The history of "cursed bread"

1951. A small town in the south of France, suddenly strikes a strange illness. It all starts innocently almost headaches, nausea, dizziness. Then night falls, which was later a terrible name "Night of the apocalypse."

The town of Pont-Saint-Esprit is located on the right bank of the Rhone River. Seventy years ago it was a small village, where only 4,500 people lived. On the coast a wonderful view of the river, life flowed smoothly and quietly - Pont-Saint-Esprit was one of those places where, after going down the street, it was impossible not to meet someone familiar.

No one could have foreseen what was to come down the mountain this village, which the French call themselves "cursed bread" - le pain maudit.

Seven people were killed and dozens were in the crazy house, more than a hundred suffering from severe symptoms of poisoning. And the culprit was the bread, but the mystery of the tragedy is still not open until the end.

It all began August 16, 1951, when the townspeople suddenly attacked by a disease of unknown origin. Madness struck the Pont-Saint-Esprit.

The three doctors attacked patients who imagined terrible pictures: it seemed to them that their bodies were in flames, and they are attacked by monsters. One man tried to drown himself, screaming that his belly devouring a snake. Eleven year old attacked his own grandmother, trying to strangle her. And another man shouting "I am a plane!" Jumped out of a second story window. Unhappy survived, but broke both legs. That, however, did not prevent him to get up and walk a further 50 meters. Another victim of "cursed bread" seen as the heart of runs between the feet, begging the doctor to get it back. Many lunatics had to be hospitalized before putting it on their straitjackets.

wrote in the journal:

"Among those who are struck by illness, growing madness: patients tossing in their beds, screaming that from their bodies grow red flowers, and their heads are transformed into the molten tin."

The doctors guessed that the culprit of food poisoning, but for a long time could not find the source of the poison. In the early days, killing five people, two more - a little later. On August 21, just five days, more than a hundred people were poisoned and six were hospitalized, among them were three children.

The peak of the disaster reached in the night from 25 to 26 August. Local called it "apocalyptic night." 23 people, possessed terrifying visions, was taken to hospital. Several people throw away from the windows. Many distraught spent in an asylum for several months.

The first theory and their debunking

The French historian Steven L. Kaplan, in his book "Damned bread: the return of the forgotten years in France 1945-1958" wrote:

"Wanting to get to the root of the evil, we want to know the name of the responsible. The most incredible theories circulating among citizens: accused baker, water fountains, modern machines, foreign agents, biological weapons, the devil, the railway company, the Pope, the Church and Stalin. " Indeed, all the troubles blamed a local baker who is not deliberately used in baking flour contaminated with ergot - fungi that are parasitic on grasses. However, some time later, this theory was replaced by another - that people were poisoned by mercury.

The journalist H. P. Albarelli Jr. in 2011 shared the results of its own investigation, according to which the incident to blame the special operations unit of the US Army and the CIA SOD, which is conducted in a manner experiments on human beings. Albarelli studied the documents relating to the strange suicide of a man named Frank Olson - a biochemist, who once worked for SOD. The man jumped from the 13th floor, two years after the incident with the "cursed bread".

Albarelli found a recording of a conversation between the agents of the CIA, which mentions the "secret Pont-Saint-Esprit" and a version of the problem was not in ergot, a toxic substance and diethylamine, which is a part of LSD.

In the preparation of his book "A huge mistake: the murder of Frank Olson and the CIA's secret experiments during the Cold War" (A Terrible Mistake: The Murder of Frank Olson and the CIA's Secret Cold War Experiments) Albarelli spoke to former colleagues of Olson. Two of them told the man that the cause of the incident served as a mysterious experiments, which were conducted in those regions. According to the journalist, Frank was directly related to the experiments, during which time, presumably, LSD as a toxic weapon sprayed from airplanes, to test the effect of mass hysteria. This bomb has served in the White House document, addressed to members of the Rockefeller Commission, which was formed in 1975 to investigate crimes committed by the CIA. The document was a list of names associated with the incident in France, and direct indication of the relationship of the CIA, LSD and Pont-Saint-Esprit. However, the prosecution denied everything.

The inhabitants of Pont-Saint-Esprit insist on the disclosure of the true cause of the disease. 71-year-old Charles Granger says: "I almost did not play in the box, and would very much like to know why."