Most people go through life feeling glued to their skin. Hands move, feet follow, and the world stays in front of their eyes. Yet a surprising slice of the population has reported slipping loose, hovering a few feet up, and seeing their own body from the outside.
The phenomenon is called an out-of-body experience (OBE), and its meaning has long puzzled science. Researchers estimate that anywhere from 5 to 20 percent of global adults have touched this odd territory at least once.
Such accounts crop up in emergency rooms, meditation retreats, and even on living-room couches during an afternoon nap. Pilots under high G-forces have logged them, and neurologists have induced similar sensations in lab volunteers by tickling a small patch of brain behind the right ear.
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