U.S. Traveler Passes Away During Shaman Ceremony in Peru

An American tourist has died after taking a hallucinogenic herbal tea at a spiritual retreat in the Peruvian Amazon.

Aaron Wayne Castranova, aged 41, passed away on Monday in Loreto, a region bordering Brazil, after consuming a trance-inducing brew during a spiritual ceremony. 

Narciso Lopez, the regional prosecutor’s forensic pathologist, reported that the tourist, believed to be from Alabama, experienced a ‘breakdown that led to his death.’ The brew, known as ayahuasca, caused a multi-organ response in his body.

The ceremony reportedly occurred at a hostel named La Casa de Guillermo ICONA within the indigenous community of Santa Maria de Ojeda, an area increasingly connected with ‘spiritual tourism’ in recent years. 

According to the hostel’s managers, Castranova failed to tell ceremony organizers that he was taking antibiotics. 

Ayahuasca, which Lopez warned can cause ‘not only death, but also permanent, irreversible damage’, is a concoction traditionally used by Indigenous cultures in the Amazon, often for spiritual and healing rituals. 

The bitter-tasting drink is made from the bark of a vine and the leaves of a bush found in the Amazon that contains N-N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT), a hallucinogenic.

Ayahuasca tourism in Peru has surged in recent years, with dozens of jungle retreats offering the traditional indigenous brew to visitors under the supervision of a guide or shaman.

An American tourist has died after taking ayahuasca  in the Peruvian Amazon

Amazonian tribes in South Americs use ayahuasca, or yage, as an important spiritual and medicinal tool

Many tourists seek the drug out because of its reputation as a way to help ease depression and other mental troubles. 

Amazonian tribes in South America use ayahuasca, or yage, as an important spiritual and medicinal tool. 

It is the same drug that Prince Harry admitted to taking to help him cope after the death of his mother Princess Diana, saying it ‘brought me a sense of relaxation, release, comfort, a lightness that I managed to hold on to for a period of time’.

The US Embassy in Peru recommends that American citizens visiting the South American nation should not ‘ingest or use traditional hallucinogenics’ such as ayahuasca. 

‘These dangerous substances are often marketed to travelers in Peru as ceremonial or spiritual cleansers. However, Ayahuasca is a psychoactive substance containing dimethyltryptamine (DMT), a strong hallucinogen that is illegal in the United States and many other countries,’ the US embassy website says.  

More than half of people who take the popular and potent psychedelic drug suffer from mental health problems related to their trip, data suggests. 

In addition, one in 10 need prolonged professional support. 

In some rarer cases, use of the plant can prove fatal due to its effect on the heart. 

The tragedy in Peru comes a year after a British mother died at a Bolivian retreat that specialises in the psychedelic drug. 

Social worker Maureen Rainford booked a ten-day stay in October 2024 at the Ayahuasca and San Pedro Pisatahua Retreat, an Amazon commune billed as a wellness and detox retreat. 

Social worker Maureen Rainford, 54, (pictured) booked a ten-day stay at the Ayahuasca and San Pedro Pisatahua Retreat, an Amazon commune billed as a wellness and detox retreat

Despite CPR efforts Ms Rainford died an hour she collapsed with a doctor not arriving until after, the family heard

The family of the mum-of-three, who paid £800 for the trip, stressed that she was fit and healthy ahead of the visit. 

Her daughter Rochel, 32, was told by a resort official named Eric that Ms Rainford suffered a ‘medical emergency’ while on site.

Others told her that her mother collapsed ten minutes after drinking the ayahuasca and she was complaining of feeling ill as her breathing and heart rate dropped.

Despite CPR efforts Ms Rainford died an hour after she collapsed with a doctor not arriving until after, the family heard. 

Despite the risks, interest in ayahuasca is rising.

Almost 4.5 million people reported using the drug in their lifetime, according to a report by the International Center of Ethnobotanical Education, Research and Service.

The group, a non-for-profit that explores the use of traditional indigenous medicines, also found 820,000 people globally tried the drug in 2019 alone, the latest figure available. 

In another shocking incident in the Loreto region of Peru last year, a Ukranian tourist killed and dismembered a Russian woman after taking ayahuasca.