Australia - 3 dead after eating wild mushrooms, Leongatha, Victoria, Aug 2023

[JBowie]

Aside: a bit about the symbiotic relationship between death caps and oaks, birches and elms:

Death caps: these killer mushrooms actually help trees to grow

Death cap mushrooms don’t actually want to kill us. In fact, mushrooms don’t care about us at all.

science.anu.edu.au

 

[RickshawFan]

What is a "tip"? Can someone translate for the Americans?

Garbage dump.

 

[mickey2942]

It is definitely odd that some people who ate lunch died of mushroom poisoning, while others at the same meal are fine. BTW, the recipe for "Berf Wellington" sounds delicious. I don't eat meat, maybe I could substitute a Field Roast for the meat and make this dish vegetarian. Although, it seems like the prosciutto keeps the mushroom filling on the beef.

 

[Eaglette]

She could say she followed that instruction.
Omg.

Omg here's another one:

I decided to do Spaghetti Bolognese tonight...

I will NOT be pimping it up with rehydrated MUSHROOMS !!

 

[RickshawFan]

I find this striking: I haven’t seen anyone speaking up for EP, her personality, whether she’s loved, her values, her virtues as a cook (or not), whether the family took vacations, whether she’s a quilter, where she went to school, whether she went to church, whether she’s a Star Trek fanatic…. We know absolutely nothing, as far as I can tell.

 

[Neet_Mc]

Sound like half of this article has been lifted off this forum! Deadly mushrooms, mysteries and the curious cops

 

[Neet_Mc]

That probably could be fact checked via receipts and cctv.

Oh I meant EP could have instead claimed that gail and heather supplied her with foraged ones…and you know, they just happened to be a toxic variety.

 

[Dre]

Oh I meant EP could have instead claimed that gail and heather supplied her with foraged ones…and you know, they just happened to be a toxic variety.

This would have been smart, as that could lend itself to why Simon got sick last year, implying his mother was an uneducated forager.

Glad she didn’t come up with this!

 

[RickshawFan]

Simon Patterson believed his ex-wife Erin Patterson had tried to poison him through an 'ingested toxin' from nightshade plants which include potatoes, tomatoes and eggplants, the Herald Sun reports.

I should be dead many times over!

IMO the DM statement needed more explanation. The nightshade family IIRC includes some fatally poisonous plants. As a child, I was warned about “deadly nightshade”. It grows in England’s pasture or woodlands (I forget which).

But also, some folks are allergic to the more innocuous-seeming edibles from the nightshade family. I was once allergic to potatoes: I got terrible hives. But some can’t eat any nightshades.

So, these are 2 possibilities. I think we need elaboration of the nightshade comment.

 

[Kemug]

Estranged husband of mushroom chef breaks cover

Simon Patterson has been in hiding since parents and aunt died after being served up poisonous mushrooms at his ex-wife's Leongatha home, in Victoria's Gippsland region, on July 29.

www.dailymail.co.uk

Interesting juxtaposition of photos of the estranged couple in this article - 2 unhappy-looking people. So sad when you think that there are no doubt photos somewhere of them on their wedding day with them looking radiantly happy. And now it's come to this. Truly tragic.

 

[RickshawFan]

Parents aren't always amenable to control. Especially for reasons like, eggplant! tomatoes! potatoes!!! But why did he agree to go himself and only back out last minute, if he believed she'd tried to poison him in the past?

Or if he worried his parents might be targets? They even brought extra guests. He could have been vocal and told them not to go if he was worried about poisoning.

 

[MrJ]

I find this striking: I haven’t seen anyone speaking up for EP, her personality, whether she’s loved, her values, her virtues as a cook (or not), whether the family took vacations, whether she’s a quilter, where she went to school, whether she went to church, whether she’s a Star Trek fanatic…. We know absolutely nothing, as far as I can tell.

Especially as reportedly the area she lives in is quite close-knit. You would think someone, a friend maybe, would be quoted as defending her, surely?

 

[RickshawFan]

Beef Wellington takes a long time to prepare, yes.

Maybe she bought it packaged in single-serve, and simply added mushroom powder?

 

[Kemug]

Say she didn’t do it, she may have felt like she needed to put on a bit of a display to show she’s grieving, especially if she didn’t like them very much or they were at odds over a few things. They may have had a strained relationship from the beginning. I’m sure if she was stone faced we would be dissecting that too.

I haven’t seen footage of her getting in the car, but she could have been stifling the delight which would explain the strange sounds.

I totally agree with you on the self-referential comments however. This is evident in so many infamous interviews where the person is eventually found to be the perpetrator. Murdaugh, watts etc.

Don’t get me wrong. It’s definitely suspicious, I just can’t imagine someone going to the trouble of making a beef Wellington only to hide poisonous mushrooms in it. She could have made something so much easier! Moo

Ah, my soul sister! Do you also have a copy of "The Lazy Woman's Cookbook"?

 

[TootsieFootsie]

Especially as reportedly the area she lives in is quite close-knit. You would think someone, a friend maybe, would be quoted as defending her, surely?

A few days ago I did see an article where a friend was defending her.
The friend said she was kind and gentle and there was no way she would have done something like this.

It was behind a paywall

 

[MrJ]

A few days ago I did see an article where a friend was defending her.
The friend said she was kind and gentle and there was no way she would have done something like this.

It was behind a paywalled article.

Thank you! I was wondering if someone had spoken out.

 

[SMK777]

*Published 2 hours ago: ​

Deadly ‘mushroom poisoning’: The family lunch mystery gripping Australia​

Host remains a suspect after three teachers die and pastor left fighting for life​

​

Deadly ‘mushroom poisoning’: The family lunch mystery gripping Australia

Host remains a suspect after three teachers die and pastor left fighting for life

www.independent.co.uk

 

[Kemug]

Or "hey kids I'm having a serious discussion with the pastor and your grand parents, I've ordered you some McDonald's with Uber Eats and you can eat it in your room."

Yes, maybe. But wouldn't it be better and more natural to let the kids and their grandparents enjoy the lunch together (in today's world, that's one of the few times you can get a teenager away from their phone to exchange a few words), and then let the teens go back to their rooms to carry on doing what teens do.

 

[Kemug]

I doubt they would have an Uber Eats in the country town of Leongatha, but the probably have a McDonalds.

Anyway, maybe at least one of the teens is old enough to drive to a Macca's or whatever.

 

[RickshawFan]

I have been checking webslueths for over 2 years with no results and don't understand if I'm searching incorrectly,

Snipped

Pro tip: use Google to search Websleuths! It's a lot more robust than the internal search engine. I generally type in Websleuths first, and then whatever search terms I want.