Hello everyone! What is your impression of this OBE by Marilynn Hughes?

[Violeta-1998]

The experiment began in January 2009 with Marilynn Hughes, an authority on out-of-body travel who claimed to be able to leave her body on a regular basis. The first hurdle was determining how a controlled experiment on something so intangible could be approached.
Marilynn told investigators she often encountered people who have passed away during her OBEs. She also claimed to receive messages for grieving families and friends — most often from those who died leaving unresolved issues for themselves and their families. The investigators decided to test this claim.
They designed an out-of-body experiment modeled after the work of researchers, Dr. Gary Schwartz and, Dr. Julie Beischel, at the University of Arizona. The experiment was simple:
• A volunteer unknown to Marilynn was chosen. Investigators chose a mother who had tragically lost her daughter to suicide at age 20.
• Marilynn received the first name of the deceased, the month and day (but not the year) of her birth, and the date of her passing.
• Marilynn was asked to communicate with the deceased and relay back relevant messages via email.
• All information passed through the investigators and Marilynn was not allowed to ask questions about the subject.
From barest of personal details, Marilynn began her out-of-body travels and returned with her first installment of information: she accurately described the girl’s age, her connection to her mother, her state of mind, and details of her college environment.
Impressed by these results, investigators sent Marilynn photos of the girl and a favorite hat. Marilynn came back with more details on the circumstances surrounding the young woman’s passing. She also relayed details of a spiritual crisis before her death, and provided surprising details of the woman’s final days.
At the end of the two-month investigation, investigators interviewed Marilynn and revealed the accuracy of her reading and the profound effect her messages had on the girl’s family. She was delighted and even a little surprised at her astounding accuracy.
While investigators are slow to draw too many conclusions from this single trial they do believe the experiment established a couple of things:
• Marilynn picked up a level of detail about the girl, her circumstances and emotional state that was far too much to be mere guesswork and “cold reading” generalizations.
• The messages conveyed to the bereaved family brought them a huge amount of healing and understanding
However skeptical you may be of out-of-body experiences, results like these show that this is an area worthy of much more scientific investigation, both for the pursuit of knowledge and understanding, and for the practical aim of helping the grieving.

This was one of her experiences. She has also claimed to have spoken with Michael Jackson's spirit in these experiences. Do you believe this, and what do you think could potentially be an explanation for this?

[Faith No More]

I call bullshit.

[Violeta-1998]

I call bullshit.

How could they have lied though if doctors were watching it?

[Faith No More]

You haven't even established that any of this actually happened, let alone that it has been peer-reviewed.

And I can think of numerous scenarios which make much more sense than a woman magically able to do all the things her brain does without a brain.

[Violeta-1998]

You haven't even established that any of this actually happened, let alone that it has been peer-reviewed.

And I can think of numerous scenarios which make much more sense than a woman magically able to do all the things her brain does without a brain.

That's true. She did publish a book on this, and she was on skeptiko which is a pretty biased site. I actually don't know that it was true. It is just kind of hard to imagine that someone would lie about this

[brewer]

You should do more research. This is hokum.

[Whateverist]

I will read your post but my first impressions first. If anyone left their body, wouldn't necessarily also have left their brain and with it their mind. If so, how can we take seriously someone who has lost touch with their mind?

---

Okay, no. I've seen stage magicians accomplish as much. Not impressed.

[Homeless Nutter]

That's true. She did publish a book on this, and she was on skeptiko which is a pretty biased site. I actually don't know that it was true. It is just kind of hard to imagine that someone would lie about this

LOL... No, it isn't. People lie about all sorts of things and for the simplest, most mundane reasons. There's a market for this nonsense, because people want to believe in magic and such - and for many opportunistic individuals, with nothing to lose, this is the best income for the least effort, they're likely to ever get.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

You haven't even established that any of this actually happened, let alone that it has been peer-reviewed.

And I can think of numerous scenarios which make much more sense than a woman magically able to do all the things her brain does without a brain.

That's true. She did publish a book on this, and she was on skeptiko which is a pretty biased site. I actually don't know that it was true. It is just kind of hard to imagine that someone would lie about this

Right. The idea that someone would lie in order to sell a book is just utterly beyond human comprehension. What kind of a psycho would DO that?

There are a myriad of tests that these alleged OBE-ers could take to prove themselves, but they never do. One of the simplest ones is to place a book in a locked cupboard in your home and ask the test subject to tell you the title. If they can leave their own body while in command of their faculties, this should be a cake walk. They could be on the other side of the planet, zip over, squoosh through the cupboard, and give you the answer.

Funny how these paranormal types always seem to offer proof that no one can check, but they never seem to know my mum's middle name or next week's winning Lotto numbers.

Boru