You wake up suddenly in the middle of the night and find yourself floating up near the ceiling, looking down at your body. Or you’re undergoing traumatic surgery or involved in an accident, and you feel as though you’re being pulled upwards into a bright light with welcoming celestial beings showing you your past and your future. Out of body and near death experiences are surprisingly common, but what does it all mean? Do we actually have “souls” that are separate from our physical bodies? Or is there some aspect of our brain wiring that is responsible for the sensation of being outside of the physical realm?
On this episode, Tom and Jenny discuss various aspects of the OBE and the NDE, including paranormal explanations, results of various consciousness experiments being performed in the lab, similarities with sleep paralysis and lucid dream scenarios, and common aspects of the experience across cultures. In the second segment, Tom also describes his own OBE and NDE, and the insights he gained from experiencing them. Tether your astral body to your silver cord and listen in as we temporarily escape from our flesh envelopes and explore the outer dimensions.
Jenny Ashford is a horror and paranormal writer, graphic designer, and podcaster. Her books include three novels, Bellwether, The Five Poisons, and Red Menace; two short story collections, Hopeful Monsters and The Associated Villainies; a graphic novel, The Tenebrist; and four paranormal nonfiction works: The Unseen Hand: A New Exploration of Poltergeist Phenomena; The Mammoth Mountain Poltergeist, co-authored with Tom Ross; House of Fire and Whispers: Investigating the Seattle Demon House, and The Rochdale Poltergeist, both co-authored with parapsychologist Steve Mera. Her short stories have also appeared in several anthologies, including The Nightmare Collective, History Is Dead, 2012AD, ChimeraWorld #3, and ChimeraWorld #4.
Along with Tom Ross, she co-hosts a podcast called 13 O'Clock on the Project Entertainment Network, on which the duo discuss all measure of strange and creepy topics, ranging from the paranormal to true crime to historical mysteries to horror movies. She also makes videos for a sister list channel called 13 O'Clock In Minutes.
Jenny's graphic design work can be seen in marketing materials for Van Gogh Vodka, promo materials for bands including Astari Nite, Ending the Vicious Cycle, Withering Earth, Kids Without Heroes, and Sons of Ragnar, poster designs for Memento Mori at Independent Bar, Thee Grotto and Vengeance at the Haven in Orlando, and on the cover of The Young Atheist's Survival Guide by Hemant Mehta (aka The Friendly Atheist), among many other places. She also runs an online store called GraveCake selling products with her gothic and horror-themed designs.
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3 thoughts on “Episode Twenty-Seven: Out of Body Experiences”
Loving #27! More dream episodes please!
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Thanks! 🙂
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You’re welcome! The point about “surrendering your will” is spot-on. Keep up the awesome podcasting!
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