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, true crime, and paranormal writer, graphic designer, and podcaster. Her most recent books are a three-volume true crime compilation collectively known as The Faceless Villain: A Collection of the Eeriest Unsolved Murders of the Twentieth Century. Volume One was published in 2017, Volume Two in 2018, and Volume Three in 2019.
Her other books include four paranormal nonfiction books: The Unseen Hand: A New Exploration of Poltergeist Phenomena, The Mammoth Mountain Poltergeist (with Tom Ross), House of Fire and Whispers: Investigating the Seattle Demon House, and The Rochdale Poltergeist (both with Steve Mera); as well as three horror novels, Red Menace, Bellwether, and The Five Poisons; two short story collections, Hopeful Monsters and The Associated Villainies; and a graphic novel, The Tenebrist. A second edition of The Associated Villainies was published in 2019, featuring four new stories, an enhanced print layout, and an audio book version. A second edition of The Five Poisons was published in 2020.
Her short stories have appeared in several anthologies, including The Nightmare Collective, History Is Dead, 2012AD, ChimeraWorld #3, and ChimeraWorld #4. Her horror blog, Goddess of Hellfire, contains writing news, short stories and articles, and her reviews and opinions on horror films and books.
She also co-hosts a podcast with Tom Ross called 13 O'Clock, on which they discuss true crime, unexplained mysteries, paranormal weirdness, horror movies and books, food, and other fun, creepy topics. They recently collaborated on a 13 O'Clock cookbook.
Jenny's graphic design work can be seen on everything from books and business cards to posters and packaging. She runs an online store called Gravecake selling products with her designs, and also has a board-and-card game concern called Giallo Games, which produces games based around the beloved Italian horror/crime genre, among many other themes.
View all posts by Jenny Ashford
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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