Young people get on Benadryl—and it’s always a bad time
There is a digit That might greet you during an intense Benadryl trip.
Faceless, cloaked in black with red eyes and a top hat, lurks ominously in a corner. Benadryl’s Man in the Hat is a common and recurring hallucination that people experience when taking dozens of antihistamines at the same time. Portrayed in Halloween costumes, POV-Benadryl travel memes, and Walmart graphic tees, the figure has become a symbol for 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 student on a trip to Benadryl, never saw the man in the hat. Still, he says, “I could see how that might happen [Benadryl] Digging deep into your brain to find whatever it is that scares you. “So, if you’re afraid of the man in the hat, I’m sure you’ll see the man in the hat.” This unpleasant search for self-revelation, while seemingly terrifying, is actually the purpose of recreational Benadryl use. (John does not want his real name to be used due to fear of his friends knowing.)
When used in high doses, diphenhydramine, one of the ingredients in Benadryl, acts as a class of hallucinogenic drug, which seems to be becoming increasingly popular among young people for non-medical purposes. Unlike psychedelics or other hallucinogenic substances, there is no real potential for a good trip in a psychedelic person. According to the people I spoke to, every trip is bad, every trip is brutal, and that’s the point.
In 2020, the “Benadryl Challenge” gained traction on TikTok, daring participants to take minimum doses of 12 Benadryl pills for an extreme trip. This trend, which reappears every few years, drew attention to the effects of hallucinogenic psychedelics. “I saw a video about it on TikTok once, so I knew it could be used for fun,” one user tells me.
With little or no harm reduction information on high levels of consumption, problems began to mount. In May 2020, three Texas teenagers were treated for Benadryl overdoses in just one week, one of whom was just 14 years old and took 14 pills. The 14-year-old recovered and returned home the next day. In August 2020, a 15-year-old died of a seizure after an overdose in Oklahoma. In September 2020, the FDA issued a warning to parents to hide and lock up their Benadryl supplies, warning of the potential risk of heart problems, seizures and, in rare cases, coma and even death. Despite the warnings, the trend seems to be continuing. In 2020, 4,618 cases were reported to US poison centers for Benadryl use. According to a study published in 2023, this number will reach 5,960 in 2023. Pediatric open science In August, Benadryl, and the likes in general, have established themselves as staples on the fringes of American youth—a cheap and easy way to get high. WIRED has reached out to Benadryl’s maker, Kenvue, for comment. A spokesperson for the company said: “This behavior is extremely concerning and dangerous” and encouraged consumers to “read and follow label directions carefully and contact their healthcare professional if they have any questions.”
John began taking Benadryl recreationally in November 2024, when he was 20 years old, after using it to sleep and then hearing about its potential for online travel. He was depressed at the time and took 12 pills, several times a day, for a long trip that lasted four to six hours. Instead of the man in the hat, John saw eyelash mites, tiny bugs that form in clusters at the base of your lashes, along with “shadows that shine all over your lashes.” The trips were also tactile. John saw and felt spiders all over his body, describing a “tingling” sensation.
