that will make you feel very very sick, and might kill an infant but not an adult. This family was smart to find help however they could manage it, and I’m so glad to hear they’re okay!
Here’s a citation to a paper about A. phalloides distribution in North America.
[Public service advice here: Don’t rely on field guides to help you identify mushrooms. The best way to go about it is to join your local amateur mycology club and learn from club members. Most poisonings are mild, but you only have one life and can lose it easily by making a mistake. Thank you for reading the public service advice.]
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I think in the same way that some people can be face blind, some people are plant/fungi blind.
The other thing I wonder about is if changes in climate are causing different fungi to be more or less plentiful in areas. Or showing up at different parts of the season, so what they’re looking for is missing, and the wrong mushroom is suddenly more plentiful.
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This hasn’t killed anyone (yet).
well holy-ned! you’re right, i was wrong, and snatched a wrong photo. this is what i saw on a collection of images, note the caption (in my poor defense):
however! if one actually goes to the associated website, as i discreditably failed to do!, that was given as the comparison example and what a death-cap looks like. …hmm, should i go delete my comment now? probably should.
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