On the final night of shooting in Nova Scotia, one or more criminals mixed the dissociative hallucinogen PCP (angel dust) into the clam chowder served to the cast and crew. 80 people were taken ill, and more than 50 were taken to the hospital (87-year-old Gloria Stuart was fortunately spared because she had dined elsewhere). Initially, shellfish poisoning was suspected, but when James Cameron noticed that one crew member was demanding to see a priest, the director of photography was leading a conga line, and the assistant director was talking to Cameron over a walkie-talkie while looking straight at him (she even stabbed him in the cheek with a pen when he brought this up to her), he realized that the chowder had been spiked with hallucinogenic drugs. In absence of a purging agent, he forced himself to vomit before the drug took full effect; his blood-shot eyes afterwards frightened other crew members into thinking that it was another side effect of the drug. Bill Paxton felt listless for two weeks after the incident (although PCP's primary effects only last a few hours, the drug itself can take eight or more days to completely metabolize out of the body). The culprit(s) were never caught; some disgruntled crew members who had been fired were suspected, but Cameron himself always believed that it was an ex-crew member who had had an argument with the caterer, and subsequently poisoned the chowder in an attempt to get the caterer fired as well.

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