Experience Description


I was at my boyfriend's parent's house, we had just had lunch. We wanted to have a sauna session, that's something I had never tried before but I thought that could relax me, because I felt tired.


Half an hour later, the temperature inside the sauna reached more than sixty degrees, almost seventy. I decided to go out of the room because I felt oppressed by the heat. The sauna's room led to a garage without heating, and the air was fresh outside since we were in December.


My friend advised me to go out gradually to avoid any thermal shock but as soon as I set foot outside, I felt myself being invaded by a giddiness, and a huge pain in all my body. I held onto my friend, feeling that I was going to faint, then I began to howl, without really being aware of my screams; I was already losing consciousness. I saw the black wrapping me. I had an awful noise in my ears and in my head, a deafening noise; but maybe it was my screams because my friend maintained that I howled and that he was very afraid.


I remember this intense pain and I remember having, at the same time, a life review with short pieces, experiences that even I didn't recall, coming back in my mind. That's difficult to explain, but all that gave me the feeling of being in a fast deafening carrousel with the scenes of my own life. I saw my father, my brother and my sister and more particularly my grandfather who was smiling to me, but also one of my uncles deceased a few years before. I felt myself floating and rotating. Then I didn't feel my body anymore, I had the impression of being nothing anymore, of not existing physically anymore.


Then I saw what was really happening; my recumbent body; my friend shaking me, trying to make me wake; and his father who joined him and who slapped my cheek. I had the impression of observing what was happening from above as if I had an external view on what was occurring. I heard them shouting, speaking. First, I didn't understand what they told me. Then I found myself back in my own body, as if I had been sent into my body; suddenly I came back to life and reality. It was difficult for me to open my eyes and, while waking up, I was told that I was very pale, livid, and that during this accident I had my eyes with the whites showing, the body arched tight, and finally completely relaxed, as if lifeless.


After this episode, for several days, I felt an intense tiredness, a need to sleep. I went back home, and told my parents what happened, they told me, 'That's unbelievable, your grandfather called a few minutes ago to tell us that he had the feeling you were very bad, that you had a problem, that you were in danger.'

Background Information:

Gender: Female

Date NDE Occurred: 10 décembre 2002

NDE Elements:

At the time of your experience, was there an associated life-threatening event? No voir question précédente choc thermique à la sorite d'un sauna (passage de 70°celcius à 15 degrés celcius)

How do you consider the content of your experience? Mixed

The experience included: Out of body experience

Did you feel separated from your body? Yes I don't remember having seen what look I had out of my body, but I think I was fully invisible, I was simply above all the people there and I saw my lifeless body.

At what time during the experience were you at your highest level of consciousness and alertness? I felt that I was not myself anymore but I was not fully aware of that. I was not able to lead, neither to continue, nor to stop; I just let myself be carried and led into this experience.

Did time seem to speed up or slow down? Everything seemed to be happening at once; or time stopped or lost all meaning I had the impression that this experience was extremely fast, as if time sped up, but I learnt, on waking, that all this lasted several minutes.

Did your hearing differ in any way from normal? An incredible uproar, with shout (perhaps mine), noises of winds and gusts, an interior storm.

Did you pass into or through a tunnel? Uncertain I remember me being sucked in a long path, perhaps a tunnel, very black and deep.

The experience included: Presence of deceased persons

Did you encounter or become aware of any deceased (or alive) beings? Yes I saw my grandfather, smiling to me, he looked reassuring.

The experience included: Darkness

The experience included: Light

Did you see an unearthly light? Uncertain It seems yes to me, but it was not dazzling, only very white.

Did you seem to enter some other, unearthly world? No

The experience included: Strong emotional tone

Did you suddenly seem to understand everything? No

The experience included: Life review

Did scenes from your past come back to you? My past flashed before me, out of my control I only reviewed some events that I had forgotten, particularly some events which occurred as I was a baby, and which, otherwise, I would have never recalled.

Did scenes from the future come to you? No

Did you come to a border or point of no return? No

God, Spiritual and Religion:

What was your religion prior to your experience? Moderate catholique

What is your religion now? Liberal

Did you have a change in your values and beliefs because of your experience? No

After the NDE:

Was the experience difficult to express in words? Yes It is impossible to describe precisely this experiment with words, it can only be felt. Moreover, emotions prevent any objectivity.

Do you have any psychic, non-ordinary or other special gifts after your experience that you did not have before the experience? No

Are there one or several parts of your experience that are especially meaningful or significant to you? The best aspect has been my grandfather's face, smiling, who really reassured me when this experience terrified me. The worse aspect was the intense pain I felt as I was going to faint.

Have you ever shared this experience with others? Yes With my grandparents, who believed me and showed great tact, not asking me too much personal questions. I want to be precise there that my grandfather himself experienced an NDE some few years before this event.

At any time in your life, has anything ever reproduced any part of the experience? No