History Main / PinealWeirdness

Because the human pineal gland is buried deep in the fleshy bits of the brain and was the last part of the endocrine system to be understood, it's picked up a bunch of mystical baggage. Often it's associated with telepathy and/or enlightenment; sometimes it's referred to as a "ThirdEye". To be fair, Wiki/TheOtherWiki does say that in nonmammal vertebrates the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pineal_gland pineal gland has cells similar to those in the retina]]. In some reptiles, fish, and amphibians, it even [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parietal_eye connects to an external opening and has light-sensing properties]] (which serve to regulate physiological day/night cycles rather than to perceive).

* Creator/ReneBarjavel's ''Le Voyageur Imprudent'' treats the matter slightly more realistically. In the far future, a subspecies of humanity that specializes in improved eyesight has three eyes on stalks. One of them is the pineal gland, which has (re)gained full functionality as a visual organ.

-->-- ''Literature/FearAndLoathingInLasVegas'' (TheFilmOfTheBook) on what supposedly happens if you eat an adrenal gland

The pituitary gland can also be used in a similar way, possibly because writers don't know the difference. Another option is the adrenal gland, especially as UrbanLegends claim that the psychoactive compound [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adrenochrome adrenochrome]] can be obtained only via adrenal glands extracted from a living victim (a myth that seems to have originated in Creator/HunterSThompson's ''Literature/FearAndLoathingInLasVegas''; see the page quote). Even cerebrospinal fluid is sometimes treated as a liquid equivalent, thanks to the vampiric implications and the chance to have victims of CSF-theft actually survive their loss.

* In ''Film/FearAndLoathingInLasVegas'', the protagonists convince a police officer that there's a plot to murder suburbanites for their adrenal glands. This later turns out to be true (sort of).

* ''Series/TheFlash''. Powers are a result of dark matter in the pituitary gland. A cure is developed which neutralizes this dark matter, and can remove the powers. Most powers are like this anyway, some like Caitlin Snow/Killer Frost have a different origin.

The pituitary gland can also be used in a similar way, possibly because writers don't know the difference. Another option is the adrenal gland, especially as UrbanLegends claim that the psychoactive compound [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adrenochrome adrenochrome]] can be obtained only via adrenal glands extracted from a living victim (a myth that seems to have originated with Creator/HunterSThompson's ''Literature/FearAndLoathingInLasVegas''; see the page quote). Even cerebrospinal fluid is sometimes treated as a liquid equivalent, thanks to the vampiric implications and the chance to have victims of CSF-theft actually survive their loss.

The pituitary gland can also be used in a similar way, possibly because writers don't know the difference. Another option is the adrenal gland, especially due to UrbanLegends claiming that the psychoactive compound [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adrenochrome adrenochrome]] can be obtained only via adrenal glands extracted from a living victim (a myth that seems to have originated with Creator/HunterSThompson's ''Literature/FearAndLoathingInLasVegas''; see the page quote). Even cerebrospinal fluid is sometimes treated as a liquid equivalent, thanks to the vampiric implications and the chance to have victims of CSF-theft actually survive their loss.

The pituitary gland can also be used in a similar way, possibly because writers don't know the difference. Another option is the adrenal gland, especially due to UrbanLegends claiming that the psychoactive compound [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adrenochrome adrenochrome]] can be obtained only via adrenal glands extracted from a living victim (a myth that seems to have originated with Creator/HunterSThompson's ''Literature/FearAndLoathingInLasVegas''; see the page quote above). Even cerebrospinal fluid is sometimes treated as a liquid equivalent, thanks to the vampiric implications and the chance to have victims of CSF-theft actually survive their loss.

-->-- ''Literature/FearAndLoathingInLasVegas'' (the movie), a description of what will happen if you eat a pineal gland

The pituitary gland can also be used in a similar way, possibly because writers don't know the difference. Even cerebrospinal fluid is sometimes treated as a liquid equivalent, thanks to the vampiric implications and the chance to have victims of CSF-theft actually survive their loss.

* In ''Film/FearAndLoathingInLasVegas'', the protagonists convince a police officer that there's a plot to murder suburbanites for their pineal glands. This later turns out to be true (sort of).

* A [[UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks Silver Age]] ''ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}'' story had her visiting the future in response to a call for help from the ComicBook/{{Legion Of Super-Heroes}} in ''ComicBook/ActionComics'' #287. To get her up to date on the pending crisis, they used a future-tech device to download the info into her "'Third Eye' pineal gland."

* A [[UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks Silver Age]] ''Comicbook/{{Supergirl}}'' story had her visiting the future in response to a call for help from the ComicBook/{{Legion Of Super-Heroes}} in ''ComicBook/ActionComics'' #287. To get her up to date on the pending crisis, they used a future-tech device to download the info into her "'Third Eye' pineal gland."

[[folder:Videogames]]
* In ''Videogame/KingdomOfLoathing'', there used to be a quest where you had to [[TwentyBearAsses collect the pineal glands]] of zombies to make a vaccine. Zombie Pineal Glands still have a purpose: they're a small but essential component of a ''literal'' NinjaPirateZombieRobot. The event ended a ''long'' time ago, and for a good while pineal glands were extremely expensive in the Mall. Eventually, the Item of the Month known as "the Deck of Every Card" gave players a way to fight zombies from the event, giving a new way for pineal glands to enter the Kingdom.
* Averted in the ''VisualNovel/{{Ever 17}}'' where there's a brief discussion of the pineal gland and how it relates to the third eye, but it's dismissed as nonsense. They even [[ShownTheirWork mention Descartes' theories about it and the evolutionary history of it as a light sensitive organ]].

* In ''VideoGame/{{Postal}}'': Apocalypse Weekend, when you go to the insane asylum, you find scrawlings within that detail plans to eat the inmates pineal glands with a fork. These show up in several areas, so its not quite clear whether the inmates, the staff, or both were planning on harvesting the inmates.
* ''Videogame/TeamFortress2'':

* In ''Webcomic/{{Spinnerette}}'', all SuperEmpowering [[{{Macguffin}} Cherenkov-Kirby reactors]] are made from the pineal gland of Doctor Zhang, aka Ultra, the first superhero.

[[folder:Comicbooks]]

--> While boxing gloves were made to cushion your well-placed uppercuts, steel fists were made to beat the snot out of your enemies' pineal glands. "What are pineal glands?", you might ask! We at Mann Co have no idea ourselves, but what we do know is that these babies are made of freaking steel!

* The pineal gland is implied to be the source of superpowers in ''Series/{{Heroes}}''; it's also implied to be what Sylar goes after when he opens up his victims' skulls.

[[folder:Real Life]]
* Descartes claimed the pineal gland was the connection between the mind and the body; this is probably the TropeMaker (as well as CompletelyMissingThePoint of the problem he was trying to solve). There has been some debate about whether he actually thought this, or was simply giving it as an entirely arbitrary answer to the continual questions of a particularly obnoxious princess he was tutoring.
* The pineal gland was the last endocrine gland to be "explained", so TruthInTelevision.
* Some fish, amphibians, and reptiles have an actual [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parietal_eye third eye]] associated with the pineal gland. They probably can't see much, though.
[[/folder]]

* In the SF short story ''The Rose'' by Charles L. Harness, the two protagonists (a ballerina/opera singer and a composer) "suffer" from an odd form of cancer: their pineal glands grow rather impressively, forming a pair of "horns" which curve around and over the brain before bursting out of the skull (but not skin) at the temples. They also get a kind of hunchback from a tumour that appears to contain brain tissue [[spoiler:it does, and if the skin over it gets split, [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything it can engorge and tumesce from blood flow]], although this may kill the person in question]]. They get a weird kind of projective telepathy apparently based on musical and colour theory, and spot patterns that no-one else can see.

* In the ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'' episode "Film/TheLeechWoman", the pineal gland can be pierced with a small implement (killing the victim, of course) and its secretions mixed with a flower pollen to induce [[FountainOfYouth artificial de-aging]].

The human pineal gland's accepted function is to produce melatonin, a hormone that helps to regulate sleeping patterns, plus a tiny amount of antioxidant. Mess with the thing, and the most you'll get as a result is insomnia, not ESP.

-->-- ''Literature/FearAndLoathingInLasVegas'' (the movie), a description of what will happen if you eat a pineal gland.

* This is a running gag in ''Series/TheMiddleman'':
** A minor character gets his pineal gland surgically removed and gains the ability to see and hear ghosts.

* "The Stolen Body" by Creator/HGWells posits the pineal gland as a point of contact between the world of embodied humans and disembodied spirits.

* An alien version occurs on ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' in which an alien psychopath was born with a detached equivalent of the pineal gland, leaving him prone to violent behavior. This changes when the Doctor treats him for head injuries sustained in a NoHoldsBarredBeatDown and accidentally reattaches the gland in question, triggering an immediate HeelFaceTurn.

Today, scientists like [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Strassman Rick Strassman]] theorize that the [[ThisIsYourPremiseOnDrugs dimethyltryptamine]] naturally present in the human body [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dimethyltryptamine#Speculation may originate from the pineal gland]] and be responsible for dreaming.

* René Barjavel's ''Le Voyageur Imprudent'' treats the matter slightly more realistically. In the far future, a subspecies of humanity that specializes in improved eyesight has three eyes on stalks. One of them is the pineal gland, which has (re)gained full functionality as a visual organ.

** If you have trouble activating your Pineal, try the appendix which works almost as well.

* In the [[Creator/HPLovecraft Lovecraftian]] movie ''Film/FromBeyond'', the mad scientist stimulates his pineal gland, allowing him to see into other dimensions. Freshly put to use, it grows to the extent that it pops out of his head on a stalk. To the further amusement of anyone familiar with brain anatomy, as the stalk extends in front, yet the pineal gland is near the ''back'' of the human brain.

* A [[UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks Silver Age]] {{Superman}} comic had Superman exposed to radiation that caused his pineal gland to develop into a literal third eye. Of course, this was ''exactly'' what he needed to defeat the villain.
* A [[UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks Silver Age]] ''Comicbook/{{Supergirl}}'' story had her visiting the future in response to a call for help from the ComicBook/LegionOfSuperHeroes. To get her up to date on the pending crisis, they used a future-tech device to download the info into her "'Third Eye' pineal gland."

* In the [[Creator/HPLovecraft Lovecraftian]] movie ''Film/FromBeyond'', the mad scientist stimulates his pineal gland, allowing him to see into other dimensions. Freshly put to use, it grows to the extent that it pops out of his head on a stalk. To the further amusement of anyone familiar with brain anatomy, as the stalk extends in front, yet the pineal gland is near the ''back'' of the human brain. (The pineal gland is the organ of enhanced perception in the original story, too, though without the popping-out-from-the-forehead bit.)

* In Creator/HPLovecraft's story ''From Beyond'', a MadScientist creates a machine which stimulates the pineal gland, allowing humans to see ''really clearly''. Apparently "fresh air" and "blue sky" are made out of amoeba-like monstrosities, and some unspeakable, unseen things stalk other lifeforms, and consume them into nothingness in seconds. This is the main risk for humans who open their eyes into this true reality, because what's actually going on is that they're seeing into normally-invisible dimensions that intersect with ours. The danger is that people who gain the ability to see into those dimensions also [[OhCrap become visible to the things that live there]].