1 00:00:03,840 --> 00:00:06,720 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind from how Stuff 2 00:00:06,720 --> 00:00:13,920 Speaker 1: Works dot com. Hey, welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind. 3 00:00:14,000 --> 00:00:16,400 Speaker 1: My name is Robert lamp and I'm Julie Douglas. And 4 00:00:16,560 --> 00:00:19,159 Speaker 1: is this episode is coming to all you guys and 5 00:00:19,200 --> 00:00:21,880 Speaker 1: gals out there. It is, of course coming to your rights. 6 00:00:21,920 --> 00:00:26,200 Speaker 1: We're leading up into St. Patrick's Day, which I have 7 00:00:26,320 --> 00:00:30,680 Speaker 1: always loved St Patrick's Day. I don't have I'm basically 8 00:00:30,680 --> 00:00:33,120 Speaker 1: of Scotch German heritage, so I don't have that you know, 9 00:00:33,200 --> 00:00:37,240 Speaker 1: distinctive Irish roots link to it, and I don't have it, 10 00:00:37,240 --> 00:00:39,320 Speaker 1: you know, I don't have the like the Catholic link 11 00:00:39,400 --> 00:00:42,920 Speaker 1: to it either. But from a very early age, like 12 00:00:43,000 --> 00:00:45,280 Speaker 1: my family was always into St. Patrick's Day. You know, 13 00:00:45,320 --> 00:00:47,720 Speaker 1: my mom's mom is a kindergarten teacher, so we would 14 00:00:47,720 --> 00:00:51,159 Speaker 1: have green things. We would eat green treats, green beer, well, 15 00:00:51,159 --> 00:00:53,520 Speaker 1: no green beer, but like maybe like a green cake 16 00:00:53,600 --> 00:00:56,000 Speaker 1: or a cupcake or something. And I still with St. 17 00:00:56,000 --> 00:00:57,480 Speaker 1: Patrick's Day comes around, I'm like, I need to eat 18 00:00:57,520 --> 00:00:59,320 Speaker 1: something that's green. I need to get like a pistatio 19 00:00:59,360 --> 00:01:03,240 Speaker 1: cupcake if the statuo pudding um. But more importantly, we 20 00:01:03,280 --> 00:01:07,360 Speaker 1: would to a certain extent, we would celebrate the the 21 00:01:07,400 --> 00:01:10,920 Speaker 1: Irish myth of the the lepri Con. We would always 22 00:01:10,959 --> 00:01:13,920 Speaker 1: watch Darby O Gil and the Little People, that classic 23 00:01:14,240 --> 00:01:17,679 Speaker 1: Disney film with Sean Connery in it. Wow, you guys 24 00:01:17,840 --> 00:01:20,280 Speaker 1: did it up. Yeah. Yeah, we were big into the holidays, 25 00:01:20,959 --> 00:01:23,240 Speaker 1: so we would always watch Darbo Gil and the Little People. 26 00:01:23,400 --> 00:01:26,160 Speaker 1: Sean Connery would sing and it was awesome. Lepri Cons 27 00:01:26,160 --> 00:01:28,960 Speaker 1: would run around, there was a banshee. Um, you know, 28 00:01:29,000 --> 00:01:31,559 Speaker 1: it was just it was a great film. I still 29 00:01:31,600 --> 00:01:34,720 Speaker 1: watch it from time to time. I just I feel 30 00:01:34,760 --> 00:01:38,080 Speaker 1: like this is really informed, like your ideas of creatures 31 00:01:38,240 --> 00:01:40,240 Speaker 1: in the world. Like somehow this is like an early 32 00:01:40,520 --> 00:01:43,920 Speaker 1: influence on you. Yeah, definitely. I mean we we really 33 00:01:43,959 --> 00:01:46,160 Speaker 1: got into Halloween and then we would really get My 34 00:01:46,280 --> 00:01:48,840 Speaker 1: big thing on on holidays is that if a holiday 35 00:01:48,840 --> 00:01:53,320 Speaker 1: has magic to it, then in creatures specifically, then it's great. 36 00:01:53,720 --> 00:01:57,480 Speaker 1: Like I can obviously Halloween. I love Christmas, you know, 37 00:01:57,520 --> 00:01:59,240 Speaker 1: you know, the Christmas season can get a bit annoying 38 00:01:59,280 --> 00:02:01,680 Speaker 1: with this over commercial realization, but ultimately it's a season 39 00:02:01,920 --> 00:02:05,320 Speaker 1: in which, on one hand, you have a magical man 40 00:02:06,120 --> 00:02:08,280 Speaker 1: sneaking into your house to give you gifts. There's there's 41 00:02:08,320 --> 00:02:12,359 Speaker 1: Crampus running around beating people there's what's his name, Brumschnickel, 42 00:02:12,560 --> 00:02:16,720 Speaker 1: the the other Germanic holiday visitor. There at various takes 43 00:02:16,720 --> 00:02:18,760 Speaker 1: on St. Nick and then and if you get into 44 00:02:18,760 --> 00:02:20,520 Speaker 1: the more religious aspect of it too, you have like 45 00:02:20,560 --> 00:02:23,240 Speaker 1: the Son of God being born on earth. They're they're 46 00:02:23,280 --> 00:02:26,600 Speaker 1: all these fantastic things happening. St. Patrick's Day is also 47 00:02:26,639 --> 00:02:29,079 Speaker 1: in that vein, unlike Valentine's Day, where it's just about 48 00:02:29,480 --> 00:02:32,280 Speaker 1: people in love and stuff. But but St. Patty's Day 49 00:02:32,360 --> 00:02:34,959 Speaker 1: there's this backbone of myth and legend to it, and 50 00:02:35,080 --> 00:02:38,040 Speaker 1: uh and it's awesome. So so what is your background 51 00:02:38,040 --> 00:02:41,440 Speaker 1: with Leprika? Well, quickly, Valentine's Day clearly needs some sort 52 00:02:41,440 --> 00:02:44,680 Speaker 1: of creature because it's lacking that. We should really get 53 00:02:44,680 --> 00:02:47,359 Speaker 1: into the idea of brainstorming that with our listening. Yeah, yeah, 54 00:02:47,400 --> 00:02:50,200 Speaker 1: that's another a side project for all of us. Um 55 00:02:50,280 --> 00:02:53,160 Speaker 1: But for me, St. Pat's has just always been St. Pat's. 56 00:02:53,160 --> 00:02:55,320 Speaker 1: I gotta say, in my family it was sort of 57 00:02:55,400 --> 00:02:58,400 Speaker 1: like their Santa Claus is really like the dude down 58 00:02:58,400 --> 00:03:02,120 Speaker 1: the street who's dressing up in um Lepricrons don't exist 59 00:03:02,200 --> 00:03:06,120 Speaker 1: July really and happy fourth Birthday. I'm just kidding, no, 60 00:03:06,280 --> 00:03:08,600 Speaker 1: but really that wasn't. That's not really something that we 61 00:03:08,720 --> 00:03:13,480 Speaker 1: celebrated much. But I will say that the diminutive, diminutive 62 00:03:14,120 --> 00:03:18,639 Speaker 1: stature of lepri consays thought were fascinating as a little kid. 63 00:03:19,200 --> 00:03:23,320 Speaker 1: And what I find even more fascinating is that there 64 00:03:23,440 --> 00:03:27,440 Speaker 1: is a type of hallucination that deals with this, this 65 00:03:27,600 --> 00:03:31,480 Speaker 1: Liliputian quality um. And that's what we're going to talk 66 00:03:31,480 --> 00:03:34,960 Speaker 1: about today, because again in celebration of Patty's Day, but 67 00:03:35,160 --> 00:03:39,360 Speaker 1: also as a further investigation into how the mind works 68 00:03:39,400 --> 00:03:42,760 Speaker 1: and how it scales our reality. Yeah, so in this episode, 69 00:03:42,800 --> 00:03:47,000 Speaker 1: we're kicking off with a little pop culture lepricn shenanigans. Here. 70 00:03:47,320 --> 00:03:48,840 Speaker 1: I'm going to talk just a little bit about the 71 00:03:48,880 --> 00:03:51,320 Speaker 1: myth of a lepricn because I think it's it's ultimately 72 00:03:51,560 --> 00:03:54,600 Speaker 1: far deeper than Lucky Charms and Darby O Gill, and 73 00:03:54,800 --> 00:03:56,920 Speaker 1: I want to make sure I do that justice. And 74 00:03:56,960 --> 00:04:00,960 Speaker 1: then we're going to get into hallucinations and how uh 75 00:04:01,040 --> 00:04:05,920 Speaker 1: some of these hallucinations can contribute and and or possibly 76 00:04:06,120 --> 00:04:10,320 Speaker 1: are responsible for our visions of little people. That's right, 77 00:04:10,440 --> 00:04:13,600 Speaker 1: because as as we have mentioned, this is a sort 78 00:04:13,600 --> 00:04:18,120 Speaker 1: of sub type of hallucinations that exist across various conditions 79 00:04:18,120 --> 00:04:22,040 Speaker 1: that we'll get into. All right, So the Leprechnu from 80 00:04:22,160 --> 00:04:26,640 Speaker 1: Irish folklore, this is a fairy shoemaker uh and he's 81 00:04:26,680 --> 00:04:29,040 Speaker 1: and he goes by various names that include it really 82 00:04:29,040 --> 00:04:31,640 Speaker 1: depends on where you are in particular region of Ireland 83 00:04:31,960 --> 00:04:35,240 Speaker 1: uh and or the history books. So you have lucar 84 00:04:35,279 --> 00:04:39,159 Speaker 1: Pan and again this basically translates to little body. And 85 00:04:39,160 --> 00:04:45,360 Speaker 1: then there are various versions of that lubrican, Lubrican, lucar Pan, Luprican. 86 00:04:45,680 --> 00:04:48,039 Speaker 1: They are all these various takes on it. But as 87 00:04:48,080 --> 00:04:50,000 Speaker 1: the one that we really go with today, of course 88 00:04:50,120 --> 00:04:55,360 Speaker 1: is Leprecn. And the Lepricn is a is again a shoemaker. 89 00:04:55,440 --> 00:04:57,920 Speaker 1: You generally would see him with just a single shoe. 90 00:04:58,320 --> 00:05:00,560 Speaker 1: There would never be a second shoe around, which is 91 00:05:00,600 --> 00:05:03,120 Speaker 1: a little suspect and should have been a tip off. 92 00:05:03,160 --> 00:05:05,440 Speaker 1: Two people who end up messing with said Lepricn. This 93 00:05:05,480 --> 00:05:08,400 Speaker 1: is like waste management job, like you know, maybe that's 94 00:05:08,520 --> 00:05:11,600 Speaker 1: for Lepricn, the being issuemaker. Yeah, like you should be 95 00:05:11,600 --> 00:05:13,680 Speaker 1: a little aware that where's the other shoe. There's something 96 00:05:13,720 --> 00:05:16,440 Speaker 1: fishing going on also, and this is something that will 97 00:05:16,480 --> 00:05:18,640 Speaker 1: come up with especially if the Lepricn is pressed about 98 00:05:19,200 --> 00:05:22,200 Speaker 1: his personal belongings. Uh, he carries a purse, but the 99 00:05:22,279 --> 00:05:25,560 Speaker 1: purse only contains a single shilling, much like a pizza 100 00:05:25,560 --> 00:05:29,799 Speaker 1: delivery boy only carries twenty dollars or less. The idea 101 00:05:29,880 --> 00:05:31,760 Speaker 1: here is, oh, you're gonna try and steal me gold. 102 00:05:32,200 --> 00:05:35,880 Speaker 1: I only have this one shilling, but I may have 103 00:05:35,960 --> 00:05:38,159 Speaker 1: lots of gold elsewhere. That's the big thing. This idea 104 00:05:39,040 --> 00:05:44,520 Speaker 1: grows that lapricns have access to a massive quantity of gold, 105 00:05:44,560 --> 00:05:47,640 Speaker 1: and and certainly in the mythology they do. They're paid 106 00:05:48,360 --> 00:05:50,480 Speaker 1: by the ferry folk for what I'm not sure. I 107 00:05:50,520 --> 00:05:53,000 Speaker 1: guess repairing that one shoe over and over again. So 108 00:05:53,080 --> 00:05:55,200 Speaker 1: and there they save up their money and then they're 109 00:05:55,279 --> 00:05:58,560 Speaker 1: laundering the money. What kind of kind of money Launders 110 00:05:58,600 --> 00:06:02,240 Speaker 1: the lepricns up. But people get this in their mind, Oh, 111 00:06:02,279 --> 00:06:05,120 Speaker 1: there's a lepricn. If I capture the lepricn, then I 112 00:06:05,160 --> 00:06:08,080 Speaker 1: can get access to his fabulous gold. I can make 113 00:06:08,160 --> 00:06:10,200 Speaker 1: him tell me where it is. And later you get 114 00:06:10,200 --> 00:06:12,240 Speaker 1: into the idea of the lepricn gives you three wishes. 115 00:06:12,279 --> 00:06:14,680 Speaker 1: But ultimately the route is, if you catch a lepricn, 116 00:06:14,800 --> 00:06:17,840 Speaker 1: you can totally rob him of everything he owns. That's 117 00:06:17,920 --> 00:06:23,400 Speaker 1: how the the average lepri con chasing uh individual was 118 00:06:23,400 --> 00:06:26,920 Speaker 1: was thinking. So what would typically happen. I should say 119 00:06:27,120 --> 00:06:29,039 Speaker 1: that the classic story, of course, is the guy catches 120 00:06:29,040 --> 00:06:30,880 Speaker 1: the Lepricn and says, oh, take me to your gold. 121 00:06:31,480 --> 00:06:33,160 Speaker 1: And you have to know that if you look away 122 00:06:33,160 --> 00:06:35,920 Speaker 1: from the Lepricn at all, then he can vanish, he 123 00:06:35,960 --> 00:06:38,760 Speaker 1: can turn it visible. He's a supernatural creature with these 124 00:06:38,760 --> 00:06:42,280 Speaker 1: powers at his disposal. So what happens is the Lebricn says, oh, 125 00:06:42,320 --> 00:06:43,640 Speaker 1: I'll take you to the bush that I have the 126 00:06:43,680 --> 00:06:46,479 Speaker 1: gold buried beneath and so, and who knows if this 127 00:06:46,520 --> 00:06:49,080 Speaker 1: bush actually has the gold under it or not. Um 128 00:06:49,560 --> 00:06:52,440 Speaker 1: it works. The trick works well either way. But it 129 00:06:52,480 --> 00:06:54,200 Speaker 1: takes him out there and says, oh, it's under this bush. 130 00:06:54,240 --> 00:06:56,760 Speaker 1: And then the guy who's captured the Lepricn realizes I 131 00:06:56,800 --> 00:06:58,839 Speaker 1: don't have a shovel. I have no way of digging 132 00:06:58,920 --> 00:07:02,000 Speaker 1: up this goal. So he says, I know what I'll do. 133 00:07:02,040 --> 00:07:04,960 Speaker 1: I'll take this red bandana or this, uh, this kerchief 134 00:07:05,000 --> 00:07:07,320 Speaker 1: or whatever, and I'll tie it, tie this red kerchief 135 00:07:07,320 --> 00:07:09,040 Speaker 1: to this bush. Then I'll go home and I'll get 136 00:07:09,040 --> 00:07:11,000 Speaker 1: my shovel and I'll come back, So he lets the 137 00:07:11,040 --> 00:07:13,760 Speaker 1: lepricn free goes back home. He gets the shovel, comes back, 138 00:07:13,800 --> 00:07:15,680 Speaker 1: and what is the lepricn done. The lepricund is tied 139 00:07:15,720 --> 00:07:18,840 Speaker 1: the red kerchief to every bush and tree in sight, 140 00:07:19,000 --> 00:07:21,520 Speaker 1: so there's no way for him to remember which bush. 141 00:07:21,520 --> 00:07:23,360 Speaker 1: What's he gonna do dig up all of them? He'll 142 00:07:23,400 --> 00:07:25,640 Speaker 1: try for a little bit before he loses his mind, 143 00:07:25,680 --> 00:07:28,920 Speaker 1: I guess. But that's the trickster aspect of the Lepricn. Okay, 144 00:07:28,920 --> 00:07:31,800 Speaker 1: see that just takes me back to the thirty rock maxim, 145 00:07:31,800 --> 00:07:34,480 Speaker 1: which is never follow a hippie to a second location. 146 00:07:34,840 --> 00:07:38,000 Speaker 1: Same thing with with the leprichn. Right, yeah, so he 147 00:07:38,320 --> 00:07:42,280 Speaker 1: the Elepricns engage in various tricks like this. They are 148 00:07:42,400 --> 00:07:46,720 Speaker 1: largely solitary creatures, though they do have a king name Lubden. 149 00:07:47,640 --> 00:07:50,520 Speaker 1: They're all males too, correct. Yeah, I did see some 150 00:07:50,560 --> 00:07:52,960 Speaker 1: possible mention of female Lepricns in the idea, being that 151 00:07:53,000 --> 00:07:55,960 Speaker 1: female lepricns do exist, but they're even more tricky, so 152 00:07:56,000 --> 00:07:58,280 Speaker 1: they're I guess they're harder to observe in nature. They're 153 00:07:58,320 --> 00:08:00,640 Speaker 1: making that second shoo, yeah, or may be their lesson 154 00:08:00,720 --> 00:08:06,600 Speaker 1: to messing around and and and deceiving humans. Because ultimately 155 00:08:07,440 --> 00:08:10,920 Speaker 1: the idea here is that lepricns are a type of 156 00:08:10,960 --> 00:08:14,720 Speaker 1: fairy folk. They are fairies and fairies. The notion of 157 00:08:14,800 --> 00:08:18,440 Speaker 1: fairy varies greatly around the world, but there exists a 158 00:08:18,480 --> 00:08:23,760 Speaker 1: nearly global idea of diminutive, magical humanoids and that are 159 00:08:23,800 --> 00:08:27,200 Speaker 1: out there in the world. Um often generally hidden from view, 160 00:08:27,280 --> 00:08:29,840 Speaker 1: kind of an underworld taking place, or you know, or 161 00:08:29,880 --> 00:08:32,280 Speaker 1: in the natural world or underground or you know, somewhere 162 00:08:32,320 --> 00:08:34,280 Speaker 1: that the humans are less likely to see them during 163 00:08:34,320 --> 00:08:37,720 Speaker 1: the course of their day. Uh. And they they vary 164 00:08:37,720 --> 00:08:40,880 Speaker 1: in temperament depending on the myths. Sometimes they are they're benign, 165 00:08:41,000 --> 00:08:45,640 Speaker 1: sometimes they're mischievous, sometimes they're they help humans out. Sometimes 166 00:08:45,679 --> 00:08:48,680 Speaker 1: they steal babies from cribs and replace them with changelings. 167 00:08:48,720 --> 00:08:53,560 Speaker 1: It it varies. Now. Folkustorian Carol rose Um, who I love, 168 00:08:53,679 --> 00:08:56,520 Speaker 1: I've always loved her, just to Encyclopedia's One about Monsters, 169 00:08:56,520 --> 00:08:59,559 Speaker 1: one more about Fairies, and uh uh I keep always 170 00:08:59,600 --> 00:09:02,360 Speaker 1: keeping by my desk next to Brewers and my other 171 00:09:02,800 --> 00:09:05,600 Speaker 1: monster books. But she divides fairies into two types. You 172 00:09:05,600 --> 00:09:07,760 Speaker 1: have trooping fairies, and these are fairies that have communities, 173 00:09:07,840 --> 00:09:10,720 Speaker 1: kingdoms and governments. And then you have solitary fairies. And 174 00:09:10,760 --> 00:09:12,280 Speaker 1: these are the ones kind of like the Lebricn, they're 175 00:09:12,320 --> 00:09:16,360 Speaker 1: more associated with up one place and they don't really 176 00:09:16,559 --> 00:09:18,320 Speaker 1: necessarily have as much to do with the rest of 177 00:09:18,320 --> 00:09:22,719 Speaker 1: their kind. So for the Irish, the most famous solitary 178 00:09:22,760 --> 00:09:27,240 Speaker 1: fairies are the Lebricn of course uh arguably the Banshee Uh. 179 00:09:27,920 --> 00:09:31,400 Speaker 1: And then you also have they're more famous trooping fairies, 180 00:09:31,600 --> 00:09:34,439 Speaker 1: the Dinners She formerly known as the two if the 181 00:09:34,600 --> 00:09:38,160 Speaker 1: Day Diana and which means the people of the Goddess Dna, 182 00:09:38,360 --> 00:09:41,040 Speaker 1: and these are a legendary race of super beings who 183 00:09:41,280 --> 00:09:45,760 Speaker 1: overthrew two other ancient people in primoral primordial Ireland that 184 00:09:45,880 --> 00:09:49,880 Speaker 1: included the monstrous fear bowls. These were the second inhabitants 185 00:09:49,880 --> 00:09:54,320 Speaker 1: of Ireland, Squat and Dark also known as the Corka 186 00:09:54,600 --> 00:09:57,560 Speaker 1: o d c the people of Darkness or the Corka 187 00:09:58,040 --> 00:10:01,640 Speaker 1: Do Widney the people of night Um. When the tu 188 00:10:01,720 --> 00:10:05,400 Speaker 1: efaddani Uh defeated, then they forcing the retreat into the 189 00:10:05,400 --> 00:10:09,480 Speaker 1: mountain caves and they kind of um, you know, devolved 190 00:10:09,480 --> 00:10:12,760 Speaker 1: into grotesque goblin like creatures in the ground. And then 191 00:10:12,800 --> 00:10:17,040 Speaker 1: they also defeated the Fomorians, who were themselves transformed into 192 00:10:17,080 --> 00:10:21,920 Speaker 1: grotesque demons when they fell to the invading fur box. So. Um, 193 00:10:22,000 --> 00:10:24,480 Speaker 1: what's really great about about Irish legend and myth is 194 00:10:24,520 --> 00:10:26,800 Speaker 1: that when you get past the Leprecn and the Banshee, 195 00:10:26,800 --> 00:10:28,959 Speaker 1: when you get past Darby O Gill and Lucky Charms 196 00:10:29,040 --> 00:10:33,320 Speaker 1: and the the awful Lepricn movies, there's this rich, powerful 197 00:10:33,600 --> 00:10:38,520 Speaker 1: epic story of these uh, these genocidal wars between these 198 00:10:38,559 --> 00:10:43,320 Speaker 1: different races of super beings. Because the dynasty, the Efaddan, 199 00:10:43,600 --> 00:10:48,000 Speaker 1: and they had all these intense magical powers at their disposal. 200 00:10:48,040 --> 00:10:50,840 Speaker 1: They could turn invisible, they could shape shift, they could 201 00:10:51,480 --> 00:10:54,000 Speaker 1: blink out of existence here and blink back into existence 202 00:10:54,040 --> 00:10:56,880 Speaker 1: over there. Uh. And they were always fighting these wars. 203 00:10:57,440 --> 00:11:00,000 Speaker 1: For instance, uh, they were fighting at one points against 204 00:11:00,040 --> 00:11:02,920 Speaker 1: the Fomorian chief bowler, who had an evil eye in 205 00:11:02,960 --> 00:11:06,280 Speaker 1: his forehead, destroyed all who looked upon it. And uh 206 00:11:06,480 --> 00:11:08,160 Speaker 1: and sometimes you see this is kind of like a 207 00:11:08,160 --> 00:11:10,680 Speaker 1: third eye in his head. Some depicted that way, others 208 00:11:10,679 --> 00:11:12,560 Speaker 1: depict him he's like a one eyed man with like 209 00:11:12,600 --> 00:11:14,560 Speaker 1: a Uh. The in the one eye has to be 210 00:11:14,640 --> 00:11:17,120 Speaker 1: covered because if anybody makes side contact with it, they die. 211 00:11:17,520 --> 00:11:21,040 Speaker 1: One of my favorite artistic examples of this, though, is 212 00:11:21,280 --> 00:11:24,040 Speaker 1: the idea that he has like one eye where his 213 00:11:24,160 --> 00:11:27,920 Speaker 1: two eyes should be, but his brow has grown out 214 00:11:28,120 --> 00:11:32,440 Speaker 1: into this grotesque flap that falls over his face, and 215 00:11:32,480 --> 00:11:35,080 Speaker 1: so to unleash the power of his eye in battle, 216 00:11:35,280 --> 00:11:37,800 Speaker 1: he has to have two people with like a wooden 217 00:11:37,840 --> 00:11:40,120 Speaker 1: pole come up and use that wooden pole to lift 218 00:11:40,400 --> 00:11:42,640 Speaker 1: his floppy brow up so that he can destroy them 219 00:11:42,640 --> 00:11:47,959 Speaker 1: with his sight. So, well, one more and then I'm done. Uh. 220 00:11:48,000 --> 00:11:51,120 Speaker 1: And then also uh, the two fo they had done, 221 00:11:51,160 --> 00:11:54,000 Speaker 1: and they had a they had a king named Nuada, 222 00:11:54,440 --> 00:11:57,880 Speaker 1: and Nuada lost an arm in battle. Uh, and so 223 00:11:57,960 --> 00:12:00,400 Speaker 1: they replaced it with a silver arm, which they men 224 00:12:00,520 --> 00:12:04,200 Speaker 1: grew flesh over. So we had this amazing like magical 225 00:12:04,280 --> 00:12:07,040 Speaker 1: cybernetic arm. So okay, I'll stop now. No, I mean, 226 00:12:07,280 --> 00:12:10,440 Speaker 1: when we get into prosthetics series, it's pretty crazy. Um. 227 00:12:10,520 --> 00:12:12,200 Speaker 1: What I'm trying to say is that they have a 228 00:12:12,320 --> 00:12:18,320 Speaker 1: rich cultural history UM, and some amazing mythology going on 229 00:12:18,360 --> 00:12:20,760 Speaker 1: there beyond the lepricn but all of this relates to 230 00:12:21,559 --> 00:12:25,480 Speaker 1: fairy for like. Eventually, the idea is that even these 231 00:12:25,480 --> 00:12:29,680 Speaker 1: magical people were defeated by essentially the modern day Celts. 232 00:12:30,000 --> 00:12:32,199 Speaker 1: And they drive all these magical people out into the 233 00:12:32,240 --> 00:12:34,920 Speaker 1: peripheries of the world, but you can still glimpse them, 234 00:12:34,960 --> 00:12:37,720 Speaker 1: you still see them sometimes. Well. See, this is what 235 00:12:37,760 --> 00:12:39,600 Speaker 1: I think is so interesting about it is that it 236 00:12:39,720 --> 00:12:44,040 Speaker 1: is so deeply ingrained in the cultural fabric, particularly and 237 00:12:44,559 --> 00:12:48,439 Speaker 1: when we talk about lebri cons in Ireland right, and 238 00:12:48,679 --> 00:12:53,640 Speaker 1: how this really informs everybody's perception of life. And I 239 00:12:53,679 --> 00:12:56,360 Speaker 1: wanted to point out a couple of things. One is 240 00:12:56,400 --> 00:13:02,520 Speaker 1: that lebri cons are protected under European Union law. Kid you, yes, 241 00:13:02,679 --> 00:13:05,680 Speaker 1: at least the ones that dwell in calling Ford in Ireland. 242 00:13:06,000 --> 00:13:09,000 Speaker 1: The directive is an effort to preserve the rich biodiversity 243 00:13:09,080 --> 00:13:12,559 Speaker 1: of the area called that's leab Foy Loop, which is 244 00:13:12,640 --> 00:13:16,120 Speaker 1: now a protected area for flora, fauna, wild animals and 245 00:13:16,400 --> 00:13:19,880 Speaker 1: lepri cons. And this is a directive that was stemmed 246 00:13:19,880 --> 00:13:21,880 Speaker 1: in part by a group of lobbyists who recounted a 247 00:13:21,920 --> 00:13:25,200 Speaker 1: tale in nine of p J O'Hare who happened to 248 00:13:25,200 --> 00:13:28,360 Speaker 1: be over by wishing well. This man and he heard 249 00:13:28,400 --> 00:13:30,680 Speaker 1: a scream, and he said he went to the wishing 250 00:13:30,679 --> 00:13:34,080 Speaker 1: well and he found um, first of all, a patch 251 00:13:34,120 --> 00:13:37,360 Speaker 1: of burnt ground. And beside this patch he found a 252 00:13:37,400 --> 00:13:40,880 Speaker 1: little hat, jacket and trousers with four gold coins in 253 00:13:40,960 --> 00:13:45,280 Speaker 1: the pockets. The close of the naked lepre coron, as 254 00:13:45,600 --> 00:13:48,600 Speaker 1: this leapricon is called, are actually on display at Pj's 255 00:13:48,920 --> 00:13:51,880 Speaker 1: pub in carling Ford. So you know, is this a 256 00:13:51,920 --> 00:13:55,560 Speaker 1: tourist trap? Absolutely, But again is it part of the imagination, 257 00:13:55,720 --> 00:14:00,280 Speaker 1: the cultural fabric? And um, you know, I'm not saying 258 00:14:00,320 --> 00:14:05,560 Speaker 1: that PJ. O hair was that he actually witnessed. You 259 00:14:05,600 --> 00:14:08,800 Speaker 1: know this. What we see is that maybe a streaking 260 00:14:09,880 --> 00:14:14,040 Speaker 1: lebre con gone gone wild. But um, but but perhaps 261 00:14:14,160 --> 00:14:20,360 Speaker 1: p J O'Hare was also participating and um, you know, 262 00:14:20,480 --> 00:14:23,960 Speaker 1: some sort of cultural tradition. Maybe he had too much 263 00:14:24,000 --> 00:14:28,000 Speaker 1: to drink, or maybe he had a hallucination. Okay, And 264 00:14:28,040 --> 00:14:31,680 Speaker 1: this is where this really comes into play because according 265 00:14:31,760 --> 00:14:36,560 Speaker 1: to Oliver Sacks and his World Science Festival interview about 266 00:14:36,600 --> 00:14:40,640 Speaker 1: his new book on hallucinations, he says that hallucinations really 267 00:14:40,680 --> 00:14:44,440 Speaker 1: are cultural in nature and specific to the individual's background. 268 00:14:44,960 --> 00:14:47,560 Speaker 1: So he said that seeing miniature people is one type 269 00:14:47,560 --> 00:14:50,800 Speaker 1: of hallucination, as we said, a subtype. But depending on 270 00:14:50,840 --> 00:14:54,800 Speaker 1: the person's cultural background, the miniature person could be a lepricn, 271 00:14:55,000 --> 00:14:58,760 Speaker 1: a dwarf, a fairy. So that's why I think this 272 00:14:58,880 --> 00:15:02,760 Speaker 1: is fascinating because is uh, if you have this hallucination, 273 00:15:02,840 --> 00:15:05,320 Speaker 1: it is colored by your perception what you have grown 274 00:15:05,400 --> 00:15:08,000 Speaker 1: up with, the sort of stories that maybe the warfare, 275 00:15:08,120 --> 00:15:11,120 Speaker 1: maybe the prosthetic arm of a lebri con got lodged 276 00:15:11,160 --> 00:15:13,840 Speaker 1: into your brain, and this is the sort of thing 277 00:15:13,880 --> 00:15:17,920 Speaker 1: that might be expressed depending on certain external conditions or 278 00:15:17,960 --> 00:15:22,160 Speaker 1: neurological conditions that you have. So, of course, if we're 279 00:15:22,160 --> 00:15:25,640 Speaker 1: going to talk about these Liliputian hallucinations, and that's what 280 00:15:25,680 --> 00:15:28,440 Speaker 1: they're called, we should first sort of give a little 281 00:15:28,480 --> 00:15:32,160 Speaker 1: bit of an intro on hallucinations. Yeah, it's worth noting 282 00:15:32,200 --> 00:15:35,560 Speaker 1: that hallucination is we're discussing here. It's just one way 283 00:15:35,560 --> 00:15:40,160 Speaker 1: of looking at essentially paranormal experience. As we discussed in 284 00:15:40,160 --> 00:15:43,960 Speaker 1: our alien abduction episode. People have always seen weird things 285 00:15:44,160 --> 00:15:46,680 Speaker 1: in the woods and the skies. It used to be fairies. 286 00:15:46,800 --> 00:15:49,400 Speaker 1: Then depending on your cultural flavoring, maybe it's angels or 287 00:15:49,440 --> 00:15:53,360 Speaker 1: maybe sci fi flavoring makes you see UFOs. We've always 288 00:15:53,360 --> 00:15:56,120 Speaker 1: seen things. We've all we've always had these experiences, and 289 00:15:56,160 --> 00:15:58,600 Speaker 1: there are various ways you can explain them that range 290 00:15:58,640 --> 00:16:03,680 Speaker 1: from simple imagination the youngster to neurological disorder and uh 291 00:16:04,120 --> 00:16:07,680 Speaker 1: and and it's it's definitely happening for the person who's 292 00:16:07,720 --> 00:16:11,360 Speaker 1: experiencing them. Yeah, and um. When we talk about hallucinations, 293 00:16:11,480 --> 00:16:16,960 Speaker 1: we're talking about many different sensory modalities, turning about visual, auditory, olfactory, gustatory, 294 00:16:17,080 --> 00:16:20,440 Speaker 1: tactile and other um. And you can actually if a 295 00:16:20,480 --> 00:16:23,320 Speaker 1: person is undergoing a hallucination at the same time that 296 00:16:23,320 --> 00:16:25,160 Speaker 1: they're going m R right, you can actually try to 297 00:16:25,160 --> 00:16:28,480 Speaker 1: figure out the type of hallucination there have having by 298 00:16:28,560 --> 00:16:31,000 Speaker 1: looking at the blood flow to the region of their brains. So, 299 00:16:31,080 --> 00:16:33,760 Speaker 1: for instance, if you see increased blood flow to the 300 00:16:33,760 --> 00:16:38,240 Speaker 1: fusiform gyus, which is where you detect face faces, then 301 00:16:38,240 --> 00:16:41,320 Speaker 1: you know someone is having some sort of um visual 302 00:16:41,400 --> 00:16:45,880 Speaker 1: hallucination having to do with perhaps even a little person. Um. 303 00:16:45,960 --> 00:16:48,120 Speaker 1: So it's kind of funny to me because when we 304 00:16:48,120 --> 00:16:51,080 Speaker 1: talk about hallucinations, we really think about them as being 305 00:16:51,160 --> 00:16:53,800 Speaker 1: apart from us and otherworldly. Yeah, we tend to think 306 00:16:53,840 --> 00:16:57,920 Speaker 1: of them. An hallucination is seeing something in the world 307 00:16:58,240 --> 00:17:01,560 Speaker 1: as it is, not it's seeing the world wrong, but 308 00:17:01,680 --> 00:17:04,439 Speaker 1: that that really implies that there is a correct and 309 00:17:04,480 --> 00:17:08,240 Speaker 1: definitive way to experience reality. Yeah. And because I was 310 00:17:08,280 --> 00:17:11,119 Speaker 1: thinking about this. We really do have a very tenuous 311 00:17:11,240 --> 00:17:15,520 Speaker 1: line between imagination and reality. And I was thinking about 312 00:17:15,560 --> 00:17:18,760 Speaker 1: this in the context of our blue sky, right, because 313 00:17:19,359 --> 00:17:21,719 Speaker 1: what is the blue sky butt an allusion to us, 314 00:17:21,760 --> 00:17:24,680 Speaker 1: Because if you think about it, the only reason why 315 00:17:24,800 --> 00:17:29,159 Speaker 1: we're seeing a blue sky is because violet and blue 316 00:17:30,000 --> 00:17:33,480 Speaker 1: have the shortest wavelengths and they scatter a lot more 317 00:17:33,640 --> 00:17:37,080 Speaker 1: than long ones, and particles like oxygen and nitrogen molecules 318 00:17:37,080 --> 00:17:38,800 Speaker 1: are present, So those are the ones that are most 319 00:17:38,800 --> 00:17:41,200 Speaker 1: apparent to us. So that's what we see when we're 320 00:17:41,200 --> 00:17:43,359 Speaker 1: looking up in the sky. And then it's not that 321 00:17:43,440 --> 00:17:46,119 Speaker 1: we just see a purple and a blue sky. No, 322 00:17:46,280 --> 00:17:49,000 Speaker 1: the mind can't even really sort of deal with that 323 00:17:49,080 --> 00:17:52,960 Speaker 1: because the machinery that we have um with our perception 324 00:17:53,000 --> 00:17:54,800 Speaker 1: of color, it kind of has to mix some of 325 00:17:54,800 --> 00:17:58,600 Speaker 1: that with white until it turns out to this cohesive 326 00:17:58,600 --> 00:18:00,920 Speaker 1: blue that we look up in the sky. Yet Yeah, 327 00:18:00,960 --> 00:18:03,920 Speaker 1: and is is pointed out in the Excellent Colors episode 328 00:18:04,000 --> 00:18:07,080 Speaker 1: of Radio lab Um. It's it's arguable that too, that 329 00:18:07,280 --> 00:18:10,240 Speaker 1: individuals who do not have a preconceived notion of blue 330 00:18:10,800 --> 00:18:14,240 Speaker 1: would not really see the sky as blue. Like there's 331 00:18:14,240 --> 00:18:17,639 Speaker 1: also that level of cultural layering of it. So it 332 00:18:17,760 --> 00:18:20,600 Speaker 1: really makes you think to what extent am I experiencing 333 00:18:20,640 --> 00:18:24,919 Speaker 1: the world around you? I mean, ultimately, our brain it's uh, 334 00:18:25,040 --> 00:18:27,639 Speaker 1: it's it's inside of some bone, it's inside of some skull. 335 00:18:27,640 --> 00:18:31,879 Speaker 1: It depends on these sensory uh mechanisms to experience the 336 00:18:31,880 --> 00:18:35,600 Speaker 1: world and then translate that into data. So essentially the 337 00:18:35,640 --> 00:18:39,760 Speaker 1: brain is blind anyway. Well, and it's highly sensitive to suggestion. 338 00:18:40,040 --> 00:18:42,680 Speaker 1: We've mentioned this before, but there's a study at Whole 339 00:18:42,760 --> 00:18:46,040 Speaker 1: University in the UK and it asked participants to imagine 340 00:18:46,040 --> 00:18:49,720 Speaker 1: a color while looking at a gray pattern. And what 341 00:18:49,840 --> 00:18:52,919 Speaker 1: they found is that those people who were most susceptible 342 00:18:52,960 --> 00:18:56,080 Speaker 1: to hypnosis in other words, given to suggestion, they were 343 00:18:56,119 --> 00:18:59,399 Speaker 1: able to actually hallucinate the colors at will when they 344 00:18:59,400 --> 00:19:02,439 Speaker 1: were asked to you, which was corroberated by an m R. I. 345 00:19:02,960 --> 00:19:05,679 Speaker 1: So again there's this idea of you know, what is 346 00:19:06,280 --> 00:19:07,600 Speaker 1: you know, we bring this up a lot, like what 347 00:19:07,720 --> 00:19:10,360 Speaker 1: is reality? And how much of it is colored by 348 00:19:10,440 --> 00:19:12,880 Speaker 1: our perceptions? Yeah? So so much of the I mean 349 00:19:12,880 --> 00:19:15,119 Speaker 1: you can argue that our perception of reality itself is 350 00:19:15,160 --> 00:19:18,919 Speaker 1: a is an hallucination, and any um alteration of that 351 00:19:19,119 --> 00:19:22,240 Speaker 1: is just a it's just a change in the flavoring um. 352 00:19:22,359 --> 00:19:26,600 Speaker 1: For instance, there's a close eyes visualization closed eye hallucinations 353 00:19:26,600 --> 00:19:29,000 Speaker 1: that occur. When I was a kid, I would do 354 00:19:29,000 --> 00:19:31,040 Speaker 1: this a lot, where I would close my eyes. No 355 00:19:31,119 --> 00:19:34,840 Speaker 1: guests to his board, and generally you see colors moving around. 356 00:19:35,440 --> 00:19:37,280 Speaker 1: It's like an instant fireworks show. Maybe I was just 357 00:19:37,320 --> 00:19:39,439 Speaker 1: easily amused. I don't know, I was. I was. I 358 00:19:39,480 --> 00:19:41,119 Speaker 1: was an only child for a bit until my my 359 00:19:41,160 --> 00:19:42,440 Speaker 1: sister's were born, so I just s been a lot, 360 00:19:42,480 --> 00:19:44,560 Speaker 1: you know, a certain amount of time by myself. But 361 00:19:44,600 --> 00:19:47,560 Speaker 1: even now, as I've discussed before in yoga, when I'm 362 00:19:47,840 --> 00:19:51,400 Speaker 1: engaged in Shivasana, the corpse pose meditation, at the end 363 00:19:51,480 --> 00:19:55,119 Speaker 1: of the yoga session, I'm closing my eyes and I'm seeing, 364 00:19:55,400 --> 00:19:57,720 Speaker 1: and I'll end up seeing colors and ultimately I'll see 365 00:19:57,720 --> 00:20:00,760 Speaker 1: forms and figures and faces even and uh and really 366 00:20:00,800 --> 00:20:03,959 Speaker 1: that is an example of closed eye hallucination. I'm not 367 00:20:04,040 --> 00:20:07,359 Speaker 1: doing anything to my body in this an instance, except 368 00:20:07,560 --> 00:20:10,080 Speaker 1: working out with yoga for a little bit and then 369 00:20:10,280 --> 00:20:14,159 Speaker 1: sort of calming myself. But I'm seeing things that are 370 00:20:14,320 --> 00:20:16,840 Speaker 1: are not there within my mind. That's interesting because when 371 00:20:16,840 --> 00:20:18,560 Speaker 1: I was little, one of my favorite things to do 372 00:20:18,680 --> 00:20:20,800 Speaker 1: was to close my eyes and pretend I was on 373 00:20:20,840 --> 00:20:23,800 Speaker 1: a grid and shrink myself and then expand myself on 374 00:20:23,840 --> 00:20:26,400 Speaker 1: that grid. And I thought I was a little bit insane, 375 00:20:26,440 --> 00:20:29,119 Speaker 1: but you know, I felt my body doing that, and 376 00:20:29,200 --> 00:20:32,720 Speaker 1: so it's it's interesting that there's part of our brain 377 00:20:32,800 --> 00:20:36,480 Speaker 1: that we can really tap into to manipulate our experiences 378 00:20:36,560 --> 00:20:38,720 Speaker 1: like this. Um, We're gonna take a quick break, and 379 00:20:38,760 --> 00:20:40,440 Speaker 1: when we get back, though, we are going to talk 380 00:20:40,520 --> 00:20:44,520 Speaker 1: about this specific type of hallucination that deals with the 381 00:20:44,600 --> 00:20:54,760 Speaker 1: detection of tiny things, tiny people, tiny animals. All right, 382 00:20:54,760 --> 00:20:58,879 Speaker 1: we're back. And in this episode, we of course started 383 00:20:58,920 --> 00:21:00,680 Speaker 1: off by talking a little bit about fairy folk and 384 00:21:00,760 --> 00:21:05,600 Speaker 1: Leaprikaans paranormal experience essentially, and we're getting into into discussion 385 00:21:05,680 --> 00:21:10,600 Speaker 1: of how hallucination, it's particular modes of hallucination make us 386 00:21:10,640 --> 00:21:15,720 Speaker 1: see tiny people and tiny things. Yeah, and you know, 387 00:21:15,800 --> 00:21:19,840 Speaker 1: before we start talking about um, about this perception or 388 00:21:19,880 --> 00:21:23,000 Speaker 1: this illusion of tiny people or things, I wanted to 389 00:21:23,040 --> 00:21:26,760 Speaker 1: point out that it is amazing when you think about it, 390 00:21:27,080 --> 00:21:31,240 Speaker 1: that our eyes and our minds are able to visually 391 00:21:31,359 --> 00:21:35,040 Speaker 1: reconstruct things. So for instance, if you have you know, 392 00:21:35,119 --> 00:21:37,119 Speaker 1: a plate on the table and the fork next to it, 393 00:21:37,160 --> 00:21:39,760 Speaker 1: and you continue to look back and forth at those items. 394 00:21:39,840 --> 00:21:43,640 Speaker 1: Your brain has to over and over again visually reconstruct 395 00:21:43,680 --> 00:21:47,159 Speaker 1: those items and also do that, um, you know, in 396 00:21:47,200 --> 00:21:49,960 Speaker 1: the context of moving back and forth. So it's got 397 00:21:49,960 --> 00:21:53,840 Speaker 1: the movement element. And what we're talking about here is 398 00:21:53,880 --> 00:21:57,760 Speaker 1: perceptual constancy. So what your mind is doing is saying 399 00:21:57,800 --> 00:21:59,560 Speaker 1: that plate is still a plate, and is still the 400 00:21:59,600 --> 00:22:02,040 Speaker 1: demension that it is, is still the scale that it is. 401 00:22:02,080 --> 00:22:03,920 Speaker 1: And this is a lot of work for your brain 402 00:22:04,200 --> 00:22:05,959 Speaker 1: to do, in your eye to do to take in 403 00:22:06,000 --> 00:22:08,440 Speaker 1: all of this data and make us feel as though 404 00:22:08,440 --> 00:22:11,760 Speaker 1: we are on the same, uh, constant state where things 405 00:22:11,840 --> 00:22:15,000 Speaker 1: are the same and have a constancy to them. Yeah. 406 00:22:15,040 --> 00:22:17,000 Speaker 1: One of the things that this discussion of hallucination really 407 00:22:17,080 --> 00:22:20,520 Speaker 1: drives home is that site and our perception are the 408 00:22:20,920 --> 00:22:25,520 Speaker 1: mental processes that makes site possible are pretty complex, and uh, 409 00:22:25,960 --> 00:22:29,000 Speaker 1: the least little bit of something can can go wrong 410 00:22:29,160 --> 00:22:32,879 Speaker 1: or or change, and it can can have some pretty 411 00:22:32,920 --> 00:22:36,520 Speaker 1: dramatic effects on how you perceive reality. Yeah. It's funny 412 00:22:36,520 --> 00:22:38,760 Speaker 1: because you really do take it for granted how stable 413 00:22:38,800 --> 00:22:41,600 Speaker 1: the images are around you and how stable the story 414 00:22:41,720 --> 00:22:45,359 Speaker 1: that that your perception is telling you is all because 415 00:22:45,359 --> 00:22:48,360 Speaker 1: of these different parts of your brains working in concert. 416 00:22:48,440 --> 00:22:53,160 Speaker 1: There is something called micropsha or alice in Wonderland syndrome, 417 00:22:53,800 --> 00:22:57,440 Speaker 1: and this is when objects actually appear smaller. And it's 418 00:22:57,480 --> 00:22:59,760 Speaker 1: not necessarily the mechanics of the guys, but it's really 419 00:22:59,760 --> 00:23:02,600 Speaker 1: the repretation of the data that causes the objects in 420 00:23:02,640 --> 00:23:06,280 Speaker 1: the visual field to appear minuscule. So when you have 421 00:23:06,480 --> 00:23:11,680 Speaker 1: these littlopuction hallucinations, um, they are forming complex visual hallucinations 422 00:23:11,680 --> 00:23:14,480 Speaker 1: of people, objects, or animals that are greatly reduced in 423 00:23:14,600 --> 00:23:18,879 Speaker 1: size or sometimes exaggerated. Yes, sometimes exaggeration also ends up 424 00:23:19,000 --> 00:23:22,080 Speaker 1: going into all sorts of mythological possibilities there as well. Right, 425 00:23:22,119 --> 00:23:24,199 Speaker 1: we've got some examples too that that really sort of 426 00:23:24,240 --> 00:23:27,240 Speaker 1: dwell in this and the hallucinations are vivid and they 427 00:23:27,280 --> 00:23:31,520 Speaker 1: evoke varied responses including fear, anxiety, or even pleasure. Um, 428 00:23:31,560 --> 00:23:33,479 Speaker 1: they've been seen across the board and people who are 429 00:23:33,480 --> 00:23:38,080 Speaker 1: experiencing delirium tremens from alcohol withdraw, people who have eyesight 430 00:23:38,119 --> 00:23:41,480 Speaker 1: problems such as macular degeneration, and people with mental disorders 431 00:23:41,520 --> 00:23:47,040 Speaker 1: like schizophrenia. Although in schizophrenia, even though hallucinations are are 432 00:23:47,080 --> 00:23:52,560 Speaker 1: more common, this type of hallucination, this littlocution is very rare. Yeah, 433 00:23:52,640 --> 00:23:54,439 Speaker 1: and of most of the cases that we're looking at 434 00:23:54,440 --> 00:23:57,359 Speaker 1: with lillipution, Uh, it's a it's a situation where the 435 00:23:57,359 --> 00:24:02,280 Speaker 1: person is otherwise mentally fine. They're not. They're not a 436 00:24:02,359 --> 00:24:07,160 Speaker 1: disturbed individual or a quote unquote crazy person. It's not like, oh, 437 00:24:07,160 --> 00:24:09,000 Speaker 1: that crazy person on the streets seeing little people. Of 438 00:24:09,000 --> 00:24:11,600 Speaker 1: course they are, they're crazy. No. It's for instance, one 439 00:24:11,600 --> 00:24:14,359 Speaker 1: of the cases that Oliver Sacks talks about in in 440 00:24:14,400 --> 00:24:18,639 Speaker 1: his book Hallucinations, which is excellent, Highly recommend anyone at 441 00:24:18,680 --> 00:24:21,160 Speaker 1: all interested in this pick that up. It's very readable, 442 00:24:21,640 --> 00:24:24,120 Speaker 1: just a great book. Uh. In his book, he talks 443 00:24:24,160 --> 00:24:27,359 Speaker 1: about a patient that he refers to his Zelda, who 444 00:24:27,480 --> 00:24:30,280 Speaker 1: he treated in two thousand nine. She was an historian, 445 00:24:31,119 --> 00:24:35,520 Speaker 1: and some of the hallucinations that she uh ended up 446 00:24:35,560 --> 00:24:38,800 Speaker 1: seeing included she saw a great granddaughter. She saw a 447 00:24:38,880 --> 00:24:41,760 Speaker 1: trio of witches. She saw her hair rising up in 448 00:24:41,760 --> 00:24:44,639 Speaker 1: the mirror like it was waitless. She saw tiny people 449 00:24:44,680 --> 00:24:47,800 Speaker 1: crawling out of the TV. She saw gaily dressed figures 450 00:24:47,840 --> 00:24:51,160 Speaker 1: sort of trading around. She saw six ominous tall men 451 00:24:51,240 --> 00:24:54,320 Speaker 1: in brown suits around her hospital bed. She saw a 452 00:24:54,320 --> 00:24:57,879 Speaker 1: little men in green caps, and she saw small fairy 453 00:24:57,960 --> 00:25:01,560 Speaker 1: like children. Uh, sort of moving around as well, just 454 00:25:01,640 --> 00:25:04,520 Speaker 1: to give you an idea, because a lot of these hallucinations, 455 00:25:04,920 --> 00:25:07,400 Speaker 1: again it's things are larger or smaller than they need 456 00:25:07,400 --> 00:25:11,240 Speaker 1: to be. Um, So you're you're encountering giants, you're encountering 457 00:25:11,280 --> 00:25:14,480 Speaker 1: little people. Oftentimes they're they're really brilliant to the whole 458 00:25:14,560 --> 00:25:18,360 Speaker 1: The color scheme will be amazing, so you in the costuming, 459 00:25:18,400 --> 00:25:21,800 Speaker 1: if they costumes are perceivable, the costumes will be crazy 460 00:25:21,960 --> 00:25:25,439 Speaker 1: and exotically bright. So you can really see where the 461 00:25:25,440 --> 00:25:27,959 Speaker 1: idea of a fairy folk can emerge from this, because oh, 462 00:25:27,960 --> 00:25:29,600 Speaker 1: they were little people, and they were dressed like they 463 00:25:29,600 --> 00:25:33,960 Speaker 1: were from another world, and the colors were unreal and magical. Well, 464 00:25:33,960 --> 00:25:36,760 Speaker 1: and they were mischievous to write, a lot of times 465 00:25:36,840 --> 00:25:40,720 Speaker 1: these accounts have um the little people that are running 466 00:25:40,760 --> 00:25:44,520 Speaker 1: around doing various things that we are nefarious or yeah, 467 00:25:44,560 --> 00:25:48,760 Speaker 1: and they're disappearing or they're reappearing necessarily obeying the physical 468 00:25:48,840 --> 00:25:52,640 Speaker 1: laws of our world. Now, these are called release hallucinations 469 00:25:52,680 --> 00:25:54,879 Speaker 1: because it's thought that they are released or instigated by 470 00:25:54,880 --> 00:25:59,640 Speaker 1: the removal of normal visual afferent input into the association 471 00:25:59,720 --> 00:26:03,000 Speaker 1: core texts. So in the case of Zelda, there was 472 00:26:03,680 --> 00:26:07,520 Speaker 1: reduced blood flow to the optical and parietal lobes, and 473 00:26:07,600 --> 00:26:12,600 Speaker 1: so this caused the hallucinations, um, but probably one of them. 474 00:26:14,160 --> 00:26:16,439 Speaker 1: One of the things that is most associated with this 475 00:26:16,680 --> 00:26:19,720 Speaker 1: is something called the Charles Bonnet syndrome YES or CBS, 476 00:26:20,320 --> 00:26:23,480 Speaker 1: and this is a common condition among people with compromised vision. 477 00:26:23,800 --> 00:26:26,240 Speaker 1: So when that compromised vision, of course, we're not saying 478 00:26:26,280 --> 00:26:29,000 Speaker 1: the person is necessarily completely blind. Uh, they might be 479 00:26:29,080 --> 00:26:34,400 Speaker 1: suffering from just age related necular degeneration, cataracts, glaucoma, diabetic 480 00:26:34,440 --> 00:26:37,400 Speaker 1: eye disease. The site may be somewhat limited, but they're 481 00:26:37,400 --> 00:26:41,880 Speaker 1: still able to visually perceive the world to a certain degree. Yeah. 482 00:26:41,920 --> 00:26:44,120 Speaker 1: The idea is that the information received from your eyes 483 00:26:44,160 --> 00:26:47,280 Speaker 1: actually stops the brain from creating its own pictures. So 484 00:26:47,840 --> 00:26:50,280 Speaker 1: when you lose your sight, or partially lose your sight 485 00:26:50,440 --> 00:26:53,400 Speaker 1: or it's damaged, your brain is not receiving as much 486 00:26:53,400 --> 00:26:55,520 Speaker 1: information from your eyes as it's used to, and it 487 00:26:55,560 --> 00:26:58,640 Speaker 1: begins to fill in those gaps by creating this sort 488 00:26:58,640 --> 00:27:03,120 Speaker 1: of fantasy pictures or patterns. And then when this occurs, 489 00:27:03,160 --> 00:27:06,400 Speaker 1: you experience the images short in your brain as hallucinations. 490 00:27:06,640 --> 00:27:08,399 Speaker 1: It's kind of this idea that the world that we 491 00:27:08,480 --> 00:27:11,840 Speaker 1: live in because you can we look at like when 492 00:27:11,880 --> 00:27:14,360 Speaker 1: we're just looking around our room, we're looking at particular 493 00:27:14,400 --> 00:27:16,960 Speaker 1: little spaces, and then then we're looking in another little 494 00:27:16,960 --> 00:27:19,680 Speaker 1: space where we're kind of basically the world that we're 495 00:27:19,720 --> 00:27:22,679 Speaker 1: in exists in our minds, and we use our vision 496 00:27:22,760 --> 00:27:26,119 Speaker 1: to constantly upgrade the details of that mental image that 497 00:27:26,160 --> 00:27:30,840 Speaker 1: we interact with. There was a one case of a misssy, 498 00:27:30,960 --> 00:27:34,200 Speaker 1: an eighty year old woman. She complained of little people 499 00:27:34,280 --> 00:27:36,520 Speaker 1: dressed in blue and gray leaves hiding in her cup 500 00:27:36,520 --> 00:27:40,480 Speaker 1: for cupboards, and she also saw tiny black cats from 501 00:27:40,480 --> 00:27:42,840 Speaker 1: time to time, and her chief complaint was that the 502 00:27:42,960 --> 00:27:47,119 Speaker 1: little people like to watch her undressed. So of course 503 00:27:47,160 --> 00:27:50,560 Speaker 1: she was examined. They found that her cognitive functions were 504 00:27:50,600 --> 00:27:55,480 Speaker 1: fined find fine and uh and that really again it 505 00:27:55,520 --> 00:27:58,639 Speaker 1: came down to impairments in her visual field, again creating 506 00:27:58,640 --> 00:28:02,240 Speaker 1: in this story from this lack of information that was 507 00:28:02,320 --> 00:28:07,359 Speaker 1: being processed. Another interesting aspect about lilocutions, especially as a 508 00:28:07,480 --> 00:28:11,440 Speaker 1: as related to CBS. All for Sax points out that 509 00:28:11,600 --> 00:28:17,080 Speaker 1: most CBS hallucinations are ultimately it's inspiring, pleasant, even friendly. 510 00:28:17,680 --> 00:28:19,520 Speaker 1: Um not to say they all are. There. There will 511 00:28:19,560 --> 00:28:21,959 Speaker 1: be some that are a little serving, such as the 512 00:28:22,119 --> 00:28:25,840 Speaker 1: brown uh, dressed men that are really tall. They're around 513 00:28:25,960 --> 00:28:28,960 Speaker 1: Zelda's hospital that was that was ominous in nature. But 514 00:28:29,080 --> 00:28:31,000 Speaker 1: for the most part, they tend to be lighter and 515 00:28:31,040 --> 00:28:34,680 Speaker 1: more amusing and magical in a in an uplifting sense. 516 00:28:34,680 --> 00:28:38,480 Speaker 1: Whereas there's a lot that goes on with with paranormal experience, 517 00:28:38,760 --> 00:28:42,040 Speaker 1: be it alien abduction, that is rude scenario, which is 518 00:28:42,120 --> 00:28:45,480 Speaker 1: rooted in say, sleep paralysis, which is terrifying because your 519 00:28:45,800 --> 00:28:49,760 Speaker 1: your mind body connection is doing something weird and add 520 00:28:49,760 --> 00:28:52,720 Speaker 1: a little flavoring to it from whatever your worldview or 521 00:28:52,720 --> 00:28:55,240 Speaker 1: mythology is, and it's it can be a terrifying situation. 522 00:28:55,280 --> 00:28:57,720 Speaker 1: But with CBS you tend to see these more sort 523 00:28:57,720 --> 00:28:59,600 Speaker 1: of like, huh, there are little people in my closet. 524 00:29:00,000 --> 00:29:01,920 Speaker 1: That's totally cool, but I would rather than not look 525 00:29:01,960 --> 00:29:04,400 Speaker 1: at me while I'm naked. Ye. There's this idea too 526 00:29:04,560 --> 00:29:08,840 Speaker 1: that perhaps, um, you know, it has an adaptive function 527 00:29:08,960 --> 00:29:11,920 Speaker 1: in terms of people who in general with hallucination is 528 00:29:11,960 --> 00:29:14,880 Speaker 1: not just little people. That if someone has lost someone, 529 00:29:14,960 --> 00:29:18,120 Speaker 1: and particularly in the elderly, if they hallucinate, you know, 530 00:29:18,320 --> 00:29:20,440 Speaker 1: maybe a loved one who has departed, that this is 531 00:29:20,440 --> 00:29:24,480 Speaker 1: a source of comfort to them. Bereavement hallucinations that this 532 00:29:24,600 --> 00:29:27,640 Speaker 1: is a whole area as well. Um yeah, it's this 533 00:29:27,720 --> 00:29:30,480 Speaker 1: idea that we're as one. If we're losing our ability 534 00:29:30,520 --> 00:29:33,280 Speaker 1: to update the mental image in our head, we're having 535 00:29:33,320 --> 00:29:36,680 Speaker 1: to update it internally. Like imagine you're inside your house 536 00:29:36,800 --> 00:29:39,520 Speaker 1: and you're wanting to paint an image of your backyard. 537 00:29:40,080 --> 00:29:41,880 Speaker 1: So you look out the back window every day, and 538 00:29:41,880 --> 00:29:43,360 Speaker 1: you paint a little more of this image, and you 539 00:29:43,440 --> 00:29:45,880 Speaker 1: updated a little more, and then one day your windows 540 00:29:45,920 --> 00:29:48,280 Speaker 1: are walled up or they're frosted over and you can't 541 00:29:48,280 --> 00:29:50,520 Speaker 1: see out them all that. Well, well then you have 542 00:29:50,560 --> 00:29:53,720 Speaker 1: to maybe you're listening, maybe you're you're drawing on your 543 00:29:53,760 --> 00:29:56,720 Speaker 1: memory to try and and and and alter that picture 544 00:29:56,760 --> 00:29:59,880 Speaker 1: and make it as accurate as possible. But then inevitably 545 00:30:00,160 --> 00:30:04,640 Speaker 1: you're bringing in errors, you're bringing in even magical creations 546 00:30:04,640 --> 00:30:09,200 Speaker 1: into that pain. That reminds me of Anton syndrome when 547 00:30:09,200 --> 00:30:12,280 Speaker 1: they're you have someone who is trying to replace I'm 548 00:30:12,280 --> 00:30:16,360 Speaker 1: putting quote their their reality with a hallucination to simulate eyesight. 549 00:30:16,480 --> 00:30:18,920 Speaker 1: Because because this occurs in telling people that are really 550 00:30:19,120 --> 00:30:23,920 Speaker 1: like totally blind, extremely deteriorating, totally blind from cortical damage. 551 00:30:24,160 --> 00:30:27,320 Speaker 1: Um and and that damage can be caused by stroke 552 00:30:27,800 --> 00:30:32,480 Speaker 1: um and this affects the optic lobes. So these people 553 00:30:32,520 --> 00:30:35,880 Speaker 1: are absolutely unaware of their blindness and they insists that 554 00:30:35,920 --> 00:30:38,960 Speaker 1: they can still see. Yeah, like they'll say, they'll they'll 555 00:30:39,000 --> 00:30:41,760 Speaker 1: say like, hey, you you're blind. Don't try and walk 556 00:30:41,800 --> 00:30:44,040 Speaker 1: across the living room because their toys all over the floor, 557 00:30:44,040 --> 00:30:45,960 Speaker 1: and they'll say, I can totally see, and like they 558 00:30:46,040 --> 00:30:48,120 Speaker 1: believe they can see now, they'll they'll end up stepping 559 00:30:48,120 --> 00:30:51,440 Speaker 1: on the toys because ultimately they that they can't they 560 00:30:51,480 --> 00:30:55,520 Speaker 1: are blind. But but to them, they feel they're experiencing. Now, 561 00:30:55,560 --> 00:30:58,400 Speaker 1: if you tell them, hey, describe that person setting on 562 00:30:58,400 --> 00:31:00,880 Speaker 1: the couch over there, they won't blink. They'll just describe 563 00:31:00,920 --> 00:31:04,560 Speaker 1: the person. The description may be completely wrong, or it 564 00:31:04,640 --> 00:31:09,000 Speaker 1: may be reasonably correct based on previous knowledge of the individual, 565 00:31:09,080 --> 00:31:12,120 Speaker 1: you know, whatever, but but they won't hesitate because in 566 00:31:12,160 --> 00:31:15,040 Speaker 1: their in their mind, they do see and see. I 567 00:31:15,120 --> 00:31:18,840 Speaker 1: find that example so fascinating just because that really does 568 00:31:19,120 --> 00:31:22,160 Speaker 1: point to this adaptive function, because if you have lost 569 00:31:22,200 --> 00:31:26,240 Speaker 1: your your eyesight and you are lacking that's stimuli, then 570 00:31:26,320 --> 00:31:29,040 Speaker 1: your brain is just making us some sme alacrum of 571 00:31:29,120 --> 00:31:32,960 Speaker 1: that of reality, which I think is just fascinating. Sacs 572 00:31:33,040 --> 00:31:36,600 Speaker 1: also shared an account of a patient who in the 573 00:31:36,680 --> 00:31:40,760 Speaker 1: in the nineteen eighties, uh would a blind patient went 574 00:31:40,800 --> 00:31:45,000 Speaker 1: on a drinking binge and saw again while in the 575 00:31:45,040 --> 00:31:48,440 Speaker 1: midst of this drinking, like the next morning remembered having 576 00:31:49,160 --> 00:31:52,040 Speaker 1: seen as if his side had returned. But it was 577 00:31:52,080 --> 00:31:56,120 Speaker 1: a hallucination hallucination. But and again it's just all a 578 00:31:56,120 --> 00:31:58,640 Speaker 1: lot of this really drives home just how complex side is, 579 00:31:59,040 --> 00:32:03,080 Speaker 1: and how how complex are our observation of the world 580 00:32:03,200 --> 00:32:05,600 Speaker 1: is to it and to what extent is is all 581 00:32:05,640 --> 00:32:09,800 Speaker 1: of our site hallucination. Yeah, again, this idea that there's 582 00:32:09,840 --> 00:32:14,160 Speaker 1: this uh, this visual constancy that goes on that we 583 00:32:14,280 --> 00:32:16,200 Speaker 1: just that's running in the background and we don't even 584 00:32:16,280 --> 00:32:20,480 Speaker 1: think about how tenuous that is. So, as Oliver Sex 585 00:32:20,520 --> 00:32:25,520 Speaker 1: points out, Liliputian hallucinations can also occur in migraines. Particularly, 586 00:32:25,520 --> 00:32:28,720 Speaker 1: He points out the Migraine Blog by a series host 587 00:32:28,760 --> 00:32:32,360 Speaker 1: of it on New York Times, which is a blog 588 00:32:32,360 --> 00:32:36,000 Speaker 1: just about the author's experiences with migraines. Now, I do 589 00:32:36,160 --> 00:32:39,080 Speaker 1: experience migraines. I do. Yeah, what what are they like 590 00:32:39,120 --> 00:32:41,120 Speaker 1: for you? Do you ever see anything with them? Sometimes? 591 00:32:41,160 --> 00:32:44,200 Speaker 1: I've seen lights and actually a good many of the 592 00:32:44,240 --> 00:32:47,560 Speaker 1: females in my family have histories of really like pretty 593 00:32:47,560 --> 00:32:50,920 Speaker 1: intense histories with migraines, and they complain of something they 594 00:32:50,960 --> 00:32:54,160 Speaker 1: call an aura, it's a feeling, and and they also 595 00:32:54,200 --> 00:32:58,320 Speaker 1: get the Strobe light effect. Interesting. I've never experienced a migraine. 596 00:32:58,320 --> 00:32:59,920 Speaker 1: My father used to get them, and I think my 597 00:33:00,120 --> 00:33:03,320 Speaker 1: sister experiences and from time to time as well. But 598 00:33:03,520 --> 00:33:07,280 Speaker 1: in their their more extreme nature there it's almost like 599 00:33:07,360 --> 00:33:10,720 Speaker 1: a supernatural experience, like it's it's like something from another 600 00:33:10,760 --> 00:33:15,880 Speaker 1: world is reaching out and touching your brain rather painfully. Uh, 601 00:33:15,920 --> 00:33:18,480 Speaker 1: but in in a certain way, illuminating le for a 602 00:33:19,040 --> 00:33:22,640 Speaker 1: few seconds or minutes or what have you. Um. And again, 603 00:33:22,680 --> 00:33:26,480 Speaker 1: what we're talking about is uh a sort of impairment 604 00:33:26,640 --> 00:33:29,840 Speaker 1: of the visual feeling here right. Yeah. People will see lights, 605 00:33:29,880 --> 00:33:33,400 Speaker 1: like you said, geometric patterns, uh, flashes of light, zigzags, 606 00:33:33,880 --> 00:33:36,959 Speaker 1: blind spots, shimmering spots or stars are as, and in 607 00:33:37,000 --> 00:33:40,200 Speaker 1: some cases tiny man and tiny animals uh. In On 608 00:33:40,240 --> 00:33:42,920 Speaker 1: the Migraine blog, the author I was talking about how 609 00:33:42,960 --> 00:33:45,560 Speaker 1: they were reading a reading a book lying there, um 610 00:33:45,680 --> 00:33:49,600 Speaker 1: and they looked down and they saw a small pink 611 00:33:49,680 --> 00:33:53,960 Speaker 1: man and his pink ox, perhaps six or seven inches high, 612 00:33:54,240 --> 00:33:56,840 Speaker 1: so the obviously, as they were perfectly made creatures, and 613 00:33:56,920 --> 00:33:59,200 Speaker 1: except for their color, they looked very real. They didn't 614 00:33:59,200 --> 00:34:01,280 Speaker 1: speak to me, but they walked around and I watched 615 00:34:01,320 --> 00:34:04,600 Speaker 1: them with fascination and a kind of um amiable tenderness. 616 00:34:04,640 --> 00:34:07,280 Speaker 1: They stayed for some minutes and then disappeared. I have 617 00:34:07,400 --> 00:34:11,600 Speaker 1: often wished they would return, but they never have. Um 618 00:34:11,640 --> 00:34:14,840 Speaker 1: which is this is just amazing to think of that. 619 00:34:14,880 --> 00:34:16,480 Speaker 1: And you know, you just said there's migraine hits and 620 00:34:16,520 --> 00:34:18,759 Speaker 1: you look down and there's a little pink farmer in 621 00:34:18,800 --> 00:34:20,719 Speaker 1: his ox and they're they're not really concerned with you, 622 00:34:20,960 --> 00:34:23,719 Speaker 1: which which ties in nicely with when you were talking 623 00:34:23,760 --> 00:34:28,200 Speaker 1: about very experiences and in alien ex paranormal experiences around 624 00:34:28,239 --> 00:34:30,960 Speaker 1: the world. They vary so much. Sometimes it is a 625 00:34:31,040 --> 00:34:33,000 Speaker 1: terrible experience where you're like, oh, I'm being abducted by 626 00:34:33,000 --> 00:34:35,440 Speaker 1: aliens or I'm tormented by demons. But in other cases 627 00:34:35,719 --> 00:34:38,400 Speaker 1: it's it's just a matter of for a brief second, 628 00:34:38,480 --> 00:34:41,360 Speaker 1: you have a peek into a magical world just beyond 629 00:34:41,400 --> 00:34:44,680 Speaker 1: our own. Well. I think anybody who has ever had 630 00:34:44,760 --> 00:34:47,160 Speaker 1: a really bad migrant can attest to one of the 631 00:34:47,200 --> 00:34:49,719 Speaker 1: things that is probably interesting to them as well as 632 00:34:49,760 --> 00:34:53,000 Speaker 1: me is that when you have an awful one, it 633 00:34:53,080 --> 00:34:55,279 Speaker 1: feels like the fog is rolling in, and it's to 634 00:34:55,400 --> 00:34:58,279 Speaker 1: some degree it does feel like your vision is being affected, 635 00:34:58,360 --> 00:35:02,240 Speaker 1: not just with the strobe Lde effect, but as if, um, 636 00:35:02,320 --> 00:35:04,880 Speaker 1: something's just kind of moving over your brain like a cloud. 637 00:35:05,560 --> 00:35:09,200 Speaker 1: So it's interesting to see that that sort of deprivation 638 00:35:09,400 --> 00:35:17,760 Speaker 1: of stimulation or stimuli might manifest itself with a Liliputian hallucination. Yeah. 639 00:35:17,840 --> 00:35:20,920 Speaker 1: In in the book, Sax points out that in a migraine, 640 00:35:21,160 --> 00:35:26,799 Speaker 1: a wave of quote, electrical excitation slowly moves across the 641 00:35:26,880 --> 00:35:29,560 Speaker 1: visual cortex and on the way, it's possible that it 642 00:35:29,600 --> 00:35:34,480 Speaker 1: directly directly stimulates clusters of orientation sensitive neurons in the 643 00:35:34,560 --> 00:35:38,640 Speaker 1: visual cortex, and this direct stimulation causes patterns patients to 644 00:35:38,800 --> 00:35:42,640 Speaker 1: see shimmering light, zigzag fortifications, et cetera. As we and 645 00:35:42,760 --> 00:35:44,839 Speaker 1: as we see the wave move through the brain during 646 00:35:44,840 --> 00:35:48,000 Speaker 1: a migraine, when we're looking at brain scans, Uh, it's 647 00:35:48,040 --> 00:35:51,240 Speaker 1: it's it's it's matching the movement of the shimmering bars 648 00:35:51,280 --> 00:35:54,080 Speaker 1: in the patient's site. Huh. So that that's very interesting 649 00:35:54,080 --> 00:35:57,120 Speaker 1: that that sense of movement isn't necessarily an illusion. Yeah, 650 00:35:57,360 --> 00:36:00,360 Speaker 1: it's it's it's it's amazing. I mean, I'm not envious 651 00:36:00,400 --> 00:36:02,880 Speaker 1: of people who have to deal with migraines because, like 652 00:36:02,920 --> 00:36:05,920 Speaker 1: I said, it's just a normal headache suffer. Um. I 653 00:36:05,920 --> 00:36:08,440 Speaker 1: would see my father get these migraines, and I it 654 00:36:08,560 --> 00:36:10,359 Speaker 1: was like, Wow, how can a headache do that bad? 655 00:36:10,400 --> 00:36:12,799 Speaker 1: That you just you know that you're you're just you know, 656 00:36:12,920 --> 00:36:15,400 Speaker 1: gripping your skull Like I've never had had a had 657 00:36:15,440 --> 00:36:18,160 Speaker 1: a headache that bad. Uh. But But now that now 658 00:36:18,200 --> 00:36:20,280 Speaker 1: that I see a little bit more that what's involved 659 00:36:20,280 --> 00:36:23,080 Speaker 1: in it, I can totally get it. Well, there you go. Uh. 660 00:36:23,200 --> 00:36:26,080 Speaker 1: I hope that everybody has a wonderful St. Patrick's Day 661 00:36:26,080 --> 00:36:29,640 Speaker 1: and that you keep in mind these little Abutian hallucinations 662 00:36:29,760 --> 00:36:32,840 Speaker 1: as you go about your day clad in green drinking 663 00:36:32,880 --> 00:36:36,360 Speaker 1: green beer, and and maybe thinking a little more about 664 00:36:36,920 --> 00:36:40,120 Speaker 1: about leprecons, being respectful of them, knowing not to chase them, 665 00:36:41,160 --> 00:36:43,440 Speaker 1: don't try and kidnap them and rob them because they 666 00:36:43,600 --> 00:36:46,520 Speaker 1: will trick you. And maybe also when you're when you're 667 00:36:46,520 --> 00:36:49,360 Speaker 1: thinking about about Irish culture and Irish mythology, know that 668 00:36:49,360 --> 00:36:51,719 Speaker 1: there's there's a lot of rich stuff in there. In 669 00:36:51,760 --> 00:36:55,520 Speaker 1: addition to the LEPrecon in addition to Lucky Charms and 670 00:36:55,520 --> 00:36:58,520 Speaker 1: and uh the and the awful lepricn horror movies. I mean, 671 00:36:58,600 --> 00:37:00,120 Speaker 1: you have the two Eth the Day then and and 672 00:37:00,560 --> 00:37:07,000 Speaker 1: and they're pretty fabulous and and post Lebricnism transformations with 673 00:37:07,200 --> 00:37:15,280 Speaker 1: prosthetics that exists for futurists, we can transform into labricns. UM. So, 674 00:37:15,600 --> 00:37:17,800 Speaker 1: if if anyone has anything you would like to share, 675 00:37:18,200 --> 00:37:21,200 Speaker 1: be it on Irish smith and legend, be it on 676 00:37:21,280 --> 00:37:25,240 Speaker 1: your own history with lebricns, but more importantly on your 677 00:37:25,800 --> 00:37:29,600 Speaker 1: your your thoughts on the hallucination aspect of this episode. UH. 678 00:37:29,680 --> 00:37:32,200 Speaker 1: Do you deal with migraines? And if you do, what 679 00:37:32,640 --> 00:37:36,439 Speaker 1: kind of UH hallucinatory experiences do you encounter? We would 680 00:37:36,440 --> 00:37:38,520 Speaker 1: love to hear about that. Do you see the grid 681 00:37:38,560 --> 00:37:42,759 Speaker 1: pattern the fortification? Have you ever seen little people uh 682 00:37:42,840 --> 00:37:46,600 Speaker 1: due to migraines, due to cb s tow due to 683 00:37:46,680 --> 00:37:49,719 Speaker 1: any other kind of UH paranormal experience. We would love 684 00:37:49,719 --> 00:37:52,160 Speaker 1: to hear from you if we you know, and because 685 00:37:52,160 --> 00:37:55,200 Speaker 1: we're curious about about how other people perceive the world 686 00:37:55,239 --> 00:37:59,200 Speaker 1: and about how neurological things can contribute to that uh 687 00:37:59,239 --> 00:38:01,400 Speaker 1: and and if we share your material, you know, obviously 688 00:38:01,440 --> 00:38:03,760 Speaker 1: we're going to do some in a respectful manner. So 689 00:38:03,760 --> 00:38:05,560 Speaker 1: so let us know. In the meantime, let's call the 690 00:38:05,640 --> 00:38:09,120 Speaker 1: robot over and do some quick listener mail we received. 691 00:38:09,120 --> 00:38:11,400 Speaker 1: We recently, of course, did the slime episodes and we 692 00:38:11,440 --> 00:38:15,600 Speaker 1: did the Valentine's Day episode about slugs, which there there 693 00:38:15,640 --> 00:38:18,799 Speaker 1: you go. If you need a monstrous creature to to 694 00:38:18,920 --> 00:38:24,480 Speaker 1: associate with Valentine's Day, the slug is perfect, in particular 695 00:38:24,560 --> 00:38:28,120 Speaker 1: the banana slug, which is a penis chewing slug, yes, 696 00:38:28,560 --> 00:38:31,600 Speaker 1: so to speak, and it is also the it is 697 00:38:31,640 --> 00:38:36,000 Speaker 1: also a mascot, yes, you see Santa Cruz, which we 698 00:38:36,080 --> 00:38:38,360 Speaker 1: mentioned and we had a bit of a laugh about. 699 00:38:38,719 --> 00:38:41,399 Speaker 1: And lo and behold, we heard from a listener who 700 00:38:41,520 --> 00:38:45,360 Speaker 1: is a PhD candidate at the USC You see Santa Cruz. 701 00:38:45,640 --> 00:38:48,880 Speaker 1: So she writes in with this fabulous postcard for starters 702 00:38:48,920 --> 00:38:51,040 Speaker 1: and says, hi, I just wanted to say thanks for 703 00:38:51,080 --> 00:38:54,960 Speaker 1: the shout out to w c SC in your podcast 704 00:38:54,960 --> 00:38:58,080 Speaker 1: Slug Life. Uh. It came out the same week I 705 00:38:58,400 --> 00:39:02,520 Speaker 1: handed in my PhD dissertation on lizard making behavior not slugs. 706 00:39:02,680 --> 00:39:05,360 Speaker 1: And by the way that the title of the the 707 00:39:05,400 --> 00:39:08,080 Speaker 1: paper is Maile aggression varies with throat color and two 708 00:39:08,080 --> 00:39:11,440 Speaker 1: distinct populations of the mesquite lizard. She continues, It was 709 00:39:11,480 --> 00:39:15,279 Speaker 1: still a perfect timing, though, because your podcast, UM has 710 00:39:15,320 --> 00:39:17,760 Speaker 1: helped me through many long hours in the lab. Please 711 00:39:17,840 --> 00:39:24,279 Speaker 1: enjoy some slug theme goodies at the token of appreciation. Beth. So, Yeah, 712 00:39:24,320 --> 00:39:28,200 Speaker 1: so she sent a box that contained, first of all, 713 00:39:28,239 --> 00:39:32,879 Speaker 1: some some uh some buttons uh and these I don't 714 00:39:32,920 --> 00:39:36,520 Speaker 1: mind them. One of them says one slug, which um, 715 00:39:36,760 --> 00:39:38,920 Speaker 1: you know means that you're one behind this team and 716 00:39:38,960 --> 00:39:41,960 Speaker 1: they're they're slug scot. And then there's also this other 717 00:39:42,000 --> 00:39:45,719 Speaker 1: button that UM that I actually don't mind either, that 718 00:39:45,840 --> 00:39:49,160 Speaker 1: says that that has the university insignia, and then has 719 00:39:49,200 --> 00:39:52,960 Speaker 1: his cartoon slug that's reading the works of Plato and 720 00:39:53,000 --> 00:39:55,000 Speaker 1: he has a g little glasses on itable and he 721 00:39:55,040 --> 00:39:57,880 Speaker 1: has arms for some reason. So I can stand that too, 722 00:39:57,960 --> 00:39:59,920 Speaker 1: because that's right, all right, he's a slug sort of 723 00:40:00,000 --> 00:40:03,040 Speaker 1: and he's also he's reading playto he's he's he's even 724 00:40:03,040 --> 00:40:06,719 Speaker 1: more intelligent than we thought. But then she also said this, 725 00:40:06,840 --> 00:40:09,759 Speaker 1: there's another UM portion of the care box that is 726 00:40:09,840 --> 00:40:14,200 Speaker 1: kind of horrifying. Okay, so this is a box of chocolates. 727 00:40:14,200 --> 00:40:16,120 Speaker 1: What could be horrifying about that? Well, because they're all 728 00:40:16,120 --> 00:40:21,160 Speaker 1: shaped like slugs. They're beautiful they and some of them 729 00:40:21,160 --> 00:40:23,800 Speaker 1: are banana slugs, yeah. Some of them are yellow coated 730 00:40:24,120 --> 00:40:27,160 Speaker 1: in something and uh, and others are just more like 731 00:40:27,160 --> 00:40:29,000 Speaker 1: a dark chocolate and some seem to have like a 732 00:40:29,040 --> 00:40:31,400 Speaker 1: white chocolate infusion that gives them kind of that model 733 00:40:31,400 --> 00:40:33,319 Speaker 1: of color that is common to slugs. I was gonna 734 00:40:33,320 --> 00:40:34,880 Speaker 1: say that looks like the leopard slug, as we know, 735 00:40:35,120 --> 00:40:39,359 Speaker 1: is the gymnast of the sexual reproductive world. Um, this 736 00:40:39,400 --> 00:40:43,160 Speaker 1: is so cool, Beth, Thank you so much, and um congratulations. 737 00:40:43,360 --> 00:40:45,879 Speaker 1: I'm glad that we could be in your in your 738 00:40:45,880 --> 00:40:49,319 Speaker 1: ear holes with you while you are working on your dissertation. 739 00:40:49,560 --> 00:40:52,160 Speaker 1: And I think that's just awesome. Indeed, we always love 740 00:40:52,200 --> 00:40:55,600 Speaker 1: to hear from listeners who all listeners, but also when 741 00:40:55,640 --> 00:40:58,360 Speaker 1: they have you some sort of science in their their lives. 742 00:40:58,360 --> 00:41:00,840 Speaker 1: It's always fun. And thank you for aking Robert squirm 743 00:41:00,920 --> 00:41:03,239 Speaker 1: with that chocolate. I do not know if I will 744 00:41:03,280 --> 00:41:05,319 Speaker 1: ever eat one of these, um, but we were talking. 745 00:41:05,320 --> 00:41:07,719 Speaker 1: It would be an interesting experiment to see to what 746 00:41:07,840 --> 00:41:11,800 Speaker 1: extent people of the office here actually ate them, and 747 00:41:11,840 --> 00:41:13,800 Speaker 1: if they did, where they only eat the rear portions 748 00:41:13,800 --> 00:41:16,200 Speaker 1: of the slug Because for me. If I had to, 749 00:41:16,320 --> 00:41:18,520 Speaker 1: I would break off the rear end of the slug 750 00:41:18,520 --> 00:41:21,400 Speaker 1: and eat that, because, as we discussed in the podcast, 751 00:41:21,440 --> 00:41:23,279 Speaker 1: all sorts of horrible stuff happens at the front of 752 00:41:23,320 --> 00:41:26,800 Speaker 1: the slug. The rear of the slug where you're you're safe. 753 00:41:27,280 --> 00:41:30,520 Speaker 1: The front's got the penis the anus. But we'll definitely 754 00:41:30,520 --> 00:41:33,200 Speaker 1: need a control box of chocolates to place alongside it 755 00:41:33,680 --> 00:41:37,160 Speaker 1: to do a representation of what happens here. But all 756 00:41:37,160 --> 00:41:40,279 Speaker 1: of this is awesome, So thank you Againbeth. So. If 757 00:41:40,280 --> 00:41:42,560 Speaker 1: you would like to reach out to us, um you 758 00:41:42,600 --> 00:41:45,800 Speaker 1: can find us on Facebook. You can find us on tumbler. 759 00:41:45,840 --> 00:41:47,560 Speaker 1: We're stuffed with all your mind on both of those. 760 00:41:47,920 --> 00:41:49,840 Speaker 1: On Twitter, we go by the handle blow the Mind. 761 00:41:50,040 --> 00:41:51,680 Speaker 1: And if you ever do get a wild hair and 762 00:41:51,680 --> 00:41:55,160 Speaker 1: you want to send us a letter or something, uh, 763 00:41:55,280 --> 00:41:58,160 Speaker 1: you know, feel free to send us some some snail 764 00:41:58,200 --> 00:42:01,160 Speaker 1: mail or slugmail if you will. You can find our 765 00:42:01,200 --> 00:42:03,320 Speaker 1: address on the house Stuff Works website. Just do a 766 00:42:03,360 --> 00:42:06,560 Speaker 1: search for how stuff Works dot com contact and you'll 767 00:42:06,560 --> 00:42:09,440 Speaker 1: find the page that has the mailing address. And you 768 00:42:09,480 --> 00:42:12,399 Speaker 1: can always contact us by sending us an email at 769 00:42:12,480 --> 00:42:22,120 Speaker 1: Blow the Mind at discovery dot com. For more on this, 770 00:42:22,280 --> 00:42:24,800 Speaker 1: and thousands of other topics. Is it how stuff works? 771 00:42:24,800 --> 00:42:29,880 Speaker 1: Dot com