Has anyone had a near death experience? What was it like?

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I saw this article in Daily Mail tonight about near death experiences and thought it would be interesting to see if any on ATS have experienced this and what it was like. I have, 25 years ago and it has never really left me.

I was in my early 20's and was rushed into hospital after stomach pain and passing out. I was diagnosed with a water infection early in the evening and endured a night from hell with pain I cannot even begin to explain. By the following morning I was slurring my speech and was semi conscious and when a scanner was eventually bought to my bedside they found I had serious internal bleeding and I was straight away rushed to theatre and put to sleep all within a few minutes.

Next thing I remember was looking down at myself on the operating table and people rushing frantically when I heard the voice of my cousin Stephen who had died of cystic fibrosis, he was shouting me and laughing, telling me to come. The next thing I knew I was stood on a small planet type sphere almost like standing on the edge of the world and all around me was darkness and stars almost like viewing all the Universe and in the distance was a bright star that became bigger and bigger and Stephen was telling me to follow him to it and to just jump and fly. I can remember a feeling of complete exhiliration but also fear of jumping.... then suddenly there was the most crippling pain in my stomach and I could feel people messing with my insides and I was trying to scream "please dont do that" but rather like when running in a dream I couldnt get the words out. I could also hear all the sounds of the theatre and the voices of everyone were echoing like when going under anaesthetic, there was then more pain and nothinh.

The next thing I knew I woke up in intensive care and was told there had been complications and the bleeding had been hard to stop. My heart had been under stress and it had stopped for a minute but they had managed to revive me.

I told the nurse about what had happened and that I had also been able to feel and hear everything for a short while. She said they had had to give me less anaesthetic than they normally would because of the loss of blood and had topped it up.

Ive only ever really spoke about it with my mum and two close friends but I'd be interested to know if anyone else has experienced anything like it?

A classic case in every respect, really. Thanks for sharing.

I have never had one of these but I love to study them...

When you saw your cousin did he look the same age as when he died or did he look younger?

Have you read Rebecca Springer's book ("Within the Gates") where she talks about people in Heaven who are frequently sent to Earth on divine "missions"?

She wrote about it in 1895 after being taken to Heaven in her spirit while her body lay dying and unconscious for several weeks.

"Within the Gates" (formerly titled "Intra Muros" after the Latin for the same phrase and originally published in 1895) is the remarkable account of author Rebecca Springer's experience of being taken to Heaven in her spirit while her body lay dying and unconscious for several weeks.

Springer recounts in vivid detail the things which she saw, heard and tasted in Heaven. She also talks of family and loved ones with whom she was immediately reunited with. She describes meeting Jesus (the Master) for the first time and His incredible love for all of Heaven's inhabitants, as well as His concern for those still on Earth. She describes the heavenly mansions and dwelling places and the way that nothing in Heaven is impure or corrupt. "Not an atom of debris, nor even dust, was visible anywhere," she describes.

She explains how Heaven's inhabitants are frequently engaged in missions or tasks that are an extension of God's callings and gifting in their earth-life. She recounts how artists, musicians, authors and speakers all practice their skills regularly, honing them to perfection with the goal of continuing to use them for God's honor throughout eternity. She even describes her experience of corporate worship at a heavenly temple, and recalling how there were no churches or denominations in Heaven, just one faith for all.

Intra Muros

Within Heaven's Gates (radio drama theater version) I know this doesn't include everything in the book for to do that the video would have to be 5 hours long. I just highlighted and picked out some of the best scenes of her vision.

Thank you for sharing that, amazing! I also had one 22 yrs ago, when I was 18 yrs old. I'll have to admit something shameful, because I don't want to make up a lie, I had an abortion. Was living with an abusive guy at the time, and really I realize there is no excuse, and some people will think I deserved what I got.

So, here it is- they had me sign a waiver, saying if anything went wrong with the procedure, they are not liable, and not responsible for contacting an ambulance, your designated ride has to deal with it. When it was my turn, they put me out on a little operating table and the next thing I knew I was waking up in a hospital bed in another room, and a lady called out "she opened her eyes" 2 women ran towards me, pulled me up, I just felt hot liquid pouring down my legs, vision was fuzzy and I couldn't stand on my own, they pulled a big diaper on me and as they turned me I saw the bed behind me, just drenched almost top to bottom in blood. They handed me off to my boyfriend to get me to the car. I just remember his fear and crying saying he was taking me to the hospital, I was laying in the backseat vomiting,everything went black and the pain went away, and I was floating in this murky blue ocean, looked like it had milk mixed in it, it wasn't creepy, it was really peaceful and relaxing. There were little islands in the distance and I could hear my boyfriend calling my name from one of them, but I kept floating farther and I could tell he was yelling louder but his voice got smaller and smaller. I woke up later in the hospital, and ended up ok (obviously). So, I think that may have been a near death experience. Sorry for the guts and gore, and the bad choices.

I was hit by a car when I was a kid. I have memory of looking down on my unconscious body from an elevated position.

a reply to: anxiouswens
My mother had one.
She had the tunnel experience.
When she came out of the tunnel, she saw dead relatives and friends. She said that she never felt such warmth and love.
She saw a group of people dressed entirely in white sitting cross-legged in grass. She approached them and some voice told her that she wasn't supposed to be there yet, and would have to return at a later time.
She said that she didn't want to go back, but then she found herself back in her body, in pain.
It happened during the birth of my older sister.

Nothing is a bad choice if it is right for you at the time and it obviously was right for you. Nothing to be ashamed off and very brave to share it.

Mine was the opposite I had an ectopic pregnancy and it must have ruptured when I collapsed before I got to the hospital. When I got to the hospital was told by a Junior Doctor it was likely a water infection and to stop being a silly girl when I was crying out in pain I thought I was being dramatic and endured hours and hours of hell. Eventually the nurse had had enough when she saw I was semi conscious and was slurring my speech and went over her head. I was told that nurse saved my life and another hour I would have been dead.

When I came back on to the normal ward a lady came over to me and said no one slept that night because I sounded like an animal in pain. She was really upset when she heard I had lost a fallopian tube and baby and told I possibly couldnt gave children because she had had an abortion. I told her there was nothing to be upset about her actions hadnt hurt me just fate. Ive never judged anyone for making that choice and Im glad women do have that choice so never be sad about it xa reply to: 222mockingbirdlane

a reply to: anxiouswens

I did. I fell off the 2nd floor of a house and was crushed under a refrigerator, and had to be rescued. My back was broken, skull crushed, lungs compressed, neck fractured, and other injuries.

To this day...I maintain 3 rt cervical hernias, 1 lg lt one...a 7th and 8th thorasic hernias, spondyliosis in S5-L1, and various other effects from this accident.

I need to add I am a FEMA/Homeland Security emergency 1st Responder and work as an EMT. So to still be here today...I am blessed. 100 fold.

My story: As I lay crushed underneath unable to breathe, I felt life slipping away. That fridge on me had to get off...right now. I was dying.

Either from the slam to the back of my head...or N.D.E...I saw a single hand in the darkness like a hand raise in a STOP fashion. It glowed gold and was surrounded by a white light. Suddenly, the fridge began to ease back up and off me slowly.

I believed it was the single hand of God showing me and telling me "This is not your time. I have more for you to do". (I am still trying to figure it out 30 years later).

So what was the hand I saw in front of me? It was a vietnam vet who was there at the time who dove over the back and sides of the fridge with me underneath...and with ONE hand and ONE motion..yanked it back enough off me to be pulled out.

The hand I saw with golden rays and white light in FRONT of me in the darkness with eyes closed... was the hand of that vet pulling it off me from BEHIND me where I could NEVER have seen him. He spent the next hour of so in a closet crying as he thought he was back in Vietnam from P.T.Stress.

Thats my story.....Best, MS

I didnt see my cousin but heard his voice. When the star was brighter and brighter and he was telling me to fly there was an outline of a young boy. He died when he was 7 but would have been the same age as me if he had been living (20's). Some say our spirits never age dont they and then some believe children grow. He was definitely a child in my experience but then mine wasnt the tunnel of light people discuss, it was like I was stood on the edge of the world looking at the vastness all around. I was overjoyed but also frightened of jumping. In real life Im frightened of heights and when I had this experience I felt sick like I would if I was suspended in the air in real life.

I will have a read of info you suggested. It really interests me especially as it so vivid even now!a reply to: Murgatroid

a reply to: anxiouswens

Never had a near death experience.
I'd imagine it is quite an extraordinary experience.

I believe that when we pass, we go on to something different, something better. I love hearing these personal stories and have heard of many others.

Though I have never had a near death experience, I did have an out of body experience once and know that we are far more than just our physical bodies. Very inspiring and wonderful thread!

a reply to: anxiouswens

I fell 20-30 feet way back about 2 decades or more ago and hit a metal oil rig deck on the inside of a leg and lay there for about 1 hour but looking down at my body it felt like hunderds of years passed in that time all i remember is the cold -real cold
i do not think hell is hot

Then a poping sound and i was back in my very painfull body

weird though but very real

a reply to: anxiouswens

I don't know if mine was a near-death experience or just overheating or something of the sort. It happened my first day back to school (college) after a week long illness. I was feeling good, so i decided to work out between classes.

Apparently, it was too soon. I had a fairly intense run going and I was feeling good. About 20 minutes in, I started feeling really hot, like about to faint hot, which I'd never experienced before. Disoriented, I made the genius decision to stagger myself to the locker room and into the stall (I guess in my confused state, thinking I didn't want anyone to see me all fainty, rather than asking for help to prevent possible death.)

Anyhow, I'm sitting, clothed, on the toilet, head in my hands, and next thing I know, I'm flying (first person view) through a tunnel of basic geometric shapes of varying colors surrounded by a void. There seemed to be music/bells corresponding to and emanating from each shape. Eventually it felt like I was stretching to an end point where there was a being I don't think i actually saw, but note of a presence felt. He(it?) said something (don't remember what) and then it felt as if I was smacked on the forehead by him/it, and essentially told to go back.

I felt like I was rapidly drawn back through the long tunnel in a split second, and when i "got back to my body" it was as if I'd snapped back into myself. I woke up as I sat bolt upright, snapping up similar to popping up out of the water after holding your breath underwater to your limit. It took me a few seconds to figure out where i was. "Am I in the hospital? No... Hmm, a bathroom stall? Oh yeah, the campus gym." That's when I realized I felt fine. I stood up, got out, went to the sink. I was literally raining sweat from my head and face. Splashed some cold water on my face, headed out.

3-4 hours had passed. It felt more like 30 minutes tops. I drove home, and when i got there felt five, but exhausted. I slept for 15 hours and woke up refreshed.

That was my only one. I've always been more curious about what actually caused the physical symptoms than the experience itself.

I will share. Okay so embarrassing but being honest here, when I was about 16 I accidentally overdosed on OxyContin and alcohol. Incredibly stupid i know, but it was a teenaged decision and basically not having any idea what I was actually taking with the drink..

Anyways. My breathing basically slowed to a complete stop over time. On my end, it felt like I was simply going to sleep and going down hard. It felt like that same feeling of unable to hold your head up or your eyes open due to sheer fatigue.
So my breathing stopped and my heart even stopped beating for a very short time. When this happened, a friend began performing CPR on me.

It was not working to resusitate me but it did keep oxygen in my system and basically friend helped save me from permanent brain damage via that oxygen. 911 had been called already. An ambulance arrived while my friend was giving CPR and paramedics hopped out.

I was in the backyard of my girlfriends house on the trampoline still at this point. I know about the CPR my friend gave only from being told this. I have no memory of it. I do have memory of the responders. I watched the paramedics performing CPR on me from above. I watched them load me onto a stretcher and into the ambulance. I watched my parents and my girlfriend absolutely freaking out down in the yard next to my body being worked on. It was horrible after the fact. I saw it all. I still feel bad. I watched the ambulance drive away and then I began rising. Everything around me looked exactly as it does in reality, my neighborhood just dark and with a decent amount of stars. I can look up and I can look down, anywhere really. Below me i see the flashing lights red and blue driving down a road. Above me i see just the night sky.

Earlier i said it was horrible after the fact. I say this because I had an immense feeling of BLISS while it happened. I mean i had this feeling of A Okay even while watching my family cry and my unconcious body. I felt totally alright with everything in that moment.

So i kept going up higher and higher. Eventually i could not see the ground anymore and I could just see visions of my live family members and my girlfriend. With these visions came immense feelings of love and suddenly I did not feel at bliss anymore. I wanted to go back.

That is when I snapped back to it in the ambulance. I sat upright extremely suddenly, screaming, because i felt every single nerve ending in my body feel like they were on fire all at once. This fire feeling lasted a minute, i will not ever forget it. An injection of Naloxone will do that to you. Basically, they use this drug not adrenaline like is portrayed in the movies. It is an opioid antagonist so yea just imagine how that feels. It certainly did feel like a literal adrenaline shot though in terms of sudden energy.
They had to inject me three seperate times with that life saving stuff to keep me around. Each time i screamed.


December 15th of 2014 i got into a bad car accident. I hit a guard rail at 84 MPH on a highway. Broke both of my femurs, got a severe TBI, massive blood loss from cuts, and my C5, C6, and C7 nerve roots on the right side of my body suffered avulsions + stretching.
Flight for life and an officer saved my life that day. They landed a helicopter right down there on I-25. A leo rushed up and got me out of the vehicle. Blood transfusion in the helicopter. 2 more of them at the hospital in Denver. I also suffered a seizure en route to the hospital.

My legs and head are better today. I have about 30% function in my right arm currently. I was right handed. No NDE here i just wanted to share. I have no memory of Dec 15th last year and really none through that entire month. I got out of a rehab hospital on Jan 15th. The cop reported i fell asleep and that caused the accident.

Still working on bouncing back from that one. Thank you OP.

I just wish to thank these members and those to come for sharing their stories. To myself it's brave of you to share such a personal and deep experience with us.

I've never had an NDE, I try to be as aware of my environment and internal choices/thoughts etc.. as I can be, to avoid danger or fatal experiences. This is not to rub any members who shared, my intentions are positive, but I want to relate awareness and our lives.

Awareness, consciousness, that "voice in your head", the identity of self (ID).. that which operates the body. . Haha yea you get the point

It's possible to have this element of our human self, experience ITSELF (consciousness, awareness, ID) while outside of the body by WILL.

As in Astral projection, travel. . Altered states of consciousness via back door use (psychedelic), dream-scape or other material substance.
Remote viewing, to focus and project consciousness outside of 3D (the body) and have sight, hear, taste, smell, feel well intact while having that experience/moment.

I have achieved these experiences before, as have billions of others, throughout human and animal 'time' on Earth. And billions more in the 'future,'.

Matter must of been created for consciousness to experience, the 5 senses (senses in general for all creatures) are evident of that because why else would something aware of itself inside matter (biology) need to be receptive to other matter outside of that biology...
Also, can escape that biology (3D) and be aware in another space by will or accident/coincidence.

Consciousness has many states within matter/biology or outside of 3D space or its host matter/biology/body.

Maybe this will bring sense to your experience.
That you are MORE. There is MORE. We all begin at the same start line and end at the same finish line - in this Journey of life.

I won't share my experiences here as they are not NDE and therefore will be shared where appropriate.

But I wanted to thank you guys for being brave enough to share your stories, showing your not alone in what you experienced. Millions and millions of NDE happen to people throughout the years.
Also the experiences I brought up earlier to relate of the "phenomenon" known as near death experience.

They will continue to be experienced as long as consciousness lives through matter/biology.

Life is beautiful, and precious ♡

a reply to: lightedhype

Wow you have been through quite a bit, thanks for sharing this...

Hopefully some will read this and realize that drugs are not all they are cracked up to be.

I too fell asleep at the wheel once in Carbon Canyon, CA back in the 70's.

Although I was not injured and didn't have a NDE, it sure scared the hell out of me.

When my car hit the curb it went airborne and I immediately woke up.

The car ended up at the bottom of a deep ravine and I was very fortunate to be alive.

I did, I was 8 or 9 and I was at hockey practice. Not sure what happened but I ended up going head first into the boards and I was completely knocked out, anyway I remember me being in regular clothes and kind of floating on the outside of the rink and had full motion of my limbs and everything but I also wasn't cold I was comfortable. Then I woke up and pretty sure I had a concussion.

Interesting, all of the different things people see. I already shared my own, and would like to share one my 11 yr old cousin had, just because it is such a weird, interesting account.

No one knew she was fatally allergic to bees, until she was stung by 1 bee on the finger. She starting swelling up and getting a fever, so my aunt put her in a cold bathtub with ice cubes. That wasn't helping, and soon her throat starting closing up. She was rushed to the I.C.U. and after doing all they could, she ended up dying for 3 minutes. They were able to bring her back, and later when she had recovered, she told a crazy story.
She said she remembers seeing herself in the hospital bed, then going up through the building, out the ceiling... and seems big a spaceship coming down, then floating into an opening underneath it. She said there were a whole bunch of nice people in there, and everyone was really excited and happy about where they were going. She said the place they were going was better than Disneyland, and she was really excited too. Then suddenly, she felt like she had to leave and go back to earth, and she was really upset and disappointed. She told our whole family this. My cousins mom, who is strictly Catholic, was upset about it, and said she was just hallucinating and forbid her to talk about it again.