Robert Monroe, a pioneer in the study of OBEs, set up a lab and patented a device called Hemi-Sync that tests for OBEs. This subject is sleeping in a Hemi-Sync booth during one of Monroe’s studies.
Robert Monroe is one of the pioneers in OBE exploration. He reports that he first traveled out of body in 1958. Since then, Monroe claims to have had thousands of OBEs. Unlike his fellow travelers, he does not claim that astral journeys prove there is life after death. Take them for what they are, he says.
Monroe says most of his trips were pleasant, a few less so. At times, he met other astral travelers. Some helped him, others attacked him. The attackers, he says, were evil, sub-human beings. As often happens in NDEs, he also met an “energy presence” of great power. Once in a while he found it hard to reenter his body. One scary moment came, he writes, when he slipped into a stranger’s dead body by mistake.
To help his search, Monroe set up a lab to study OBEs in a scientific way. In 1975, he took out a patent on a device he calls Hemi-Sync. It is supposed to allow the mind to stay alert while the body falls asleep. In this state, some subjects say they can actually leave their bodies. Like Monroe, they report contact with the spirits of the dead. Some add that they reach a state of bliss after meeting with a presence they believe is God.1
Robert Monroe, a pioneer in the study of OBEs, set up a lab and patented a device called Hemi-Sync that tests for OBEs. This subject is sleeping in a Hemi-Sync booth during one of Monroe’s studies.
Science sets high standards in its search for truth. Monroe may be sincere, scientists say, but his work is flawed. Can he be trusted to run tests that might deny his beliefs? The data that Monroe gathers is also suspect. Can his subjects be trusted? In their hypnotic state, they may be telling Monroe what they know he wants to hear.
Even if these doubts were resolved, some questions would remain. Drug users, the mentally ill, and the sick sometimes “see” and “hear” weird sights and sounds. Some drug users, for instance, say they are floating in another world. Many mental hospitals have at least one inmate who claims to be able to “talk” to God. Patients coming out of surgery often hear voices no one else can hear. What about the bright light seen during an NDE? The firing of certain brain cells can create a point of light behind closed eyes. Seeing this bright light can give the patient the illusion of being in a tunnel.
Back in 1966, Dr. Charles Tart of the University of Virginia tried to answer these doubts. His subject, known as Miss Z, said her OBEs had begun when she was a child. As part of the test, Tart placed a five-digit number on a high shelf. At one point during the fourth night of the test, the sleeping woman’s brain waves showed a new pattern. Was this an OBE? When she woke up, Miss Z called off the correct numbers: 2-5-1-3-2. She had beaten odds of 99,999 to 1! Even then, Tart had to admit that the test did not provide final proof. Instead of an OBE, Miss Z might have used ESP to “see” the numbers.2
Dr. Charles Tart put Miss Z through a test for OBEs. During the test, Miss Z slept while connected to an EEG machine. On the fourth night of the test, Miss Z woke up and called out the five-digit number that Dr. Tart had hidden on a high shelf. How did she do this? Was it an OBE or ESP? It is impossible to know for sure.
Interest in OBEs kept growing. Dr. Robert Morris of the Psychical Research Foundation in North Carolina tried a new approach. He chose college student Keith Harary as his subject. In one test, Morris put Keith in a closed room. His task was to travel via OBE to a second building. There, he would try to view cutout letters arranged by a technician. After each OBE, he was told to write down what he had seen. At times, Keith beat the odds by scoring a high number of “hits.” On other tries he scored poorly. Once he “saw” two people in the room. Morris checked and found that a second man had walked in during the test.3
Would cats be aware of an astral body? Keith began a new set of tests by making friends with a kitten named Spirit. Then the kitten was taken to a second room. An observer counted its every move. Researchers ran the test four times, but told Keith to contact the kitten only twice. Each time he did so, Spirit froze in his tracks. His eyes appeared to focus on something the observer could not see. During one non-OBE period, Spirit meowed thirty-seven times. When Keith was “present” during an OBE trial, the kitten did not meow at all.4
Do OBEs and NDEs exist? Despite all of the tests and firsthand reports, science is still skeptical. But researchers are not giving up. They are still hoping to find a valid way to explain the how and why of OBEs. If you wish, you can join in an OBE study. The American Society for Psychical Research (ASPR) in New York City has set up an online questionnaire to collect stories of exceptional experiences and NDEs at <http://www.aspr.com/question.htm>. Anyone who has had an OBE, NDE, or other psychic experience is urged to fill out the questionnaire.
Keith Harary tested his ability to travel out of body with a kitten named Spirit. An observer reported that during Keith’s OBEs, the cat appeared to focus on something that no one else could see. Spirit would stop meowing if Keith was “present.”
Actress Shirley MacLaine is a leader in the New Age movement. She has authored many books about the subject. Here she greets her fans at a 2003 book signing.