Baker goes on to describe how the European town reacted to this horrific case. The above passage is taken from the prologue to Phil Baker’s The Book of Absinthe: A Cultural History. He then went into the room next door, where his two-year-old daughter Blanche was lying in her cot, and blasted her as well…” When his four-year-old daughter Rose appeared in the doorway to see what was happening, he shot her too.

A thirty-one-year-old man named Jean Lanfray, a Swiss peasant of French stock, had drunk two glasses of absinthe, taken his old army rifle out of the cupboard, and shot his pregnant wife in the head. “News of a particularly ugly tragedy swept across the European headlines in the month of August 1905.

Horrible Murders Lead to Widespread Absinthe Ban But the damage to the absinthe name was done.Īlbert Maignan's 'Green Muse' (1895): a poet succumbs to the Green Fairy (via Wikipedia). However, the spirit only contained, and contains, slight traces of wormwood, not nearly enough to harm an individual who is drinking the liquor. Wormwood is an ingredient in absinthe, and can cause the epileptic symptoms cited in anti-absinthe work. His experiments involved exposing animals to pure wormwood essence. Magnan’s work was misleading, and did not prove truly anything about the drink, however. Valentin Magnan, a physician at an asylum in Paris. This was spurred on by studies performed by Dr. Absinthe was claimed to cause epilepsy, hallucinations, and bouts of insanity. Wine was looked at as the “healthy” alternative for those who wanted to enjoy a drink. Wine lobbyists and supporters of prohibition created a term called “absinthism”, a more serious form of alcoholism. Claims of “Absinthe Hallucinations” Spread There were also many temperance movements, such as the one that led to American Prohibition, with France pushing the most negativity toward absinthe. Feeling threatened by this competition, the wine industry helped push an anti-absinthe agenda. This is when absinthe began to experience a backlash. While absinthe was experiencing its rise, the grape industry was experiencing a shortage, causing wine prices to skyrocket. Ernest Hemmingway, Pablo Picasso, Oscar Wilde, James Joyce, van Gogh, and many other famous artists were all known absinthe drinkers, and they were partially responsible for its rise in subculture popularity.Ībsinthe Robette by Henri Privat-Livemont. As more producers entered the market, the spirit became one that was affordable for people of all classes. Let’s sift through some of the information and mis-information out there about the liquor known as “The Green Fairy”:įirst distilled in the late-1700’s as a tonic in Switzerland, absinthe became a wildly popular spirit by the mid-1800’s because it was a much stronger alternative to wine.

When one even mentions the word “absinthe,” the response is often accompanied by raised brows and concerned eyes. Absinthe is even blamed for Vincent van Gogh chopping his ear off, which is incorrect on so many levels. It has a history of being banned in many countries, it is rumored to be a hallucinogen, and many people are unsure how exactly to drink it.

Shop By Flavor Show Shop By Flavor SubpagesĪbsinthe is perhaps the most misunderstood spirit of them all.

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Absinthe hallucinate