In 1982 I was on a mushroom foray in a pasture, in Kent, Washington, a field where I had previously been involved in studying the growth, development and various habitats of the "liberty cap" mushroom (Psilocybe semilanceata), one of the most common and sought after mushrooms in the Pacific Northwest. During this foray I came upon a most startling discovery, one that would definitely make my day.

There, right in front of my eyes, was a tiny grouping of what appeared to me to be some very small mushrooms, mushrooms which I believed just might possibly contain the hallucinogenic compounds known as psilocybin and psilocine.

Over the years, my day by day field research was finally beginning to pay off. In fact, it had become somewhat of a daily habit which I ritualistically enjoyed. I had been gaining a very deep insight in identifying many varieties of fungi and my knowledge of species had tremendously grown since I first discovered the "liberty cap" mushroom back in 1972.

It was in the early part of April and I had been wandering from field to field for about three hours. On this particularly cloudy and sometimes rainy spring day, I came upon and espied a fairly small sized grouping of multi-banded fungi (marked by zones of color). I soon became enchanted by their fresh appearance. They were in a cluster and appeared to be huddling together like a family trying to keep themselves warm. I noticed that the mushrooms seemed to be asking the sky to bring them more fresh rain so that they could grow tall, as if they were trying to reach out to the heavens above them.

One of the first notable features I observed about these mushrooms while gazing at their radiance was that they were growing directly from out of a dung heap or what is commonly referred to as a cow pie.

Gazing at this wonderful symbiosis of mushroom and dung, I began to realized that these mushrooms just might possess some sort of celestial energy. It was as if they were telepathic and speaking to me in a language which only they and I knew. Somehow I could feel their aura and I knew that they had been calling me from afar to come and visit them. They were inviting me to their home so that I could experience all that they were. Inviting me to pick them from their habitat which they knew so well. I felt that they transcended to me a warmth which only I knew and the wind seemed to whisper over and over, "pick me, pick me if you dare."

Within a few seconds of time, beginning from that very moment when my eyes first gazed upon their presence in the dung, a slight grin began to appear across my face and I smiled as my heart fluttered and palpitated exceedingly faster then it normally did. I was flushed with excitement because I realized the potential which these little mushrooms might have in store for one such as I who had humbly wandered into their time and space of existence on this green little planet which we call earth.

Immediately I proceeded to kneel down on the ground next to the mushrooms. As I did, my knees began to melt as they slowly sank into the soft wet moist dewy grass that grew around their humble home of a cow pie. During the next several minutes I proceeded to take several photographs of the fungi while my eyes slowly scanned the caps, gills, and stems of the mushrooms as I attempted to key the fungi into their exact genera and species.

First I observed that the pileus or caps of the mushrooms were somewhat zonate, that is, they had layered zones of different shades of color running from the outer edges of the cap towards the center. Each cap was similar in appearance, each exhibiting several shades of a reddish-brown to a pallid tan tone. Later while I dried some of the mushrooms in the sun I noticed a color change which occurred during their drying stage. It transformed their radiance from a cinnamon reddish-brown (sometimes a fawn color) to a light copper brown in the center of the cap and they dried to a pallid white tone.

The center of the cap looked somewhat knobby in appearance. Eventually the color of the caps of the mushrooms seemed to fade to a pallid white grey tone and in some specimens the caps of the mushrooms had become pitted, wrinkled and parched while they dried. The younger specimens which I observed were mostly bell shaped or ovate and some were even convexed to umbonate in age. The margins on some of the caps were slightly incurved but did not seem to be translucent (viscid when moist) like their cousins the Psilocybes.

Next I turned over the pileus (cap) which I was now holding in my hand and I proceeded to take out my portable scissors from inside of my back pack. I then cut the stem of the mushroom from off of the cap and placed the cap of the mushroom (gill plates facing down) onto a piece of white paper which I had extracted from my back pack. I needed to make a spore print so that I could properly identify the genus to which these mushrooms belonged. I then placed a small jar over the mushroom cap so that the spores would fall properly down onto the paper and not blow away.

This procedure is an important step for the amateur mycologist who wishes to avoid an unpleasant accidental intoxication of a possible poisonous species of mushroom. It is also an important step in keying to genus, various species of fungi and proper field identification of a fungi species is necessary.

After twenty minutes I lifted the small jar from off of the paper and removed the mushroom cap which revealed the exact color the spore print had produced. Much to my amazement I was astonished to find that my mushroom cap had created a beautiful spore print. One which resembled a spiraling eye which was totally jet black.

Black spores are representative of several different genera (1) Coprinus (inky caps) and (2) Panaeolus (of which the latter species also include the cosmopolitan genus Copelandia and Anellaria.

Next I decided to check the gills of the mushroom cap which I had used to produce my spore print. I carefully examined the gills as well as their structure and I noticed that the edges of the gills were white and somewhat variegated or mottled. The margin of the cap seemed to overlap the gills.

I then picked up the stem which I had earlier cut from the mushroom cap and examined the end of it to determine if it was hollow. It was. This is another common feature in both Panaeolus and Psilocybe species. The color of the stem ranged from a dark reddish-brown to a light fawn color. It appeared to have vertical lines running like spirals up and down the stem which was also covered with white fibrils. No veil or remnants of a veil appeared to be present. The base of the stem was covered with a fine fluffy patch of white mycelium with threads of mycelia protruding around it's bulbous bottom.

I had been traveling from Seattle, Washington to Eugene, Oregon to visit with my family and was driving south on Highway 99 West just South of Corvalis. I had just past over a large green spanned bridge and had driven about two mile south of Corvalis when I noticed three hitchhikers (two girls and a guy) along the road. I noticed that they were rather joyously hopping along the road with their thumbs sticking out so I slowed down and pulled over along side of them and offered them a ride. They introduced themselves to me as they got into the car and said they were students at Oregon State University in Corvalis and they were only going as far as Junction City. As I continued on down the road I began to notice that they seemed to be in a very lively spirited and somewhat humorous state of being. One of the girls offered me a joint of bud which she said some friends had grown indoors in Eugene. However, I declined since I never drive and smoke at the same time.

As our conversation continued the subject of mushrooms popped up. Before to long I realized that my passengers were acting rather silly and I noticed that they could not stop giggling while they were talking. I asked them if they were high on something other than pot and one of the girls admitted that they were beginning to get off on some "magic mushrooms" they had just picked and eaten not more than thirty minutes ago.

It was a very hot spring day and one of the girls told me that I had just rescued them from the heat when I drove by and picked them up. When I inquired of them as to what kind of mushrooms they had eaten, they replied that they did not know their scientific name but that locals in the area referred to them as "red caps" and "subs." In 1973 I was unaware that these were epithets used by college students when referring to Panaeolus subbalteatus.

The students then informed me that they had each eaten approximately 20 to 30 mushrooms but that they had no sample specimens for me to examine so that I could try and identify them. They told me that if I wanted some they would be more then willing to go back with me to where they found them and help me get high. Since I was in a hurry to get to Eugene I decided to declined their offer. I just did not have the time to turn around and head back in the direction I had just come from.

The girls were overtly friendly and told me that they had picked the mushrooms on runways at the old Corvalis Airport. I thought that they must have been confused about where they had picked their mushrooms from since I knew that mushrooms did not grow on airport runway strips.

For two years I had been picking "liberty caps" which only grew in pastures. I was not aware of other species at that time and for some reason I just could not believe their story and assumed that they had been pulling my leg. I thought that they only told me they had picked the mushrooms on the airport runway strips because they did not want me to know where their mushroom patch was. Furthermore, I felt that I knew more then they did about the mushrooms since I realized that the "liberty caps" mushrooms which I loved so well only grew in the fall and since it was the middle of April I could not really rely on their information as being valid or reliable.

When I reached Junction City, Oregon, I pulled my car over to the side of the road and let my trippy passenger out, thanking them for their company and mushroom trivia. I then proceeded down the road to Eugene and my family who were awaiting my arrival.

I asked my friend at the University mycology department where I might be able to collect the mushrooms from. He then described their habitat to me explaining that they were common in rotted haystacks and then told me where I could find them right there in Eugene. It was as if deja vu struck me right on my right temple with a big bang. My friend then said to drive out to the Eugene Airport along Airport road and said that I would notice a field near the airport with two long rows of stacked hay. My friend said that students at the University of Oregon had been picking mushrooms there from out of the haystacks since 1968.

Two years later in 1976, I once again found myself traveling from my home in Washington state to Eugene, Oregon and while driving through Corvalis, I reflected back on the tale that three hitch-hikers had shared with me a few years before. A tale of an elusive mysterious mushroom which they had found, picked and eaten from off of an airport runway strip at the old Corvalis Airport. I guess that I believed that if mushrooms grew by the airport in Eugene, Oregon, then why not by the Corvalis airport.

I was once again heading south on Highway 99 West and I began to scout out the open fields on the left and right side of the highway. I had just passed the airport on my right and after driving about a half of a mile I began to notice some rather strange looking clumpy mounds off in the distance on the right side of the highway. I wondered if they might be stacks of hay. It was in the middle of March and the sun was breaking through the clouds which had delivered some overnight rain in the area. I noticed a road on my right side and on the left side of the highway was a large white sign with black letters that read "Green and White Rock Quarry"; The road on the right was adjacent to a small white house with a dog in the yard. A farmer was driving a tractor through the open field and I turned into the driveway and proceeding slowly down the road.

When I had driven about 15 feet, I noticed a sign on my right which read "Property of the City of Corvalis-No Trespassing." I stopped my car, got out, and approached the farmer, informing him that I was an amateur student of mycology and would it be all right if I went out in the field to photograph edible mushrooms. I told him that I wanted to photograph the haystack mushrooms for a book I was writing. The farmer laughed and to my astonishment replied "why not, everyone else does." He then explained to me that students from Oregon State University at Corvalis have been picking mushrooms on the runway strips for years and that he didn't care as long as nobody let his four cows out of his property onto the highway.

I thanked the farmer for his permission to go onto the property and proceeded down the road for about 1/8th of a mile. I crossed over a set of railroad tracks and then I noticed about 9 separate tiers of large bales of stacked hay, each tier was stacked four high and four across. Each tier ran about 250 yards in length. It was then that I realized my hitch-hiking friends from 4 years before had been telling me the truth and I kind of regretted that I had somehow doubted them.

I parked my car on one of the runways and walked over to a large compost heap composed of shredded hay, manure, crushed nut and sea shells with several varieties of both edible and non-edible fungi growing from out of it. Alongside of the compost heap was a layer of black oily looking slime which smelled intensely putrid. I then noticed a phallic looking object protruding from out of the oily slime and thought that a cow had died under the liquid ooze. However, in a second I realized I had just discovered my first stinkhorn. When I say that the odor was putrid, it was worst then pig swill.

I also noticed several large blobs of black slimy oozing gobs of goo running down the side of the compost heap. These were the spore runoffs of what use to be a Coprinus species. They had apparently fruited and then melted down the sides of the rotted hay. Later I observed similar patches of the same black ooze on several of the surrounding haystacks. I also noticed an over abundance of tall rank grass growing on top of several of the haystacks and some of the grass was over two feet in height.

I then approached the first long tier of haystacks and I began to notice a lot of rust and smut fungus growing from the hay. There were also many species of jelly fungus of various colors which appeared sporadically throughout the haystack. I also noticed a small collection of the edible "horse" mushroom Agaricus arvensis. This latter fungi has pink gills which turn dark chocolate brown with age.

As I drew closer to my prey, I saw two little 6" high borough owls sitting perched in a small pocket in the haystack. They were silently asleep and totally unaware that I was encroaching on their territory.

Finally I began to noticed the zonate caps which were reminiscent of Panaeolus subbalteatus. At first I only noticed a few and then as I proceeded to walk alongside the haystack, more and more eventually came into view. They not only grew along the scattered hay at the bottom of the stack but they were wedged into every nook, cranny and crevice throughout the haystack. They were also growing on top of the hay in great abundance. It should be mentioned that it could be dangerous to tread upon the top of the haystack. They are stacked with open pockets inside of them and if the top stacks collapsed, one would fall inside and be covered by hay with no oxygen. This could cause suffocations to the person trapped inside.

A few times I would pull away the hay from where the mushrooms were growing in the hay and I would notice some mild tinges of blue appearing in the mycelium imbedded in the hay. Later on I will describe this bluing phenomena in more detail. However, I would like to explain that since finding this mushroom species in abundance in rotted hay, I then knew that I could collect this fungus anywhere throughout the world.

After collecting many fresh pounds of Panaeolus subbalteatus, I left the field and drove my car back down where the farmer was working. The farmer explained that each year when the hay is harvested during the summer months of June, July and August, it is usually covered with tarpons to protect it from the rain and snow, but by December the tarpons usually blow off during the heavy rainfalls. In the spring, the hay is then shredded into compost mixtures for gardens and to be used as fertilizers for gardens, etc.

I have since found this mushroom growing in rotted hay and haystacks in the Pacific Northwest cities of Lebanon, Sweet Home, Scio, Albany, Harrisburg, Peoria, Alsea, Monroe, Eugene, Junction City, Springfield, and Portland, Oregon; Olympia, Kent, Fall City, Yelm Chehalis, Wenatchee, Moses Lake and Seattle, Washington and in a lawn at Stanley Park in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Recently I have picked numerous small collections of this mushroom appearing in woodchips, obviously fruiting from out of the soil under the chips. Amazing, I now report a new habitat for this species.

Behind the riding stables is a large dugout where all the manure from the horses is dumped along with the stable shavings. Not only did I find Panaeolus subbalteatus there but some edible fungi as well. In 1984 I returned there again for what I thought would be one final mushroom hunt. This time I not only collected Panaeolus subbalteatus but I discovered a large collection of Psilocybe stuntzii which had apparently fruited in a mixture of sawdust, manure, and stable shavings. In 1991, I again visited this location with Dr. Jochen Gartz of Leipzig, Germany. Although it was too late in the season for Panaeolus subbalteatus, we did find a bluing variety of the genus Gymnopilus and we stopped at a MacDonalds restaurant a mile from the riding stable and as I got out of the car the lawn surrounding the restaurant was loaded with many specimens of Psilocybe stuntzii and a few small specimens of Psilocybe baeocystis.

Also in January of 1982, I found over 80 specimens of Panaeolus subbalteatus fruiting from bark mulch surrounding a downtown Seattle, Washington parking lot. The mulch had been layered over a fertilized lawn and the fungi had grown up through the bark mulch. In February the mulched area had produced about 5 pounds of the entheogenic fungi and many passers-by had also noticed the appearance of the mushrooms and were picking them in small quantities on a regular basis for three years.