Today's hoax story making the rounds is about 'Sammy Blythe', a 17-year old teen from Colorado. Supposedly he was at this party or rave and because he misplaced his ecstasy pills he allegedly walked down to a river and licked a toad because one species, 'Bufo alvarius' (also known as the Colorado River Toad) secretes bufotenine (aka 5-meO-DMT), a substance that can give you hallucinations.
According to the story, the next morning he woke up with a rough, swollen tongue. Doctors at St. Francis Medical Center emergency room supposedly told him this was a side effect of licking 'average river toads', and sent him home with antibiotics and an order to "say no to drugs".
(Image: Now8News)
So, how do we know this story is fake:
- The source: we spotted it on two known hoax websites, which should tell you enough: Now8News and TheFRT.
- The headline mentions a virus, yet the doctor supposedly gave him antibiotics. Antibiotics don't work on viruses (source: CDC).
- The story says 'toad', the image and headline say 'frog'. Toads and frogs are different animals.
- The image used with the story is actually a stock photo showing someone with a condition called 'black hairy tongue', which is caused by an overgrowth of dead skin cells.
Black hairy tongue - Mayo Clinic
Don't be fooled like all the people sharing this story on social media right now:
