Experience Description


I was in the hospital with an ectopic pregnancy. I was bleeding internally, and signs of blood poisoning were present. On the way to the operating room, after having an injection to settle me down, I asked for a Pastor, but was turned down. But it was all right, because I had made up my mind that if I were to die, so be it.


"Into Your Hands I place my life," I said to the Lord.


On the operating table, the nurses told me to count from 1 to 10. On the count of 5, instead of continuing to count, I started to pray the "Our Father." I did not finish it, because I was drawn into a black, and somewhat greasy, tunnel.


It was pitch-dark in the tunnel, and I felt like I was floating for a while. As I floated through the tunnel, I noticed that my abdominal pain was starting to go away. I saw a very bright light at the end of the tunnel. I felt nice, and the thought of being dead no longer bothered me. Near the end of the tunnel, I felt I was being pulled faster towards the light.


Faces of people who had died, some whom I recognized and some whom I did not, were shouting, "NO, Go back...Go back...Go back!!" After that, I heard murmuring sounds.


At the end of the tunnel, I found myself in the middle of all those people. I felt nice. I had no more pain, no more worries and plenty of warmth. My Daddy was also there. We were happy to see each other, but there were troubling whispers around. Almost everyone was saying, "NO!" There was a bad vibration in the air.


The bright light had slowly transformed into a figure dressed in a white robe. Everybody became silent as the figure came towards me. The face of the figure was very bright, smiling and calm. I could even feel its warmth. The figure was not very tall, but was of average height and weight, and was neither a man nor a woman. I asked, "Are you God or Jesus?" I received a smiling response, "Evelyn, not yet...go back…go back." I said that I wanted to stay with my father. I was told, with a shaking of the head, "Evelyn, Evelyn...not yet...you have to go back." The other people who were around said, "Ah/Oh!" and they smiled. I kept insisting on staying. But the figure said firmly, still with a smile, "Evelyn, you have to go back!"


I felt I was being suctioned back into the tunnel, and the pain started to return. Somebody pulled my hands, and I was out of the tunnel! I was back in the operating room, aware of the pain again. I felt like I tried to get up to leave. I noticed the nurses pressing/pumping my chest. I saw myself as "the body on the table." Still outside of my body, I tried to pull the nurses away, and I was telling them to stop because it hurt. However, they seemed unaware of my doing anything. Then one of them said, "She's breathing! She's back!" And, as I found myself on the table, I felt and heard myself breathe.

Background Information:

Gender: Female

Date NDE Occurred: February 1973

NDE Elements:

At the time of your experience, was there an associated life-threatening event? Surgery-related Life threatening event, but not clinical death

How do you consider the content of your experience? Mixed

Did you feel separated from your body? Yes Getting up from the operating table was easy, although my wrist was tied down. I felt light and my body was floating a bit. And I could not see my feet.

At what time during the experience were you at your highest level of consciousness and alertness? Full consciousness and awareness of what was happening.

Did your hearing differ in any way from normal? I heard suction sounds, murmurs, strange silences. The figure did not really speak; communication was through thoughts.

The experience included: Presence of deceased persons

Did you encounter or become aware of any deceased (or alive) beings? Yes Before I got to the end of the tunnel, I saw some faces I did not know. At the end of the tunnel, I saw my father, and also figures and faces, many of whom I did know. They seemed surprised to see me there. I heard murmurs coming from them about my being there.

The experience included: Darkness

The experience included: Light

Did you see an unearthly light? Yes The light was strong, bright, and piercing to the eye from a distance, but bright and cool with a kind of warmth as I got closer.

The experience included: Strong emotional tone

Did you suddenly seem to understand everything? Everything about the universe Since my experience, sometimes I have premonitions. For example, I can see that a person is very sick, by their strange glow. Also, I feel freezing cold and strangely weak in my whole body when a family member or a close friend is about to die. Also, I can control things by my anger or hatred. My hatred for people causes them to get sick and sometimes die, or have misfortunes befall them.

Did scenes from your past come back to you? My past flashed before me, out of my control

God, Spiritual and Religion:

What was your religion prior to your experience? Liberal Methodist Protestant

After the NDE:

Was the experience difficult to express in words? Yes The shining Figure...I keep wondering who it was.

Are there one or several parts of your experience that are especially meaningful or significant to you? The best part was seeing my father, and the worst part was leaving him behind.

Have you ever shared this experience with others? Yes People either did not believe me, or they were very doubtful.

Is there anything else that you would like to add about your experience? That experience has been very vivid to this day. Also, God (or the figure) communicated by thoughts. God is neither a HE nor a SHE. I felt appreciation of this life. Death is no longer a frightening subject for me. Death is a part of life. I sensed the presence of others (not alive) in the room.