The Near Death Experiment Experimental Procedure.

 

Introduction

The following experiment is designed to determine whether a person actually does leave their body during the out-of-body phase of a Near Death Experience. By using the technique of Hypothermic Circulatory Arrest (HCA), a participant can be rendered clinically dead, and a series of trials can be carried out whilst they are in this condition. Once the participant is revived they can be interviewed to determine whether they witnessed any events that took place whilst they were “dead”. In addition several biological and personality tests will be conducted to examine the physical process of dying and the personality changes that accompany an NDE.

Description of Experimental Trials.

The patient is to be rendered clinically dead by use of HCA. and once in this condition the following trials are to be carried out. Each of these trials shall run from the point at which the participant looses consciousness, till the time that the participant regains a pulse, as determined by the doctor in charge.

1. Movie Visual - One wall of the room in which the procedure is carried out a randomly selected part of a randomly selected movie is to be displayed minus sound The movie need not be one with which the participant is familiar. It will be randomly selected from at least twenty on hand, and the exact distance that the movie will be fast-forwarded will also be determined randomly. The movies on hand should be selected on the basis of their dissimilarity from each other, so that the visual content of each movie is unlikely to be similar to the others, for example, they could not all be Science Fiction or western.

2. Static Visual- This trial simply consists of the projection of a slide onto another wall of the room in which the procedure is being carried out. This should be randomly selected from at least 200 unique slides on hand, and should not be one with which the participant is familiar.

3. Random Visual- This trial simply consists of the visual events that occur in the room whilst the procedure is underway.

4. Music Audible - In this trial a randomly determined CD of music is to be played. It should be randomly chosen from a sample of at least one hundred, and the CD player is to be set to “random play” whilst it plays them. Only music is to be played during this trial, to prevent possible clashes with Trial 5 and to reduce extraneous noise that may disturb the staff.

5. Random Audible - This trial simply consists of the audio events that occur during the procedure, such as talking, ect.

6. Random External - This trial consists of any verifiable event that takes place outside the confines of the room in which the participant is placed.

7. The Play - This is perhaps the most complicated of the trials, in that it will involve the participation of a small group of persons who will be screened from view from the main experimental area. They are to have on hand the scripts for numerous plays, and once the experiment begins, they are to randomly select one, quickly don appropriate clothing and proceed to perform the play from behind the screen. A greater number of plays would be ideal, however, their selection should be determined by the logistics of the task.

8 The pets - If possible, any suitable pets of the participant should be close by, although out of sight, during the experiment and their responses to the environment should be monitored throughout. Although it is not anticipated that pets will react the the "death" of the owner, it would be a interesting to discover if this is so.

Determination of Random Trials.
Due to the large number of items involved in the trials it is anticipated that the selections are to be based on the role of dice, using 10 sided, 20 sided, or percentile dice as appropriate. Furthermore dice throws will be made AFTER the participant has donned their shielding (see below), to prevent his knowledge of the outcomes. Additionally, the rolls will be made, from a cup or similar item, to prevent tampering and preferably, by a neutral observer (see below).

Subject Isolation
In order to prevent contamination of the results by the possibility of the participant subconsciously realizing what is taking place, whilst unconscious and creating a scenario of events, the participant is to be shielded from events in two ways. These shields are to be in place from the time the cooling starts (or sooner if this is possible within the medical constraints of the procedure), till the time the patient is ready to be debriefed. This will prevent the participant from gaining information once they are revived, prior to being debriefed.

Visual Shielding - The participant is to wear a mask over his eyes in order to ensure that he cannot see the events taking place. It should be especially designed to ensure that no light can get through it and a simple band of cloth is unacceptable.

Audile Shielding - This consists of two parts the first being simply that the participant is to wear industrial strength hearing protection. Secondly, the they are to listen to a CD of music via mini headphones beneath the hearing protection. This music choice is the participant's own decision, but the volume should be at such a level that it interferes with whatever sound penetrates the hearing protection.

As a further precaution after the experiment the shielding devices are to be handed over to a neutral observer, in a locked box, once the procedure has been completed, so they can be checked independently for bugging devices and the like.

Recording of the Experiment.
To ensure the validity of the experiment it is essential that the experiment be fully recorded in the minutest detail if possible. This recording should at least take the form of a fixed camera perspective on each wall, and a close up camera on the dice rolling surface, but hopefully will include at least one roving camera, to follow events as they unfold, and an additional centrally placed mike, to pick up the sound from the center of thee room. Recordings shall begin as soon as the medical staff enter the room (or sooner) and continue uninterrupted until after the subject has been debriefed.

Neutral Observers.
It an experiment of this kind, it is also essential that there are neutral observers, who are present for the sole purpose of witnessing all that occurs and to ensure that all runs smoothly and above the board. Ideally they should be from an organization such as the skeptics, and be familiar in exposing fraud within psychic experiments. Ideally several will be on hand, as one will be tasked with die rolling, and therefore be ineligible to be considered a neutral observer.

Post Revival and Debriefing.
Once the participant has been revived, and stabilized, it is important that they be debriefed as soon as possible, to avoid the possibility that they will become contaminated with information from persons present at the time of the experiment. They will not leave the room until after they have been debriefed and the experiment declared finished by the senior researcher.

To avoid information contamination, as soon as the patient is revived, all non-important personnel shall be removed from the presence of the participant. New observers, and medical staff, who are ignorant of the occurrences in the experiment, shall be bought in as soon as possible, to replace those who actually participated. Both groups are to be kept isolated from each other, and held confined until the debriefing is over.

Debriefing of the participant is to take place in the room in two parts. The first debriefing is to be conducted by a person not present at the time of the experiment. They should be an experienced interviewer, and will have a prepared list of questions regarding the possible events that may have taken place in the room.

Once the first phase of questioning another interviewer will take over. This time it will be a person who was present during the experiment and that person will discuss actual and probable events that took place. This is to determine if memories of events can be planted or induced artificially within a post NDE subject and also to see if there occurs any variance in memories over the time frame of the two interviews.

Once the second debriefing is over, the subject can be released back into the care of the medical staff and the flatlining experiment declared finished.

Obviously fairly intensive debriefing of the participant over the next few weeks or days is likely to be required as well.

Anesthetic
Due to the correlation between general anesthetic and the non-occurrence of NDEs it is anticipated that the participant will not be anaesthetized for this procedure, assuming of course that it will not significantly effect their safety. This should also facilitate the debriefing, as the team will not have to wait for the subject to recover from anesthetic, a period in which information contamination could occur.

It is likely, however, that refraining from anesthesia will not be possible due to the shivering reflex, and subject discomfort. It may still be possible to reduce the effects of these through the extensive use of local anesthetic that may still leave the patient conscious. Alternately, hypnotism may be a viable alternative to anesthetic.

The Room
Due to the complicated and busy nature of this experiment it will need to be conducted within a very large room, such as a hall. Because of this, it is likely that the procedure will not be able to be carried out within the confines of a hospital. Irrespective of this, it is vital that the place in which the experiment is conducted is able to be kept hygienic, clean and dust free at all times.

Physiological Experiments

At least two physiological experiments should be conducted during the experiment. Firstly and electrical examination of the patients brain, to determine how much activity is taking place and accurately determine the point of death. Secondly a measuring of blood oxygen levels should be conducted, so as to determine the validity of the theory that low levels of oxygen act as the trigger for NDEs.

Another experiment should take place before and after the experiment is conducted. This will take the form of electrical scans of the brain function to determine if there is a difference in the function of the brain before and after an NDE, or death itself.

Psychological Assessment

These assessments will consist of various attitude and personality surveys, interviews with close friends and associates, and other such measures of personality, taken before the experiment, and after. It is anticipated that repeated assessments will be conducted with the participant for at least a decade post experiment, thereby giving a picture of the psych profile once the post NDE personality has stabilized.