When Ducks Walked Like Penguins

One evening in a small village in France in 1951, multiple citizens began having vivid (mostly terrifying) hallucinations. They also experienced stomach pain, seizures, and insomnia. The local hospital was overwhelmed. The large number of people affected brought the crisis to international attention. What caused this mass hallucinatory event? Dr. Lynne Kramer will tell you about this eerie night and explain the most likely causal agent.

Sources:

1. Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1951_Pont-Saint-Esprit_mass_poisoning)
2. Mental Floss article by Lucas Reilly (https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/558020/pont-saint-esprit-france-1951-bread-poisoning-mass-hallucinations)
3. Today I Found Out article by Gilles Messier (https://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2022/06/that-time-an-entire-french-town-went-insane/)
4. Time Magazine article, author unknown (https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,815355,00.html)
5. New York Times article, author unknown (https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1951/08/29/84684398.html?pageNumber=27)
6. New York Times article by Mary Blume (https://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/24/arts/24iht-blume.1.14718462.html)
7. American Society for Microbiology article by Dr. Ada Hagan (https://asm.org/articles/2018/november/from-poisoning-to-pharmacy-a-tale-of-two-ergots)