Page 33 - Encyclopedia of the Unusual and Unexplained Vol. 3

Ghosts and Phantoms 13

had met briefly only once before. Beard
walked up to the bed on which the sister lay,
took her long hair into his hand, and, a bit
later, took her hand into his.
Electronic Voice
When investigator Gurney learned of
Beard’s second successful projection, he wrote
him a note and urged him to let him know the Phenomena—
next time that he planned to experiment. Beard
complied, and, in a letter dated March 22, 1884, Recording Ghosts
he told the researcher simply, “This is it.”
on Tape
Gurney next heard from Beard on April 3.
A statement from Verity was enclosed: “On
homas Alva Edison (1847–1931), who first
Saturday night…I had a distinct impression
developed the cylinder recorder, did so in
that Mr. S. H. B. was present in my room, and
an effort to communicate with the dead,
I distinctly saw him whilst I was widely awake.
Tnot to record music. Edison believed that
He came towards me and stroked my hair . . . .
the soul was composed of swarms of highly charged
The appearance in my room was most vivid
entities that lived in the cells, and that left the physical
and quite unmistakable.”
body after death, entering another cycle of life and
Again, Verity testified that she had volun- becoming immortal.
tarily given Beard the information without any
prompting on his part. Beard concluded his Sources:
experiments after this episode for Verity’s nerves American Association for Electronic Voice Phenomena. [Online]
“had been much shaken, and she had been http://www.dreamwater.com/aaevp/.
Estep, Sarah Wilson. Voice of Eternity. New York: Fawcett Gold
obliged to send for a doctor in the morning.”
Medal, 1988.
Sylvan J. Muldoon was one of those who International Network for Instrumental Transcommunication.
claim that astral projection can be learned, [Online] http://www.worlditc.org.
developed, and mastered by the serious-mind- Raudive, Konstanin. Translated by Nadia Fowler. Ed. by Joyce
ed. In his two books, The Projection of the Astral Morton. Breakthrough. New York: Taplinger, 1971.
Body (1929) and The Case for Astral Projection
(1936), Muldoon offers a detailed record of
many experiments he personally conducted,
and provides a systematic method of inducing years researching various techniques in mov-
the conditions necessary for astral projection. ing the soul or mind out of the physical body
According to Muldoon, it is possible to leave and has established an institute where students
the body at will and retain full consciousness can experience his methods and techniques.
in the “astral self.” Muldoon was also cognizant
of a “silver cord” connecting the phantom The area of “living ghosts” that has received
body and the physical body. This cord, said the greatest amount of study in the twenty-first
Muldoon, is extremely elastic and permits a century is that of the near-death-experience
journey of considerable distance. Muldoon (NDE). In December 2001, the prestigious
claimed to have been able to move objects British medical publication The Lancet released
while in his astral self and to have gained the results of an extensive study conducted by
information that he could not have acquired Dr. Pim van Lommel and his colleagues at Hos-
via any of the normal sensory channels. pital Rijnstate in Arnhem, Netherlands, which
In his book Far Journeys (1987), Robert indicates that a number of subjects experienced
Monroe provides details of his Gateway Pro- visions or lucid thoughts while they were clini-
gram, which claims to be able to teach any cally dead. Some of those subjects also reported
serious subject the ability to travel out of the out-of-body experiences, indicating that the
body and to escape the known dimensions of mind/soul and the brain are independent of one
the physical universe. Monroe has spent many another and that consciousness can exist when

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