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CONTACT THROUGH THE VEIL: 2 + 203 integrate these otherworldly experiences. Were we opening up Pandora's box? How were volunteers going to live their lives from that point on, after having experienced such an inexplicable but certain reality? What could we tell them that would ease their confusion? Sara was DMT-34 and Rex was DMT-42. By the time they volunteered for the studies, more than two and a half years after the DMT project began, we had gained a familiarity, albeit an uneasy one, with tales of encounters with intelligent life-forms. If their sessions had taken place earlier in the research, we might not have been as supportive of their telling, nor learned the level of detail we did. Rex's and Sara's sessions may have been so extraordinary because they quickly suspended their disbelief and shock when the spirit mol- ecule threw open the doors to the unseen worlds and introduced them to the inhabitants of those places. They both had been through a lot in their lives and were remarkably able to keep their wits about them in stressful and frightening circumstances. They entered those types of situations try- ing to learn everything they could from them, disregarding nothing, accepting as much as they possibly could. Rex was forty years old when he volunteered for our studies. While in the armed services, he had taken some PCP, or angel dust, thinking it was THC, the active ingredient in marijuana. The resulting psychosis landed him in a psychiatric hospital for a week. He had gone to college for sev- eral years, but financial hardship and homelessness ended his studies. He suffered an episode of depression after a divorce in his twenties. De- spite these setbacks, his current emotional health was good, and we had few concerns about his ability to manage our studies. Rex was a rugged-looking fellow, but he was much more mild-man- nered than he appeared. His dark eyes, hair, and mustache were accentuated by his pale skin. He was the only volunteer who referred to me more often as "Dr. Strassman" than as "Rick." While ajourneyman carpenter by trade, he had also won some local awards for his creative writing. He was loosely allied with the Wicca religion, a nature-based practice and community.