Free Republic

Sleep holds the key to understanding these mystical events, reports Roger HighfieldPeople who have out-of-body experiences near death, such as flying along a tunnel towards a heavenly light, are more likely to suffer a strange effect called sleep paralysis, according to a survey that adds to mounting evidence for a biological explanation for this mystical experience. During sleep paralysis, people experience a kind of breakdown between states of consciousness which takes place on the fringe of slumber, either when falling asleep or awakening. Because the brain turns off the body's ability to move during dreaming, muscles can lose their tone,...

SIMI VALLEY How does Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito describe the last year, when he endured a bruising confirmation fight in the Senate to land a seat on the nation's highest court? "I sometimes feel as if I had an out of body experience," he said. Speaking Tuesday to a capacity crowd at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, Alito described the highs and lows that came with being plucked from the relative quiet of a seat on the federal bench in New Jersey and landing in the spotlight of Washington politics. It was, he said, "certainly quite a change." Hounded...

As more and more people come forward with accounts of near-death experiences, new research is about to examine the out of body experience to see whether mind and body really do separate at the point of death. It is only 30 years ago that the term near-death experience was coined. An American researcher, Raymond Moody, used it to describe the reports of a large number of people who, whilst apparently dead, had seen deceased relatives, tunnels of light, life reviews and felt an overwhelming sense of peace, before being resuscitated. Recent studies have shown that one in 10 people who...

Happy Halloween! Please tell us any scary, creepy, spooky encounters you have had with paranormal phenomena. Let's see which freeper has the freakiest story to tell on this Halloween night.

<p>A tiny part of the brain behind the right ear can cause out-of-body experiences and could explain the many stories of near-death patients who say they have looked down at their own bodies, a team of Swiss scientists announced yesterday.</p>