Neville's first involuntary astral projection, hotel room, 1927

In 1927, in his hotel room, Neville felt a peculiar sensation begin in his head; it intensified and he found himself catapulted out of the body and set down on a beach among strangers. Desiring to return, he was instantly back. Closing his eyes and intensifying the sensation again, he left the body but stayed in the room, moved about it, and looked down at the body on the bed — clearly visible except for the head, covered with a white substance like a cloud which parted briefly to let him glimpse the face. Reasoning that as spirit he could pass through the wall, he tried; the wall was solidly real. He made a running jump at it, knocked himself out, and came to in his body with a frightful headache.