Atropa belladonna, more commonly known as deadly nightshade, has had a number of uses over the millennia. Though highly poisonous even in modest doses—indeed, it has been used innumerable times precisely as a poison—with a highly controlled dose, the psychoactive alkaloids found in the plant can induce some of the most powerful hallucinations conceivable. Indeed, they are so powerful—one does not even know that he is hallucinating, unlike with most hallucinogenic compounds—that the “other world” into which one enters provides absolutely real, novel information about the world which humanity usually inhabits. 

One of the most often reported experiences with those who have gained some mastery over the use of belladonna is that of the Sentinels. 

One of the entheogenic alkaloids which induces the more profound altered states is scopolamine. The effect that scopolamine has on the normal capacity to perceive space, time, and the objects therein is nothing short of bizarre. Space and time as we know them are “folded,” with here and there, before and now and later, all intermingled, with the mind wandering with apparently total aimlessness. The things of everyday life often appear bizarre, or will cease to exist, or even never existed to begin with, despite the feeling that they were absolutely real only a moment before their disappearance. 

But by far the strangest and perhaps disconcerting phenomenon—that of the Sentinels—is also that which has yielded the most to serious study and inquiry, with their reality being now completely undisputed.

To the person under the influence of belladonna, the Sentinels appear as very large—usually described as being 10-12 feet tall, though sometimes substantially taller—absolutely black, vaguely humanoid entities. While their form is never completely definite, they are said to be “looking down” with dim, white eyes, at whatever it is below them. 

They do not move. Moreover, they are the only aspect of the hallucinatory experience which neither suddenly appears nor fades. In the hallucination—and from one experience to another—they always occupy the same places in which they were first observed. What has led to the widespread acceptance of the real existence of the Sentinels is that not only do the “stations” of the Sentinels remain fixed between experiences, the experiences of every person having engaged in the belladonna dreamscape has reported them having been in the exact same places. This is true even of those being taken to a place where they have never been, nor have they had any contact with anyone else who has encountered the Sentinels in that locale. All the reports agree and no account has yet been made of how this could be true, much less what it means—who or what the Sentinels are or represent.

There are a handful of places where the Sentinels commonly stand, or watch.

Next to doors which lead outside. At the edges of forest clearings. In the corners of rooms. Near the summits of mountains. Lake islands. But what is most interesting: Over beds and any place where people regularly sleep. This is, incidentally, the only exception to the rule that the Sentinels never move. They are never seen moving, yes, but if a bed is moved—even shifted slightly—the Sentinel who stands over it will next be found standing over the new location of the bed.