In ancient Greece, mandrakes were sometimes used as an anesthetic for surgery. When soaked in vinegar or wine, they were also used as an aphrodisiac — a love potion that could invoke the spirit of the goddess Aphrodite, per Wired.
Ancient Hebrew civilizations also saw the mandrake as a potent and powerful plant and used it as a way to induce pregnancy in women. This belief stems from a reference to mandrakes in the Book of Genesis, which tells of how Rachel used mandrake berries to conceive a child, per Gardening Know How.
This connection between mandrakes and fertility carried over to medieval times, when women who wanted to get pregnant sometimes used to sleep with mandrakes under their pillows. During the Middle Ages, many people also saw mandrakes as good luck charms and carried them around to ward off ill fortune, according to Wired.
The mandrake is also shrouded in a variety of mysterious and macabre legends, including the myth that mandrakes, when pulled up from the ground, could emit a scream so loud it could kill whoever digs it up. According to Atlas Obscura, this myth may have been invented by medieval witches who wanted to discourage people from uprooting the plant, which they often used in potions, charms, and healing concoctions.
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