People still think they see a fat, gray-haired Elvis darting into Dunkin Donuts. And then there are those who believe they spent last night with aliens in the mother ship being subjected to unspeakable testing. Sometimes certain people can "see" things they want to, things that aren't really there. And that's why some have claimed that the disciples were so distraught over the crucifixion that their desire to see Jesus alive caused mass hallucination. Plausible?

Psychologist Gary Collins, former president of the American Association of Christian Counselors, was asked about the possibility that hallucinations were behind the disciples' radically changed behavior. Collins remarked, "Hallucinations are individual occurrences. By their very nature, only one person can see a given hallucination at a time. They certainly aren't something which can be seen by a group of people." 28

Hallucination is not even a remote possibility, according to psychologist Thomas J. Thorburn. "It is absolutely inconceivable that…five hundred persons, of average soundness of mind…should experience all kinds of sensuous impressions—visual, auditory, tactual—and that all these…experiences should rest entirely upon… hallucination." 29