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Out-of-body experience

An out-of-body experience (OBE or sometimes OOBE) is a phenomenon in which a person perceives the world as if from a location outside their physical body. An OBE is a form of autoscopy (literally "seeing self"), although this term is more commonly used to refer to the pathological condition of seeing a second self, or doppelgänger.

The term out-of-body experience was introduced in 1943 by G. N. M. Tyrrell in his book Apparitions, and was adopted by researchers such as Celia Green, and Robert Monroe, as an alternative to belief-centric labels such as "astral projection" or "spirit walking". OBEs can be induced by traumatic brain injuries, sensory deprivation, near-death experiences, dissociative and psychedelic drugs, dehydration, sleep disorders, dreaming, and electrical stimulation of the brain, among other causes. It can also be deliberately induced by some. One in ten people has an OBE once, or more commonly, several times in their life.

Psychologists and neuroscientists regard OBEs as dissociative experiences occurring along different psychological and neurological factors.

During/near sleep
Those experiencing OBEs sometimes report (among other types of immediate and spontaneous experience) a preceding and initiating lucid-dream state. In many cases, people who claim to have had an OBE report being on the verge of sleep, or being already asleep shortly before the experience. A large percentage of these cases refer to situations where the sleep was not particularly deep (due to illness, noises in other rooms, emotional stress, exhaustion from overworking, frequent re-awakening, etc.). In most of these cases subjects perceive themselves as being awake; about half of them note a feeling of sleep paralysis.

Near-death experiences
Another form of spontaneous OBE is the near-death experience (NDE). Some subjects report having had an OBE at times of severe physical trauma such as near-drownings or major surgery. Near-death experiences may include subjective impressions of being outside the physical body, sometimes visions of deceased relatives and religious figures, and transcendence of ego and spatiotemporal boundaries. The experience typically includes such factors as: a sense of being dead; a feeling of peace and painlessness; hearing of various non-physical sounds, an out-of-body experience; a tunnel experience (the sense of moving up or through a narrow passageway); encountering "beings of light" and a God-like figure or similar entities; being given a "life review", and a reluctance to return to life.

Resulting from extreme physical effort
Along the same lines as an NDE, extreme physical effort during activities such as high-altitude climbing and marathon running can induce OBEs. A sense of bilocation may be experienced, with both ground and air-based perspectives being experienced simultaneously.

Chemical

 * OBEs can be induced by hallucinogens (particularly dissociatives & psychedelics) such as psilocybin, ketamine, DMT, MDA, and LSD.  These effects are believed to arise from interaction of these substances with a brain structure called the precuneus.

Mental induction

 * Falling asleep physically without losing awareness. The "Mind Awake, Body Asleep" state is widely suggested as a cause of OBEs, voluntary and otherwise. Thomas Edison used this state to tackle problems while working on his inventions. He would rest a silver dollar on his head while sitting with a metal bucket in a chair. As he drifted off, the coin would noisily fall into the bucket, restoring some of his alertness. OBE pioneer Sylvan Muldoon more simply used a forearm held perpendicular in bed as the falling object. Salvador Dalí was said to use a similar "paranoiac-critical" method to gain odd visions which inspired his paintings. Deliberately teetering between awake and asleep states is known to cause spontaneous trance episodes at the onset of sleep which are ultimately helpful when attempting to induce an OBE.  By moving deeper and deeper into relaxation, one eventually encounters a "slipping" feeling if the mind is still alert. This slipping is reported to feel like leaving the physical body. Some consider progressive muscle relaxation as an active form of sensory deprivation.
 * Deep trance, meditation and visualization. The types of visualizations vary; some common analogies include climbing a rope to "pull out" of one's body, floating out of one's body, getting shot out of a cannon, and other similar approaches. This technique is considered hard to use for people who cannot properly relax. One example of such a technique is the popular Golden Dawn "Body of Light" Technique.

Mechanical induction

 * Brainwave synchronization via audio/visual stimulation. Binaural beats can be used to induce specific brainwave frequencies, notably those predominant in various mind awake/body asleep states. Binaural induction of a "body asleep" 4 Hertz brainwave frequency was observed as effective by the Monroe Institute, and some authors consider binaural beats to be significantly supportive of OBE initiation when used in conjunction with other techniques.  Simultaneous introduction of "mind awake" beta frequencies (detectable in the brains of normal, relaxed awakened individuals) was also observed as constructive. Another popular technology uses sinusoidal wave pulses to achieve similar results, and the drumming accompanying Native American religious ceremonies is also believed to have heightened receptivity to "other worlds" through brainwave entrainment mechanisms.
 * Direct stimulation of the vestibular cortex.
 * Electrical stimulation of the brain, particularly the temporoparietal junction (see Blanke study below).
 * Sensory deprivation. This approach aims to induce intense disorientation by removal of space and time references. Flotation tanks or pink noise played through headphones are often employed for this purpose.
 * Sensory overload, the opposite of sensory deprivation. The subject can for instance be rocked for a long time in a specially designed cradle, or submitted to light forms of torture, to cause the brain to shut itself off from all sensory input. Both conditions tend to cause confusion and this disorientation often permits the subject to experience vivid, ethereal out-of-body experiences.
 * Strong g-forces that causes blood to drain from parts of the brain, as experienced for example in high-performance aircraft or high-G training for pilots and astronauts.
 * An apparatus that uses a head-mounted display and a touch that confuses the sense of proprioception (and which can also create the sensation of additional limbs).

Psychological
In the fields of cognitive science and psychology OBEs are considered dissociative experiences arising from different psychological and neurological factors. Scientists consider the OBE to be an experience from a mental state, like a dream or an altered state of consciousness without recourse to the paranormal.

Charles Richet (1887) held that OBEs are created by the subject's memory and imagination processes and are no different from dreams. James H. Hyslop (1912) wrote that OBEs occur when the activity of the subconscious mind dramatizes certain images to give the impression the subject is in a different physical location. Eugéne Osty (1930) considered OBEs to be nothing more than the product of imagination. Other early researchers (such as Schmeing, 1938) supported psychophysiological theories. G. N. M. Tyrrell interpreted OBEs as hallucinatory constructs relating to subconscious levels of personality.

Donovan Rawcliffe (1959) connected the OBE experience with psychosis and hysteria. Other researchers have discussed the phenomena of the OBE in terms of a distortion of the body image (Horowitz, 1970) and depersonalization (Whitlock, 1978). The psychologists Nandor Fodor (1959) and Jan Ehrenwald (1974) proposed that an OBE is a defense mechanism designed to deal with the threat of death. According to (Irin and Watt, 2007) Jan Ehrenwald had described the out-of-body experience (OBE) "as an imaginal confirmation of the quest for immortality, a delusory attempt to assure ourselves that we possess a soul that exists independently of the physical body". The psychologists Donald Hebb (1960) and Cyril Burt (1968) wrote on the psychological interpretation of the OBE involving body image and visual imagery. Graham Reed (1974) suggested that the OBE is a stress reaction to a painful situation, such as the loss of love. John Palmer (1978) wrote that the OBE is a response to a body image change causing a threat to personal identity.

Carl Sagan (1977) and Barbara Honegger (1983) wrote that the OBE experience may be based on a rebirth fantasy or reliving of the birth process based on reports of tunnel-like passageways and a cord-like connection by some OBErs which they compared to an umbilical cord. Susan Blackmore (1978) came to the conclusion that the OBE is a hallucinatory fantasy as it has the characteristics of imaginary perceptions, perceptual distortions and fantasy-like perceptions of the self (such as having no body). Ronald Siegel (1980) also wrote that OBEs are hallucinatory fantasies.

Harvey Irwin (1985) presented a theory of the OBE involving attentional cognitive processes and somatic sensory activity. His theory involved a cognitive personality construct known as psychological absorption and gave instances of the classification of an OBE as examples of autoscopy, depersonalization and mental dissociation. The psychophysiologist Stephen Laberge (1985) has written that the explanation for OBEs can be found in lucid dreaming. David Hufford (1989) linked the OBE experience with a phenomenon he described as a nightmare waking experience, a type of sleep paralysis. Other scientists have also linked OBEs to cases of hypnagogia and sleep paralysis (cataplexy).

In case studies fantasy proneness has been shown to be higher among OBErs than those who have not had an OBE. The data has shown a link between the OBE experience in some cases to fantasy prone personality (FPP). In a case study involving 167 participants the findings revealed that those who claimed to have experienced the OBE were "more fantasy prone, higher in their belief in the paranormal and displayed greater somatoform dissociation." Research from studies has also suggested that OBEs are related to cognitive-perceptual schizotypy.

Neurological
Terence Hines (2003) has written that spontaneous out-of-body experiences can be generated by artificial stimulation of the brain and this strongly suggests that the OBE experience is caused from "temporary, minor brain malfunctions, not by the person's spirit (or whatever) actually leaving the body." In a study review of neurological and neurocognitive data (Bünning and Blanke, 2005) wrote that OBEs are due to "functional disintegration of lower-level multisensory processing and abnormal higher-level self-processing at the temporoparietal junction." Some scientists suspect that OBEs are the result of a mismatch between visual and tactile signals.

Richard Wiseman (2011) has noted that OBE research has focused on finding a psychological explanation and "out-of-body experiences are not paranormal and do not provide evidence for the soul. Instead, they reveal something far more remarkable about the everyday workings of your brain and body." A study conducted by Jason Braithwaite and colleagues (2011) linked the OBE to "neural instabilities in the brain's temporal lobes and to errors in the body's sense of itself". Braithwaite et al. (2013) reported that the "current and dominant view is that the OBE occurs due to a temporary disruption in multi-sensory integration processes." A study led by Josef Parvizi found that direct electrical stimulation of the anterior portion of the precuneus can induce an out-of-body experience.

Paranormal
Writers in the fields of parapsychology and occultism have written that OBEs are not psychological and that a soul, spirit or subtle body can detach itself out of the body and visit distant locations. Out-of-the-body experiences were known during the Victorian period in spiritualist literature as "travelling clairvoyance". In old Indian scriptures, such a state of consciousness is also referred to as Turiya, which can be achieved by deep yogic and meditative activities, during which yogis may be liberated from the duality of mind and body, allowing them to intentionally leave the body and then return to it. The body carrying out this journey is called "Vigyan dehi" ("Scientific body"). The psychical researcher Frederic Myers referred to the OBE as a "psychical excursion". An early study that described alleged cases of OBE was the two-volume Phantasms of the Living, published in 1886 by the psychical researchers Edmund Gurney, Myers, and Frank Podmore. The book was largely criticized by the scientific community because the anecdotal reports in almost every case lacked evidential substantiation.

The theosophist Arthur Powell (1927) was an early author to advocate the subtle body theory of OBEs. Sylvan Muldoon (1936) embraced the concept of an etheric body to explain the OBE experience. The psychical researcher Ernesto Bozzano (1938) had also supported a similar view describing the phenomena of the OBE experience in terms of bilocation in which an "etheric body" can release itself from the physical body in rare circumstances. The subtle body theory was also supported by occult writers such as Ralph Shirley (1938), Benjamin Walker (1977), and Douglas Baker (1979). James Baker (1954) wrote that a mental body enters an "intercosmic region" during the OBE. Robert Crookall supported the subtle body theory of OBEs in several publications.

The paranormal interpretation of OBEs has not been supported by all researchers within the study of parapsychology. Gardner Murphy (1961) wrote that OBEs are "not very far from the known terrain of general psychology, which we are beginning to understand more and more without recourse to the paranormal".

In the 1970s, Karlis Osis conducted many OBE experiments with the psychic Alex Tanous. In one series of these experiments, he was asked whilst in an OBE state whether he could identify coloured targets that were placed in remote locations. Osis reported that there were 114 hits in 197 trials. However, the controls for the experiments have been criticized and, according to Susan Blackmore, the final result was not particularly significant since 108 hits would have been expected by chance alone. Blackmore noted that the results provide "no evidence for accurate perception in the OBE".

In April 1977, a patient from Harborview Medical Center known as Maria claimed to have experienced an out-of-body experience. During her OBE she claimed to have floated outside her body and outside the hospital. Maria later told her social worker Kimberly Clark that during the OBE she had observed a tennis shoe on the third floor window ledge to the north side of the building. Clark then went to the north wing of the building and by looking out of the window could see a tennis shoe on one of the ledges. Clark published the account in 1984. The story has since been used in many paranormal books as evidence that a spirit can leave the body.

In 1996, Hayden Ebbern, Sean Mulligan and Barry Beyerstein visited the Medical Center to investigate Clark's story. They placed a tennis shoe on the same ledge and found that it was visible from within the building and could easily have been observed by a patient lying in bed. They also discovered that the tennis shoe was easy to observe from outside the building and suggested that Maria may have overheard a comment about it during her three days in the hospital and then incorporated it into her OBE. They concluded "Maria's story merely reveals the naiveté and the power of wishful thinking" from OBE researchers seeking a paranormal explanation. Clark did not publish the description of the case until seven years after it happened, casting doubt on the story. Richard Wiseman has said that although the story is not evidence for anything paranormal it has been "endlessly repeated by writers who either couldn't be bothered to check the facts, or were unwilling to present their readers with the more skeptical side of the story." Clark responded to the accusations made in a separate paper.

Astral projection
Astral projection is a paranormal interpretation of out-of-body experiences that assumes the existence of one or more non-physical planes of existence and an associated body beyond the physical. Commonly such planes are called astral, etheric, or spiritual. Astral projection is often experienced as the spirit or astral body leaving the physical body to travel in the spirit world or astral plane.

OBE studies
Early collections of OBE cases had been made by Ernesto Bozzano (Italy) and Robert Crookall (UK). Crookall approached the subject from a spiritualistic position, and collected his cases predominantly from spiritualist newspapers such as the Psychic News, which appears to have biased his results in various ways. For example, the majority of his subjects reported seeing a cord connecting the physical body and its observing counterpart; whereas Green (see below) found that less than 4% of her subjects noticed anything of this sort, and some 80% reported feeling they were a "disembodied consciousness", with no external body at all.

The first extensive scientific study of OBEs was made by Celia Green (1968). She collected written, first-hand accounts from a total of 400 subjects, recruited by means of appeals in the mainstream media, and followed up by questionnaires. Her purpose was to provide a taxonomy of the different types of OBE, viewed simply as an anomalous perceptual experience or hallucination, while leaving open the question of whether some of the cases might incorporate information derived by extrasensory perception.

International Academy of Consciousness - Global Survey
In 1999, at the 1st International Forum of Consciousness Research in Barcelona, research-practitioners Wagner Alegretti and Nanci Trivellato presented preliminary findings of an online survey on the out-of-body experience answered by internet users interested in the subject; therefore, not a sample representative of the general population. "1,007 (85%) of the first 1,185 respondents reported having had an OBE. 37% claimed to have had between two and ten OBEs. 5.5% claimed more than 100 such experiences. 45% of those who reported an OBE said they successfully induced at least one OBE by using a specific technique. 62% of participants claiming to have had an OBE also reported having enjoyed nonphysical flight; 40% reported experiencing the phenomenon of self-bilocation (i.e. seeing one's own physical body whilst outside the body); and 38% claimed having experienced self-permeability (passing through physical objects such as walls). The most commonly reported sensations experienced in connection with the OBE were falling, floating, repercussions e.g. myoclonia (the jerking of limbs, jerking awake), sinking, torpidity (numbness), intracranial sounds, tingling, clairvoyance, oscillation and serenity."Another reported common sensation related to OBE was temporary or projective catalepsy, a more common feature of sleep paralysis. The sleep paralysis and OBE correlation was later corroborated by the Out-of-Body Experience and Arousal study published in Neurology by Kevin Nelson and his colleagues from the University of Kentucky in 2007. The study discovered that people who have out-of-body experiences are more likely to experience sleep paralysis.

Also noteworthy, is the Waterloo Unusual Sleep Experiences Questionnaire that further illustrates the correlation.

Miss Z study
In 1968, Charles Tart conducted an OBE experiment with a subject known as Miss Z for four nights in his sleep laboratory. The subject was attached to an EEG machine and a five-digit code was placed on a shelf above her bed. She did not claim to see the number on the first three nights but on the fourth gave the number correctly. The psychologist James Alcock criticized the experiment for inadequate controls and questioned why the subject was not visually monitored by a video camera. Martin Gardner has written the experiment was not evidence for an OBE and suggested that whilst Tart was "snoring behind the window, Miss Z simply stood up in bed, without detaching the electrodes, and peeked." Susan Blackmore wrote "If Miss Z had tried to climb up, the brain-wave record would have showed a pattern of interference. And that was exactly what it did show."

Neurology and OBE-like experiences
There are several possible physiological explanations for parts of the OBE. OBE-like experiences have been induced by stimulation of the brain. OBE-like experience has also been induced through stimulation of the posterior part of the right superior temporal gyrus in a patient. Positron-emission tomography was also used in this study to identify brain regions affected by this stimulation. The term OBE-like is used above because the experiences described in these experiments either lacked some of the clarity or details of normal OBEs, or were described by subjects who had never experienced an OBE before. Such subjects were therefore not qualified to make claims about the authenticity of the experimentally-induced OBE.

British psychologist Susan Blackmore and others suggest that an OBE begins when a person loses contact with sensory input from the body while remaining conscious. The person retains the illusion of having a body, but that perception is no longer derived from the senses. The perceived world may resemble the world he or she generally inhabits while awake, but this perception does not come from the senses either. The vivid body and world is made by our brain's ability to create fully convincing realms, even in the absence of sensory information. This process is witnessed by each of us every night in our dreams, though OBEs are claimed to be far more vivid than even a lucid dream.

Irwin pointed out that OBEs appear to occur under conditions of either very high or very low arousal. For example, Green found that three quarters of a group of 176 subjects reporting a single OBE were lying down at the time of the experience, and of these 12% considered they had been asleep when it started. By contrast, a substantial minority of her cases occurred under conditions of maximum arousal, such as a rock-climbing fall, a traffic accident, or childbirth. McCreery has suggested that this paradox may be explained by reference to the fact that sleep can supervene as a reaction to extreme stress or hyper-arousal. He proposes that OBEs under both conditions, relaxation and hyper-arousal, represent a form of "waking dream", or the intrusion of Stage 1 sleep processes into waking consciousness.

Olaf Blanke studies
Research by Olaf Blanke in Switzerland found that it is possible to reliably elicit experiences somewhat similar to the OBE by stimulating regions of the brain called the right temporoparietal junction (TPJ; a region where the temporal lobe and the parietal lobe of the brain come together). Blanke and his collaborators in Switzerland have explored the neural basis of OBEs by showing that they are reliably associated with lesions in the right TPJ region and that they can be reliably elicited with electrical stimulation of this region in a patient with epilepsy. These elicited experiences may include perceptions of transformations of the patient's arms and legs (complex somatosensory responses) and whole-body displacements (vestibular responses).

In neurologically normal subjects, Blanke and colleagues then showed that the conscious experience of the self and body being in the same location depends on multisensory integration in the TPJ. Using event-related potentials, Blanke and colleagues showed the selective activation of the TPJ 330–400 ms after stimulus onset when healthy volunteers imagined themselves in the position and visual perspective that generally are reported by people experiencing spontaneous OBEs. Transcranial magnetic stimulation in the same subjects impaired mental transformation of the participant's own body. No such effects were found with stimulation of another site or for imagined spatial transformations of external objects, suggesting the selective implication of the TPJ in mental imagery of one's own body.

In a follow-up study, Arzy et al. showed that the location and timing of brain activation depended on whether mental imagery is performed with mentally embodied or disembodied self location. When subjects performed mental imagery with an embodied location, there was increased activation of a region called the "extrastriate body area" (EBA), but when subjects performed mental imagery with a disembodied location, as reported in OBEs, there was increased activation in the region of the TPJ. This leads Arzy et al. to argue that "these data show that distributed brain activity at the EBA and TPJ as well as their timing are crucial for the coding of the self as embodied and as spatially situated within the human body."

Blanke and colleagues thus propose that the right temporal-parietal junction is important for the sense of spatial location of the self, and that when these normal processes go awry, an OBE arises.

In August 2007 Blanke's lab published research in Science demonstrating that conflicting visual-somatosensory input in virtual reality could disrupt the spatial unity between the self and the body. During multisensory conflict, participants felt as if a virtual body seen in front of them was their own body and mislocalized themselves toward the virtual body, to a position outside their bodily borders. This indicates that spatial unity and bodily self-consciousness can be studied experimentally and is based on multisensory and cognitive processing of bodily information.

Ehrsson study
In August 2007, Henrik Ehrsson, then at the Institute of Neurology at University College of London (now at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden), published research in Science demonstrating the first experimental method that, according to the scientist's claims in the publication, induced an out-of-body experience in healthy participants. The experiment was conducted in the following way:

"The study participant sits in a chair wearing a pair of head-mounted video displays. These have two small screens over each eye, which show a live film recorded by two video cameras placed beside each other two metres behind the participant's head. The image from the left video camera is presented on the left-eye display and the image from the right camera on the right-eye display. The participant sees these as one 'stereoscopic' (3D) image, so they see their own back displayed from the perspective of someone sitting behind them.

The researcher then stands just beside the participant (in their view) and uses two plastic rods to simultaneously touch the participant's actual chest out-of-view and the chest of the illusory body, moving this second rod towards where the illusory chest would be located, just below the camera's view.

The participants confirmed that they had experienced sitting behind their physical body and looking at it from that location."

Both critics and the experimenter himself note that the study fell short of replicating "full-blown" OBEs. As with previous experiments which induced sensations of floating outside of the body, Ehrsson's work does not explain how a brain malfunction might cause an OBE. Essentially, Ehrsson created an illusion that fits a definition of an OBE in which "a person who is awake sees his or her body from a location outside the physical body."

Awareness during Resuscitation Study
In 2001, Sam Parnia and colleagues investigated out of body claims by placing figures on suspended boards facing the ceiling, not visible from the floor. Parnia wrote "anybody who claimed to have left their body and be near the ceiling during resuscitation attempts would be expected to identify those targets. If, however, such perceptions are psychological, then one would obviously not expect the targets to be identified." The philosopher Keith Augustine, who examined Parnia's study, has written that all target identification experiments have produced negative results. Psychologist Chris French wrote regarding the study "unfortunately, and somewhat atypically, none of the survivors in this sample experienced an OBE."

In the autumn of 2008, 25 UK and US hospitals began participation in a study, coordinated by Sam Parnia and Southampton University known as the AWARE study (AWAreness during REsuscitation). Following on from the work of Pim van Lommel in the Netherlands, the study aims to examine near-death experiences in 1,500 cardiac arrest survivors and so determine whether people without a heartbeat or brain activity can have documentable out-of-body experiences. As part of the study Parnia and colleagues have investigated out of body claims by using hidden targets placed on shelves that could only be seen from above. Parnia has written "if no one sees the pictures, it shows these experiences are illusions or false memories".

In 2014 Parnia issued a statement indicating that the first phase of the project has been completed and the results are undergoing peer review for publication in a medical journal. No subjects saw the images mounted out of sight according to Parnia's early report of the results of the study at an American Heart Association meeting in November 2013. Only two out of the 152 patients reported any visual experiences, and one of them described events that could be verified (as the other one's condition worsened before the detailed interview). The two NDEs occurred in an area where "no visual targets had been placed".

On October 6, 2014, the results of the study were published in the journal Resuscitation. Less than 20% of cardiac arrest patients were able to be interviewed, as most of them died or were too sick even after successful resuscitation. Among those who reported a perception of awareness and completed further interviews, 46% experienced a broad range of mental recollections in relation to death that were not compatible with the commonly used term of NDEs. These included fearful and persecutory experiences. Only 9% had experiences compatible with NDEs and 2% exhibited full awareness compatible with OBEs with explicit recall of 'seeing' and 'hearing' events. One case was validated and timed using auditory stimuli during cardiac arrest. According to Caroline Watt "The one 'verifiable period of conscious awareness' that Parnia was able to report did not relate to this objective test. Rather, it was a patient giving a supposedly accurate report of events during his resuscitation. He didn't identify the pictures, he described the defibrillator machine noise. But that's not very impressive since many people know what goes on in an emergency room setting from seeing recreations on television." However, it was impossible for him to describe any hidden targets, as there were none in the room where his OBE occurred, and the rest of his description was also very precise, including the description and later correct identification of a doctor who took part in his resuscitation.

AWARE Study II
As of May 2016, a posting at the UK Clinical Trials Gateway website describes plans for AWARE II, a two-year multicenter observational study of 900–1,500 patients experiencing cardiac arrest, with subjects being recruited starting on 1 August 2014 and that the scheduled end date was 31 May 2017. The study was extended, continuing until 2020. Results have been published in 2023.

Smith & Messier
In 2014, a functional imaging study reported the case of a woman who could experience out of body experience at will. She reported developing the ability as a child and associated it with difficulties in falling sleep. Her OBEs continued into adulthood but became less frequent. She was able to see herself rotating in the air above her body, lying flat, and rolling in the horizontal plane. She reported sometimes watching herself move from above but remained aware of her unmoving "real" body. The participant reported no particular emotions linked to the experience. "[T]he brain functional changes associated with the reported extra-corporeal experience (ECE) were different than those observed in motor imagery. Activations were mainly left-sided and involved the left supplementary motor area and supramarginal and posterior superior temporal gyri, the last two overlapping with the temporal parietal junction that has been associated with out-of-body experiences. The cerebellum also showed activation that is consistent with the participant's report of the impression of movement during the ECE. There was also left middle and superior orbital frontal gyri activity, regions often associated with action monitoring."

OBE training and research facilities
The Monroe Institute's Nancy Penn Center is a facility specializing in out-of-body experience induction. The Center for Higher Studies of the Consciousness in Brazil is another large OBE training facility. Olaf Blanke's Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience has become a well-known laboratory for OBE research.

title: Out-of-body experience


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Prentiss, Mississippi

Prentiss is a town in Jefferson Davis County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 1,081 at the 2010 census, down from 1,158 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat.

Prentiss is located on the Longleaf Trace, Mississippi's first recreational rail trail.

History
Originally part of Lawrence County, the town was first named "Blountville", after William Blount, an early settler and merchant. Blountville High School was established in 1885 on 10 acre of land. A depot was established in Blountville when the Pearl & Leaf Rivers Railroad (later Illinois Central Railroad) was completed in 1903. That same year the town was officially established and named "Prentiss", after Prentiss Webb Berry, a prominent landowner in the area.

When Jefferson Davis County was created in 1906, a special election determined that Prentiss would serve as the county seat. In 1907, Jonas Edward Johnson and his wife Bertha LaBranche Johnson established the Prentiss Institute. Situated on 40 acre of land, with remnants of slave quarters on the property, it was considered one of the finest schools for African Americans in Mississippi. The school at first taught only the elementary grades, and began with 40 students whose tuition was often paid with chickens, eggs and produce. A Rosenwald classroom was built on the campus in 1926, and by 1953 the "Prentiss Normal and Industrial Institute" included a high school and junior college, had 44 faculty and more than 700 students, and included 24 buildings and 400 acre of farmland, pasture and forest. In 1955, Heifer International donated 15 pure-bred cows to the school with the intention that the offspring be donated to needy farm families. It is noteworthy that the school gave some of the animals to poor white families. The school closed in 1989 and was designated an official Mississippi landmark in 2002.

Ralph Fults and Raymond Hamilton, members of the notorious Barrow Gang, robbed the bank in Prentiss in 1935.

In 1958, Rev. H.D. Darby of Prentiss filed a federal lawsuit challenging Mississippi's rigid voting eligibility laws for African Americans; it was the first lawsuit of its kind in Mississippi.

Prentiss police officer Ron Jones, Jr. was shot and killed by Cory Maye while executing a search warrant in 2001.

Geography
Prentiss is located in central Jefferson Davis County at 31.59699°N, -89.86978°W. U.S. Route 84 passes north and west of the town center on a bypass; the four-lane highway leads east 20 mi to Collins and west 16 mi to Monticello. Mississippi Highway 13 passes through the town slightly east of the center; it leads north 27 mi to Mendenhall and south 26 mi to Columbia. Mississippi Highway 42 leads southeast from Prentiss 11 mi to Bassfield.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 4.9 km2, all land.

2020 census
As of the 2020 United States census, there were 976 people, 429 households, and 289 families residing in the town.

2010 census
As of the 2010 United States Census, there were 1,081 people living in the town. 60.3% were White, 37.3% African American, 0.6% Native American, 0.4% Asian, 0.5% from some other race and 0.9% of two or more races. 0.6% were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

2000 census
As of the census of 2000, there were 1,158 people, 479 households, and 323 families living in the town. The population density was 617.8 PD/sqmi. There were 537 housing units at an average density of 286.5 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the town was 79.53% White, 19.17% African American, 0.60% Native American, 0.09% Asian, and 0.60% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.47% of the population.

There were 479 households, out of which 24.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 50.9% were married couples living together, 13.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 32.4% were non-families. 30.9% of all households were made up of individuals, and 18.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.26 and the average family size was 2.80.

In the town, the population was spread out, with 19.9% under the age of 18, 7.0% from 18 to 24, 23.9% from 25 to 44, 25.7% from 45 to 64, and 23.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 44 years. For every 100 females, there were 88.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 84.3 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $29,200, and the median income for a family was $38,571. Males had a median income of $31,875 versus $21,806 for females. The per capita income for the town was $18,486. About 17.2% of families and 22.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 47.6% of those under age 18 and 9.7% of those age 65 or over.

Annual events
Prentiss hosts an annual "Run for the Roses 5K Run/Walk".

Tourism
Local attractions include:
 * The Holloway-Polk house – the oldest continuously inhabited settlement in Jefferson Davis County.
 * Lake Jeff Davis – a campground and picnic area southeast of Prentiss.
 * Mt. Zion Church and Cemetery – the second-oldest African American church and cemetery in Jefferson Davis County.
 * Spring Hill Missionary Baptist Church and Cemetery (c. 1847) – the oldest African American Baptist Church and cemetery in Jefferson Davis County.

Parks and recreation
In 1993, the Canadian National Railway announced it would abandon the former Illinois Central line which ran through Prentiss. This enabled the construction of the Longleaf Trace, Mississippi's first recreational rail trail, located between Prentiss and Hattiesburg.

Government
Detachment 2 of the 155th Brigade Combat Team of the Mississippi Army National Guard is located in Prentiss.

Education
Prentiss is served by the Jefferson Davis County School District.

A football rivalry existed between Prentiss High School's "Bulldogs" and Columbia High School's "Wildcats" before Prentiss closed after the 2016-2017 school year. In one notable game during the 1970s, the Bulldogs were winning 6-0 when a Wildcats' player Walter Payton scored two touchdowns, running 95 yards for the first touchdown and 65 yards for the second. The Wildcats won 14-6.

There is one private school serving K-12 students, Prentiss Christian School.

Media
The community is served by the Prentiss Headlight newspaper.

Transportation
Prentiss is accessed from Mississippi Highway 42, Mississippi Highway 13, and U.S. Route 84.

The Prentiss-Jefferson Davis County Airport is located 3 mi west of the town.

Health care
The Jefferson Davis Community Hospital is located in Prentiss.

Notable people

 * Thelma Farr Baxter, member of the Mississippi House of Representatives from 1950 to 1956
 * Vincent Davis, judge for the Mississippi 17th Chancery Court District and former Mississippi senator
 * Al Jefferson, NBA player for five teams
 * Felecia M. Nave, chemical engineer and 20th President of Alcorn State University
 * Clyde Otis, songwriter and record producer
 * Garland H. Williams, law enforcement specialist in covert operations

In popular culture
Blues musician Houston Stackhouse stated that fellow musician Tommy Johnson: "was stayin' over around Prentiss, Mississippi. I believe, I don't know how long he stayed there, but that was his hangout. It was out east of Crystal Springs, back there around Prentiss and Pinola, or somewhere back in there.  Big piney thickets and like that."

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Prentiss, Mississippi


text:
Ellisville, Mississippi

Ellisville is a town in and the first county seat of Jones County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 4,448 at the time of the 2010 census, up from 3,465 at the 2000 census. The Jones County Courthouse is located here, as is much of the county government.

The state legislature authorized a second county seat at Laurel, to the northeast, which developed as the center of lumber and textile mills, with a much larger population. Ellisville is part of the Laurel micropolitan statistical area.

History
The town is named for Powhatan Ellis, a former U.S. senator for Mississippi who identified as a descendant of Pocahontas and her father, Chief Powhatan in Virginia. Ellisville was designated as the county seat, and it became the major commercial and population center of Jones County through the early decades of development in the nineteenth century.

During the Civil War, Ellisville and Jones County were a center of pro-Union resistance. The county had mostly yeomen farmers and cattle herders, who were not slaveholders. Slaves constituted 12% of the county's population in 1860, the lowest proportion of slaves of any county in the state in 1860, as conditions generally did not support cultivation of large cotton plantations. Many local men resented going to war to support slaveholders, and worried about the survival of their families, where women and children worked to keep subsistence farms going. They resented Confederate tax collectors who took the goods and stores their families needed to live.

Confederate deserters and refugee slaves formed a resistance group known as the Knight Company, led by Newton Knight, First Lieutenant Jasper Collins, and Second Lieutenant William Wesley Sumrall. They were known to take refuge in a swamp along the Leaf River. Along with as many as 100 other Southern men, they fought several skirmishes with Confederate tax men, then other Confederate units eventually sent to crush the resistance. In 1864 they took control in Ellisville, raising the United States flag over the courthouse in place of the Confederate flag.

In 1919, Ellisville hosted one of the most gruesome lynchings in history, when a black man, John Hartfield was found to have a white girlfriend. A story was concocted about a rape, and Hartfield was captured by law enforcement. The Jackson Daily News ran headlines that "John Hartfield will be lynched by Ellisville mob at 5:00 this afternoon", and that a crowd of thousands was expected to attend. A crowd of around 10,000 came to watch Hartfield hanged from a tree, then shot repeatedly. When his body was cut down, pieces were cut off for souvenirs and what remained was burned. Commemorative postcards were printed.

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Ellisville lost primacy to nearby Laurel, which became a center of the timber industry and cotton textile mills. Its population in the mid-20th century was nearly six times that of Ellisville. Laurel has attracted other industries and is the center of a micropolitan statistical area comprising all of Jones County and Jasper County. The Jones County Sheriff's Department is based in Laurel, but the county government is still based in Ellisville, at the Jones County Courthouse.

Ellisville reflects the demographics of the county and is majority white. Laurel is majority African American in population, reflecting the migration of agricultural workers to the city for industrial and urban jobs.

Geography
Ellisville is located in central Jones County at 31.60111°N, -89.20222°W (31.601068, −89.202123). U.S. Route 11 runs through the center of town, while Interstate 59 runs through the northwest side, with access from Exits 85, 88, and 90. Both highways lead northeast 8 mi to Laurel and southwest 22 mi to Hattiesburg. Mississippi Highway 29 crosses US-11 near the center of town, leading northwest 12 mi to Soso and southeast 20 mi to Runnelstown.

According to the United States Census Bureau, Ellisville has a total area of 27.5 km2, of which 0.3 km2, or 1.01%, are water.

Demographics
As of the 2020 United States census, there were 4,652 people, 1,264 households, and 810 families residing in the city.

Education

Ellisville is served by the Jones County School District and is also home to Jones County Junior College.

Notable people

 * Lance Bass, pop singer and member of 'N Sync, raised in Ellisville, Mississippi.
 * Harry Craft, MLB player and manager, first manager of the Houston Colt .45s and minor league manager of Mickey Mantle
 * Les DeVall, former head coach for McNeese State Cowboys football team
 * Redd Foxx, actor, comedian. Raised by his grandmother during formative years.
 * John Hartfield, a black man from Ellisville who was lynched and dismembered for having a white girlfriend
 * Henry McCall, former Negro league first baseman
 * Chris McDaniel, State Senator, attorney and host of the nationally syndicated The Right Side Radio Show
 * Buddy Myer, two-time All-Star second baseman for the MLB Washington Senators in the 1930s, batting and stolen base titles
 * Arnett Nelson, jazz musician
 * Scottie Phillips, former National Football League running back
 * Jeremiah Price, professional football player in the National Arena League
 * Donnie Scoggin, member of the Mississippi House of Representatives
 * Bobby Shows, former member of the Mississippi House of Representatives
 * Jason Simpson, head coach of the UT Martin Skyhawks football team
 * L. C. Ulmer, delta blues musician

title: Ellisville, Mississippi


text:
Laurel, Mississippi

Laurel is a city in and the second county seat of Jones County, Mississippi, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 17,161. Laurel is northeast of Ellisville, the first county seat, which contains the first county courthouse. It has the second county courthouse, as Jones County has two judicial districts. Laurel is the headquarters of the Jones County Sheriff's Department, which administers in the county. Laurel is the principal city of a micropolitan statistical area named for it. Major employers include Howard Industries, Sanderson Farms, Masonite International, Family Health Center, Howse Implement, Thermo-Kool, and South Central Regional Medical Center. Laurel is home to the Lauren Rogers Museum of Art, Mississippi's oldest art museum, established by the family of Lauren Eastman Rogers.

History
Following the 1881 construction of the New Orleans and Northeastern Railroad through the area, economic development occurred rapidly. The city of Laurel was incorporated in 1882, with timber as the impetus. Yellow pine forests in the region fueled the industry. The city was named for thickets of mountain laurel (Kalmia latifolia) native to the original town site.

Located in the heart of the piney woods ecoregion of the southeastern United States, the land site that eventually became Laurel was densely covered with forests of virgin longleaf pine, making the area attractive to pioneering lumberjacks and sawmill operators in the late 19th century.

In 1881, business partners John Kamper and A.M. Lewin constructed a small lumber mill on the New Orleans and Northeastern Railroad. Kamper and Lewin's mill was in an area that later became Laurel's First Avenue. The next year, in response to a Post Office Department request to provide a postal delivery name for their mill and its surrounding lumber camp, Kamper and Lewin submitted the name "Lawrell" as an homage to the area's naturally growing mountain laurel bushes. Federal postal officials soon "corrected" the peculiar spelling, giving the town its current spelling.

During its first decade or so, Laurel was little more than a glorified lumber camp surrounding Kamper and Lewin's primitive sawmill. By 1891, Kamper's company was on the verge of bankruptcy, leading Kamper to sell the mill and extensive land holdings in the area (more than 15,000 acres), to Clinton, Iowa, lumber barons Lauren Chase Eastman and George and Silas Gardiner, founders of the Eastman-Gardiner Company.

After their purchase, Eastman and the Gardiner brothers decided to make substantial improvements to Laurel's lumber operations by constructing a new, much larger, state-of-the-art lumber mill. In 1893, the new Eastman-Gardiner Company mill began operations, using the best technology and labor-saving devices of the day.

By the early 1900s, the success of Eastman-Gardner Company's operations in Laurel and the region's superabundance of timber began to attract other lumber industrialists' attention. In 1906, the Gilchrist-Fordney Company, whose founders hailed from Alpena, Michigan, began construction on their own lumber mill in Laurel. By March 1907 the Mobile, Jackson and Kansas City Railroad made four stops a day in Laurel which was 110 track miles from Mobile, Alabama. The trains not only carried passengers but hauled freight that included lumber from nine sawmills. Together they produced around 583,000 board feet (bf) a day. WM Carter Lumber Company (milepost 108) 20,000 bf, Eastman-Gardner & Company 200,000 bf, Kingston Lumber Company 200,000 bf, Geo Beckner (shingles) 20,000 bf, John Lindsey 15,000 bf, HC Card Lumber Company (hard wood) 30,000 bf, Lindsey Wagon works mill 15,000 bf, WM Carter (planer) 75,000 bf, and Stainton and Weems 8,000 bf.

The Wausau-Southern mill from Wausau, Wisconsin, followed in 1911, and the Marathon mill from Memphis, Tennessee, in 1914. By the end of World War I, Laurel's mills produced and shipped more yellow pine lumber than those of any other location in the world. By the 1920s—the peak of Laurel's lumber production—the area's four mills were producing a total of one million board feet of lumber per day. Laid end to end, that amount of lumber would stretch 189 miles.

The economic prosperity of Laurel's timber era (1893–1937) and "timber families" created the famed Laurel Central Historic District as a byproduct. The area is considered Mississippi's largest, finest, and most intact collection of early-20th-century architecture and has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since September 4, 1987, for both its historical value and its wide variety of architectural styles. Many of the district's homes and buildings are featured on the HGTV series Home Town. In addition to influencing a diverse architectural district, Laurel's "timber families" influenced the building of the town's broad avenues, the design of numerous public parks, and the development of strong public schools.

The city's population grew markedly during the early 20th century because rural people were attracted to manufacturing jobs and the economic takeoff of Masonite International. Mechanization of agriculture reduced the number of farming jobs. In 1942, Howard Wash, a 45-year-old African-American man who had been convicted of murder, was dragged from jail and lynched by a mob. The city reached its peak census population in 1960, and has declined about one third since then.

Geography
Laurel is in north-central Jones County, 8 mi northeast of Ellisville, the first county seat. Interstate 59 and U.S. Route 11 pass through Laurel, both highways leading southwest 30 mi to Hattiesburg and northeast 57 mi to Meridian. U.S. Route 84 passes through the south side of the city, leading east 30 mi to Waynesboro and west 27 mi to Collins. Mississippi Highway 15 passes through the south and west sides of the city, leading northwest 24 mi to Bay Springs and southeast 28 mi to Richton.

According to the United States Census Bureau, Laurel has an area of 42.8 km2, of which 40.8 km2 is land and 0.8 km2, or 1.81%, is water. The city lies on a low ridge between Tallahala Creek to the east and Tallahoma Creek to the west. Tallahoma Creek joins Tallahala Creek south of Laurel, and Tallahala Creek continues south to join the Leaf River, part of the Pascagoula River watershed.

Climate
The climate in this area is characterized by hot, humid summers and generally mild to cool winters. According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Laurel has a humid subtropical climate, abbreviated "Cfa" on climate maps. The area is also prone to tornadoes. On December 28, 1954, an F3 tornado tore directly through the city, injuring 25 people.

Demographics
As of the 2020 United States census, there were 17,161 people, 6,825 households, and 4,278 families residing in the city.

Government
City government has a mayor-council form. The mayor is elected at-large. Council members are elected from single-member districts.

 * City officials
 * Johnny Magee, mayor
 * Jason Capers, Ward 1 council member
 * Kevin Kelly, Ward 2 council member
 * Tony Thaxton, Ward 3 council member
 * George Carmichael, Ward 4 council member
 * Andrea Ellis, Ward 5 council member
 * Grace Amos, Ward 6 council member
 * Shirley Keys-Jordan, Ward 7 council member

The U.S. Postal Service operates the Laurel Post Office and the Choctaw Post Office, both in Laurel.

The Mississippi Department of Mental Health South Mississippi State Hospital Crisis Intervention Center is in Laurel.

Public schools
Almost all of Laurel is in the Laurel School District. Small portions are in the Jones County School District.
 * The area is served by Laurel High School.

Private schools

 * Laurel Christian School
 * Laurel Christian High School
 * St. John's Day School (affiliated with the Episcopal Church)

Media

 * WDAM-TV
 * WHLT-TV
 * WLAU (99.3 FM, SuperTalk Mississippi)
 * The Laurel Leader-Call newspaper
 * The Chronicle
 * WXRR (104.5 FM, "Rock104")
 * WBBN (95.9 FM, "B-95")
 * Impact Laurel

Infrastructure
Amtrak's Crescent train connects Laurel with New York City; Philadelphia; Baltimore; Washington, D.C.; Charlotte, North Carolina; Atlanta; Birmingham, Alabama; and New Orleans. Laurel's Amtrak station is at 230 North Maple Street.

Hattiesburg–Laurel Regional Airport is in an unincorporated area in Jones County near Moselle, 21 mi southwest of Laurel.

 * Major highways
 * I-59.svg Interstate 59

 * US 84.svg U.S. Route 84
 * US 11.svg U.S. Route 11
 * [[Image:Circle sign 15.svg|20px]] Mississippi Highway 15

Notable people
• Jake Allen, professional football player

• Lance Bass, musician

• Marsha Blackburn, U.S Senator, former congresswoman from Tennessee

• Ralph Boston, Olympic champion athlete

• Correll Buckhalter, former professional football player

• Lee Calhoun, Olympic champion athlete

• Jason Campbell, professional football player

• David and the Giants, Christian rock band

• Akeem Davis, professional football player

• Mary Elizabeth Ellis, actress

• Carroll Gartin, former lieutenant governor

• Ed Hinton, sportswriter

• Tess Holliday, model

• Robert Hyatt, computer scientist

• BoPete Keyes, professional football player

• Diane Ladd, actress, raised in Meridian

• Mark A. Landis, painter

• Tom Lester, television actor

• Mundell Lowe, jazz musician

• Doug Marlette, Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist

• Chris McDaniel, attorney and politician

• Mary Mills, professional golfer

• Ben and Erin Napier, Home Town television personalities

• Kenny Payne, former professional basketball player

• Charles W. Pickering, politician and judge

• Chip Pickering, former congressman

• Stacey Pickering, State Auditor of Mississippi

• Clinton Portis, former professional football player

• Parker Posey, actress

• Leontyne Price, opera singer

• Omeria McDonald Scott, state representative

• Ray Walston, actor

• Lloyd Wells, musician

• Will Wheaton, singer-songwriter

In popular culture
Laurel residents Erin and Ben Napier are featured in the HGTV series Home Town, which premiered on March 21, 2017. The show portrays renovations of local homes in and near Laurel.

In Tennessee Williams' play A Streetcar Named Desire, fictional Laurel native Blanche DuBois is known here as a "woman of loose morals" who, after the loss of her family estate 'Belle Reve', frequents the Hotel Flamingo as told to Stanley by the merchant Kiefaber. In an argument, Blanche tells Harold Mitchell she's brought many victims into her web, and calls the hotel the Tarantula Arms rather than the Hotel Flamingo.

Singer-songwriter Steve Forbert had a hit with the song "Goin' Down to Laurel" (released on his 1978 album Alive on Arrival) which refers to visiting the town of Laurel.

title: Laurel, Mississippi


text:
Sandersville, Mississippi

Sandersville is a town in Jones County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 636 at the 2020 census, down from 731 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Laurel micropolitan area.

History
Scottish settlers migrated here during the 1820s and built the Good Hope Presbyterian Church. In 1855, the town was named after the Sanders, a pioneer family.

Home construction was influenced by the Victorian era, as there are a noticeable number of cupolas on buildings in the town.

Hunt Refining Company has a refinery northeast of Sandersville which processes crude oil acquired primarily from local Mississippi fields. The refinery produces distillate feedstock, paving grade asphalt, heavy gas oils, naphtha, and roofing grade asphalt.

Geography
Sandersville is located in northeastern Jones County at 31.78556°N, -89.03444°W (31.785455, -89.034572). U.S. Route 11 (Front Street) passes through the center of town, leading southwest 9 mi to Laurel, the county's largest city, and northeast 10 mi to Stafford Springs. Interstate 59 passes just west of the town limits, with access from Exit 104 (West Main Street). I-59 leads northeast 48 mi to Meridian and southwest 39 mi to Hattiesburg.

According to the United States Census Bureau, Sandersville has a total area of 12.9 km2, of which 0.1 km2, or 0.77%, is water.

Demographics
As of the 2020 United States census, there were 636 people, 268 households, and 218 families residing in the town.

As of the census of 2000, there were 789 people, 317 households, and 231 families residing in the town. The population density was 159.2 PD/sqmi. There were 350 housing units at an average density of 70.6 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the town was 92.14% White, 6.84% African American, 0.89% Native American, and 0.13% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.13% of the population.

There were 317 households, out of which 31.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 56.8% were married couples living together, 12.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 27.1% were non-families. 23.3% of all households were made up of individuals, and 13.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.49 and the average family size was 2.94.

In the town, the population was spread out, with 23.2% under the age of 18, 9.8% from 18 to 24, 28.1% from 25 to 44, 22.2% from 45 to 64, and 16.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females, there were 92.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 84.8 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $26,538, and the median income for a family was $34,167. Males had a median income of $27,614 versus $20,313 for females. The per capita income for the town was $14,429. About 12.8% of families and 16.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 18.3% of those under age 18 and 28.9% of those age 65 or over.

Education
Sandersville is served by the Jones County School District.

Notable people

 * Doug Satcher, former National Football League linebacker
 * Shad White, State Auditor of Mississippi

title: Sandersville, Mississippi


text:
Soso, Mississippi

Soso is a town in Jones County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 418 at the 2020 census.

Paul Davis, a singer and songwriter from Meridian, Mississippi, wrote a song called "Sweet Magnolia Blues", which refers to Soso.

History
According to tradition, the name "Soso" was derived from an old settler's common response to a question about how he was doing: "so-so".

After the Civil War, yeoman farmers returned to the area. The town developed a small mixed-race community. Among its notable residents was Unionist Newton Knight, who lived there mostly after the Reconstruction era with his wife Rachel and family. Knight was known for having led the Knight Company in and around Jones County during 1863 and 1864 in resistance to Confederate authorities, trying to protect local farmers. After the war he lived in Jasper County for a time, where he was active in the Republican Party. In 1872 he was appointed as a deputy U.S. Marshal for the Southern District. After Reconstruction ended, Knight retired from politics, as white Democrats took over county and state offices.

Rachel was a freedwoman who had aided the resistance. (In an historic photograph she appears to have been of mixed race.) She and Knight had several children together.

Tornado history
On April 12, 2020, Soso was struck by a 2.25-mile-wide EF4 tornado. It caused major damage to homes, churches, and the fire station. Numerous trees were snapped throughout town, the old elementary school was damaged, multiple buildings and churches in town were leveled and several homes were destroyed. The tornado's path mirrored that of a long-tracked F3 tornado that struck the south side of town on April 21, 1951, also causing severe damage.

Geography
Soso is in northwestern Jones County at 31.75444°N, -89.27417°W (31.754465, -89.274120). Mississippi Highway 28 passes through the center of town, leading southeast 5 mi to U.S. Route 84 and northwest 10 mi to Taylorsville. Laurel, the largest city in Jones County, is 10 miles southeast of Soso via Highways 28 and 84. Mississippi Highway 29 has its northern terminus in Soso and leads south 12 mi to Ellisville.

According to the United States Census Bureau, Soso has an area of 5.5 km2, of which 0.01 km2, or 0.23%, is water.

Government
Among government and public services, Soso is home to the Soso Volunteer Fire Department, the Soso Police Department, the Soso Town Hall, and the Soso Community Water Service.

Demographics
As of the 2020 United States census, there were 418 people, 163 households, and 130 families residing in the town.

As of the census of 2010, there were 408 people, 160 households, and 116 families residing in the town. The population density was 189.7 PD/sqmi. There were 174 housing units at an average density of 87.1 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the town was 79.2% White, 20.3% African American, and 0.5% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.2% of the population.

There were 157 households, of which 30.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 56.3% were married couples living together, 11.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 27.5% were non-families. 27.5% of all households were made up of individuals, and 12.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.55 and the average family size was 3.00.

In the town, the population was spread out, with 29.7% under the age of 19, 36.5% under the age of 50 and 33.8% over the age of 50

The data below is from the 2000 census.

The median income for a household in the town was $29,135, and the median income for a family was $31,346. Males had a median income of $19,231 versus $22,250 for females. The per capita income for the town was $15,455. About 15.7% of families and 15.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 25.6% of those under age 18 and 21.3% of those age 65 or over.

Education
Soso is served by the Jones County School District.

Elementary-aged students attend West Jones Elementary School, while middle and high school students attend West Jones Middle and High Schools.

title: Soso, Mississippi


text:
De Kalb, Mississippi

De Kalb is a town in and the county seat of Kemper County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 1,164 at the 2010 census. De Kalb is named after General Johann de Kalb, a Franconian-French military officer who served as a major general in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War.

Geography
De Kalb is located in central Kemper County at 32.76972°N, -88.65028°W (32.769751, -88.650407). Mississippi Highway 16 passes through the north side of the town, leading east 11 mi to Scooba and west 28 mi to Philadelphia. Mississippi Highway 39 (Main Avenue) passes through the center of De Kalb, leading north 19 mi to Shuqualak and south 30 mi to Meridian.

According to the United States Census Bureau, De Kalb has a total area of 8.6 km2, of which 0.02 km2, or 0.22%, are water.

2020 census
As of the 2020 United States Census, there were 877 people, 480 households, and 292 families residing in the town.

2000 census
As of the census of 2000, there were 972 people, 388 households, and 233 families residing in the town. The population density was 293.5 PD/sqmi. There were 444 housing units at an average density of 134.1 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the town was 70.31% African American, 18.56% White, 0.21% Native American, and 0.93% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.93% of the population.

There were 388 households, out of which 26.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 35.8% were married couples living together, 20.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 39.7% were non-families. 37.6% of all households were made up of individuals, and 20.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.28 and the average family size was 3.03.

In the town, the population was spread out, with 22.6% under the age of 18, 9.0% from 18 to 24, 23.0% from 25 to 44, 19.5% from 45 to 64, and 25.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 42 years. For every 100 females, there were 83.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 73.3 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $21,000, and the median income for a family was $24,886. Males had a median income of $26,477 versus $16,964 for females. The per capita income for the town was $11,171. About 23.3% of families and 28.1% of the population were below the poverty line, including 38.9% of those under age 18 and 21.0% of those age 65 or over.

Education
De Kalb is served by the Kemper County School District.

Notable people

 * Eddie Briggs, former Lieutenant Governor of Mississippi
 * Bud Brown, former safety for the Miami Dolphins
 * Cleo Brown, blues and jazz vocalist and pianist
 * John A. Clark, member of the Mississippi State Senate from 1916 to 1920
 * Lyscum Elbert Crowson, Methodist minister
 * J. H. Rush, physician
 * John H. Stennis, member of the Mississippi House of Representatives from 1969 to 1984
 * Louis Westerfield, lawyer and former dean of the University of Mississippi School of Law
 * Jeremiah White, cast member on Love Island

title: De Kalb, Mississippi


text:
Scooba, Mississippi

Scooba is a town in Kemper County, Mississippi, United States. Founded in 1858, the population was 744 as of the 2020 Census.

Etymology
Scooba is a Choctaw word meaning "reed brake" (i.e., a farming tool used on reeds), and the early settlement was noted for its productive farmland.

History
The first permanent settlement at Scooba was made in the 1830s. A line of the Gulf, Mobile and Ohio Railroad passed through Scooba. A Democratic weekly newspaper, The Kemper Herald, was established in Scooba in 1876. By the early 1900s, Scooba had several residential homes, a hotel, a livery barn, a post office, two saw milling plants, a cotton gin, a general store, five churches (three white and two colored), a school, and a bank (the Bank of Kemper, established in 1904). Scooba was a local market for cotton.

In late December 1906, Scooba and Wahalak, Mississippi, were the sites of white rioting against blacks. In the various conflicts, which started with confrontations between passengers and conductors on the railroad, a total of 12 blacks and two whites were killed by December 26. The county sheriff called in the state militia for assistance. The events were covered by national newspapers.

Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 2.5 sqmi, all land. Scooba is adjacent to U.S. Route 45, Mississippi Highway 16, and a railroad. It is 35 mi north of Meridian and 50 mi south of Columbus.

2020 census
As of the 2020 United States Census, there were 744 people, 191 households, and 107 families residing in the town.

2000 census
As of the census of 2000, there were 632 people, 204 households, and 139 families residing in the town. The population density was 257.3 PD/sqmi. There were 244 housing units at an average density of 99.3 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the town was 54.91% African American, 44.30% White, 0.16% from other races, and 0.63% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.79% of the population.

There were 204 households, out of which 38.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 38.7% were married couples living together, 27.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 31.4% were non-families. 30.4% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.47 and the average family size was 3.09.

In the town, the population was spread out, with 23.6% under the age of 18, 29.7% from 18 to 24, 19.5% from 25 to 44, 17.4% from 45 to 64, and 9.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 22 years. For every 100 females, there were 127.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 134.5 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $18,875, and the median income for a family was $31,375. Males had a median income of $30,500 versus $29,063 for females. The per capita income for the town was $12,110. About 30.3% of families and 25.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 27.2% of those under age 18 and 15.0% of those age 65 or over.

Education
The Town of Scooba is served by the Kemper County School District. The main campus of East Mississippi Community College, including the college system's administrative headquarters, is in Scooba. EMCC was featured on the Netflix documentary Last Chance U, which chronicled their 2015 and 2016 football seasons.

Notable people

 * Abner M. Aust - United States Air Force officer and World War II flying ace.
 * Kevin Granger - professional basketball player.
 * Charles Jones - played four seasons in the National Basketball Association.
 * John J. Pettus - 23rd Governor of Mississippi; moved to Scooba at age 22.

title: Scooba, Mississippi


text:
Oxford, Mississippi

Oxford is the 14th most populous city in Mississippi, and the county seat of Lafayette County, 75 mi southeast of Memphis. A college town, the University of Mississippi or "Ole Miss" is adjacent to the city. Founded in 1837, it is named for Oxford, England.

Purchasing the land from a Chickasaw, pioneers founded Oxford in 1837. In 1841, the Mississippi State Legislature selected it as the site of the state's first university, Ole Miss. Oxford is also the hometown of Nobel Prize-winning novelist William Faulkner, and served as the inspiration for his fictional Jefferson in Yoknapatawpha County. Lucius Quintus Cincinnatus Lamar, who served as a US Supreme Court Justice and Secretary of the Interior, also lived and is buried in Oxford.

At the 2020 US Census, the population was 25,416.

19th century
Oxford and Lafayette County were formed from lands ceded by the Chickasaw people in the Treaty of Pontotoc Creek in 1832. The county was organized in 1836, and in 1837 three pioneers—John Martin, John Chisom, and John Craig—purchased land from Hoka, a female Chickasaw landowner, as a site for the town. They named it "Oxford", intending to promote it as a center of learning in the Old Southwest. In 1841, the Mississippi legislature selected Oxford as the site of the state university, which opened in 1848.

During the American Civil War, Oxford was occupied by Union Army troops under Generals Ulysses S. Grant and William T. Sherman in 1862; in 1864 Major General Andrew Jackson Smith burned the buildings in the town square, including the county courthouse. In the postwar Reconstruction era, the town recovered slowly, aided by federal judge Robert Andrews Hill, who secured funds to build a new courthouse in 1872.

During this period many African American freedmen moved from farms into town and established a neighborhood known as "Freedmen Town", where they built houses, businesses, churches and schools, and exercised all the rights of U.S. citizenship. Even after Mississippi disenfranchised most African Americans in the 1890 Constitution of Mississippi, they continued to build their lives in the face of discrimination.

20th century
During the Civil Rights Movement, Oxford drew national attention in the Ole Miss riot of 1962. State officials, including Governor Ross Barnett, prevented James Meredith, an African American, from enrolling at the University of Mississippi, even after the federal courts had ruled that he be admitted. Following secret face-saving negotiations with Barnett, President John F. Kennedy ordered 127 U.S. Marshals, 316 deputized U.S. Border Patrol agents and 97 federalized Federal Bureau of Prisons officers to accompany Meredith. Thousands of armed "volunteers" flowed into the Oxford area. Meredith traveled to Oxford under armed guard to register, but riots by segregationists broke out in protest of his admittance.

That night, cars were burned, federal law enforcement were pelted with rocks, bricks and small arms fire, and university property was damaged by 3,000 rioters. Two civilians were killed by gunshot wounds, and the riot spread into adjacent areas of the city of Oxford. Order was finally restored to the campus with the early morning arrival of 3,000 nationalized Mississippi National Guard and federal troops, who camped in the city.

21st century
More than 3,000 journalists came to Oxford on September 26, 2008, to cover the first presidential debate of 2008, which was held at the University of Mississippi.

Geography
Oxford is in central Lafayette County in northern Mississippi, about 75 mi south-southeast of Memphis, Tennessee.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 69.2 km2, of which 68.9 km2 are land and 0.2 sqkm, or 0.35%, is water. The campus of the University of Mississippi, west of downtown, is an unincorporated area surrounded by the city.

The city is located in the North Central Hills region of Mississippi. The region is known for its heavily forested hills made up of red clay. The area is higher and greater in relief than areas to the west (such as the Mississippi Delta or loess bluffs along the Delta), but lower in elevation than areas in northeast Mississippi. The changes in elevation can be noticed when traveling on the Highway 6 bypass, since the east-west highway tends to transect many of the north-south ridges. Downtown Oxford sits on one of these ridges and the University of Mississippi sits on another one, while the main commercial corridors on either side of the city sit in valleys.

Oxford is located at the confluence of highways from eight directions: Mississippi Highway 6 (now co-signed with US-278) runs west 25 mi to Batesville and east 31 mi to Pontotoc; Highway 7 runs north 30 mi to Holly Springs and south 18 mi to Water Valley. Highway 30 goes northeast 33 mi to New Albany; Highway 334 ("Old Highway 6") leads southeast 19 mi to Toccopola; Taylor Road leads southwest 9 mi to Taylor; and Highway 314 ("Old Sardis Road") leads northwest, formerly to Sardis but now 11 mi to the Clear Creek Recreation Area on Sardis Lake.

The streets in the downtown area follow a grid pattern with two naming conventions. Many of the north-south streets are numbered from west to east, beginning at the old railroad depot, with numbers from four to nineteen. The place of "Twelfth Street", however, is taken by North and South Lamar Boulevard (formerly North Street and South Street). The east-west avenues are named for the U.S. presidents in chronological order from north to south, from Washington to Cleveland; here again, there are gaps: there is no street for John Quincy Adams, who shares a last name with John Adams; "Polk Avenue" is replaced by University Avenue; and "Arthur Avenue" is lacking.

Climate
Oxford has a humid subtropical climate (Cfa) and is in hardiness zone 7b.

2020 census
As of the 2020 United States Census, there were 25,416 people, 10,351 households, and 5,089 families residing in the city.

2010 census
As of the census of 2010, there were 18,916 people, with 8,648 households residing in the city. The racial makeup of the city was 72.3% White, 21.8% African American, 0.3% Native American, 3.3% Asian, 0.1% Pacific Islander, and 1.1% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino people of any race were 2.5% of the population. The average household size was 2.09.

The median income for a household in the city was $38,872, and the average household income was $64,643. The per capita income for the city was $29,195. About 12% of families and 32.3% of the population were below the poverty line.

Attractions
In addition to the historic Lafayette County Courthouse, the Square is known for an abundance of locally owned restaurants, specialty boutiques, and professional offices, along with Oxford City Hall.

 * The J. E. Neilson Co., located on the southeast corner of the Square, is the South's oldest documented store. Founded as a trading post in 1839, Neilson's continues to anchor the Oxford square. Neilsons (pronounced Nelsons) was one of the few stores to survive the burning of Oxford during the Civil war. It stands within eyesight of one of Oxford's two confederate statues (one was erected after the original faced south because the South "never retreats;" a Falkner (William added a "U") paid for the second). Neilson's also features a letter from William Faulkner, who repeatedly refused to pay debts owed to the department store. When the Great Depression hit Oxford and most of the banks in town closed, Neilson's acted as a surrogate bank, cashing paychecks for university employees and others. Neilson's is also the only store in Oxford to carry supplies for Boy Scout uniforms.
 * Square Books, founded in 1979, is an independent bookstore. A sister store, Off Square Books, is several doors down the street to the east. It deals in used and remainder books and is the venue for a radio show called Thacker Mountain Radio, with host Jim Dees, that is broadcast statewide on Mississippi Public Broadcasting. The show often draws comparisons to Garrison Keillor's A Prairie Home Companion for its mix of author readings and musical guests. A third store, Square Books Jr., deals exclusively in children's books and educational toys.
 * The Lyric Theater, just off the courthouse square, is Oxford's largest music venue, with a capacity near 1200. Originally built in the late 1800s, the structure became a livery stable owned by William Faulkner's family in the early part of the 20th century. During the 1920s it became Oxford's first motion picture theater, the Lyric. In 1949, Faulkner walked from his home in Oxford to his childhood stable for the world premiere of MGM's Intruder in the Dust, adapted from one of his novels. The building housed office space and a health center from the early 1980s. After extensive restoration, the Lyric reopened on 3 July 2008 as a live music venue. It also is used occasionally for film and live drama.
 * The Gertrude Castellow Ford Center for the Performing Arts on the University of Mississippi's campus hosts a broad range of events, such as symphony performances, operas, musicals, plays, comedy tours, chamber music, and guest lectures. The Ford Center, as it is commonly known, also hosted the 2008 presidential debate between former President Barack Obama and Senator John McCain.
 * The University of Mississippi Museum is located on the University of Mississippi's main campus. The Robinson collection of Greek and Roman antiquities and the Millington-Barnard collection of 19th century scientific instruments are permanent collections of the museum. The museum is also home to the personal collections of Kate Skipwith and Mary Buie. The permanent exhibits are free to the public.
 * The Burns-Belfry Museum was previously the Burns Methodist Episcopal Church organized by freed African Americans in 1910. Now, the museum pays tribute to its role in the Civil War era. The museum houses a permanent exhibit on African American history that spans from slavery through the Civil Rights Movement.

Culture

 * Oxford has had a diverse music scene for many years. Oxford's relatively close proximity to large music cities such as Memphis, New Orleans, and Nashville, influence its musical stylings. Musicians past and present living in Oxford include Beanland, The Cooters, Bass Drum of Death, Kudzu Kings, Blue Mountain, George McConnell, Caroline Herring and blues harp player Adam Gussow.
 * Oxford is also the home of the music label Fat Possum Records, who released records by blues legends R. L. Burnside and Junior Kimbrough, as well as The Black Keys. Johnny Marr, former guitarist for The Smiths and current member of Modest Mouse bought a home in Oxford but no longer lives in it.  Former Derek and the Dominos member Bobby Whitlock lived in Oxford where he had a ranch and his own studio.
 * Musicians Modest Mouse, Gavin Degraw, Elvis Costello, The Hives, and Counting Crows have recorded albums at Sweet Tea Recording Studio in Oxford. Dennis Herring, the owner of Sweet Tea, has received Grammy awards for his work with artists such as Jars of Clay and blues great Buddy Guy.
 * Bob Dylan wrote a song called "Oxford Town", which was included on his 1963 album The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan. The song was about the violent events surrounding the admission of James Meredith into the University of Mississippi in 1962. Dylan played a memorable concert at the Tad Smith Coliseum on the Ole Miss campus in November 1990, which opened with a performance of the song "Oxford Town".
 * Oxford has been the setting for numerous movies, including Intruder in the Dust (1949, based on the Faulkner novel), Home from the Hill (1960), Barn Burning (1980, based on the Faulkner short story), Rush (1981 documentary), Heart of Dixie (1989), The Gun in Betty Lou's Handbag (1992), Glorious Mail (2005), Sorry, We're Open (2008 documentary), The Night of the Loup Garou (2009), Where I Begin (2010), and parts of The People vs. Larry Flynt (1997).
 * American journalist and novelist Joan Didion mentions Oxford in her 1979 collection of essays The White Album.

Historic sites
See also National Register of Historic Places listings in Lafayette County, Mississippi and the Lyceum-The Circle Historic District, University of Mississippi.

 * Ammadelle (Pegues House), designed by Calvert Vaux
 * Barnard Observatory (Center for the Study of Southern Culture), University of Mississippi, 1859
 * Isom Place, c. 1843, remodeled 1848
 * Lafayette County Courthouse, 1872, designed by Willis, Sloan, and Trigg
 * Lucius Q. C. Lamar House, ca. 1860James Meredith Statue.jpg Statue]]
 * The Lyceum, University of Mississippi, 1848, designed by William Nichols
 * Rowan Oak (William Faulkner House), 1848
 * St. Peter's Episcopal Church, 1860, attributed to Richard Upjohn (Neo-Gothic)
 * University of Mississippi Power House, site of William Faulkner's 1930 novel As I Lay Dying
 * Ventress Hall, University of Mississippi, 1889 (Richardson Romanesque)

Education
The city is served by two public school districts, Oxford School District (with the majority of the area) and Lafayette County School District (with small outerlying sections). The former operates Oxford High School.

It is also served by three private schools: Oxford University School, Regents School of Oxford and Magnolia Montessori. Oxford is partially the home of the main campus of the University of Mississippi, known as "Ole Miss" (much of the campus is in University, Mississippi, an unincorporated enclave surrounded by the city), and of the Lafayette-Yalobusha Center of Northwest Mississippi Community College. The North Mississippi Japanese Supplementary School, a Japanese weekend school, is operated in conjunction with the University of Mississippi, with classes held on campus.

Media

 * The Oxford Eagle, founded 1865
 * The Daily Mississippian, the student newspaper of the University of Mississippi, founded 1911
 * The Local Voice, a bimonthly entertainment guide and newspaper
 * WUMS, the student radio station of the University of Mississippi

Health care
The Baptist Memorial Hospital - North Mississippi, located in Oxford provides comprehensive health care services for Oxford and the surrounding area, supported by a growing number of physicians, clinics and support facilities. The North Mississippi Regional Center, a state-licensed Intermediate Care Facility for Individuals with Intellectual Disabilities (ICF/IID), is located in Oxford.

Oxford is home to the National Center for Natural Products Research at the University of Mississippi's School of Pharmacy. The Center is the only facility in the United States that is federally licensed to cultivate marijuana for scientific research, and to distribute it to medical marijuana patients.

Transportation
The city operates public transportation under the name Oxford-University Transit (OUT), with bus routes throughout the city and University of Mississippi campus. Ole Miss students and faculty ride free upon showing University identification.

Mississippi Central Railroad provides freight rail service to the Lafayette County Industrial Park in Oxford.

University-Oxford Airport is a public use airport located two nautical miles (4 km) northwest of the central business district of Oxford. The airport is owned by the University of Mississippi.

Notable people

 * William Faulkner grew up in Oxford and used it as the fictional city of "Jefferson".
 * Authors include John Grisham, Julie Cantrell, Kiese Laymon, Curtis Wilkie, Ace Atkins, Aimee Nezhukumatathil, Chris Offutt, Howard Bahr, Richard Ford, Tom Franklin, Beth Ann Fennelly, Ann Fisher-Wirth, Wright Thompson, Stark Young, Larry Brown, Willie Morris, and Barry Hannah.
 * Artists include photorealist painter Glennray Tutor, figurative painter Jere Allen, and primitive artist Theora Hamblett (1895–1977).
 * Secretary of the Interior Jacob Thompson (1810–1885) owned a manor called "Home Place" in Oxford that was burned during the Civil War by Union troops. A historical marker stands where it once stood.
 * L.Q.C. Lamar (1825–1893), U.S. senator and supreme court justice, resided in Oxford, where he served as professor of mathematics at the University of Mississippi, farmed, and practiced law. He was the son-in-law of university chancellor Augustus Baldwin Longstreet. Lamar's home in Oxford was restored as a museum in 2008.
 * Angela McGlowan (born 1970), Republican political commentator, author, and consulting firm CEO
 * Naomi Sims (1948–2009), fashion model, was born in Oxford.
 * New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning, who played college football at Ole Miss, lives in Oxford during the off-season. His father, former Ole Miss and New Orleans Saints quarterback Archie Manning, owns a condominium in Oxford.

Sister city

 * 🇫🇷 Aubigny-sur-Nère, Cher, France

title: Oxford, Mississippi


text:
Taylor, Mississippi

Taylor is a town in Lafayette County, Mississippi. The population was 322 at the 2010 census.

Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 4.1 sqmi, of which 4.1 sqmi is land and 0.24% is water.

Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 500 people, 128 households, and 78 families residing in the town. The population density was 70.3 PD/sqmi. There were 138 housing units at an average density of 33.6 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the town was 70.28% White, 25.99% African American, 1.38% Native American and 0.35% Pacific Islander. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.73% of the population.

There were 128 households, out of which 21.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 53.1% were married couples living together, 7.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 38.3% were non-families. 35.2% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.26 and the average family size was 2.87.

In the town, the population was spread out, with 17.3% under the age of 18, 10.0% from 18 to 24, 34.3% from 25 to 44, 23.5% from 45 to 64, and 14.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females, there were 95.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 95.9 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $28,875, and the median income for a family was $50,250. Males had a median income of $31,528 versus $20,000 for females. The per capita income for the town was $16,403. About 14.1% of families and 12.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 15.0% of those under the age of eighteen and 17.1% of those 65 or over.

Education
The Town of Taylor is served by the Lafayette County School District.

Notable people

 * L.Q.C. Lamar, agricultural innovator, statesman

title: Taylor, Mississippi