Mother Jailed After Accidentally Serving Her Family Magic Mushrooms

#1 Organic Mushroom Hunter

A naturist and mother of three went searching for organic mushrooms in the foothills of the Adirondack Mountains and ended up doing jail time after nearly killing her children and husband.

#2 Mother Of Three

Andrea Corker, of Saratoga Springs, NY loved to hike in the nearby Adirondack mountains at least twice each week. When she heard a radio program on NPR about picking your own organic mushrooms, which are beginning to flourish in that region this time of year, she decided to look for some of her own to use for dinner.

#3 She Learned It Was Mushroom Hunting Season

The radio show said that the Chicken of The Woods, Amanita, Puffball or the Hen of the Woods mushrooms were the best and were readily found in her area if one was to hunt a little for them near Elm or Apple trees, or near cedar stumps. That's when Andrea decided to bring a trowel, knife and bag with her on her usual hike.

#4 She Discovered A Ton Of Mushrooms

Unaware of what exactly she was looking for, she had a vision of what mushrooms looked like and had always purchased them from the market. She came upon two sets of mushrooms near an apple tree not far on off the trail just a few miles from her country home.

#5 She Gathered Two Different Kinds Of Organic Mushrooms

She gathered several of each mushroom and put them in her bag. Leaving with over a pound of fresh, organic mushrooms, she went on about her routine and then went home to cook dinner for her three daughters and husband. Time was running short and she had planned on making fresh homemade pizza, one of the girls favorite meals. So, with all her mushrooms, she cooked up a delicious mushroom pizza for that night's dinner.

#6 Fresh Homemade Mushroom Pizza

Her pizza smelled and looked delicious. Her husband, Gerry, and the three girls loved it. They ate every piece and even finished the small pan pizza she had baked to eat at a later time. That's when the trouble started.

#7 The Family Went Into A Technicolor Nightmare

The two twins, 4 years old, passed out less than five minutes of eating the pizza. Then her oldest daughter, 12, began crying and saying she saw weird colors. Her husband Gerry got up from the table and fell down, laughing uncontrollably, but stating he was having trouble seeing straight. The 12-year-old later claimed she saw the table moving and her hair was changing colors.

#8 Police Called

Mrs. Corker panicked and began screaming frantically before waiting over 20 minutes to dial 911. After she finally called emergency the Saratoga Springs Police arrived and found the three children in "a hallucinogenic state" according to reports filed by Sgt.Barry Lee. He radioed for medical assistance immediately.

#9 Saratoga Rescue Arrives

An ambulance fro Saratoga County and Wilton arrived at the scene and began life-saving treatments on the girls before rushing them off to the hospital. Mr. Corker appeared to have snapped out of his stupor and was not given any medical treatment at the scene, though he did his wife did drive him to the hospital behind the children in the ambulance, where he was treated for consumption of "magic mushrooms."

#10 Magic Mushrooms

The emergency doctor explained that Andrea Corker had inadvertently found and harvested Psilocybin mushrooms, also known as psychedelic mushrooms. These mushrooms have been popular with teens and date back to the hippie era because of their similarity to taking the drug LSD. The mushrooms contain the psychedelic compounds psilocybin and psilocin and they are mainly used as a recreational drug whose effects can include euphoria, altered thinking processes, closed and open eye visuals, synaesthesia, an altered sense of time and spiritual experiences.

#11 Arrested For Possession Of Schedule I Drugs

Police arrested Adrea Corker for possessing a psychotropic drug and for dispersing the mushrooms, which are classified as a Schedule I drug which carries severe legal penalties under the 1971 US Psychotropic Substances Act. Her family suffered from an overdose due to consuming so many of them at one time. The young twins remained in ICU for 11 days before being released, after slipping in and out of comas several times.

Doctors and the county sheriff later informed the Corker family that any mushroom found with a "brain like underside is probably bad or poisonous, while a good mushroom is perfectly and symmetrically hollow.