Two hikers call 911 and say their friend had died on trek... the truth was more bizarre
Hikers trekking through a New York mountain frantically called 911 to report that their friend had died during their adventure, only to be met with an unexpected twist upon rescue crews' arrival.
While celebrating Memorial Day Weekend with a hike through the Cascade Mountain in North Elba, two friends found themselves in a nightmare scenario - they were lost, and their buddy was believed to be deceased, according to a press release.
But when officers arrived, something truly bizarre occurred - against all odds, their friend, presumed dead, seemingly rose from the grave.
As it turned out, the two pals weren't just high up on the mountains. They were also high on hallucinogenic mushrooms.
On May 24, around 9am, Forest Ranger Praczkajlo received an emergency call from distressed hikers on Cascade Mountain, located near Lake Placid, according to the state's Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC).
The mountain, part of the Adirondack High Peaks, ranks as the 36th tallest in the range.
During the call, the two hikers reported that their friend had died while on the trail.
They also informed authorities that they had encountered a Cascade Summit Steward earlier and admitted they were lost.
'The steward determined the hikers were in an altered mental state,' the agency said in the press release.
Ranger Praczkajlo eventually reached the trailhead, where an ambulance was already waiting, and escorted the two panicked hikers back to the vehicle.
However, as they made their way back, a single phone call changed the entire situation - turning a straightforward rescue into something far more confusing.
On the other line was the 'dead' friend - alive, unharmed and seemingly unaware of the chaos unfolding around him.
According to the release, the group had allegedly eaten hallucinogenic mushrooms during their hike.
The effects of the drug are highly unpredictable and heavily influenced by the user's mindset and the environment in which it's taken, as reported by Desert Hope Treatment Center.
Given the unforeseeable nature of the drug, users may endure 'bad trips' - intense, distressing reactions that can be both frightening and disorienting.
Intense hallucinations, anxiety, panic and fear are just a few of the possible effects during a 'bad trip', often triggered by unfamiliar or chaotic surroundings.
Thankfully reunited, all three friends were escorted back to their campsite, where they could finally find safety and calm after their odd ordeal.
Bad trips leading people to behave in wild or erratic ways are not an uncommon experience with mushrooms, though the intensity can vary greatly from person to person.
For some, a 'bad trip' might mean intense anxiety and a pounding heart - unpleasant but bearable - while others unfortunately end up in dangerous or painful situations.
Last year, a man on vacation in Austria who took these 'magic mushrooms' entered psychosis that led him to amputate his penis and store it in a snow-filled jar.
Doctors labeled the heart-stopping incident as the first case of its kind - and a harrowing reminder of the dangers of psychedelic drugs.
The 37-year-old man ate four or five mushrooms before blacking out and taking an axe to his penile shaft - ultimately chopping it into several pieces.
As he came to, he staggered out of the home and dragged himself down a nearby street, bleeding profusely, searching for help.
In the middle of the night, around 2am, a passerby picked him up and brought him to the nearest village, and then to the closest hospital.
He was immediately carted to the operating room, where doctors got the bleeding under control and disinfected the myriad pieces of the man's penis in the snow and soil-filled jar.
Some damaged parts had to be removed, but the head of the penis and shaft were intact.
After cleaning the wound, doctors successfully reattached the penis, despite it having been without blood flow for about 9 hours total (5 hours warm and 4 hours cold).
After inserting a catheter, the surgeon reconnected the tissues of the penis using dissolvable stitches. The scrotal skin was then sewn back to the cleaned skin of the amputated part.
Some of the skin on the tip of the man's newly reconstructed penis started to die about a week later - a condition called necrosis due to lack of oxygenated blood flow there - but doctors were able to treat it and reverse the damage.
Despite all this, the man was still experiencing hallucinations, even trying to break out of the hospital at one point.
Doctors found that he had smuggled mushrooms into his hospital room, finding a handful of them in his nightstand in the urology ward.
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