Lehal Library

Virtually all of such reported experiences are spontaneous one-time-only events. Usually, they have come at a time when the individual was either physically ill or debilitated, or during an intense emotional crisis. All seem to be highly subjective, yet the great mass of these reports is evidential in itself. During this century, several impressive collections of these experiences have been published and should be required reading if one pursues the subject. The weakness in all of them is apparent: most are basically reportorial, supplemented by conjecture. No specifics based upon direct examination or experimentation are included. Reason? Evidently, there has been no such solid research performed. In very rare instances there are published records of individuals who could deliberately and willfully induce the Second State and move about in their Second Body. There may be more, but only two stand out in recent history. If others have and are performing this act, they have kept the results to themselves. The first of these is Oliver Fox, an Englishman who was active in psychic research and practices. He published fairly detailed reports of out-of-body experiences and techniques for achieving this state. Except in the underground of 1920, his work received little attention. Yet he very definitely attempted to bring the experience into the framework of understanding of his era. The second and most well-known was Sylvan Muldoon, who published several works on the subject in collaboration with Hereward Carrington, over the period 1938-51. Muldoon was the "projectionist" and Carrington was a consistent researcher in psychic phenomena. To date, their books have been the classics in the field, and offer interesting reading. In my after-the-fact investigation, I again wondered at much that obviously had been omitted. Also, little or no empirical experimental tests were made to provide data for a serious yet objective investigator. The most recent has been a book by the author Yram. (A woman? Mary backward?) It too offered several clues, but no solid continuity relating to my case. Significant attempts at scientific study and evaluation have been made recently by several noteworthy men, such as Hornell Hart, Nandor Fodor, Robert Crookall, and others with good academic backgrounds. Most of these are relatively free of the distorting factors present in so much of the underground literature, and their titles will be found along with other recent publications in the Bibliography. All serve to verify the fact of the existence of the Second Body, but bring forth little or no concrete data at the experimental, non-philosophic level. Again, how can one discuss experiments that have not taken place?