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Tucsonan tells harrowing tale of surviving sweat lodge

Posted: Nov 16, 2009 10:18 AM
Updated: Nov 16, 2009 10:18 AM


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Tucson, AZ - A Tucson woman tells her chilling story of surviving the Northern Arizona sweat lodge, and what it was like to be seated between two people who did not survive the experience.

Sidney Spencer is back in Tucson, recovering, and still trying to piece together what happened in the Sedona sweat lodge.

While both the person seated to her left and right didn't make it out of the lodge alive, Sidney did.

Tucson attorney Ted Schmid of Kinerk, Schmidt and Sethi, PLLC said Sidney's case is the most bizarre he's had in 32 years. He's amazed his client is alive.

"She had major organ failures, her liver, her kidneys," Schmidt says. "Her lungs were scorched."

The Spiritual Warrior event was for James Arthur Ray's elite clients as it encouraged his motto, 'play full on' and push through one's barriers.

"What he told them at the end of [a prior] event was - I have a surprise for you. We're going to do a sweat lodge experience," Schmidt says.

Inside the sweat lodge, Schmidt explained the surroundings as told to him, "No lights, no ventilation, no thermometer," he says.

He says glowing rocks were continually brought in to the center of the room.

"The heat was so intense she put her head down on her chest, in order to breathe cooler air," Schmidt explains.

"I'm going to get out of here when that door opens," Schmidt says of the surviving Sidney Spencer. "That was her last thought."

A person was seated on the right and left of Spencer. One of them was Spencer's friend Kirby.

"They both died in this event," Schmidt says.

Schmidt says his client still believes in Ray and what he teaches.

But during a teleconference after the event, Spencer was offended to hear that a 'Channeler' returned to the site.

According to Schmidt, Ray had this to say about what the Channeler claimed to have learned about the deceased:

"They had an out of body experience and that their spirits had left their body [...] and were so happy and were having so much fun that they chose not to return to their bodies."

We were unable to connect with James Arthur Ray's representatives by deadline.

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