BACK FROM BEYOND

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: STARGATE
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP96-00788R001700210010-1
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: November 4, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 4, 1998
• Sequence Number: 10
• Publication Date: January 1, 1984
• Content Type: NSPR

Approved For Release 2003/09/10 : CIA-RDP96-00788RO01700210010-1
'Behavior
Back From Beyond.
By Antoinette May
^When Ingo Swann was a small child he
would sometimes float from his bed at night,
soaring out of his body and slipping into the,
earth of his native Rocky Mountains where he
would follow the veins of metal ore through the
ground until they emerged on the mountain
surface.
A childhood fantasy? Perhaps. But
consider the many today, still floating-only
this time at the direction of Stanford Research
Institute in Menlo Park.
Again and again, Swann has demonstrat-'
ed the ability to "see" a distant object without
leaving his body. Dr. Harold Puthoff and
Russell Targ, physicists at Stanford Research
Institute (SRI) call this phenomenon "remote
viewing."
Swann calls it out-of-body-experience or
OOBE.
Swann's OOBE began in the most
common manner, a stress situation. The classic'
OOBE happens spontaneously during an
accident or surgical operation. The individual,'
generally after being terrified by the prospect
of death, is amazed to find himself hovering
above his body watching the surrounding.
activity with a new detachment.
Ingo Swann experienced this phenome-
non when he was three years old during a
tonsillectomy..Gliding up above his small body,
the child watched with fascination as the
doctor performed the operation. Hearing the
doctor say a forbidden word as his knife slipped
brought a sense of shocked pleasure to the
small voyeur. Then Ingo Swann says that he
looked down his own open mouth and saw
blood oozing from the accidental wound. He
noted with interest that the doctor placed the
tonsils behind two rolls of paper in a side
cabinet.
"When I awakened from the anesthetic, I
began to cry because my throat had been cut-
though I couldn't possibly feel it, everything
was numb; The doctor couldn't understand
how I knew. Then I asked him for my tonsils. A
souvenir was the very least he could do, I
thought, but he Insisted that he'd thrown them
away. I wouldn't let him get away with that!
'No, you didn't; I contradicted him.'You put'
them over there behind those things."'
From this point on, out-of-body rambles
"The classic OOBE happens
spontaneously during an
accident, or operation."
.. proceeded to sketch what he had seen.
from the machine. A ladder was brought and
P the targets taken down from the platform.
These were then compared to the sketches.
Later both targets and drawings were
submitted to an independent judge who
correctly matched each copy with its original.
At a series of eight such tests conducted by the
..._:Amorican Society of Psychical Research in
New York all were easily matched. Statistical.
ly, this could happen by chance once in 40,000
trys.
Did success spoil Ingo Swann?
No, but it bored him. "One day," he says,
"life at SRI reached an apex of boredom."
Swann was tired of earthly targets. He'd had
enough of objects on platforms or In adjoining
labs or even outside the building. He wanted a
target that was literally out of this world.
It was March 1973, nine months prior to
the scheduled bypass of NASA's Pioneer 10
spacecraft with Jupiter. Swann decided to float
up and observe the planet for himself. His own
sightings could then be compared to the
eventual feedback. from Pioneer 10.
To make the experiment even more
interesting, Swann invited the psychic Harold
Sherman to make the trip with him. The
OOBE probe took place on the evening of April
27, 1973. Sherman "took off" from his
Mountain View, Arkansas home at eight p.m.
Central Standard Time. Swann's probe com-
menced at six p.m. Pacific Standard Time from
SRI. The simultaneous journeys were recorded
by Dr. Harold Puthoff and Russell Targ, who
recorded the data and then relayed it to
scientific colleagues around the country.
The two subjects separated by nearly
2.300 miles described the same things,
observed the same environmental conditions on
Jupiter. Each spoke of glittering ice crystals,
winds of terrific velocity, great mountain
ranges and powerful magnetic forces.
The same conditions were later confirmed
by,tbe Pioneer 10 probe. .
added a dazzling dimension to Swann's life. He
grow up, was graduated from Westminster
College in Salt Lake City with degrees in art
and biology, served three years In the army,
and became a critically acclaimed artist. Then,
thirty years after his initial experience, Swann
volunteered as a subject for it series of
controlled experiments demonstrating his'
unique ability to view remote objects. This was
the procedure:
Swann would sit or lie quietly In a cubicle
or isolation booth. Several electrodes connect-
ed to an BEG were secured to his head. The
machine would be disconnected If he moved his
head more than minimally-providing proof of
a floorbound body. Far above Swann, a small
platform was suspended. On the platform, out
of sight, were the targets.
Swann's task was to "float up out of his probe was undertaken. This time the target was
body" and observe the objects. After examin- the planet Mercury. Despite the prevailing
ing these targets from a point some ton- feet theory that the planet would have neither an
above his body. Swann floated down and ;atmosphere?nor a magnetic field, both subjects
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` C a'1 V101 r>ntabuad objective reality or is merely a creation of the
imagination has yet to be established scientif- fell haven't met God yet,
cally. But of one thing Palmer is certain. There Is nothing, rare about the experience or special but I've lots to take up
about the individual having it.
He cites an experiment undertaken with a with him where I do. "
insisted otherwise. Scientists evaluating the colleague In Virginia. Seven hundred question-
data obtained by Marina 10 on March 29, naire, were sent to adult residents of
1974-nineteen days after the Swann-Sher-. Charlottesville, Virginia, and to 300 University Assuming himself to be dreaming, Mon-
man probe - discovered both conditions. of Virginia students. Respondents were asked, roe studied the male form curiously; "Just who
What can Ingo Swann possibly-do for an "Have you ever had an experience in which you would I dream to be in bed with my wife?" he
encore? felt that you were located outside or away from pondered. Then, peering more closely, Monroe
The problem lies in finding places that I your physical body; that it, the feeling that . says he recognized the man as himself. "I must
can't be accused of reading up on, that can still your consciousness, mind, or. center of be dead!" was his terrified reaction. Desperate-
be verified by someone credible," he explains. 'awareness was at a different place from your ly he swooped down to his body and dove in.
"There is loose on this planet an anti-psychic physical body. (If in doubt, please answer Then, feeling the bed below and the covers
attitude. It breeds jealousy. People say, 'Why 'no')." . ' above, he cautiously opened his eyes and saw
does he have it and I don't?' It's easier for that Of the 341 townspeople (49 percent) who. the room from a more familiar perspective.
kind of mind to simply decide that I don't have returned the questionnaire and answered the . This was the beginning of many such
it, than to deal with the whys Involved." item, forty-eight (or 14 percent) answered experiences as Monroe discovered that he
At the opposite extreme are those who do affirmatively. Of the students queried. 266 (89 could leave his body at will. The M-5000
believe In the OOBE, which they are apt to call percent) answered the item and sixty-six of program is an outgrowth of the experiments
"astral travel." Many of these consider these (25 percent) affirmatively. that followed. It involves a weekend workshop
Swann's psychic tripping dangerous. "What if In the combined samples, 83 percent of where participants spend most of their time in
someone wants to, take over your body?" they those reporting an OOBE told of having the sleeping bags, stereo headphones clamped to
ask. "What if you don't come back?" experience more than once, and 34 percent their heads.
Ingo Swann believes both possibilities to reported having It eight or more times. The stated purpose of the program is to
be unlikely. "Why would anyone want my. .. In an effort to stimulate an OOBE in a enable each participant to become aware of the
body?" he laughs, but admits, "perhaps some laboratory setting, Palmer tested some 180 threshold state between wakefulness and sloop.,
could attract such dangers to themselves by undergraduate students. All were unpaid then to stabilize this threshold to such an
their own paranoia. ' volunteers and no effort was made to select extent that it becomes a gateway to new means
"I'll come back, I've lots to do in this life;, people with a previous OOBE history. The ? of thought and perception. Quite often this
but an even greater incentive to return to this subjects included seventy-eight men and 102 takes the form of an out-of-body experience.
body is the idea of having to be born again and women. Relaxation and sensory deprivation . The workshop begins Friday evening and
go to grade school another time. I can't think of techniques were employed to induce an altered continues through Sunday noon. A minimum
any reality, worse than that! state of consciousness. As In the case of Ingo _of eleven forty-five minute tapes are heard.
"No," Swann replies in anticipation of Swann, hidden targets were employed. Each is designed to develop perceptual abilities
the inevitable question, "I haven't met God yet,. When the series of experiments . was by careful coordination of Instructions from
but I've lots to take up with him when I do." completed, 50 percent of the subjects reported Monroe, combined with varying frequencies of
having OOBEs. Evidence of ESP was Often audio pulsing.
prevalent among those reporting OOBEs, but Between tapes there's a break for
Vne who thinks.the meeting highly that does not constitute proof that their discussion of experiences. Most attend the
unlikely is Dr. John Palmer..' a research OOBEs were real -in Palmer's opinion. Both program hoping for an OOBE but this is
psychologist at the University of California at OOBEs and ESP are by-products of the generally just the beginning. Some participants
Davis. Though Palmer has a love affair going hypnogogic state, he believes, a borderline report talks with long dead loved ones, others
with the OOBE-having devoted six years to condition between sloop and wakefulness that tell of self-healing or telepathic communica-
its study-he does not see anything mystical can be induced by relaxation and sensory, tion. But greater than any of these wonder tales
about the phenomenon. deprivation. Js a sense of guidance and perspective from an
'"The OOBE should not be regarded as The out-of-body experience is just that- apparently heightened consciousness.
proof of soul survival," he insists. "It may or an experience. It would be premature indeed, Christopher Lenz suggests that those
may not be spiritual, and whether it Is or not in Palmer's estimate.' to conclude that it attending the workshop bring not only pillows
should be decided by something other'then the, constitutes- a "dry' run" for the death and blankets (to keep the body comfortable on
out-of-bodiness of it." experience. the floor while the spirit soars) but questions
Approaching the OOBE from the point of - and problems for which outside help is desired.
view of the experimental psychologist and Ingo Swann might say the answers come from
parapsychologist, Palmer's attitude is one of - VVbatever the prevailing scientific , the cosmos. John Palmer would suggest the
detachment. "One must consider the psychol. definition of the OOBE, there are many who individual's subconscious mind. Lenz frankly
ogical set of the person having the OOBB." he would like to achieve it, decide for themselves does not know where the answers come from. It
says. the meaning of It all, and then return to tell the is enough for him that they invariably come.
"Where is he coming from? What sort of tale. For these cosmic explorers, the. ultimate "We like to make those distinctions.
experience was he having just before his trip can be arranged. ? neatly labeling everything that comes our way
OOBE? OOBEs often occur in a death The M-S000 program administered by into either/or categories," he points out.
situation. There Is this common idea that dying the Monroe Institute in'San Francisco is the ' "Maybe this is more a matter of both/and."
means leaving the body. ? So what do you vehicle, program director Christopher Lenz the - An enthusiastic "graduate" Is psychia-
suppose that person has In the back of his tour guide. Robert Monroe, known in parapsy- trist Elisabeth Kubler-Roes, author of' On
mind? Maybe something like. 'Gee, I'm dying! chology circles as Mr. Out-of-Body, has Death and Dying, who referred to the training
What's going to happen next? I go to heaven- devised the route. Formerly a sound engineer, session one year later as a wonderful and'
at least I hope I go to heaven.' So the person is Monroe's life changed forever nearly twenty consistent method of exploring and under-
primed for a mystical experience or OOBE. years ago when he discovered himself floating standing one's total self. "It has helped
Perhaps his unconscious mind obligingly comes ? some twelve feet above the floor of his broaden my understanding not only of life here,
through with ono." ' bedroom. Directly bellow was P~r wife lying in ' but of that existence beyond What we call
Whether or not in 0088 hu an bed with another. man. death," she said.
to A.
- ti
Approved"For Relears'e'2003/09/10 CIA-RDP96-00788ROS1700211'dC !'T'a"b"s""'''0"05