“Mass Casualty Incident”: 11 Amish (Including One-Year-Old) Hospitalized After Eating Toxic Mushrooms

It’s wild mushroom season and one Amish family learned the hard way that eating the wrong mushroom can have consequences. This happened last week in Peach Bottom Township in York County, PA.

Image: Delta-Cardiff Volunteer Fire Company Station 57

From CBS 21 News:

Eleven people, including children, were hospitalized Friday night after eating wild mushrooms in Peach Bottom Township, according to Delta-Cardiff Volunteer Fire Company.

Emergency dispatchers received reports around 9:27 p.m. of a “mass casualty” incident in the 200 block of Burke Road, where 11 people were sick.

The Delta-Cardiff Fire Company told CBS 21 that it responded to the scene and found only 10 patients — the last patient, a member of the Amish family that grew ill, had traveled half a mile down Burke Road to find a phone booth in order to call 911.

Firefighters went to pick up the caller, who said he and 10 others got very sick after eating wild mushrooms they found in the woods for dinner.

Among the 11 poisoned was a one-year-old baby. And I would guess that wasn’t the only child involved. They were all treated and released overnight so it looks like they dodged serious consequences.

I just happened to be out doing some mushroom hunting yesterday – with a friend who knows wild mushrooms.

There are plenty of horror stories out there of what can happen if you eat the wrong mushroom – some of which resemble edible varieties.

No word on the variety this family ate though there is some speculation in the Delta-Cardiff fire company’s post on the incident. Thankfully they made it through alright, especially considering a small baby was involved.

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9 Comments

  1. Guy in Ohio

    Lucky!

    This family got very lucky! Never eat wild mushrooms unless you are 100% sure of what you are eating. Eat the wrong variety and you could possibly die!

  2. Callum

    Relief!

    Glad everyone turned out okay…I was wondering if AI-generated mushroom picking books could be to blame for incidents like this. I don’t suspect the Amish are using ChatGPT, but they might have used a resource that was made using an AI. Purely speculation though!

    1. Central Virginian

      AI

      Its possible AI info was involved, but also likely is that they picked and ate wild mushrooms for generations and know which ones are safe. Just that someone made a mistake this time.

      One of my great aunts knew mushrooms and often gathered wild ones. I have been walking through fields with folks who knew mushrooms, and if we came across an edible variety, it became part of our dinner that evening.

  3. K.D.

    Mass Casualty/Mushrooms

    I mean no offense to anyone, but who
    gives mushrooms to a 1-yr old child? I wonder if they ate cooked mushrooms or
    raw mushrooms and if there’s a possibility
    that cooked mushrooms might be safer
    to eat? Erik, thank you for this story. Clearly the Man Upstairs was looking
    out for these folks.

    1. Central Virginian

      Cooking toxic mushrooms

      Although cooking will kill some bacteria and viruses, if they contain a natural toxin heating them likely won’t make them safe.

      Mushroom soup was a favorite lunchtime food of mine when I was a toddler. It was made with milk.

  4. Central Virginian

    Poisoned Stew

    2 Kings 4:38-41 in the Bible tells the story of a pot of stew that was poisoned by a wild gourd that the cooks added despite that they were not familiar with it.

  5. Christine

    Extreme

    I think Mass Casualty is a little dramatic, a family ate bad mushrooms, they were treated and released “that night” and are fine.. the media wording has become more and more ridiculous.. people get food poisoning all the time, now we have a name for it, mass casualty ???

    1. Erik Wesner

      It does seem like scary language. More like something you’d see attached to an act of violence. I kept the quotation marks around it for that reason.

  6. Greg Stutzman

    Morels anyone?

    Autumn Sunday afternoon mushroom hunting in the woods is a cherished family memory growing up in Holmes County, Ohio. It is much more common than some people realize. And if you’ve never eaten fresh fried morel mushrooms you wouldn’t believe how tasty they are.