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Conspiracy file · Seat of the soul since 1649

Pineal Gland

A tiny pine-cone-shaped gland deep in the brain that makes melatonin, the hormone that tracks day and night. Descartes called it the principal seat of the soul, and mystics still call it the third eye.

Also known as Third eye · Epiphysis cerebri · Conarium · Seat of the soul

On the recordTimelineFrom the comicsIn Paranoid American comicsSources & further reading

Pineal Gland, a panel from a Paranoid American comic
From Time Samplers #3

The story

The pineal gland sits near the center of the brain and is about the size of a grain of rice. Its name comes from the Latin pinea, pine cone, after its shape. It takes light-and-dark signals from the eyes and releases melatonin at night, helping to set the body's daily rhythms.

It has always attracted philosophers. Galen thought it held up the brain's veins. René Descartes called it the principal seat of the soul, where all our thoughts are formed. In the late 1800s Helena Blavatsky, founder of Theosophy, tied it to the third eye of Hindu tradition. And in some lizards and the tuatara, a related "parietal eye" on top of the head really does sense light.

The modern theory has two halves. One says the gland makes DMT, the psychedelic, and with it dreams, visions and near-death experiences; psychiatrist Rick Strassman popularized the idea in 2000. The other says the gland is under attack: fluoride, vaccines and modern life are calcifying it on purpose to keep people docile. Pineal calcification is real and common. The purpose is the theory.

Memorandum for the recordSubject: Pineal Gland

On the record

  1. It is about 5 to 8 mm long and weighs about a tenth of a gram.
  2. It turns light signals from the eyes into melatonin: high at night, low by day.
  3. Aaron Lerner's team at Yale isolated and named melatonin in 1958.
  4. Calcium deposits, called corpora arenacea or "brain sand", build up with age and show on X-rays; doctors use them as a landmark.
  5. A 2001 study of 11 elderly cadavers by Jennifer Luke found fluoride concentrated in calcified pineal tissue. It measured buildup, not harm.
  6. In 2019 University of Michigan researchers measured DMT in rat brains at levels similar to serotonin, with or without a pineal gland.
  7. In some lizards and the tuatara, a light-sensing "parietal eye" forms together with the pineal.

The theory

  • The pineal is a dormant third eye that, once awakened, can perceive other dimensions.
  • Some versions say, after Rick Strassman, that it floods the brain with DMT at birth, in dreams and at death.
  • Fluoridated water, vaccines and chemtrails are designed to calcify it and keep the population docile.
  • The elite keep their own glands healthy and save enlightenment for themselves.

Timeline

  1. 2nd centuryGalen describes the gland and decides it supports the brain's veins
  2. 1649Descartes's The Passions of the Soul calls it the principal seat of the soul
  3. 1888Helena Blavatsky ties the pineal to the third eye in The Secret Doctrine
  4. 1945Grand Rapids, Michigan, becomes the first city to fluoridate its water
  5. 1958Aaron Lerner's team at Yale isolates melatonin
  6. 1990Rick Strassman begins giving volunteers DMT at the University of New Mexico
  7. 2000Strassman's DMT: The Spirit Molecule popularizes the pineal-DMT idea
  8. 2001A study finds fluoride concentrated in aged, calcified pineal glands
  9. 2019DMT is measured in rat brains, with or without a pineal gland

From the comics

Panels straight from the page. Click one to read it full size.

From Time Samplers #3: Dignity Colony · Page 14

The Attack on the Pineal Gland

Dr. Vodnar gives the crew a crash course on the pineal gland, then on the Council's plan to keep it from ever developing. The gland is real, and so is the "brain sand". The Council, the extra dimensions and the master plan are the theory.

The Attack on the Pineal Gland, 1 of 5
The Attack on the Pineal Gland, 2 of 5 The Attack on the Pineal Gland, 3 of 5
The Attack on the Pineal Gland, 4 of 5
The Attack on the Pineal Gland, 5 of 5
  1. One of three: the pineal sits near the pituitary and the hypothalamus, the brain's other hormone centers. "Pineal" is from the Latin pinea, pine cone; the gland is 5 to 8 mm long, about the size of a grain of rice, and its known job is making melatonin at night.
  2. Brain sand: real. Calcium deposits called corpora arenacea build up in the pineal with age and show up on X-rays. Heavy calcification may affect how the gland works, which researchers are still studying.
  3. Fluoridated water: a 2001 study of 11 elderly cadavers by Jennifer Luke found fluoride concentrated in calcified pineal glands. It measured buildup, not harm; what it means for the living gland is unproven.

Get the evidence

In Paranoid American comics

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