Rye bread, fungal disease, demonry and witchcraft

Over at the Scientist Gardener blog, my colleague MAT kinase explains the connection between rye grains infested with ergot, a fungal disease of cereals, and its likely association with suspected outbreaks of demonry and witchcraft as in Salem, Mass in 1692. This is a pretty interesting interaction between plants and people, one my economic botany class always is fascinated by. This illustrates how when inexplicable events occur people ascribe them to the supernatural.