Paranormal Story Archives
September 2001 – Page 6

A Separate Reality
by Oliver T.

I'd like to relate my personal out-of-body experience. Everything occurred exactly as I have described it.

One evening back in 1981, I was feeling somewhat bored and restless. I was in one of those mental states where nothing seemed to satisfy. None of my friends were around, there was nothing on TV and I just couldn't seem to concentrate on the book I was reading. Finally, I gave up and tried going to sleep. I remember it was still early and only about 9:30 p.m. I lay there tossing and turning for awhile. After some time, I was able to lie still. I don't remember what I was thinking about.

Then an amazing thing happened. From one moment to the next, it seemed that I had gone from lying on my back unable to sleep to hovering over my own body. I was looking down at myself and facing toward the foot of the bed. My position was similar to what one would experience if lying face down in a swimming pool. I felt myself to be hanging or suspended. I had been lying in a completely dark room. Now I was conscious of being able to see clearly as though it was light. I started to drift toward the footboard of my bed. It was as though I was being gently pushed in that direction. I passed over the legs of my sleeping body. It occurred to me that if I continued to drift in the same direction, my shins would strike the footboard. I was anticipating the pain when, to my surprise, the legs I perceived to be part of my suspended body just seemed to pass through the solid wood. I began to drift faster. I was heading over the floor straight for my open closet. I recall entering it. The next thing I knew, I had passed through the back wall and into the closet of my brother's room adjacent to mine. Still suspended, I remember being able to clearly see all of my brother's toys in the dark closet. At that moment I became fully conscious of what was happening to me. I recall being startled and then afraid. With a jolt I snapped back into my sleeping body, for the next thing I knew I woke up in my bed.

Deeply disturbed, I reached over and turned on the light. I felt a strange sense of disquiet and that something was not right about me or the room. I felt an urge to do something normal. I walked out into the kitchen. I remember seeing my mother reading in the living room. I poured myself some water and went back to my room. I still felt disjointed and out of touch with reality. I put on some familiar music that I thought would relax me. Nothing worked. I remember being afraid to turn off the lights. Finally I drifted back to sleep. In the morning, I still felt a bit strange but nothing compared to the previous night.

Even though I'm open to it, I've never had another similar experience. In retrospect, what amazed me the most, besides hovering over myself, was being able to clearly see in what was a dark room, and passing through solid objects. The aspect of this experience that I feel is most significant is that it was qualitatively different from the way I experience dreams. Sometimes my dreams seem very real, but this was much more physical. Dreams are like going to the movies. This was like being immersed in a completely separate reality.

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