ASPR out-of-body tests with Ingo Swann
In 1972 the American Society for Psychical Research in New York tested whether Ingo Swann could 'see' targets on a high shelf while out of his body.
1972 CE · 40.78, -73.98 · status: disputed
The account
The ASPR's Summer 1972 newsletter describes Karlis Osis's design: Swann sat wired to a polygraph while targets lay on a partitioned shelf hung near the ceiling, and he described and sketched them (p.2). A psychologist matching responses to targets blind matched all eight sessions, which the newsletter puts at about 1 in 40,000 by chance. Osis framed the work as a test of an 'ecsomatic' self against the alternative of ESP plus a fantasy of travel. These sessions preceded Swann's move to SRI and the start of remote viewing.
The sceptical view
The newsletter is the researchers' own summary for members; it gives no full protocol, and later critics of psi tests stress how matching judgments can be affected by cues.