So what exactly is an out-of-body experience?

THE young man woke feeling dizzy. He got up and turned around, only to see himself still lying in bed. He shouted at his sleeping body, shook it, and jumped on it. The next thing he knew he was lying down again, but now seeing himself standing by the bed and shaking his sleeping body. Stricken with fear, he jumped out of the window. His room was on the third floor. He was found later, badly injured.

What this 21-year-old had just experienced was an out-of-body experience, one of the most peculiar states of consciousness. It was probably triggered by his epilepsy (Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry, vol 57, p 838). "He didn't want to commit suicide," says Peter Brugger, the young man's neuropsychologist at University Hospital Zurich in Switzerland. "He jumped to find a match between body and self. He must have been having a seizure." More...

Don't miss:

1. Briton recovers from brain surgery ... as talented artist!!!
2. Most people in the UK believe in life after death...
3. Can ghosts and spirits be photographed?
4. Vilayanur Ramachandran and his mirror...
5. New specs help to ease phantom limb pain...
6. Who are We? (Must see absolutely)