R. Gordon Wasson Coins the Term “Magic Mushroom”

This is the first popular media coverage of the existence of magic mushrooms.

June 10, 1957

LIFE magazine publishes an article by R. Gordon Wasson titled “Seeking the Magic Mushroom.” In the article, Wasson is the first to use the term “magic mushroom.”

From the LIFE article: “The author of this article, a vice president of J.P. Morgan & Co. Incorporated, together with his wife, Valentina P. Wasson, M.D., a New York pediatrician, has spent the last four summers in remote mountains of Mexico. The Wassons have been on the trail of strange and hitherto unstudied mushrooms with vision-giving powers.” 1