On ethnography, hallucinogens, improvised knife, etc.

fearn · 1st September 2009, 02:23 PM

Hi Migueldiaz,

I thought they'd actually tested these two theories on the BBC (berserkers: drunk or on magic mushrooms). They did it by having a volunteer whack at targets with period weapons sober and under the influence. Their conclusion was that the alcohol (and especially the hallucinogenic mushroom) significantly degraded the subject's performance.

I'm not saying that people didn't go into battle drug, on meth, or similar. Still, I think it's possible to go berserk without drugs, and probably most of the berserks did. One thing from the sagas I've read is that the berserkers were always potentially violent, and that was part of the problem with dealing with them. Psychotic rage might be a better explanation.

Best,

F

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1st September 2009, 02:23 PM	#27
fearn Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 1,247	Hi Migueldiaz, I thought they'd actually tested these two theories on the BBC (berserkers: drunk or on magic mushrooms). They did it by having a volunteer whack at targets with period weapons sober and under the influence. Their conclusion was that the alcohol (and especially the hallucinogenic mushroom) significantly degraded the subject's performance. I'm not saying that people didn't go into battle drug, on meth, or similar. Still, I think it's possible to go berserk without drugs, and probably most of the berserks did. One thing from the sagas I've read is that the berserkers were always potentially violent, and that was part of the problem with dealing with them. Psychotic rage might be a better explanation. Best, F