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Caribbean-Latin America
American tourist, 41, died after drinking psychedelic tea at spiritual retreat in Peru
2025-06-07
[NYP] An American tourist died after drinking a psychedelic tea that caused a "breakdown" of several organs while he was on a spiritual retreat in the Peruvian Amazon, according to reports.

Aaron Wayne Castranova, 41, died Monday after ingesting ayahuasca — a potent hallucinogenic plant brew banned in the US — during a shamanic ritual at La Casa de Guillermo ICONA, a hostel known for its "spiritual tourism" in Loreto.

The hypnotic elixir triggered a multi-organ "breakdown" that caused the Alabama man’s lethal spiral, according to Narciso Lopez, the regional prosecutor’s forensic pathologist, the Daily Mail reported.

Posted by:Besoeker

#6  Multi-organ breakdown sounds like a toxin of some sort. Perhaps a bit of mushroom or snake venom was added to the tea to punch it up a bit.
Posted by: SteveS   2025-06-07 14:47  

#5  Seeing a Conan level snake while up in Machu Pichu area would give palpitations.
Posted by: swksvolFF   2025-06-07 14:23  

#4  Probably wise to avoid anything that gives you visions of serpents...unless you really like serpents.
Posted by: Abu Uluque   2025-06-07 13:09  

#3  In his Netflix series, Ancient Apocalypse, author Graham Hancock touts the use of ayahuasca and even admits using it himself with a Peruvian shaman. It's been used by the indigenous people down there for centuries. It'd be no surprise if there are unpleasant and unknown side effects but, like Anguper, I have to wonder if there might have been another cause for the man's demise. Still, if you're just visiting for a week or so in a Third World country where you have absolutely no local knowledge, it's probably not wise to be fooling around with such things.
Posted by: Abu Uluque   2025-06-07 13:06  

#2  Maybe the cause was something other than ayahuasca.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418   2025-06-07 05:00  

#1  Think of it as evolution in action.
Posted by: Grom the Reflective   2025-06-07 03:49  

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