This chapter is excerpted from the book, Synchornized Universe, by Dr. Claude Swanson.
"A controlled out-of-body experience is the most efficient means we know to create a Different Overview. First, and perhaps most important, among these Knowns is survival of physical death. If there is a better way than the OBE of knowing that this takes place - not just hoping, having faith, or believing, but knowing - we are unaware of it." --Robert Monroe, in "The Ultimate Journey" (Monroe, 1994)
"Thousands, if not millions, of people alive today have had the experience of existing outside the space of their physical bodies for a brief period and experiencing this separated state as real, not as a dream or imaginary experience. A typical consequence of such an out-of-body experience is on the order of 'I no longer believe that I have a soul, or that some part of me will survive death, I know it!'" -- Dr. Charles Tart (Rogo, 1983)
"As predicted, the average strain-gauge activation level for the period immediately following target generation -- that is, when the subject was reportedly 'looking' at the target -- was significantly higher for trials which were hits than for trials which were misses...The average activation levels over all eight sampling periods showed a significantly higher degree of activation on occasions when hitting occurred... Therefore, it is our opinion that the results can most likely be attributed to the subject's OB [out-of-body] presence in the shielded chamber." -- Dr. Karlis Osis and Dr. Donna McCormick (Osis, 1980)
DEFINITION: OUT-OF-BODY EXPERIENCE, also called OOB, OBE, and "ASTRAL TRAVEL." Refers to the experience in which the conscious awareness of the individual is no longer located in the physical body. Often, the individual recalls looking back and seeing his body from outside. During the OBE, the "person" i.e. the consciousness, can move almost instantly anywhere in the world, simply by willing it. In genuine OBEs, the astral body can pass through walls and floors, bringing back detailed information. Usually invisible, the person during astral travel sometimes is seen as a ghost, a shadow figure, or a small rapidly moving "orb."
Proof of the Physical Reality of the OBE
During an out of body experience, the consciousness can seemingly move at will. It gives the impression to the experiencer that it is moving freely to various locations at high speed. When the subject sets his intention, his consciousness immediately seems to go to the place of interest. It is able to fly and to pass through walls. Loved ones can be visited, or new places can be investigated. The ability to move effortlessly at high speed, through barriers, while invisible, makes the out-of-body experience an attractive topic for study by military intelligence. But is it real? Is there really "something" that goes to these places?
Several experiments have been performed to answer this question. Mitchell (Mitchell, 1981; Carrington, 1975) describes the experiments of Dutch scientists who weighed the physical body before, during and after subjects began an OBE. They found an average weight loss of 2 ¼ ounces for the subject during the OBE. This is very similar to the findings of MacDougall (MacDougall, 1907) who weighed patients before and after the moment of death and found a weight loss of a little over one ounce. The weight loss occurred suddenly at about the moment of death. This supports the idea that there is a physical energetic component to the part of the body which travels during an OBE.
Most convincing of all are experiments in which, during a remote viewing session, a strange "energy" was detected at the target which was being remote-viewed. This unexplained energy has been detected by the weak light it gives off, by its effect on strain gauges, and by its effects on animals and people in the vicinity. These important experiments verify that the out-of-body state is something "real" and is associated with an unknown form of energy which apparently travels outside the body and is detectable by physical sensors. These experiments are described below. The PRC and SRI Experiments
The astral body is one name for the energetic component which is believed to be the center of consciousness, which leaves the body during an out-of-body experience. The hypothesis is that, when a psychic subject attempts to "remote view" a target, he does this by sending his astral body, his center of consciousness, to the desired target. A number of experiments have been done to attempt to detect this astral body during remote viewing sessions. They have apparently achieved initial success.
Figure 10.1. In experiments conducted in the People's Republic of China, and replicated by Hubbard et al. (Hubbard, 1986) a remote viewer attempted to view a target placed very near to a photomultiplier tube. Such a tube is able to detect very small amounts of light. The remote viewing target was kept in the dark, so small amounts of light could be measured. The Chinese used characters from their alphabet as the target. Hubbard used a 35 mm slide of a scene. The data monitor measures the light output at the target. It was found that, when the remote viewer was accurately describing the target, anomalous pulses of light were measured in its vicinity.
In 1982, scientists in the People's Republic of China (PRC, 1982; Yonjie, 1982) reported a remarkable scientific result. They used some of their highly talented remote viewers to attempt to view a small target, a Chinese alphabet character. These remote viewers were said to have "exceptional vision," and therefore were probably some of the "EHF" young people we encountered in Chapters 2 and 3. Most Western remote viewers have difficulty identifying letters of the alphabet, but the Chinese viewers reportedly were able to do it.
The unique aspect of the experiment was that the target was monitored at all times by a sensitive photomultiplier tube. This is a device which can measure very small amounts of light. The Chinese discovered that, at the times when the remote viewer said he was "looking" at the Chinese letter, and identified it correctly, at those moments they measured unexplained light being emitted from the vicinity of the target.
The photomultiplier tube and the target were shielded in a light-tight compartment away from the remote viewer. The layout of the experiment is sketched in Figure 10.1. When successful remote viewing was occurring, light pulses were observed in the vicinity of the target. They were between 100 and 1,000 times greater in intensity than the background noise. This amounts to as many as 15,000 counts for the largest pulses seen.
Such large, relatively bright pulses indicate the presence, at the target, of some anomalous form of energy. When it is present, it causes a large pulse of energy or light which is measured by the photomultiplier.
This indicates than, when the viewer is able to place the center of his consciousness at the target, so he can describe it, at that time strong energy pulses of some unknown form are measured at the target. Presumably this unknown energy is associated with the consciousness, the OBE or "astral form," of the remote viewer.
An American group of scientists attempted to duplicate the experiment (Hubbard, 1986). They used a very high quality photomultiplier tube and a 35 mm slide of a scene, instead of a Chinese character, as the target. They received excellent results, with probabilities of detection far exceeding chance. Therefore it can be said that they reproduced the effect. However, their signals were not as strong as those measured by the Chinese. The strongest pulses they measured were only 20 to 40 times larger than the noise level. An example of their results is shown in Figure 10.2, below.
As with the Chinese experiment, they counted pulses of light emitted during periods of accurate remote viewing, and compared it to periods when there was no remote viewing or when the viewer was not describing the target accurately. This is shown in the lower plot in the graph. The bar graph at the bottom of Figure 10.2 shows the times when remote viewing was occurring, and the gaps show when it was not occurring. The upper curve shows the intensity of light measured at the target.
A large pulse is seen toward the end of a run. It occurred during a period of successful remote viewing. This pulse is much larger than the noise, and has no conventional explanation. The most likely explanation is that it is caused by the presence of some anomalous form of energy, most likely the astral body of the remote viewer, which is hovering very near the target at this moment.
Hubbard et al. concluded:
"When remote viewing was good, there was an increase in the signal detected by the photon counting system. When the viewing was less accurate, a smaller signal was detected by the counting system." (Hubbard, 1986)
In trying to understand why the results were not as good as the Chinese, they suggested two possibilities: first, that the Chinese remote viewers are better, since they are the product of a systematic, open, nationwide sweep for talented remote viewers; second, by using a slide photograph of a scene instead of a Chinese character, the remote viewer might send his consciousness to the actual site depicted in the photograph. This often happens in remote viewing, and would greatly diminish the measured signal at the photomultiplier.
Hubbard's group also suggested that the large pulses might be due to anomalous energy inside the tube. In that case, the anomalous OBE energy form would not have to give off light, but might just affect the electrons inside the photomultiplier tube. In either case, some form of unusual, anomalous energy is present near the target when remote viewing occurs.
Figure 10.2. Hubbard replication of the highly successful Chinese experiments in measuring light emitted at the target during OBE/remote viewing. (Hubbard, 1986)
The Osis - Tanous Experiment
Drs. Karlis Osis and Donna McCormick (Osis, 1980) conducted a series of OBE experiments in which the subject, a gifted psychic named Alex Tanous, was asked to remote view a specially designed target. The target consisted of several displaced pieces, which would only line up to form an image when seen from a particular location. This required that he move his astral body into an exact location in order to "see" the target. There was a special viewing window at that location. Optical devices and strain-gauge sensors were placed near the window to measure any unusual physical phenomena which might occur during the session. The room in which the target and strain gauge sensor were located was sealed off, and it was verified that, during normal operation, there were no disturbances of the sensor.
The remote-viewing target was protected in a chamber which was shielded to prevent any stray electrical interference. The layout is shown below in Figure 10.3. The remote viewer, who would attempt to go out-of-body, remained in one room fully wired to sensors which recorded his physical and brain-wave activity. The researchers monitored the experiment from a second room, and the target and strain gauge sensors were kept in a third, sealed room as can be seen in the diagram.
The strain gauge sensors consisted of two metal plates suspended from a plexiglas rod, inside a double shielded container. The strain gauges connect the hanging metal plates with the horizontal plastic rod, as can be seen in Figure 10.4. Any slight disturbance of the metal plates will cause a signal on the strain gauges. This box was placed next to the target, which is labeled "optical image device" in Figure 10.4. The idea was that if the remote viewer, Tanous, does come near the optical image device, his astral body, or "consciousness," will pass near the strain gauge sensor and disturb it.
The important control on the experiment was that Tanous had no idea what the target looked like. It also was changed at various times. The researchers, Osis and McCormick, could evaluate whether Tanous' OBE was "real" or not by how accurately he described the target. What they discovered, and this is highly significant, is that, when he was describing the target accurately, there were many more disturbances of the strain gauge sensor. These results are shown in Figure 10.5 and 10.6.
Figure 10.3. Physical layout of the Osis-Tanous experiment, showing floor plan of the laboratory. The OBE subject, Alex Tanous, was located in an isolated, sound-attenuating room on one end of the building (shown at far right). The optical image device, to which he attempted to "go" in the out-of-body state and view, is on the opposite end of the building, shown at far left in the diagram. Also there are the strain gauge sensors, in a motion-isolated shielded cage. During successful OBEs, the strain gauges indicted that some physical energy force passed into the chamber, disturbing the strain sensors.
The correlation of a strain gauge signal with Tanous’ correct answers indicated that "something" approached the target window at the times when the viewing information was correct. The optical sensors showed that this "something" was invisible. Yet the strain gauge sensors indicate that it had electrical properties or was able to induce mechanical disturbances. This suggests that the "astral body" has detectable physical attributes, even though it is usually invisible to humans.
We have testimony from many sources (Targ, 1984) of a small sphere or "orb" which is sometimes seen during OBEs. We have the measured weight loss of an ounce or two during the OBE (Mitchell, 1981; MacDougall, 1907). And we have indications from strain-gauge sensors that electrical and/or mechanical disturbances occur (Osis, 1975) when the "astral body" is nearby. The similarity in physical characteristics between this astral or "soul body," and the orbs witnessed in ghostly hauntings is remarkable. In both cases, orbs are seen which move rapidly. In both cases anomalous electro-mechanical effects are observed. We have indications that both objects have physical mass of one or two ounces. In some cases the OBE form is seen as a pale or white human figure, and at other times as a moving orb. It is reasonable to suspect that this energetic form, seen in OBE cases, in remote viewing experiments, and in ghostly hauntings, is probably the same thing.
Figure 10.4. Conceptual interpretation of the Osis-Tanous experiment. During an OBE there were physical measurable disturbances in the strain-gauge sensors. These disturbances occur near the optical target, which the subject, Tanous, was describing at the time. The strain gauge detector is shown at left. The outer box of the detector was shielded against electromagnetic disturbances, and suspended from the ceiling by elastic bands to reduce vibration. Two sensor plates were suspended inside, attached by strain gauges to a horizontal wire. Any disturbance inside the chamber would cause the sensor plates to move slightly, and this would generate a signal on the strain gauges, and be displayed on the chart recorder.
Figure 10.5. Results of the Osis-Tanous experiment. Graphs show activation of the strain gauges in the vicinity of the OBE target. When the viewer, Tanous, was unable to see the target accurately ("miss") there was less activation of the strain gauges. When he was able to accurately "see" and describe the target ("hit"), then the strain gauges were disturbed more strongly and more often. The disturbance of the strain gauges was greatest of all immediately after the target was generated and Tanous was told to go look at it.
Figure 10.6. If we consider the strain gauge signals during a target "miss" as due to random noise, then this may be subtracted from the strain during a target "hit". This graph summarizes this result, derived from the data in Figure 10.5. There were more strain gauge signals at all times during hits versus misses. This suggests that Tanous' astral body, or OBE body, was present in the vicinity of the target even before the image was generated. However, immediately after the image was generated, at time zero in the center of the chart, the number of strain gauge hits goes up dramatically. This is consistent with Tanous' astral body being in proximity with the remote viewing target.
Figure 10.4 depicts a conceptual explanation for these results. The results are consistent with the conclusion that, during a remote viewing session, as Tanous attempts to view the target from the special designated position; some energetic part of him leaves his body and is present at the target viewing location. The special target designed by Osis and McCormick can only be properly interpreted when it is viewed from a particular position. Therefore the "hit” data requires that Tanous' awareness must be located at that precise position.
Recall, from Figure 10.3, above, that Tanous' body is at one end of the laboratory complex resting in a chair and fully instrumented with electrodes. The target he is describing is at the opposite end of the laboratory, many rooms away, in a sealed room and a sealed container. Therefore, when we say Tanous must "view" the target from a certain spot within the container, we are saying that his OBE form, his astral form, must do this. His body is far away, unable to move, and unable to gain access to the room in which the viewing target and strain gauge sensors are found.
Therefore it appears that there is an energetic manifestation near the OBE target at the time the target is being observed. This supports the conclusion that there is an energetic "substance" or "structure" which goes out-of-body and goes to the vicinity of the target at the time the target is being viewed. This is similar to Ingo Swann’s performance in Chapter 3, when he "placed his consciousness" inside a highly shielded secure magnetometer at the Stanford Research Institute. In that experiment, the magnetometer itself showed Swann’s presence. Swann’s body was on an upper floor of the building, being supervised by Hal Puthoff. The magnetometer was in the basement immersed in many layers of shielding and a bath of supercold liquid Helium. But it did stop Swann from projecting his conscious down into the device.
The Morris-Harary Experiments
One way to overcome the subjective aspect of the OBE is to avoid using humans as observers. Robert Morris, (Morris, 1978) among others, devised experiments which used a kitten to detect when an OBE was occurring. The kitten belonged to Dr. Keith Harary, a well-known psychic researcher who also has a talent for going out of body at will. The kitten had shown a strong affinity for Harary, and it was thought that perhaps it might be sensitive to his out-of-body presence, as well. There is abundant anecdotal evidence that felines are able to detect OBEs.
A very talented natural psychic as well as a parapsychologist, Harary has authored several books about his experiences, including Mind Race with Russel Targ (Targ, 1984). In the North Carolina experiments, his respiration, heart rate and other parameters were monitored while he entered the out-of-body state.
The kitten was placed in an open box enclosure measuring 30 inches by 80 inches on the sides, with walls three feet high. (see Figure 10.7) The floor of the box was marked off into 10-inch squares. The motions of the kitten, as well as its vocalization (meowing), were recorded. A record was kept whenever the kitten moved from one square to another, based on the rule that two front paws in a square counts as being in the square.
Figure 10.7. Artist's impression of the Harary kitten experiment. One kitten belonging to Harary was placed in a special box in the field. Harary was a half-mile away inside a laboratory, and was instrumented to monitor his physiological state. During Harary's OBEs he attempted to visit the kitten. Its behavior changed significantly during those periods when his physiological measurements indicated he was "out-of-body" and attempting to visit the kitten.
Figure 10.8. During the Morris-Harary experiments involving Harary's kitten, the average meows per 100 second time period are plotted on the vertical axis. The first column shows the number of meows during a normal time period. The second column shows the number of meows per 100 seconds when Harary went out-of-body and was trying to comfort the kitten. During that time it did not meow AT ALL. Probability of this occurring by chance is about 1 in 200.
Figure 10.9. During these experiments involving Harary's kitten, on the average it crossed over 2.5 squares per 100 second time period. This is a measure of how restless the kitten was, how much it moved around. During the time that Harary went out-of-body and tried to go to the kitten and comfort it, it moved through less than 0.25 squares in the same time period. This means it moved only ONE TENTH AS MUCH during the period when Harary was attempting to comfort the kitten during his OBE. Probability of this occurring by chance is also less than 1 in 100.
Harary, in a remote laboratory location, attempted to go out of body and "visit" the kittens during the experiment. Harary’s biological functions, EEG, heart rate, etc, were monitored during the tests. The kittens movements and vocalizations ("meows") were then compared to the times Harary believed he was out-of-body, and the times when he was in a normal state.
It was found that the kittens meowed 37 times during the eight control periods, but not once during the eight out-of-body periods. The number of squares they crossed was also greatly reduced, meaning the kittens tended to move much less during the OBE periods. An experimental period was 100 seconds long. The odds of seeing such changes in their behavior purely due to chance were 200 to 1 on the vocalization, and 100 to 1 for the movement.
The results are highly significant. The change of the kitten's behavior during Harary’s OBE strongly indicates that it detected "something" that greatly quieted it. The odds of both of these changes in behavior occurring due to chance alone would be 1 in 20,000. Therefore the results are strongly persuasive evidence that the OBE was "real."
Appearance of the "Astral Body"
When an OBE or "astral visit" takes place, and is so clear that the visitor is afterwards able to describe it in great and accurate detail, how is he perceived by those who are at the scene? In many cases the visitor is not perceived at all, but in some cases, a very definite and clear interaction occurs which is remembered afterwards by all parties.
In one example, recounted by Berlitz (1988), a man named Wilson fell asleep and "dreamed" he visited a female friend who lived forty miles away. In this dream, he knocked on the door and was greeted by the maid, who told him the woman he sought was not at home. He asked to come in and have a glass of water, and the maid obliged. Later Wilson and several friends traveled to the house to investigate. The maid recognized him as the man she had given water to!
This case is similar to others in which the person, in the out-of-body state, is perceived to be physically real and normal and present. The Landau case described below is another in which the out-of-body entity, namely Mrs. Landau, appeared human, except that she was pale white and glided across the floor without walking. There are many cases like this, when the astral form is perceived as a specific person. In others, all that is seen is a shadowy figure, a "shadow person," without distinguishing features. More commonly, what is perceived is a small orb moving quickly about in the vicinity.
Berlitz (1988) relates such an example involving Keith Harary. During one of his out-of-body sessions, Harary visited a doctor who was not expecting the visit. The doctor later reported seeing a small red glowing orb, about an inch in diameter, flash across his field of vision at about 3:15 am, exactly the time Harary had been conducting the out-of-body visit.
These small glowing orbs are sometimes seen or photographed when out-of-body events are taking place. They move rapidly and can be easily missed. They are very similar, or identical, to small glowing orbs seen in haunted houses when ghosts are reported present. In several documentary episodes of Sightings and Unsolved Mysteries, these orbs have been photographed at locations of high paranormal activity.
Figure 10.12. Photograph of a haunted house at night. The upper, white streak in the photograph appears to be an "orb," a small spherical object which often moves rapidly. The end of its track, seen at the upper left in the figure, reveals that it does have a round shape, and that the track is caused by its rapid motion during the time the camera shutter is open. The lower, yellow streak coming out the window is believed to be the light of a lamp inside the house. Paranormal phenomena seem to be able to bend light beams, thus distorting the lamp light so it generates the yellow streak. This is another controversial and important anomaly.
One experienced ghost hunter stated that he had tried on hundreds of occasions to photograph a ghost in haunted houses and he had always failed: "All I ever got on film are these darned little glowing orbs zipping around in the scene." (Holbert, 2000)
Based on the similarity in appearance between the fast-moving glowing orbs seen in out-of-body experiences and those seen at haunted houses, it must be considered a reasonable hypothesis that they are the same thing. This may be the appearance of the "soul" or the "consciousness" of another being when in the out-of-body state.
The Landau OBE Experience
The following was originally reported in 1963 in the Journal of the Society for Psychical Research (Landau, 1963) The author of the report, Lucian Landau, described his experiences and observations of his wife, who frequently experienced controlled OBEs when asleep. In a typical example, his wife wanted to check up on a friend of theirs who was vacationing in Cornwall. She told her husband upon retiring one evening that she wanted to visit them in an out-of-body state while sleeping. The next morning she reported to him that their friend was photographing a "rock plant" when she "arrived." She described in detail the surroundings and a gentleman who was with their friend. Later, this information was completely confirmed. Their friend stated later that he had been vaguely aware of a "shadowy figure" passing him at the time of the OBE visit.
For Lucien Landau, OBE experiences were not something bizarre and unusual. He had many times witnessed his wife "visit" others in an OBE state, and had subsequently been able to confirm crucial details.
Therefore, on one occasion when Mr. Landau was ill and spending a lot of time in bed, he devised an experiment to test his wife’s ability. Referring to the diagram below, Mr. Landau was in the bedroom on the right, and Mrs. Landau was staying in the bedroom on the left. The compass needle marks north, and various objects and locations in the account are labeled with letters.
Mr. Landau wanted to test his wife’s ability to move a physical object while in the out-of-body state. He asked her to pick up his small diary, weighing 38 grams, which he left on her desk (marked "G" in the diagram, and bring it with her into his room when she came. Since he could hardly expect her to make the address book pass through a closed door, he left both bedroom doors opened. He made a note to wake himself should anything unusual happen during the night.
Figure 10.13. Diagram of sleeping quarters for Mr. and Mrs. Landau for the OBE experience described.
The following account describes, in Mr. Landau’s words, what he saw that night:
"I woke up suddenly: it was dawn, and there was just enough light coming in through the partly drawn curtains to enable one to read. At the point marked "A" [see Figure 10.13] stood the figure of Eileen, facing north-west, and looking straight ahead towards the window. The figure was wearing a night dress; its face was extremely pale, almost white. The figure was moving slowly backwards towards the door, but it was otherwise quite motionless; it was not walking. When the figure, progressing at the rate of about one foot per five seconds, reached the position "C," I got out of bed and followed. I could then clearly see the moving figure, which was quite opaque and looking like a living person, but for the extreme pallor of the face, and at the same time the head of Eileen, asleep in her bed, the bedclothes rising and falling as she breathed. I followed the figure, which moved all the time backwards, looking straight ahead, but apparently not seeing me. I kept my distance and ultimately stood in the door of the spare bedroom [Mrs. L’s bedroom] when the figure, now having reached the position "D," suddenly vanished. There was no visible effect on Eileen, who did not stir, and whose rhythm of breathing remained unchanged...
"I moved quietly back to my room, and at point "E," on the floor, found a rubber toy dog, which belonged to Eileen, and which stood on a small chest of drawers in position marked "F" when I last saw it. This dog weighed 107.5 grams.
"In the morning, after breakfast, I questioned Eileen about the diary. She said that she first went to the desk (position "G") on which it was, and somehow could not pick it up. She then thought that it would be easier to carry something that belonged to her, and she decided on the rubber toy, which she managed to take with her to my room. It was a pity that I woke up some thirty seconds too late." (Landau, 1963; Mitchell, 1974)
Figure 10.14. Artist’s impression of the appearance of Mrs. Landau during the OBE, as described by Mr. Landau. (Landau, 1963)
Mrs. Landau added that she had been taught as a young girl not to handle other people’s letters or diaries, which may be why she was unable to pick up Mr. Landau’s diary. She remembered choosing the rubber toy dog, instead, and she remembered carrying it into Mr. Landau’s bedroom. She did not find it difficult to hold or carry the dog. She saw her husband sleeping comfortably when she entered the bedroom. However, she did not recall using her legs to move, nor about moving backwards out of the room. It is interesting that she did not remember walking, and her husband noticed that she seemed to glide along.
In many respects, this experience resembles encounters with ghosts. The body is pale or white. It glides, rather than walks. During the time that "she" was moving between bedrooms, Mr. Landau could see her physical body asleep in her bed. He could see this at the same time that he could see the pale white image of her moving back into her room.
Since she was able to move objects using her ghostly, presumably non-material body, this phenomenon also resembles poltergeist phenomena. In a poltergeist event, objects can move or fly around the room seemingly by themselves, with no physical, visible person causing the movement. We see from this example that in out-of-body cases, the same effect can be achieved by the "astral body" of the individual.
Charles Tart, Professor of Psychology at the University of California, and highly respected expert in paranormal phenomena, says of this report:
"OBEs are one of the world’s most important and most neglected phenomena. Even psychic researchers generally do not pay attention to them. But their importance in understanding man cannot be overestimated." (Tart, 1974)
Tart points out that OBEs in which one is able to move objects are unusual, but certainly not unheard of. This case provides an interesting overview of the wide class of problems these cases pose for conventional physics.
The Wilmot Case
Another apparent out-of-body case occurred in the nineteenth century. It was described by one of the foremost paranormal researchers of the 1930’s, Sylvan Muldoon, in the book The Case for Astral Projection. (Muldoon, 1936):
Mr. S.R. Wilmot sailed from Liverpool to New York, passing through a severe storm. During the eighth night of the storm he had a dream in which he saw his wife come to the door of the stateroom. She looked about, and seeing that her husband was not the only occupant of the room, hesitated a little, then advanced to his side, stooped down and kissed him, and after gently caressing him for a few moments, quietly withdrew.
Upon awakening from his dream, Mr. Wilmot was surprised to hear his fellow passenger, Mr. William J. Tait, say to him: "You’re a pretty fellow to have a lady come and visit you in this way."
Pressed for an explanation, Mr. Tait related what he had seen while wide awake, lying in his berth. It exactly corresponded with the dream of Mr. Wilmot!
When meeting his wife in Watertown, Conn., Mr. Wilmot was almost immediately asked by her: "Did you receive a visit from me a week ago Tuesday?"
Although Mr. Wilmot had been more than a thousand miles at sea on that particular night, his wife asserted: "It seemed to me that I visited you." She told her husband that on account of the severity of the weather and the reported loss of another vessel, she had been extremely anxious about him. On the night of the occurrence she had lain awake for a long time and at about four o’clock in the morning it seemed to her that she left her physical self and went out to seek her husband, crossing the stormy sea until she came to his stateroom.
She continued: "A man was in the upper berth, looking right at me, and for a moment I was afraid to go in; but soon I went up to the side of your berth, bent down and kissed you, and embraced you, and then went away."
In this case we have the corroborating testimony of three individuals, each with his or her own perspective on the event. Yet all three were consistent. If we are to believe them, then this is one more remarkable piece of evidence that OBEs can occur over great distances.
Robert Monroe
In modern day America, we are not blessed with a tradition of yogis or adepts as in some ancient cultures. However, technology has come to the rescue. A technology invented by businessman Robert Monroe may help us achieve similar altered states. Monroe was developing an electronic method of inducing sleep, in order to perfect a sleep-learning technology. He reasoned that since certain brain wave patterns correspond to sleep, if he could induce those patterns in the brain, he could make it go to sleep. He used stereo headphones, and beamed sounds of slightly different frequencies into each ear. A difference frequency, or "beat" frequency, would be created inside the head, and if properly designed might induce sleep. This was the origin of the hemi-sync technology, which Monroe invented. It is in wide use today, not for inducing sleep, but for inducing altered, very relaxed states of consciousness.
Working in the 1950’s, Monroe lay down one evening listening to his newly created hemi-synch tape. The next instant he found himself in an unfamiliar place. When he looked to his side he saw the light fixture emerging from what he thought was the floor. When he looked up at what he thought was the ceiling, he saw a bed with a body lying in it. It looked like his body. Slowly he realized that he, or his consciousness, was on the ceiling looking down at his physical body. He had never heard of an out-of-body experience before, and so concluded that he must be dying or going crazy.
A subsequent physical exam revealed him to be in excellent health. In the 1950’s in America almost no one knew about out-of-body experiences, or OOBs. Monroe had no one with whom to share his experiences. He did notice that in many of these sessions he witnessed events which he was able to later verify, so he could not dismiss these experiences as mere hallucinations. In some cases he travelled out of body to other rooms of his house or to other parts of the country and was able to look in on friends and loved ones.
Monroe eventually learned that in other cultures and other parts of the world, these abilities are not so unusual. They are an accepted part of life many older traditions. Even today there are many yogis, fakirs, and other adepts in Asia who are able to go out of body with ease. Among such groups, this ability is considered an ordinary, even essential, talent for survival.
Monroe was, in his heart, an engineer and scientist as much as he was an explorer. He methodically investigated this strange "new country" of the out-of-body state, and documented his experiences in his books (Monroe, 1971, 1985, 1994). He continued to develop electronics and audio technology so he could control these out-of-body states. He refined the methods until he was able to identify several distinct levels of consciousness, and could determine which hemi-sync signals which would cause each of the various states.
By 1978, the technology was sufficiently mature that he decided to create The Monroe Institute, a facility about 40 miles south of Charlottesville, Virginia which provided accommodations and laboratory capability for others to come and share these experiences. (see Figure 10.15) In specially designed sound proofed chambers, visitors could listen to the hemi-sync tapes and have their own direct experience with altered states.
Monroe’s work attracted the interest of the U.S. government when the military Remote Viewing program was being developed. They were searching for ways to increase the performance of remote viewers.
Figure 10.15. The Monroe Institute, in Faber, Virginia, was founded by Robert Monroe. It has been a pioneer in research of the Out-of-Body state. Hemi-sync audio tapes are used to induce alpha and theta brain wave states conducive for deep meditation and OBEs. The Monroe Institute also assisted the CIA and DIA in the military remote viewing program, by training remote viewers to reach deep altered states.
The altered states, which could be produced almost on-command and in a controlled way by Monroe’s technology, seemed to be just what they were looking for. Starting in the late 1970’s, every remote viewer in the military program was cycled through the Monroe Institute to acquire experience in the out-of-body state, and to improve his ability to relax quickly and enter the altered states required for remote viewing. (Schnabel, 1997)
Monroe’s explorations of the out-of-body state have added immensely to our knowledge of what appear to be other dimensions, spiritual or non-physical beings, and the existence of the "spiritual" or "soul-body" of man which can exist more or less independently of the physical body. In describing these other, more subtle, dimensions Monroe wrote:
"Exploration out-of-body is a prime means of functioning outside the physical universe. The ‘second body’ of the OB state is certainly not physical. It is part of another energy system that commingles with the Earth Life System but is out of phase with it. The clue lies in how easy it is to find those who have left physical existence." (Monroe, 1994)
This last statement suggests that some of the terrain explored in these OOB trips is the same territory described in Near-Death experiences. In this altered state, or "other dimension," the OOB traveller often encounters the spirits of those who have died. The skeptic might reasonably ask whether such beings are really being encountered, or whether it is just the imagination of the person having the out-of-body experience. The best answer here is that the information acquired during these experiences can be checked and verified afterwards. In many cases the information has a high degree of accuracy which suggests that the encounters are not imaginary.
Parallel Dimensions
While there is abundant evidence, as shown above, that the OBE is something "real" with measureable properties, at the same there are unreal and dreamlike aspects to it which are difficult to understand. Keith Harary described an OBE he had in which he awoke in his bed, floated above his body, and then noticed that he had left a candle burning. He floated over to it, put his face very near it, and attempted to blow it out. After several attempts, he succeeded, then returned to his body, reentered it and slept through the night. Upon awakening the next morning he discovered that the candle had burned all night. He had not "really" blown it out. Experiences like these convinced him and Dr. Scott Rogo that the OBE takes place in a sort of mirror image of reality:
"Rather reluctantly, I had to accept the theory that during the OBE, we contact only a parallel of the real world -- a plastic interactional world that may alter when we physically alter our own. If I place a picture on a wall, for instance, the same object may well appear in the parallel world. But this plane is more tenuous and less stable than the physical world of the five senses...the universe we normally perceive is only a substructure of a vast realm of dimensions that lie beyond it. These higher worlds can be contacted only psychically. During an OBE we perceive a mirror image of the real world..." (Rogo, 1983)
Not only does our familiar physical reality seem to have a parallel dimension, a "mirror world," as Rogo describes here, but there many other, less familiar parallel worlds which are also encountered in OBEs. In Robert Monroe's journeys, he encountered many strange and unfamiliar places. These were not exotic locales on this planet, but rather places which do not exist in our world. Monroe meticulously catalogued these different realms, not quite sure whether they were real or imaginal. But their characteristics did seem to remain static over time, allowing him to revisit them. This lends credence to the idea that they are, in some sense, parallel dimensions.
Monroe describes how he first came upon the entrance to one of these peculiar domains. It appeared to be a hole in his wall:
"That's the only way to describe it. To my sense it seemed to be a hole in a wall which was about two feet thick and stretched endlessly in all dimensions."(Monroe, 1971)
Monroe revisited this place in subsequent out-of-body journeys, and eventually explored it. It seemed to be a parallel universe, similar to our own but much more beautiful. He later discovered another "dimension" which was dreary and distasteful.
These two realms have been reported by other out-of-body experiencers, lending credence to the idea that they have some sort of "real" existence. Physicist J. H. M. Whiteman, who was very adept at going out of body, describes an experience which sounds very similar to Monroe's. His OBE began with:
"...a 'spatial opening' in which the surface of a whitewashed wall, two feet away, was studied, with a full clarity of perception and the visual impression of precise spatial position...The opening then changed to one in which a heathlike country was seen in a wide panorama, with steep ground in front, and almost at once I was conscious for a few moments of being catapulted amid that scene" (Whiteman, 1961)
Like Monroe and Harary and numerous others, Whiteman described a "spatial opening," a hole, about two feet wide, which led into "another dimension." There is a consistency among many OB experiencers about this tunnel between dimensions, as well as about the characteristics of some of the realms seen at the other end of the tunnel. This same tunnel, or one very like it, is encountered in the near-death experience (NDE). It, too, connects this world with another world in which the dead are still alive, and there is much beauty and love.
Keith Harary found himself in one such world during his experiments with his kitten, described above. Although it was a successful experiment and his kitten became quiet during his OBE, he reported that, from his perception, he had not been with the cat "but had been caught up in a whole new dimension - a barren, dry, dreamlike world from which he escaped by returning to his body." (Rogo, 1983)
Despite the elusiveness of these supposed "parallel universes," they have several properties which make them likely to be real. First of all, OB experiencers like Monroe were able to revisit the same reality repeatedly, and it always had the same characteristics. Secondly, many OB experiencers have described realms which sound identical. The "dreary, nasty" realm and the "beautiful, peaceful" realms referred to above have been visited, apparently by many remote viewers, who come back with similar descriptions.
The third reason to believe in the "reality" of such realms is because there are many cases when more than one person has visited the realm simultaneously, and has returned with shared memories of the event. Harary describes one such OBE in which, during the evening after retiring for bed, he went out of body. He wanted to visit an old friend of his in a different part of the country, in Maine. He was prompted to invite, while in the OBE state, another friend his, George, to accompany him. That person was asleep, but his astral body joined Harary and they went to visit their friend in Maine. The realm they traveled through was not the familiar physical world. Harary says: "George and I passed through some sort of an atmospheric barrier and entered another level of existence."
Harary describes encountering strange pools of bubbling pink liquid, which he knew were dangerous even in the OOB state. They met their friend and had an eventful evening. The next day, initially George remembered nothing. But later, spontaneously, George recalled almost every detail of the journey. The beginning and ending of the trip involved a passageway into or out of a "higher world." Again this idea of a hole or tunnel appears. As we will note later, in Chapter 12 on time travel and prophecy, tunnels also appear there. The Native American medicine woman "No-Eyes" and the writer Mary Summer Rain describe traveling through a "time tunnel" to witness events in the future. The description is very similar.
Our science lacks the knowledge at the present time to reliably tune into this second state, or build a receiver for these signals. If this is ever done, such realms may become just as real and commonplace as radio and television signals are today. In the meantime, we must rely on the testimony of talented individuals who have learned to make this transition, or we may elect to receive the training ourselves, so we can experience these realms directly.
In the mean time, the apparent reality of parallel dimensions, which are intimately connected with the out-of-body experience, may offer valuable clues in understanding the out-of-body state, and its connection to remote viewing, time travel, and the near-death experience. In Chapter 13, we will present the beginnings of a possible theory of the paranormal. We call it the "Synchronized Universe" model. The existence of parallel dimensions, accessible by phase shifts, is a natural consequence of this model.
The Effect of High Voltage on an OBE
In Robert Monroe's first book, Journeys Out of the Body, (Monroe, 1971) he recounts an experiment he did in 1960. He was in a Faraday Cage in which he had conducted numerous other out-of-body experiments. A Faraday cage is a box made of wire mesh, which in this case was embedded in the walls of the room. Normally it was grounded, which makes it very effective at shielding out disturbing electromagnetic signals and enhancing the ability of the subject to relax.
But this time it was different. The walls of the Faraday cage, instead of being grounded, were charged to 50,000 Volts DC. Monroe doesn't say if it was positive or negative voltage. Then he went through his usual routine inside the cage, lying on a bed. Listening to his tapes he relaxed deeper and deeper and soon found himself outside his body. So far, everything was normal.
Figure 10.16. Illustration of Robert Monroe's OBE experience trying to pass through the ceiling of a Faraday cage charged to 50,000 volts. Under normal circumstances, Monroe, in his out-of-body state, was able to pass through the ceiling of the chamber effortlessly. However, when the wires in the walls and ceiling were charged to 50,000 volts, they seemed to entangle his astral body like a net as he tried to pass through it. He was unable to leave the chamber in his out-of-body form when the walls were charged to high voltage.
But when he tried to leave the room, by going through the walls or ceiling, he kept running into and becoming entangled in many WIRES. He was unable to get out of the room! He was trapped. Built into the walls of the room are the wires which make up the Faraday cage, but normally his astral body just passed right through them. For some reason, when they were charged to a high voltage, this did not happen. Suddenly the wires become impenetrable to his astral body. They became like a net ensnaring him and holding him inside the chamber.
This is a highly significant observation. It suggests that the process which allows the astral body to pass through matter is affected by VOLTAGE. At a high enough voltage, the astral body no longer can pass through matter. In quantum physics, we know there is a relationship between voltage and frequency. The higher the voltage the greater the frequency difference. If we assume that the astral body is at a different frequency than normal matter, then we shall see in Chapter 13 that this could explain how it can pass through matter effortlessly. But when the voltage of the wires in the wall is raised it changes their frequency, so now they may come into synchronization with the energy making up the astral body. So far, this is only the sketch of an idea. It is developed in more detail in the last chapter of this book, and more completely in Volume V.
Monroe's experience is consistent with many of Keith Harary's out-of-body experiences. Harary demonstrated his ability to leave his body and describe distant events many times. But he
"...was adamant about one thing. He would not project during thunderstorms or when such a storm was threatening. He felt that the electrical buildup in the atmosphere hampered his abilities and disoriented him. He also disliked approaching any kind of powerlines during his projections. Sometimes, he told me, he would get 'caught up' by the lines and become stuck to them."(Rogo, 1983)
Rogo also recounts an independent story which supports this observation:
"One woman described how she had approached some powerlines during one of her OBEs, had become stuck to them, and had to travel down them before ultimately breaking loose."(Rogo, 1983)
These experiences remind us of the "ghost trap" used in the movie Ghostbusters. It, too, was a Faraday cage charged to high voltage. It was used to contain the ghosts and spirits captured by Dan Akroyd and his fellow ghostbusters. Although the movie is fictional and a great deal of fun, it is surprising that their technological solution is so similar to actual cases. A Faraday cage charged to high voltage apparently is able to contain one's astral body and prevent it from escaping. There is circumstantial evidence, to be discussed in Volume II, which suggests that a real "ghost" is little more than that, an astral form. Therefore a charged Faraday cage might well be able to trap and constrain a ghost. When one learns that Dan Akroyd's father, and Dan himself, reportedly have a serious long term interest in paranormal research, then it seems reasonable that they may have used this knowledge in suggesting the technology used by the "ghostbusters."
Summary
The experiments of Osis and Tanous (Osis, 1980), Hubbard (Hubbard, 1986) and Yonjie (Yonjie, 1982) show that, during an out-of-body experience, there is a real physical manifestation which leaves the body and can be detected as it moves about. It causes electric and magnetic disturbances, and registers on strain gauges. For lack of a better term, we shall call this the astral body, which is the traditional Hindu term for the consciousness as it moves in the OBE state. When in that state, the experiments of Harary show that certain animals, such as cats, are aware of it. It has also been photographed in certain circumstances, and some humans have reported seeing it.
The appearance of the astral body has two basic forms. Some people see it as a ghostly form of the actual person, as in the Landau case. In fact, in some cases, it appears in color and fully natural as in the Wilmot case. But the most frequent form is as a small orb which moves quickly. In this form it has been photographed and registered on electromagnetic detectors. When the person is in the OBE state, physiological functions such as EEG, the electrical activity of the brain, are greatly reduced. Whole body Kirlian photographic images support this conclusion, as we will see in Volume II. It is as though a portion of the electromagnetic structure and activity leaves the body and goes with the astral body.
The challenge for science is that there is no known form of energy which creates stable energetic spheres which can travel autonomously. The fact that this sphere also seems to be the seat of consciousness and awareness is a much greater challenge to science. As the Mitchell-Swann experiments show, during an OBE the subject behaves as if his "eyes" are located at the astral body, not the physical body. In the Osis-Tanous and Hubbard experiments, when the remote viewer reported being able to see the target, sensors at the target were set off, indicating an unexplained energy was present. The most reasonable conclusion is that the viewer's visual information was somehow coming from his externalized consciousness, his "astral" body, which was causing disturbances at the sensor.
In the next chapter, the OBE state will be extended to cases where the physical body was actually declared dead. In some cases, the subjects were declared legally dead and remained so for minutes to hours. In the most extreme case, that of Dr. George Rodonaia, he was declared legally dead and lay in the morgue in Moscow for three days. When the surgeon began cutting into him during his autopsy, he suddenly became "alive", sat up and protested. In the majority of "near-death" cases, many of which include full legal and medically validated death, the subjects report an out-of-body experience at the beginning of their near-death experience. There have been many attempts by skeptics to explain away these experiences. But the difficult part to explain away is that the patient, while dead, is able to report moving around the hospital room or even outside the room, and can accurately describe detailed events which took place.
The near-death experiencers describe another realm, another "dimension," in which deceased relatives and loved ones are very much alive. In this realm there is enormous love. The descriptions describe loving and wise spirit beings, as well as crystal cities and extensive pastel landscapes. Ancestors and loved ones who have died before are there to welcome him. Near-death experiencers invariably return from the experience transformed. Dr. Rodonaia was an avowed atheist before he died. After his experience he devoted himself exclusively to the study of spirituality. He said:
...God showed me that the universe in which we live is a beautiful and marvelous mystery that is connected together forever and for always. Anyone who has had such an experience of God, who has felt such a profound sense of connection with reality, knows that there is only one truly significant work to do in life, and that is to love." (Williams, 2003)
There is great consistency among the NDEs of thousands of people from many different religions and cultures. It is this consistency which is the strongest evidence that this dimension is real. It is consistent with the idea that the soul itself, the astral body which is able to leave the physical body during an OBE, also survives death and is at home in this realm. In the next chapter we will review some of the evidence for the reality of the Near-Death experience, and its characteristics. We will see that the descriptions support the tenets of many religions that "heaven" really exists, although it may be somewhat different from what we have been led to expect.
