Walter N. Pahnke M.D., Ph.D. (1931-1971) was a minister, physician, and psychiatrist who attended Harvard in the early 1960s. He earned an MD from Harvard Medical School

Harvard Medical School

Harvard Medical School is the graduate medical school of Harvard University. It is located in the Longwood Medical Area of the Mission Hill neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts....

, a BD (now MDiv) from Harvard Divinity School

Harvard Divinity School

Harvard Divinity School is one of the constituent schools of Harvard University, located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in the United States. The School's mission is to train and educate its students either in the academic study of religion, or for the practice of a religious ministry or other public...

, a PhD from Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences

Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences

The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences is the academic unit responsible for many post-baccalaureate degree programs offered through the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard University...

, and a Harvard psychiatric residency.
He was a psychedelic researcher at Harvard University

Harvard University

Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...

 and best known for the "Good Friday Experiment". This is also referred to as the Marsh Chapel Experiment

Marsh Chapel Experiment

The Marsh Chapel Experiment was run by Walter N. Pahnke, a graduate student in theology at Harvard Divinity School, under the supervision of Timothy Leary and the Harvard Psilocybin Project. The goal was to see if in religiously predisposed subjects, psilocybin would act as reliable entheogen...

 or the "Miracle of Marsh Chapel". On April 20, 1962 Pahnke conducted an experiment as part of his Ph.D. thesis in Religion and Society under his thesis advisors Timothy Leary

Timothy Leary

Timothy Francis Leary was an American psychologist and writer, known for his advocacy of psychedelic drugs. During a time when drugs like LSD and psilocybin were legal, Leary conducted experiments at Harvard University under the Harvard Psilocybin Project, resulting in the Concord Prison...

 and Richard Alpert. In this experiment, ten students from Andover Newton Theological School

Andover Newton Theological School

Andover Newton Theological School is a graduate school and seminary located in Newton, Massachusetts. It is America's oldest graduate seminary and the nation's first graduate institution of any kind...

 were given 30 mg psilocybin

Psilocybin

Psilocybin is a naturally occurring psychedelic prodrug, with mind-altering effects similar to those of LSD and mescaline, after it is converted to psilocin. The effects can include altered thinking processes, perceptual distortions, an altered sense of time, and spiritual experiences, as well as...

 and ten an active placebo

Active placebo

An active placebo is a placebo that mimics the common side effects of the drug under study.-Nomenclature:According to a 1965 paper, the term "fake placebo" was suggested in a 1959 paper published in German.-Example:...

 (niacin

Niacin

"Niacin" redirects here. For the neo-fusion band, see Niacin .Niacin is an organic compound with the formula and, depending on the definition used, one of the forty to eighty essential human nutrients.Niacin is one of five vitamins associated with a pandemic deficiency disease: niacin deficiency...

 - vitamin B₃) in a religious setting (a Good Friday

Good Friday

Good Friday , is a religious holiday observed primarily by Christians commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and his death at Calvary. The holiday is observed during Holy Week as part of the Paschal Triduum on the Friday preceding Easter Sunday, and may coincide with the Jewish observance of...

 service) to see whether entheogens could help facilitate a genuine religious experience. Nine out of ten of the students reported religious or mystical experiences while only one of ten in the placebo group reported the same. Among those who participated in the study were Leary and Huston Smith

Huston Smith

Huston Cummings Smith is a religious studies scholar in the United States. His book The World's Religions remains a popular introduction to comparative religion.-Education:...

, professor of philosophy at MIT and respected religious scholar.

In 1967, Pahnke joined the team at the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center in Spring Grove, Maryland, conducting psychedelic therapy sessions with LSD

LSD

Lysergic acid diethylamide, abbreviated LSD or LSD-25, also known as lysergide and colloquially as acid, is a semisynthetic psychedelic drug of the ergoline family, well known for its psychological effects which can include altered thinking processes, closed and open eye visuals, synaesthesia, an...

 and later DPT

Dipropyltryptamine

Dipropyltryptamine is a psychedelic drug belonging to the tryptamine family, first reported in 1973. It is found either as its crystalline hydrochloride salt or as an oily or crystalline base...

 with terminal cancer patients as well as people suffering from alcoholism and severe neurosis. There he worked with therapists Stanislav Grof

Stanislav Grof

Stanislav Grof is a psychiatrist, one of the founders of the field of transpersonal psychology and a pioneering researcher into the use of non-ordinary states of consciousness for purposes of analyzing, healing, and obtaining growth and insight into the human psyche...

, Bill Richards, and Richard Yensen among others and served as director of the project from 1967 until 1971. In 1971, Walter Pahnke died in a scuba diving accident in Maine.

Publications

• Drugs and Mysticism [PhD thesis] (1966)
• Drugs and Mysticism (1966)
• Implications of LSD and Experimental Mysticism (1966)
• LSD and Religious Experience (1967)
• The Psychedelic Mystical Experience in the Human Encounter With Death (1971)
• The Use of Music in Psychedelic (LSD) Psychotherapy (1972) with Helen Bonny
  Helen Bonny
  Helen Lindquist Bonny is a music therapist who developed "Guided Imagery and Music" often referred to as "GIM".Music therapist Kenneth Bruscia uses the following definition to describe Guided Imagery and Music:...