Porn star charged with manslaughter after another man dies during mystic ritual inhaling psychedelic toad venom
Spanish porn star Nacho Vidal (L) and the bufo alvarius toad. (Carlos Alvarez/Getty Images/Wikimedia Commons)
Adult film Nacho Vidal star was charged by Spanish authorities with manslaughter following a man’s death during a mystic ritual in which in inhaled psychedelic toad venom.
Vidal, a 46-year-old known for flogging scented candles shaped like his penis online, was detained in the southwestern Valencia region in connection with the death of fashion photographer Jose Luis Abad in July 2019.
“The police operation began following the victim’s death during the celebration of a mystic ritual based on the inhalation of venom of the bufo alvarius toad,” a police statement seen by AFP said.
Porn star Nacho Vidal arrested after allegedly being a shaman in toad venom-inhaling ceremony.
The bufo alvarius toad, commonly called the Colorado River toad, is native to the dusty, arid patches of the Sonoran Desert, which stretches from northern Mexico into California and Arizona.
Experts in “toad medicine ceremonies” describe ingesting the toad secretion – a substance known as 5-MeO-DMT – as inducing powerful, kaleidoscopic hallucinations.
The cabbalistic ceremonies vary in nature but may include inhaling the venom’s fumes from a pipe. Ceremony leaders, or shamans, will then, in some cases, “chant the sacred traditional chants of the Seri people”.
Law enforcement led an arrest of Vidal after an 11-month inquiry. Police also arrested a relative of Vidal’s as well as an employee involved in the ritual on suspicion of manslaughter and crimes against public health.
While detectives did not specify, the arrests of a man and woman, aged 37 and 50, were made.
Vidal’s lawyer, Daniel Salvador, denied the porn star of more than 600 films’ role in the ritual, which investigators peg as shaman.
He told Spanish news agency EFE: “Nacho is very upset by the death of this person, but he considers himself to be innocent.
“With all due respect to the dead man and his family, Nacho maintains that the consumption [of the venom] was completely voluntary.”
