The modern search for a truth serum began in 1916 when an obstetrician named Robert House, practicing in a Texas town of Ferris, saw a strange event during a home delivery. The woman in labor was in a state of "twilight sleep" induced by scopolamine, a compound derived from the henbane plant that blocks the action of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine. Doctor House had asked her husband for a scale to weigh the newborn. The man looked for it and returned to the bedroom saying he could not find it, whereupon his wife, still under the anesthetic, told him exactly where it was. House became convinced that scopolamine could make anyone answer a question truthfully, and he went on to promote its forensic use. Police departments used it -- and in a few cases judges permitted it -- throughout the 1920s and 1930s. Other drugs were also tried, such as the barbiturates Pentothal and Amytal. But by the 1950s, most scientists had declared the very notion of truth serums invalid, and most courts had ruled testimony gained through their use inadmissible.
Henbane
Henbane has been known and feared from ancient times., when it was recognized that there were several kinds and that the black variety was the most potent, capable of causing insanity. The ancient Egyptiansrecorded their knowledge of Henbane in the Ebers Papyrus, written in 1500 B.C. Homer described magic drinks with effects suggestive of Henbane as a major ingredient. In ancient Greece it served as a poison, to mimic insanity and to enable man to prophecy. Some historians have suggested that the priestess at the Oracle of Delphi made their prophetic utterances while intoxicated with the smoke from Henbane seeds. In the thirteenth century, Bishop Albertus the Great reported that Henbane was used by necromancers to conjure up demons.
Henbane is best known to psychic investigators for its use as one of the main ingredients that permitted witches of medieval times to experience hallucinations and feelings of flying through the air. When young people were to be inducted into membership in groups dedicated to witchcraft they were often given a drink of Henbane. In this way they could be persuaded to engage in the lewd and lascivious acts of the Black Sabbat. Those experiencing in toxication with Henbane feel a pressure in the head, a sensation as if someone were closing the eyelids by force, sight becomes unclear, objects are distorted in shape, and the most unusual visual hallucinations are induced. Gustatory and olfactory hallucinations frequently occur. Eventually sleep, disturbed by dreams and hallucinations, ends the inebriation.
|
Right, Witch having a salve with Henbane in it applied to her thigh.
