The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1872-02-10
From the Louisville Cor
From the Louisville CouhsrJouruALl
Curious 0ccurrenee-A Man Steps Out of
His Body.


His Body.
Mr.. b, a resident of this city, who is
noted for the acuteness Of his perceptive powers,
an experience that seems 70 merit an attention Of
those who seek TO know more of the nature Of
man, especially since Mr.. B is not q
spiritualist or orthodox Christian, who might be
suspected Of credulity, but a materialist, who be
lieves that the soul is the result of physical life
and ceases TO exist as au individuality when
physical life ends.
Mr. B says Some two years ago
lived in st. Louis. Ny residence wac on Olive
street, and | occupied two stories of the house.
We did our cooking in the first story. and our
eitting-roOm was in the second story, from which
there were an outside and an inside stairway 10y
which We could 20 down to reach the street.
I" One evening, returning home about night
iall, | sat down in a rocking chair In our sitting
room, while my wife went down stairs 10 prepare
supper. From the kitchen she could have seen
me if in a s~omnambullc state l had gone down
either Of the ~stairways, but she is positive that |
did not 20 down stairs. | must have been but u
few minutes sitting in the rocking chair when l
had an impulse to 60 down town. l had no
special business, but telt that | must 60, and L
seemed 10 20 down stairs By the outside stairway.
| was not conscious OF any unusual sensation. /
felt no want of my body-no consciousness Of
being out Of it, If | was out. l noticed that the
oAIGCLl lamps were III. OOi1ll1S 10 an di4CJ Clpho-
ing that was muddy, ! considered that it was
necessary to make a little effort to spring across
it, and was astonished TO find that l jumped
much further than | had anticipated.
Wondering ut my buoyancy, l thought |
would spring up and see how high | could jump,
and, making the experiment, | was astOnished 10
find that | had jumped so high that | looked into
the second story windows, and il seemed TO re-
quire something of an effort to get down to the
earth again. Passing on down street | met
many persons returning from work, and it struck
me az singular that none of them gave way is
me. | had to get out of their way OF they would
have run against me. | came opposite a bank
and noticed that there was a light inside. This
did not astOnish me, as | knew the door was shnt
and locked. | could see that, but it seemed that
the door did not close so tightly but | could slip
in, and did so. l noticed exactly the hour that
was shown by the bank clock and could hear the
clock ticking. l went opposite the man who was
busily engaged counting notes.
He had hair a little gray and very peculiar
features. / noticed that he stored the notes as he
ran them over, throwing the different d%enomina
tions apart and then counting them. Observing
this for a few minutes, | was suddenly seized with
dread lest the man should look up, and supposing
L bad come in with some lelonious intent, do me
some harm as by shooting me before | could ex-
plain how | got in after the door was locked in
considerable trepidation, l for the moment could
not see how to get out. / did not remember that
| could go out where | had gone in. Wishing to
have the man see me without being startled, and
thinking that the best way TO excuse my presence
was for him TO see me between him and the door
l went round to his side to attract attention, but
he did not seem TO see me even when he looked to-
ward me. L attempted to put my hand on his
shoulder to insure his attention, but somehow l
could not touch him..
[ spoke TO him, but he did not seem to hear a
word that | said. RecOllccting then how | had
got in, l went out through the door-crack, and
went straight home, the only noticeable incident
being, as on going down town, that those | met
did not give way to me. | had still to step aside,
or they would have run against me. On getting
back to our sittIng-rOom. | settled myself in the
rocking chair, and the next thing | knew my wife
was shaking me to have me wake up for tea. How
long a space had elapsed from the time when |
came home from work until my wife called me to
supper | have no means of knowing exactly.
Now, | might suppose the whole was a dream, but
for some unaccountable circumstances. One of
these was that l had not previously noticed the
bank in my walking hours. The next day after
this curious experience ! went down street as |
had seemed to go the night before, and [ saw the
bank and the man whom | had seen counting notes
was there behind the counter.
L recognized at once his grayish hair. do not
think l had ever seen him in my walking hours
before. l saw also the clock that l am certain l
never saw before the night when | seemed to see
1t after l went into the bank. When | thus
seemed to verify what l supposed had seen the
night before, [ had an inclination to tell the gray
haired banker about it, but l feared he might sup
pose that | had been In the bank in person for
some bad intent, and this restrained me. l am
utterly at a loss to account for my experience.
That l did not leave my sitting room my wife is
confident.
When she awoke me | was in the chair as | was
when she went down stairs. If there is a spirit
distinct from the body, and it was that spirit that
went down street and saw things previously I'M
known, why was [ not conscious of being out of
my body? What purpose could be subserved
by Il spirit thus going out of the body withoutan
and looking into strange places. and then
back into the body? But how did when
in my rocking chair, fancy the incidents
previously entirely unknown, yet which were so
strangely verified afterwards p
We give the strange story in very nearly the
words of the worthy gentleman whose experience
it presents. He does not wish his name to be
used, but knowing him intimately, We can vouch
in the strongest terms for his reliability
Louisville COuTier-JOurna
IL 49,