Page 35 of One Year Ago in Spain
After their loved one’s death, some report seeing or feeling the presence of a ghost.
Then there were the pseudopsychological diagnoses of questionable veracity:
Hallucinations may be early indications of schizophrenia.
Imaginary friends will sometimes persist into adulthood.
A vision of a ghost of a person who is still alive may actually be an astral projection, a condition in which the soul separates from the body for indeterminate periods of time.
Wait. Claire paused on the last answer.
An astral projection? She asked for more information.
Astral projections are rare but can occur when a subject is suffering from dire physical or medical conditions. The soul may detach in such instances. For example, there have been accounts of people watching their own surgeries from the same operating room, as if they were a third party.
Is it possible to talk to astral projections?
There is little evidence of interaction between astral projections and living people. In fact, astral projections are not a verifiable phenomenon.
“You just said that astral projections have actually happened,” Claire said, glaring at her computer. “But now you’re saying the reports aren’t verifiable?”
She typed more questions into the program, fingers pounding hard on the keys.
The chatbot seemed to adjust to what she wanted to hear. When she pushed on with curiosity, it served positive answersabout astral projections. When she expressed skepticism for some of its answers, it gave her responses undermining the existence of astral projections and the people who claim to have experienced them.
In a burst of frustration, Claire hammered out one final query: Who has the most knowledge and experience with astral projections?
It came up with a list of psychics. Lots of supposed psychics.
And one academic—Margot Hong, professor of parapsychological phenomena, Stanford University.
Despite having seen an apparition, Claire was too rational to believe in psychics. But a professor…
Five minutes later, Claire had found the professor’s contact info and emailed a brief explanation of seeing Matías’s spirit, along with a request for an urgent appointment in the early evening Spain time, which was morning in Palo Alto, California, where Professor Hong worked.
—
“Good morning,” theprofessor said, smiling into the camera. Margot Hong had the kind of face that age didn’t stamp—she could be twenty-five or forty-five—although based on the number of papers she’d published, she must be on the upper end of that spectrum. “Or should I saybuenas tardes,since you’re in Madrid?”
Claire tried to smile back, even though she could feel her nerves practically vibrating through her skin. “It’s nice to meet you, Professor Hong. Thank you for taking my call on such short notice.”
“It’s not a problem. Although I must confess I am also doing this out of professional curiosity.”
“Thank you. I…I don’t usually believe in stuff like this. I mean, I’m a lawyer. I am all about fact-based inquiry and rational beliefs.”
Professor Hong nodded. “Don’t worry. I’m a scientist. I am quite inflexible on facts as well, although I do challenge the notion of what we consider rational and what we don’t. Anyway, you emailed me a little bit about your situation, but do you mind telling me everything that’s happened from the beginning?”
Claire fiddled with the hotel-branded pen on the desk. She’d reviewed what she was going to say over and over while waiting for this appointment, but now it flew out of her head and she was forced to improvise. How much to reveal? What was enough, and what was extraneous?
Stop thinking like a lawyer in negotiations,she told herself. This wasn’t like work, where sometimes she had to strategically keep information back. If Claire was going to talk about the vision of Matías, she might as well go all in.
“My boyfriend, Matías, was in a terrible boating accident. Two of his friends died, and he and two other friends are in comas.”
Professor Hong exhaled. “I’m so sorry to hear that.”
Claire nodded. “It’s been awful. Matías is on life support and not doing well. But the thing is…I’ve seen him. Not in the hospital. Like, I’ve seen a transparent ghost version of him.”
“Hmm. Tell me more. Where? When?”
