James Braid - Observations On Trance or Human Hybernation (2.1 MB)
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Records of several well-attested earlier cases of living burials were published in a brief book, Observations on Trance: Or, Human Hibernation, by James Braid, in 1850. Braid traces the idea of these demonstrations to the following passage in the Dabistan, a learned Persian work on the religious sects in India: "It is an established custom amongst the Yogis that, when malady overpowers them, they bury themselves. They are wont, also, with open eyes, to force their looks towards the middle of their eyebrows, until so looking ... More >>>Book can be downloaded.
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Records of several well-attested earlier cases of living burials were published in a brief book, Observations on Trance: Or, Human Hibernation, by James Braid, in 1850. Braid traces the idea of these demonstrations to the following passage in the Dabistan, a learned Persian work on the religious sects in India: "It is an established custom amongst the Yogis that, when malady overpowers them, they bury themselves. They are wont, also, with open eyes, to force their looks towards the middle of their eyebrows, until so looking they perceive the figure of a man if this should appear without hands, feet or any member, for each they have determined that the boundaries of their existence would be within so many years, months or days. When they see the figure without a head, they know that there certain-ly remains very little of their life on that account, having see the prognostic they bury themselves."