The mother of an 18-year-old woman has shared a disturbing video of her daughter appearing to be "possessed" after her drink was allegedly spiked during her first time in a nightclub.
Millie Taplin, a carer from Southend in Essex, England, was hospitalized for around four hours after she began to feel unwell while out with her friends at the MooMoo nightclub following the lifting of COVID restrictions in England, according to Your Southend.
Speaking to the local media organization, Taplin said that she was rushed to a hospital in the town after she became unable to walk or talk shortly after accepting a drink from a man who told her to "try this."
"I had a couple of sips, not a lot because it was a strong drink and I don't like strong drinks! I went back out to the smoking area with my friends and went back in about 10 minutes later," Taplin said about the incident.
"That's when I started to feel a bit sick. I started to feel really hot so I told my friends I need to go outside get some fresh air.
"I was sick in the alleyway opposite and that's when I couldn't see properly, I couldn't feel my hands. I knew that I wasn't right, I was trying to speak and was stuttering and mumbling."
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Doctors at a local hospital told Taplin's mother Claire that they believed her drink was spiked with two drugs, with "one to paralyse and one to knock her out," according to The Mirror.
Claire shared footage with Your Southend of Taplin in hospital, which showed the 18-year-old writhing around in her bed with her eyes wide open and her jaw and hands clenched.
Taplin's mother described witnessing her daughter in hospital as the "most disturbing sight of my daughter I have ever seen," as she told The Mirror that Taplin "looked possessed" and added: "She was completely frozen, her hands were like claws."
Claire said that she shared the video of her daughter in the hopes that it will raise awareness for other young women, saying: "If it saves just one person from this horrendous act then it was worth sharing this."
Speaking about the experience, Taplin said that the alleged drink spiking has made her think twice about going out in the future, saying: "I wouldn't wish the feeling upon anyone at all, I've never been so scared in my life," before adding: "It's a shame because no one should have to feel like that!"
In a statement to Newsweek, MooMoo Nightclub said that the venue urges "all customers to be present when their drink is ordered and that they do not leave it unattended.
"The alleged drink spiked appears to have been accepted from a person known to the lady affected and whilst it was not reported to us at the time, we are assisting the police who are dealing with the matter."
Incidents of drink spiking are common, as there were around 2,650 reports of drink spiking in England and Wales between 2015 and 2019, according to the BBC.
In a TikTok video posted in August 2020, Mell Hall from Toronto, Canada, showed how easy it is for someone to spike a drink, by spiking her own in a serious of demonstrations.
After demonstrating several techniques for slipping a drug into a drink, Hall explained how easy it was to learn the movements and said: "I feel really icky after doing that even if it wasn't real."
