Don't let the 1968 publication date deter you. It reads like "Radium Girls" as the entire village of Pont-Saint-Esprit succumbs to horrific chaos one night in August, 1951.

One morning the town baker, M. Monier, was having difficulty with the flour shipped to him by the Union Meunière. It was grayish in color, somewhat sticky with an oily texture. By contract, only the Union could investigate which could take weeks but the baker wasn't allowed to close either. Having no choice, he blends the gray flour with the rest, which appeared fine after baking. The result is mass ergot poisoning and honestly it reminded me of the opening scenes of "The Crazies." Abdominal pain, shivering, euphoria, dilated pupils, an "odor of mice" and increased saliva until finally tetanuslike convulsions, a compulsion for suicide, gangrene, nightmarish hallucinations and cardiac arrest. Ergotism also causes extreme insomnia. There were blood curdling screams and manic laughter. Victims wandered the streets, attacked loved ones or stared into nothing. One man, M. Puche, jumped out of a hospital window then ran 50m on broken legs.

Theories ranged from arsenic to mercury poisoning because who could believe "medieval" ergotism? It turns out a Union miller made an illegal exchange, contaminating the flour batch with ergot that contained a deadly and concentrated dose of LSD-25. The village forms an association for justice. Relapses occur for the rest of their lives, many facing serious debt after 50 days of recovery. M. Delacquis, the leader, lost sight in one eye, another M. Carle is unable to walk with stability. Five people died during the initial infection but many more from side effects. In the end it took 10 years for Union Meunière pay up for civil damages after shifting blame and delay.

I really couldn't put this one down because I felt for all these innocent people involved and the doctors trying their best to solve this medical mystery! ( )

A detailed study of a modern medical catastrophe and its aftermath. In 1951, the village of Pont-Saint Esprit in France suffered an outbreak of hallucinatory visions and psychotic episodes, the 'St. Anthony's Fire' as described in medieval medical texts. Fuller introduces us to the village and its residents, and the slow, building nightmare that suddenly engulfed the town. The aftermath, with citizens trying to rebuild their lives (those that survived), and the French government hearings that concluded, in defiance of their own medical experts' opinions, that some 'unknown parties' had poisoned the flour. (Had the government agreed with their medical experts about the source of the contamination, the government would have been liable for damages...) A medical history well worth reading. ( )