For those wondering, these drawings are of “pink elephants”, alcohol induced hallucinations (elephants, spiders or other bugs, frogs and snakes were the most stereotypical depictions of the hallucinations). Homemade/bootleg alcohol could be very strong (not to mention unclean - the stills could become tainted by metal and prohibition officers reported finding things like rats floating in them). Because it was made on the sly it wasn’t always easy to tell how strong each batch might be, so alcohol poisoning wasn’t infrequent. Then there was the danger of methanol poisoning. While the “pink elephants” shown here were hallucinations seen while highly intoxicated, they were also (probably more so) associated with delirium tremens, which can come with withdrawal from sustained periods of alcohol abuse.
