The message
from "Mary Fisher" contains these words:

Coo yes - Amanita muscaria without a doubt. It was this mushroom the
Norsemen took before going berserk.

Evidence?

Learned tomes on the subject. Dr. John Ramsbottom (Onetime Curator of
Dept. of Mycology, British Museum of Natural History) refers to it,
though cautiously, in Mushrooms and Toadstools in Collins' New
Naturalist series.

Was Ramsbottom there then?

Probably. I got the book (my request) as a school prize for best
'o'-level results. Now, my beard is white and my hair is - er - sparse,
and I remember seeing a doodle-bug being shot down. Rasbottom would have
been considerably older.....

--
Rusty Hinge
horrid·squeak&zetnet·co·uk
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/tqt.htm