Is JK Rowling's brain actually full of black mould? An investigation

The rise and fall of Moldemort

Aug 07, 2024

One of the enduring mysteries of our times for the online community, is why a formerly beloved children’s author would throw her career and reputation down the drain purely so she can make the lives of LGBTQIA+ people marginally worse. Why a multi-millionaire who lives in a castle would spend her days tweeting transphobia and boosting Russian misinformation, instead of drinking cocktails on a sunny island or diving into a big pool of money. Why JK Rowling, the creator of Harry Potter, would end up being denounced by her own beloved boy wizard as a transphobe, due to all the unrepentant transphobia?

I’ve always believed there’s an Occams Razor answer to this question - it’s because she’s a mean spirited bigot, like many other mean spirited bigots before her, desperately using whatever flimsy pretence she can find to try and justify her gross views. She is the Anita Bryant of our times, and will be remembered as such. I guess the only mystery is the enduring conundrum of how people get radicalised into hate movements.

Or so I thought. Because maybe her brain is full of black mould spores that are making her so sick and crazy.

Why is everyone calling JK Rowling “Mouldemort”?

There’s a tension in journalism (which this article absolutely is, I can’t wait for my Walkley) about platforming and boosting the voices of people who have been radicalised into the far-right or into cults - but considering she has more followers than most mainstream media, it’s not really a case of “don’t give her oxygen”. Unfortunately she has more than enough oxygen already.

Speaking of oxygen rich spaces, a recent photo pulled directly from her Twitter by the delightful Twitter user Sam (@mushycrouton) seemingly shows the wizard terf sitting in a room that seems absolutely covered in black mould.

Joanne! Buy a dehumidifier!

honestly i hope it’s black mould because otherwise it’s criminally ugly wallpaper.

Like spores in the walls of a terf’s castle, the photo spread around the internet, and quickly became a meme. Twitter, and the internet in general, is always best when people jump on a joke.

And surely it’s a joke, right? A fun way to lightly dunk on an absolute monster?

But as an award-nominated journalist, I had to wonder - could it be mould, and if so, could mould turn someone into a bitter and detestable transphobe? And if it’s not mould, why did she almost immediately change her profile picture to a photo of a conspicuously mould-free room? So I decided to put on my little hat with says “press” on it, hit the streets (google), and investigate.

So is it black mould running up the walls or just horrible interior design?

Anecdotally, as a veteran of Sydney sharehouses I know black mould.

One sharehouse I lived in made me so sick and loopy that I ended up spontaneously moving to Melbourne. Sydneysiders only do that when they are VERY unwell! When I was moving out, I moved my bed away from the wall and found a rash of the stuff growing up the wall, growing closer and closer to my precious head (the cup where my brain lives). So I can say with pretty firm authority that it looked exactly like JK Moulding’s walls.

But I am not mould authority or a mycologist, so I hit the ground and hit up some contacts I have in science and academia. I had a couple of people say, off the record, that it certainly looks like mould, but wouldn’t feel comfortable being quoted. “What publication are you writing for again?” was a common question, followed by an awkward silence when I answered “it’s called Nonsense”.

I asked the science editor at my work and she said “I have work to do, Patrick”.

Most of my emails went unanswered. Some did respond, and seemed baffled by my questions.

My friend who is really good at foraging for magic mushrooms was the only one willing to go on the record, but she also is really good at foraging for magic mushrooms so I thought she might not really lend credibility to my piece.

Clearly, the science community are intimidated by Big Terf, and I’ll have to dig deeper for my pulitzer.

Can mould turn you transphobic?

We know that mould infestations have a profound effect on your health. As Professor of Public Health from Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa – Massey University, Jeroen Douwes writes for The Conversation:

“Inhaling mould fragments or spores can inflame the airways, causing nasal congestion, wheezing, chest tightness, coughing and throat irritation. Prolonged exposure to high levels of indoor dampness can reduce lung function and cause chronic health problems such as asthma. Those who already suffer from asthma and allergies are more likely to have more severe symptoms when exposed.”

And that’s just regular mould. The most infamous type of mould is “black mould” (Stachybotrys chartarum), which can grow on water-damaged building materials and produce toxic spores.

Professor Douwes also points out that research shows that people who live in damp and mouldy homes are also at increased risk of depression. To paraphrase Deux Moi, seems like a likely place to be depressed.

However, a 2020 study found that black mould inhalation can can elicit an immune response and have negative impacts on the brain, such as:

Inflammation in the hippocampus (an important memory centre)
Reduced neurogenesis (the growth of new brain cells)

Some of mould’s harmful effects on the brain are due to mycotoxin exposure, which are poisonous.

Research also shows that mould and mycotoxins may be a risk factor in Alzheimer’s disease. For example, one study suggests that a subtype of Alzheimer’s disease may be the result of exposure to mycotoxins and other toxic substances. My nan had alzheimers, but it didn’t make her transphobic.

In one study by the Environmental Health Center in Dallas, 100 participants were examined in an effort to uncover how exposure to mould that is toxic can affect the brain and lead to cognitive and emotional impairments.

After the mould exposure, nervous system challenges were observed in all 100 patients. In this study, brain scans identified abnormalities in a significant portion of the patients studied.

The science is clear - living for years in a mould infested room is essentially the equivalent of being hit by the brick thrown at Stonewall every day on repeat. Internet sleuths have found photos of the mouldy room going back to 2022 at least, meaning there’s at least a few years of mould poisoning. It also corresponds with a significant uptake in JK Rowling’s transphobic posting, and an increase in both vitriol and incoherence and “mask off” moments. You gotta remember that years ago, when she began “liking” transphobic and racist posts on Twitter, she declared that it was a “senior moment”.

So, I think we can conclude that if JK Rowling has been living in a mould infested castle for years, it could definitely have a significant impact on her cognitive functions, which could explain an increase in her obsession.

But what we can’t confirm is that mould CAUSED her transphobia. It was probably there all along - the mould probably just doesn’t help. Mould rarely helps, unless you are a cheese. JK Rowling is the farthest thing from a cheese that I know. I love cheese.

I’ve been here all along

While it’s fun to speculate about the mould corrupting Joanne’s brain, ultimately it doesn’t matter, because she’s such a toxic presence in the world in her own right. I was recently thinking about how I’ve been reporting on criticisms of JK Rowling by the LGBTQIA+ community since at least 2016, where she started grabbing at the pink dollar by declaring that Dumbledore was gay all along (but didn’t want to depict any icky gay kissing).

I’ve watched so many people in the terf movement essentially become radicalised into transphobia and homophobia because they can’t handle even a second of constructive criticism. And it’s wild - the queer community were OBSESSED with Harry Potter in the past, and were her most cringe and vehement soldiers. I remember some of the first trans friends I had back in 2003 would do a regular Harry Potter reading night.

Years ago when I was editing Junkee, I was working on a long form article (never released because I rage-quit and lost access to my email and the CMS) where I interviewed trans people who were getting their Harry Potter tattoos removed. I was flooded with case studies. One tattoo artist even told me they became known for specialising in converting Deathly Hallows symbols into other cool patterns.

I think it’s probably better to think of the black mould as a kind of metaphor for the misinformation and hate that keeps radicalising people into bigotry. It spreads in a similar way, and is goddamn ugly to look at.

After writing this article, I’m also leery of turning JK Rowling too much into a joke - the awful effect that her hatred has had on the trans community is very real, and the sway she has on British media and public is dangerous. She rubs shoulders with declared Nazis, misogynists and the far right. She’s sent flowers to, and expressed support for alleged abusers.

But at the same time, turning her into a figure of ridicule does also help diminish that power. Her recent doubling down on Olympic boxer Imane Khelif even earned her a negative article in right-wing tabloid nightmare The Sun, showing that she’s slowly hoisting herself by her own mouldy petard.

Besides - maybe we’re being too harsh on mould. Maybe she’s the toxic presence in the house, and the poor mould, desperate for light and air to propagate, is forced to absorb the angry sweat and furious breaths of a woman addicted to tweeting cringe. Maybe we’re watching a Last Of Us kind of prequel, where Joanne actually infects the mushrooms with her hate and bad detective novels, and they go mad and start killing people.

The scientists declined to comment on this theory too.

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