The Bezoar Stone has been a Natural Remedy for Centuries
Have you ever heard of a bezoar stone or a mad stone? This home remedy was used for centuries to heal, although it’s not a common practice today.
A mad stone (aka a bezoar stone) is used to draw poison out of bites and wounds. It works by absorbing the poison bit by bit, curing the bites by detoxifying them completely.
- Mad stones can be found in the stomach or intestines of cud-chewing animals.
- Depending on the animal, the stone may be more potent and valuable; for example, the stone of a brown deer is said to be inferior to that of a white deer.
- Mad stones are not to be bought or sold; such interaction may negate their healing powers.
Naturally, the effectiveness of mad stones has long been in dispute. Can cosmic healing powers really reside in the intestine of a cow? There is only one way to know for sure …
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Please Pass the Bezoar Stone
Want to try a mad stone? The challenge is getting a hold of one—since they can’t be purchased for money. We advise traveling to the home of a stone’s owner.
If you have experience with mad stones, please share your story or your stone in the box below.
Catherine Boeckmann
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Had to look up what was a mad-stone, I've never heard about this! My great-great grandfather was a doctor treating a man that was attacked by a mad-dog (or rabid dog). He then went to use a mad-stone for rabies.
Newspaper: The True Citizen
Waynesboro, Georgia
Saturday, March 28, 1896
Jefferson County.
News and Farmer, March 19th.
Sunday last Mr. W. S. Clements was attached and bitten by what was supposed to be a mad dog. He got out of the buggy to open the gate when the dog rushed at him and bit him on the leg. Mr. Clements try to keep it off by kicking it, but failed. He then ran to get into the buggy, but the dog caught him again, and then they had a terrible struggle. Mr. Clements succeeded and get the dog down, but was bitten again twice. while he held the dog down his wife handed him a pistol, and he shot the dog in the head and killed it. The dog’s tongue was badly mangled, and showed signs of madness. Mr. Clements came to town at once and had the wounds sacrifice by Dr. Kelley. He then went to miss V. A. Brinson’s and had a mad stone applied. We hear is stuck five times to the wounds.
These accounts are so interesting. I had never heard of a madstone before!
Reading a book about the history of Lavaca County in Texas and came across this. Had never heard of a madstone before. "Hiram G Foley was known far and wide because he had a wonderful madstone that he was reported to have found while hunting. He saw a deer bury something and upon unearthing it found it to be a mad stone that was later applied to hundreds of snake and dog bites." The History of Lavaca County, Paul C Boethel, The Naylor Co, 1936, pg 11
I believe in these stones. I grew up in the Philippines and when i was a kid i was bitten by the neighbors dog. My mom have a stone for dogbites and you just place it on the bite. The stone sticks on the wound. I was bitten 3 times and never had any rabies shot. When moved here to the US we lost the stone. Did not even know what it was called. But we knew it was magical. It was a small sized stone. It was definitely old. We never soaked it anywhere just wiped it with alcohol after use.
Mad stones are real. My mother in law had one that came from somewhere in the WV mountains..
I have seen it used many times and it is not a myth, it's real. I've heard a lot of stories also. A man was dying with blood poison in the early 1900s and the stone stuck to his leg for 2 days, but the poison was completely gone when it let go. It even worked for poison Ivy. It was a stone that had to be passed down through the family and we are not sure who has it now, because it was passed to her brother and he is deceased.
My great grandfather was sent in search of a mad stone when his younger brother went after a rabid puppy under a schoolhouse and was bitten. He never found a mad stone to help his brother who died a terrible death.
In the 1930s my dad was bitten by a dog and he had rabies my grandparents took him to some in the Virginia mountains who had a Mad stone somehow he was cured and never had anymore symptoms of rabies
I have seen "Mad Stones," and they come from the stomach of cud chewing animals. Also known as a "Bezoar." They are known to have healing properties for poisons. When I was a kid, my aunt and her friend were picking peas and were both bitten by the same rattlesnake. An old woman next door heard the screams and when she heard "snakebite," she ran inside and came back out with a leather pouch and put them in her car and drove them 20 miles to the emergency room. On the way, she used a "Mad Stone" taken from the stomach of a white deer on both bites and drew the poison out and neither of the women had to have the antidote injection.
My grandfather said when he was a kid he was bitten by a Rabid dog his dad took him to One of the Stars that had a madstone he said that it came from the stomach of a white deer he said they soaked it in milk Nd that it stuck to his wound then fell off then they put back in milk till the milk turned blue then they put back on wound and continued until it hit sticking to the bite my mom doesn’t know how old he was only that he was a kid early 1900s
Just learned of this today from my Aunt. Healing in the hills
