In Reply to: Regarding out of body experiences posted by Zither on March 01, 2006 at 11:22:04:
Reading these accounts of people's spirits seeming to hang around for awhile after they have died reminded me of the phantom limb phenomenon. It is well tested and documented that amputees often can still "feel" a limb that has been amputated. Often they experience real pain in a limb that is no longer there. Some researchers in the area of phantom pain have carried out studies that illustrate that pain is in the brain. You don’t need a body to feel a body. The brain itself can generate every quality of experience which is normally triggered by sensory input.
Perhaps its similar when someone close to us dies. The memories of that person are hard-wired in our brain, and when they are gone the brain is still able to generate an experience of real feelings and sensations that the person is still there, though unseen.
Just a theory, but just as plausible as any other imo.