Aerospace engineer Albert Taylor, whose career includes classified work on the F-117 Stealth fighter and NASA's International Space Station program, joins Art Bell to explain the phenomenon behind the flood of sleep paralysis calls that have overwhelmed the show in recent weeks. Taylor experienced death-like night paralysis from age five, episodes his New Orleans grandmother attributed to witches riding him in his sleep. Rather than accept folk explanations or medical dismissals, the scientist spent years researching what he came to understand as the gateway to out-of-body experiences.
Taylor walks listeners through the physiology of sleep paralysis, describing the buzzing sounds, heavy pressure, roaring wind, and visual sparks that signal the disconnection of consciousness from the physical body. He outlines his Interrupted Sleep Technique, a method he claims succeeds eight out of ten times, involving a deliberate middle-of-the-night waking period followed by deep relaxation. The key, he explains, is surrendering the instinct to fight the paralysis and instead directing intention toward floating upward and away from the body.
The conversation deepens as Taylor describes verifiable out-of-body visits to locations he has never physically seen, encounters with deceased relatives, and a 1993 experience that permanently removed his fear of death. Art presses him on the darker possibilities, including whether astral travelers could invade others' experiences.
