The “God Helmet” refers to a technology developed by Dr. Michael Persinger and Stan Koren that can induce mystical sensations by directing magnetic fields to the right temporal lobe.

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Dr. Michael Persinger was a cognitive neuroscientist at Laurentian University in Sudbury, ON, Canada. Over one thousand people have used The God Helmet and ~80% report feeling a “sensed presence” or sensation of something “else” in the room while using the device.

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A plethora of spiritual, religious, and other mystical experiences have been reported whilst using the apparatus. Some report having communication with God or dead relatives. Others report the presence of demons, the sensing of extraterrestrials, visions of an infinite void, out-of-body experiences, seeing patterns of light, or the sensation of nothing at all.

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The original design in Persinger’s lab was actually developed using an ugly snowmobiling helmet, bumblebee yellow, with black racing stripes. It used two solenoids to stimulate the right hemisphere with physiologically patterned magnetic fields.

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Herein we discuss the early experiments involving The God Helmet, Dr. Persinger’s theories on how the device may work, dive into current research on the subject and skeptics perspectives, and finally outline present day use of transcranial magnetic stimulation to treat various disease and ailments.

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What say you?