In Part 1 of this two-part series I described the earliest accounts of out-of-body experiences, discussing account appearing between 1864 and 1911. Let us look at some more of the earliest accounts of out-of-body experiences, resuming the narrative from the early twentieth century.
The image below shows the beginning of a much longer 1905 newspaper account you can read here. We have a very rare type of account of distinguished witnesses reporting they saw in the Parliament of London an apparition of a man (Sir Carne Rasch) who was sick and far away. The witnesses include Sir Gilbert Parker and Sir Arthur Hayter. You could consider this an out-of-body experience involving Sir Carne Basch, alive at the time of the report.
On the page here of the 1918 book Man Is a Spirit by J. A. Hill, we have an account of an out-of-body experience. It is a second-hand account, but since many similar accounts have been collected since then, and since reports like this were all but unheard of in 1918, we have a strong reason for thinking the account is accurate. We read this:
"Some years ago I became acquainted with a stalwart ex-soldier of our Civil War. He was an artilleryman, and was sitting on the ammunition chest of his gun when it was hit by a shell from the enemy's guns and exploded. The man was thrown into the air and his body fell to the ground. He said that he was up in the air, looking down at his own body which lay upon the ground at some distance from him. He seemed to be yet connected with the body by a slender cord of a clear silvery appearance, and, while he looked on, two surgeons came by, and after looking at the body remarked that he was dead. One of the medicos took hold of an arm and turned the body on its side, and remarked that he was dead; and they both passed on and left him. Soon after the stretcher-bearers came along and found there was life in the corpse, and carried him to the rear.
After the turning of the body, he said, 'I came down that silver cord and returned to the old body and reanimated it, although my body was blind as a bat and my right arm was torn from my shoulder'; and he showed me on his face and chest forty-eight scars caused by the bursting shell. This man was living at St. Petersburg, Flo., and I think is yet living." -- G. B. Crabbe.
On page 69 of the same 1918 book, we read this first-hand account by Beryl Hinton:
"I want also to tell you of my one and only psychical experience. Years ago, when only seventeen, I was, in Calcutta, put under chloroform to have a number of teeth out. I presently felt I, myself, was in space above my body, round which were the doctors, dentists, and my mother, and I remember wondering why I was not being judged, since I was obviously dead. I had been brought up as a strict Roman Catholic and taught that individual judgment followed death. I had never read any psychical books or experiences. I was afterwards told that my condition caused alarm, as I would not come back to consciousness. I've never forgotten that dream (?) and, when put under chloroform in September for my very serious operation, was anxious to see if anything of the same sort happened again. But it did not. I had no dream, and this time took the chloroform well. So it does look as if the soul had lifted from the body that long-ago time."
Later she says this, recalling the same experience:
"There was I, above my body, around which were gathered the people present. I could not talk to them, and I remember so distinctly wondering, 'If I am dead, how is it I am not being judged?' That I was out of the body I do not doubt. I am told they had some difficulty in restoring me to consciousness. In the long years that have passed since that experience, when doubts as to the future have assailed me, it has gone farther in my own mind to prove survival than all the books on faith I had read."
On pages 71-72 of the same 1918 book, we have an account by John Huntley:
"About five years ago I woke from sleep to find 'myself' clean out of the body, as the kernel of a nut comes out of its shell. I was conscious in two places — in a feeble degree, in the body which was lying in bed on its left side; and to a far greater degree, away from the body (far away, it seemed), surrounded by white opaque light, and in a state of absolute happiness and security (a curious expression, but one which best conveys the feeling).
The whole of my personality lay 'out there,' even to the replica of the body — which, like the body, lay also on its left side. I was not conscious of leaving the body, but woke up out of it. It was not a dream, for the consciousness was an enhanced one, as superior to the ordinary waking state as that is to the dream state. Indeed, I thought to myself, 'This cannot be a dream,' so I willed 'out there' (there was no volition in the body), and as my spirit self moved so the body moved in bed."
Doing an experiment involving what he described as "illusions of levitation," an experimenter in 1918 may have produced evidence for out-of-body experiences. His research is described in a later book:
"I cannot do better than summarize the interesting articles of Mr. Lydiard H. Horton, which appeared in the Journal of Abnormal Psychology (April, 1918 ; June, 1918 ; August, 1919), in which he attempted to prove this fact — that such illusions of levitation may be so produced — even without sleep ! He induced a number of experimental subjects to lie upon a bed or couch, and relax completely. Upon the degree of relaxation thus attained depends the success of the experiment. If the patient can induce this complete relaxation of the muscular system without falling asleep, he will often experience an 'illusion of levitation.' ' Out of the thirty subjects who relaxed completely, and of the twenty or so who retained consciousness after they had completely relaxed, eight of them reported illusions of levitation.' The following are typical experiences of this nature :
“ One of them jumped out of the chair and was afraid to continue the experiment, so realistic was his apperception of a soaring motion.
" Another, this time a woman, gripped the chair in the momentary belief that she was floating away ; two others reported that they felt ‘ caught up ’ by a wave, but that their reason reassured them at the time.
" One other...reported himself ‘ just floating away,’ the sensation being overwhelmingly real. ...”
On page 46 of the February 8, 1919 edition of the periodical Light, which can be read here, we hear an account by Captain Gilbert Nobbs of getting a severe head injury during World War I. He says, "I seemed for a moment somewhere in the emptiness looking down at my body lying in the shell-hole."
The 1919 book "Modern Psychical Phenomena" by Hereward Carrington had a Chapter IX entitled "Projection of the 'Astral Body' " that you can read here. The chapter begins like this:
"One of the latest achievements of 'psychical science' — which is constantly making new and important discoveries — is the voluntary projection of the 'astral body' of man — the expulsion of the human 'double' or etheric counterpart of the physical body — by methods under control of the human will. Occult science has long since proved that — besides this physical body, which we know — there is also a more subtle and refined envelope — the 'spiritual body' of St. Paul — and that this body is capable of being detached, at times, and of being ' projected' — leaving the physical body entranced, while the subtle body journeys and makes itself manifest to others at considerable distance."
On the page here of the Carrington book we have a sketch showing the idea of astral projection, one that shows the "silver cord" reputed to connect the astral body and the regular physical body.
The chapter has some interesting instructions on how a person can attempt to perform a voluntary out-of-body experience. But we have no testimonies by people who claim to have performed such experiences. A 1920 work by Carrington ("Higher Psychical Development") has a chapter entitled "Projection of the Astral Body." On page 282 Carrington makes this remarkable claim: "It is estimated that about 15,000 persons now living 'see' more or less on the astral plane; and that about fifty persons can consciously go out into that plane at will." The reference to going out into the astral plane is a claim of willful out-of-body experiences.
In 1925 a very long French work appeared on out-of-body experiences, one by Charles Lancelin entitled "Méthode de dédoublement personnel : extérioration de la neuricité, sorties en astral," which translates as "Method of personal doubling: exteriorization of neuritis, astral projections." (The book is listed on www.archive.org with a publication date of 1925, although it may have been published earlier.) At its end on page 504 we have the photo below, which has a French caption, which translates as follows: "Miss B's splitting following a serious cholera-anaemia condition lasting three years." The author apparently is claiming to have a photo capturing an "astral body" projected during an out-of-body experience. As I don't read French, I cannot say much about the credibility of this author or whether the photo should be taken seriously.
The next major account of out-of-body experiences occurred in the 1929 book "The Projection of the Astral Body" by Sylvan Muldoon and Hereward Carrington, which you can read online here. Muldoon begins his account like this:
"When my first out-of-the-body experiences occurred I was but twelve — so young and immature in mind that I did not realize their magnitude. The occurrences came about involuntarily and repeated themselves frequently, until I became so accustomed to them that, as a matter of fact, I soon regarded them as nothing extraordinary and seldom mentioned them even to members of my own family, to say nothing of keeping a record of them, although I had been urged to do so by many interested persons.
I had been told, by persons professing to know, that conscious projection of the astral body was nothing unusual, and that many psychics could produce it at will. I, too, wanted to be able to produce it at will, and I admit that I was envious of those who (I had heard) could do so. So I began a search for some one who could produce the phenomenon voluntarily. But my search proved fruitless, and eventually I concluded that I could not find that 'some one.' Thus I began to experiment with the phenomenon myself, and in this book you will find the results of my experiments."
The term "projection of the astral body" that Muldoon uses is a term equivalent to "out-of-body experience," although the term "projection of the astral body" has more of a connotation of something that happen from willful effort. The term "projection of the astral body" also is a more dogmatic term, as it involves the doctrine that there is such a thing as an "astral body," a term that is pretty much equivalent to "spirit body."
On this page the co-author Carrrington explains the term:
" The Astral Body may be defined as the Double, or the ethereal counterpart of the physical body, which it resembles and with which it normally coincides. It is thought to be composed of some semi-fluidic or subtle form of matter, invisible to the physical eye. It has, in the past, been spoken of as the etheric body, the mental body, the spiritual body, the desire body, the radiant body, the resurrection body, the double, the luminous body, the subtle body, the fluidic body, the shining body, the phantom, and by various other names. In recent Theosophical literature, distinctions have been made between these various bodies ; but for our present purposes we may ignore these distinctions, and speak of the 'Astral Body' as some more subtle form, distinct from the organic structure known to Western science, and studied by our physiologists.
The broad, general teaching is that every human being 'has' an astral body just as he has a heart, a brain and a liver. In fact, the astral body is more truly the Real Man than the physical body is, for the latter is merely a machine adapted to functioning upon the physical plane. But it must not be thought that the astral body is held to be the Soul of man either. That is a mistake often made. It is said to be the vehicle of the Soul — just as truly as the physical body is a vehicle — and constitutes one of the essential connecting links between mind and matter."
The idea may seem less fantastic when you consider that the modern astrophysicist claims that a spiral galaxy has essentially two bodies or forms: a visible body or form of regular matter, and an invisible body or form consisting of dark matter.
On the page here Carrington argues for the plausibility of Muldoon's accounts of out-of-body experiences:
"I should like to draw the reader’s attention particularly to the fact that no wild or preposterous claims are anywhere made in this book as to what has been accomplished during these 'astral trips.' Mr. Muldoon does not claim to have visited any distant planets — and return to tell us in detail their modes of life ; he does not claim to have explored any vast and beautiful 'spirit worlds' ; he does not pretend to have penetrated the past or the future ; to have re-lived any of his past 'incarnations' ; to have read any ' Akashic Records' ; to have travelled back along the stream of time, and reviewed the history of mankind, or the geologic eras of our earth. He asserts, merely, that he has been enabled to leave his physical body at will, and travel about in the present, in his immediate vicinity, in some vehicle or other, while fully conscious. This is perfectly rational, and is precisely what we should expect, on the theory that these 'trips' are actual experiences. "
On pages 116-117 of a 1936 book Sylvan Muldoon describes his first out-of-body experience:
"Slowly ...I was moving toward the ceiling, all the while lying horizontal and powerless. Naturally I believed that this was my physical body as I had always known it, but that it had mysteriously begun to defy gravity...Involuntarily, at about six feet above the bed, as if the movement had been conducted by an invisible intelligent force, present in the very air, I was uprighted from the horizontal position, to the perpendicular, and placed standing upon the floor of the room... where I remained for two or three minutes, still unable to move of my own accord... I managed to turn around. There were two of me! In the name of common sense — there were two of me! There was another 'me' lying quietly upon the bed. It was difficult to conceive of this being real — but there I was, fully conscious, fully able to reason and know what I saw was actual. The next thing which caught my eye, explained the curious sensation in the back of my head — for my two identical bodies were joined by means of an elastic-like cord, one end of which was fastened to the medulla oblongata region of my phantom counterpart, while the other end centered between the eyes of my physical counterpart. This cord extended across the space of probably six feet which separated us."
Muldoon's 1929 book includes this illustration depicting the idea of an astral body floating outside of a physical body, with the two connected by an elastic-like cord.
Quite a few examples of people reporting the existence of such an elastic-like cord can be read in my post here. The author of a 2023 PhD dissertation ("Investigating the Nature and Psychological Impact of Out-of-Body Experiences") performed an online survey of 213 people who claimed to have had an out-of-body experience (page 156). He states that 11% reported "seeing a ray of light, cord, ribbon, or rope connecting the nonphysical self to the physical self" (page 450).
