- MANCHESTER, England (Reuters)
- Scientists probing the paranormal said on Wednesday they hoped to set
up a major experiment in Britain trying to find out once and for all whether
the mind can step outside the body at the brink of death.
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- The proposed study would involve interviewing people
who had survived cardiac arrest to see if they had had an out of body experience
while on the operating table.
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- "Over the course of a year we hope this would give
us 100 people who leave their bodies," neuropsychiatrist Peter Fenwick
told reporters at the annual meeting of the British Association for the
Advancement of Science.
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- The researchers plan to ask 25 hospitals to place special
objects and pictures around their cardiac units.
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- Each survivor who then claimed to have an out of body
experience -- where they typically hover near the ceiling watching the
resuscitation process -- would be asked if they had noticed any of the
objects.
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- "If they do notice them when the brain is not functioning
then it makes the case for the mind being separate from the brain,"
he said.
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- Fenwick, whose special field is near-death experiences,
said there was ample anecdotal evidence of out of body experiences, but
scant data.
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- "These people seem to be able to get information
when they are out of their bodies. People have talked of 'mind sight,"'
he said.
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- But he accepted that if no one noticed the objects it
would equally kill off the theory.
-
- He also said there had been scientific studies proving
that prayer worked, including one in which the number of women in a clinic
in Seoul who conceived after being implanted with fertilized eggs doubled
when groups elsewhere prayed for them.
-
- Robert Morris, Koestler Professor of Parapsychology at
the University of Edinburgh, said there was evidence that voice, touch
and sight were not the only means of communication.
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- He said that in experiments, particularly sensitive people
had been able to communicate over distance, although he readily accepted
that his field was also full of cheats and liars.
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