Free Evidence of the Afterlife: The Science of Near-Death Experiences by Jeffrey Long, Paul Perry

of an OBE from a man who nearly died from a complication after surgery. As his medical team worked frantically to save his life, he watched from above:
    Suddenly my consciousness rose above [my bed in] the ICU. I remember having told myself that I had not had an out-of-body experience so this could not be happening. As I rose, I told myself, “Well, here it is.”
    The suggestion that OBEs exist may be very difficult for some to accept. This is understandable. Consciousness that exists separately from the physical body is an event that few people have experienced. Before accepting OBEs as factual, reasonable people may require extremely strong evidence for its reality. Such evidence is certainly available, as we shall see.

STUDYING HUNDREDS OF OBEs AT NDERF
    The NDERF study uncovered hundreds of accounts of NDEs that included out-of-body experiences. I have studied them in a way similar to the previously discussed Holden study, but with some important differences. For the out-of-body experience study, I personally reviewed 617 sequentially shared NDEs that were posted on NDERF. All near-death experiences meeting the study criteria that were shared on the NDERF questionnaire form from October 10, 2004, to October 10, 2008, were reviewed. The study criteria were that the near-death experience accounts be shared by the individual who personally had the NDE, describe a single NDE, and be shared in English, plus we needed to be allowed to post the NDE on the NDERF website. My goal was to see if there were
any
out-of-body observations of earthly events that either the NDErs or I considered to be
not
realistic. If
any
unrealistic out-of-body observations were found, the NDE would be classified as unrealistic.
    A questionnaire was prepared for the study of several elements of the near-death experiences, including OBEs. In my review of these 617 near-death experiences, the first question I answered was: “Did they see or hear any earthly events at a time their consciousness seemed separated from their physical body?”
    If the answer to that question was “Yes,” two additional questions were asked: “Did the [NDEr] later [after the experience] investigate the accuracy of the earthly events they saw or heard during their experience at the time their consciousness seemed separated from their physical body?” The second question asked was: “Is there any reason to doubt … that any of the earthly events seen or heard at the time their consciousness seemed separated from their physical body were real?”
    For each of the preceding survey questions I selected responses that ranged from a definite “Yes” to a definite “No.”
    The results of the study are astonishing. Of the 617 near-death-experience accounts, 287 (46.5 percent) described OBEs that contained observations of earthly events that would allow others to objectively assess the reality of their observations. Of this group of 287 OBErs, 280 (97.6 percent) were found to have had out-of-body experiences that were
entirely
realistic and lacked
any
content that was unrealistic. Finally, of the 287 OBErs, 65 (23 percent) of the OBErs described personally investigating the accuracy of their own OBE observations following their NDE. None of these 65 OBErs described any inaccuracy in their OBE observations based on their later investigations.
    These are amazing results, given that I would count the out-of-body experience as unrealistic if
any
part of the OBE did not seem real to either me or the NDErs.
Amazing Findings
    The finding that nearly all of the hundreds of OBErs’ observations of earthly events were realistic provides some of the strongest evidence ever presented that NDEs are real. The best evidence indicates that NDErs really do experience a separation of consciousness from their physical body. It is all the more remarkable that this is occurring at a time when the NDErs are unconscious or clinically dead.
    I can’t help but marvel at these findings. There is