Young people stumble upon Benadryl, and it’s always a bad time

There is character Who may welcome you during your intense Benadryl journey.

A faceless figure, covered in black with red eyes and a top hat, lurks ominously in the corner. The Benadryl Hat Man is a common and recurring hallucination that people report seeing when taking dozens of antihistamines at a time. Depicted in Halloween costumes, POV-Benadryl trip memes, and graphic Walmart T-shirts, the figure has become a symbol of a new drug trend that sees young people deliberately taking large doses of the drug, not to stave off allergies, but to get high.

John, a 21-year-old college student who used to travel on Benadryl, had never seen the Hat Man. However, he says, “I could see how it could happen. It did happen.” [Benadryl] Dig deep into your mind to find what makes you afraid. So, if you’re afraid of the Hat Man, I’m sure you’ll see the Hat Man. This search for the unpleasant to reveal itself, as terrible as it sounds, is actually the purpose of recreational use of Benadryl. (John doesn’t want to use his real name for fear of his friends finding out.)

When used in high doses, diphenhydramine, a component of Benadryl, acts as a hallucinogen, a class of hallucinogenic drugs that appears to be becoming increasingly popular among young people for non-medical purposes. Unlike psychedelics or other hallucinogens, there is no real possibility of having a good trip with someone hallucinating. According to people I’ve talked to, every trip is bad, every trip is brutal, and that’s the point.

In 2020, the “Benadryl Challenge” gained popularity on TikTok, encouraging participants to take doses of at least 12 Benadryl pills on an intense ride. This trend, which resurfaces every few years, has drawn attention to the psychological effects of delirium. “I saw a video about it on TikTok once, so I knew it could be used for entertainment purposes,” one user told me.

With little or no harm reduction information readily available around high levels of consumption, problems are rising. In May 2020, three Texas teens were treated for Benadryl overdoses in just one week, one of whom was just 14 years old and had taken 14 pills. The 14-year-old recovered and went home the next day. In August 2020, a 15-year-old died of an epileptic seizure after a drug overdose in Oklahoma. In September 2020, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a warning to parents to hide and seal their Benadryl stash, warning of the potential risks of heart problems, seizures, coma, and, less commonly, even death. Despite the warning, this trend appears to have continued. In 2020, 4,618 cases were reported to US poison centers for Benadryl use; This number rose to 5,960 in 2023, according to a study published in the journal Pediatrics Open Science In August. Benadryl and raves in general have established themselves as staples on the fringes of American youth—a cheap and easy way to trap them. WIRED has reached out to the manufacturer of Benadryl Kenvue for comment. A company spokesperson stated, “This behavior is extremely concerning and dangerous,” and encouraged consumers to “read and follow label instructions carefully and contact their health care professional if they have questions.”

John began taking Benadryl recreationally in November 2024, when he was 20, after using it to sleep and then hearing about the possibility of taking a trip online. He was depressed at the time and was taking 12 pills on one big trip, several times a day, each trip lasting four to six hours. Instead of the Hat Man, John saw eyelash mites, tiny insects that form in clusters at the base of your eyelashes, along with “shadows that might dart across your perimeter.” The journeys were also tangible. John could see and feel spiders all over his body, describing the feeling as an “alarming tingling sensation.”