Mycology

Did you read that?

*Susan Blackmore, a psychologist based in Bristol, UK, is also reluctant to give up on the theory just yet. She has firsthand experience of Persinger's methods. "When I went to Persinger's lab and underwent his procedures I had the most extraordinary experiences I've ever had," she says. "I'll be surprised if it turns out to be a placebo effect."

She too thinks that the Swedish researchers may have used magnetic fields that varied subtly from those of Persinger. "But double-blind experiments will ultimately give us the final answer," she says.*

Persinger's work was reproduced in 2014.

Tinoca, Carlos A; Ortiz, João PL (2014). "Magnetic stimulation of the temporal cortex: a partial "God helmet" replication study". Journal of Consciousness Exploration & Research. 5 (3): 234–257.

The only "controversy" was a single Swedish group who did not follow the same protocol (why?) then claimed it was not reproducible. Persinger's work triggered a lot of religious people. He died in 2018. His central theory is that humans evolved a part of brain to deal with their own mortality when they evolved a certain level of intelligence.