Magic Mushrooms
In this talk, Robert Dickins explores the history of Psilocybe mushroom picking in Britain and the events that eventually led to their change in legal status in 2005. Beginning with the accidental ‘poisonings’ of the nineteenth century, and the slow systemization of the Liberty Cap by mycologists, he describes the post-war history of Psilocybe pickers emerging from obscure origins. Including, where and how knowledge spread, scientific research, pitched battles with farmers in fields, and the emergence of grow kits, all of which is set against the many methods the authorities used in order to shut down the nascent mushroom culture in Britain.
Speaker Bio:
Robert Dickens, PhD, is a historian and publisher, whose works examines the social and literary history of psychoactive substances and altered states of experience. He is the author of Cobweb of Trips: A Literary History of Psychedelics (2024) and Psilocybe Pickers: A Short History of Bemushroomed Britons (2025), and is currently researching the connection between tripping and gardens for a forthcoming book project.
Curated & Hosted by:
Lena Schattenherz Heide-Brennand is a Norwegian lecturer with a master degree in language, culture and literature from the University of Oslo and Linnaeus University. She has been lecturing and teaching various subjects since 1998. Her field of interest and main focus has always been topics that others have considered strange, eccentric and eerie, and she has specialised in a variety of dark subjects linked to folklore, mythology and Victorian traditions and medicine. Her students often point out her thorough knowledge about the subjects she is teaching, in addition to her charismatic appearance. She refers to herself as a performance lecturer and always gives her audience an outstanding experience
don’t worry if you miss it – we will send you a recording valid for two weeks the next day
