FIELD NOTES FROM THE VERSE
Sourced guides on mushroom history and science, psilocybin research, strain names and Toronto’s psychedelic past. Browse by topic.
COVER STORY · 15 MIN READ
What is baeocystin? Where it was first found, how it and norbaeocystin lead to psilocybin, what animal studies show, and why the entourage effect is unproven.
15 MIN READThe Good Friday Experiment: what Walter Pahnke’s 1962 Marsh Chapel study measured, and what it left out
14 MIN READThe Harvard Psilocybin Project: Leary, Alpert, the Concord prison study and the 1963 dismissals
12 MIN READHollywood Hospital in New Westminster: J. Ross MacLean’s private LSD therapy program and what the records showTHE JOURNAL, AS A NIGHT SKY
One constellation per topic. Start at the bright centre star, the topic’s guide, then wander out. Every star is an article.
DMT 73 articles
Mushrooms: history and science 24 articles
Mushroom names and species 23 articles
Psilocybin research 19 articles
Law and policy in Canada 12 articles
Safety and risk 20 articles
Therapy and legal access 10 articles
FROM THE JOURNAL · 15 MIN READ ·
What is baeocystin? Where it was first found, how it and norbaeocystin lead to psilocybin, what animal studies show, and why the entourage effect is unproven.
FROM THE JOURNAL · 15 MIN READ ·
The Good Friday Experiment of 1962: how Walter Pahnke’s Marsh Chapel study was designed, what it measured, and what Rick Doblin’s 1991 follow-up uncovered.
FROM THE JOURNAL · 14 MIN READ ·
The Harvard Psilocybin Project, 1960–63: how Leary and Alpert began, what the Concord prison study really showed, and why Harvard dismissed Alpert in 1963.
FROM THE JOURNAL · 12 MIN READ ·
Hollywood Hospital LSD therapy in New Westminster, BC: J. Ross MacLean’s private program, Al Hubbard’s role, the fees, the published claims and how it ended.
FROM THE JOURNAL · 14 MIN READ ·
How many psilocybin mushroom species are there? Counts run from about 45 chemically confirmed to 300-plus listed. Why Guzmán, Deconica and DNA studies differ.
FROM THE JOURNAL · 13 MIN READ ·
Johns Hopkins psilocybin research from 2006 to today: the mystical-experience, cancer, smoking and depression studies, their sample sizes and their critics.
SERIES AND GUIDES
A sourced history of the city, 1963–2026, from Yorkville’s coffee houses to the museum.
Documentaries on the stories behind mushroom names: what’s documented, what’s legend and what’s unknown.
Every guide is dated and sourced. Start with the subject you are curious about.
Harm-reduction basics, and who to call for help in Toronto and Ontario, day or night.
Our guides retold in a few full-screen pages each, made to tap through on a phone.
THE JOURNAL, BY EMAIL
New Journal articles and films, about twice a month. No product promotions.
