Experience Description:

It was a hot summer day; a year after my grandmother and beloved brother had passed away. I worked on farms making money. I was going to go bail hay that day. I was driving a small truck and my good friend was with me. We were running late and were speeding about seventy mph on a gravel road. When I came up to a crossroad, I broad-sided a station wagon, flipped the truck over the car six times. My good friend was thrown through the windshield. I was thrown with the driver's door eighty feet into a soybean field. As I landed, I broke my left arm, broke my ribs, punctured my lung, bruised my heart and swallowed my tongue. I lay there without anybody knowing that I was even there. The medical records said I was there at least eight minutes. If it wasn't for my good friend asking about me they would never have known. As I lay on the ground, I felt nothing. There was no pain. It was perfect peace. I felt myself being pulled and I saw my body lying on the ground. Then I saw the emergency medical technicians working on me but I didn't care. As I went higher to the light, I saw all my relatives that had passed - my aunts, uncles, and my grandmother. As I was traveling through the tunnel to the light, I saw my beloved brother and he stopped me. He said, 'It's not your time.' The next thing I remember I was lying on the ground in so much pain they had tubes down my mouth. I couldn't talk. The next thing I remember was waking up in the hospital.

Background Information:

Gender: Male

Date NDE Occurred: August 1987

NDE Elements:

At the time of your experience, was there an associated life-threatening event? Uncertain Accident Direct head injury Clinical death (cessation of breathing or heart function or brain function) 'swallow my tongue, bruised heart ,punctured lung, broken arm, broken ribs, head injury all on left side' I don't know.

How do you consider the content of your experience? Wonderful

Did you feel separated from your body? Yes I clearly left my body and existed outside it

How did your highest level of consciousness and alertness during the experience compare to your normal everyday consciousness and alertness? Normal consciousness and alertness

At what time during the experience were you at your highest level of consciousness and alertness? All.

Were your thoughts speeded up? Faster than usual

Did time seem to speed up or slow down? Neither

Were your senses more vivid than usual? Incredibly more so

Please compare your vision during the experience to your everyday vision that you had immediately prior to the time of the experience. Everything was so bright, I mean the colors.

Please compare your hearing during the experience to your everyday hearing that you had immediately prior to the time of the experience. Everything was so clear, no noise.

Did you seem to be aware of things going on elsewhere? Neither

Did you pass into or through a tunnel? Yes It was a tunnel with a light shinning through it.

Did you see any beings in your experience? Saw them

Did you encounter or become aware of any deceased (or alive) beings? Yes I saw my relation and my brother.

Did you see, or feel surrounded by, a brilliant light? A light clearly of mystical or other-worldly origin

Did you see an unearthly light? Yes It was so bright but pleasant.

Did you seem to enter some other, unearthly world? Clearly mystical or unearthly realm

What emotions did you feel during the experience? All I felt was perfect peace.

Did you have a feeling of peace or pleasantness? Incredible peace or pleasantness

Did you have a feeling of joy? Incredible joy

Did you feel a sense of harmony or unity with the universe? United, one with the world

Did you suddenly seem to understand everything? Everything about the universe

Did scenes from your past come back to you? Neither

Did scenes from the future come to you? Neither

Did you come to a border or point of no return? A barrier I was not permitted to cross; or 'sent back' to life involuntarily

God, Spiritual and Religion:

What was your religion prior to your experience? Conservative/fundamentalist none

Have your religious practices changed since your experience? Yes Started church, read the Bible many times.

What is your religion now? Liberal faith

Did you have a change in your values and beliefs because of your experience? Yes Started church, read the Bible many times.

Did you seem to encounter a mystical being or presence, or hear an unidentifiable voice? Definite being, or voice clearly of mystical or other-worldly origin

Did you see deceased or religious spirits? Saw them

Concerning our Earthly lives other than Religion

During your experience, did you gain special knowledge or information about your purpose? No

Have your relationships changed specifically because of your experience? Yes I have a whole new look on life and I'm trying to live by God's law.

After the NDE:

Was the experience difficult to express in words? Yes That nobody would believe what I had seen and the perfect peace that I felt and I did not want them to think I was crazy.

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? All of it because I know there is hope.

Have you ever shared this experience with others? Yes It has been nineteen years and the only reason was because of church, the pastor and my doctor asked me if I had seen the light.

Did you have any knowledge of near death experience (NDE) prior to your experience? No

What did you believe about the reality of your experience shortly (days to weeks) after it happened? Experience was definitely real

What do you believe about the reality of your experience now? Experience was definitely real

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

Is there anything else that you would like to add about your experience? I went to the doctor's and talked with her not telling her about it just asking her to read my medical charts. As she read them, she looked at me and asked did you see the light. I was shocked to my bones not knowing what to say then she said in her thirty-eight years of being a doctor she had sixteen people tell her about the light.