St. Patrick’s Day to St. Anthony’s Fire, a disease also known as ergotism. Never heard of it? There are many recorded outbreaks of ergotism, also known as St. Anthony’s Fire, throughout medieval Europe.

Thankfully, today’s farming practices mean that ergotism, as the disease is called, is a largely unheard-of ailment that caused a range of symptoms including burning sensations, convulsions, hallucinations, miscarriage and gangrene.

Much like animals, plants are susceptible to disease. While plant diseases can destroy crops that people rely on for food, the diseases that sicken plants do not often directly harm the health of humans. One exception to this is ergot, a fungus that infects cereal grains such as rye and people who eat contaminated grain can experience ergotism or St. Anthony’s fire.

While the infection on the grain could be easily seen, the cause of the St. Anthony’s fire was not discovered until the late 1600s.  Entire families would fall ill, many dying or becoming permanently disabled.

Some historians have suggested that ergotism could have played a part in notable historical events such as the Salem Witch Trials and the Dancing Plague of 1518 in Strasbourg where people danced themselves to death.

Their theories seem to revolve around the consumption of rye, similarity of symptoms, and in the case of the Salem Witch Trials, weather records indicating favorable conditions for an outbreak of ergot in the rye crop. While it is certainly possible that ergotism could have contributed to these events, it cannot be proven and seems unlikely that such complex events could be entirely blamed on a fungus.

With ruined crops and a reputation for causing pain and death, whether from the disease itself, death by dancing, or being hanged for a witch, it would seem that this fungus is nothing but a scourge to humanity. However, along with the bad, ergot also has much good to offer.

As early as the 1500s, midwives were using ergot-infected grains of rye to help with stalled labor. It also proved an effective treatment for postpartum hemorrhage. The use of ergot in childbirth continued into the 1800s. In 1935, ergometrin was isolated from the fungus, leading to more modern pharmaceutical usage and safer dosing.

Ergot’s pharmaceutical potential is not limited to obstetrics. In 1918, a different chemical, ergotamine, was isolated and is still being used to treat migraine headaches. As technological and scientific advancements have improved our capabilities in biochemistry, more compounds of ergot are being explored for potential medical benefits, particularly in the area of neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s and dementia.

Crystal Kelly is a feature writer for Bizarre Bytes with those unusual facts that you only need to know for Trivial Pursuit or Jeopardy or to stump your in-laws.