Preston D Probable NDE

Experience Description

A Year I'll Never Forget

One minute, I was pedaling my bike through the familiar, sun-drenched streets. It was the month of my birthday, and I was already imagining the party, the music, and the freedom of being one year older, entering the double digits. Then, everything went blank.

I woke up in a sterile hospital room to the steady, rhythmic beep of a heart monitor. The doctors told me it was a year later. They said I was hit by a car. But when I looked at the calendar, an entire year of my life was just gone. That included the birthday I was so excited for. The moments before the accident are a blurry smear of colors and a strange, shimmering ripple in the air that didn't belong. I’m still trying to figure out how it all happened; nothing about this makes sense to me.

At first, I was sure my friends were playing an elaborate trick on me. But when I finally went back to school, the prank didn't end. I walked into my usual classroom only to find myself in an entirely different wing, surrounded by faces I’d never seen. When I tried to communicate with my classmates I had just left moments ago in my memory, something so bizarre happened that it still bothers me to talk about. It was as if a static-filled void swallowed my words, and they looked at me like I was a total stranger.

The worst part is that nobody believes me. As time marched on, I grew as everyone else grew, moving through the ranks of academia alongside people who were essentially shadows. I was forced to navigate the rest of my education separated from my true friends, eventually graduating with a class of people I only got to know in the face of this silent travesty. I had lost my class, and my world, forever.

After high school, I went to college and eventually did forget about that odd occurrence. I tried to move on from the idea that higher dimensions or alternate realms could distort time perception or allow for nonlinear time travel, yet the mystery remained. As the years turned into decades, the sharp edges of the event softened, but in the quiet moments, I still wonder what truly happened on that road.

Background Information:

Gender: Male

Date of NDE: 5/9/1985

NDE Elements:

At the time of your experience, was there an associated life-threatening event? Yes
TBI, coma, NDE other.

Did you feel separated from your body? I clearly left my body and existed outside it
I do not know

How did your highest level of consciousness and alertness during the experience compare to your normal everyday consciousness and alertness? I do not know.

At what time during the experience were you at your highest level of consciousness? Less consciousness and alertness than normal

Were your thoughts speeded up? No

Did time seem to speed up or slow down? No

Were your senses more vivid than usual? No

Please compare your vision during the experience to your everyday vision that you had immediately prior to the time of the experience I do not know.

Please compare your hearing during the experience to your everyday hearing that you had immediately prior to the time of the experience I do not know.

Did you seem to be aware of things going on elsewhere? No

Did you pass into or through a tunnel? Yes
There was clearly a protective tunnel. FYI: When this happens we do not question it, it is what it is.

Did you see any beings in your experience? I actually saw them

Did you encounter or become aware of any deceased beings? Yes
Yes, but I am not at liberty to discuss.

Did you see or feel surrounded by a brilliant light? An unusually bright light

Did you see an unearthly light? Yes
I believe that the light that we see during a traumatic event is coming from our brain. It is some type of healing mechanism or side effect of trauma.

Did you seem to enter another world? A clearly mystical or unearthly realm
During a traumatic event, we are taken to a safe place in our mind. I see it as a protective mechanism.

What emotions did you feel during the experience? I do not know.

Did you have a feeling of peace or pleasantness? No

Did you have a feeling of joy? No

Did you feel a sense of harmony or unity with the universe? I felt united or one with the world

Did you suddenly understand everything? No

Did scenes from your past come back? I remembered many past events
Yes, but I am not ready to discuss.

Did scenes from the future come? No comment

Did you reach a boundary or limiting physical structure? Uncertain
The healing light was a boundary. If I stayed in the light, I remained protected.

Did you come to a border or point of no return? I came to a definite conscious decision to return to life
Yes, but I knew I was coming back.

God, Spiritual and Religion:

What was your religion prior to your experience? No comment

Have your religious practices changed? Yes
I have become spiritual over the years following this event, yes.

What is your religion now? No comment

Did your experience include features consistent with your earthly beliefs? Content that was both consistent and not consistent with the beliefs you had at the time of your experience
There were many times when I thought I was going home, but they kept pulling me back in.

Did you have a change in your values and beliefs because of your experience? Uncertain
Not really. I was much too young to understand these sorts of things; I was just a kid!

Did you seem to encounter a mystical being or presence, or hear an unidentifiable voice? I encountered a definite being, or a voice clearly of mystical or unearthly origin
It was God. Upon a traumatic event, God takes over, there's no denying that.

Did you encounter or become aware of any beings who previously lived on earth who are described by name in religions (for example: Jesus, Muhammad, Buddha, etc.)? Yes
I had some visions of the city.

During your experience, did you gain information about premortal existence? Uncertain
My memories of this occurrence are vague.

During your experience, did you gain information about universal connection or oneness? Uncertain
I do not remember

During your experience, did you gain information about the existence of God? Yes
It wasn't like meeting a person; it was like stepping into an ocean of pure intelligence. There was no need for introductions because the Being already knew every corner of my soul—every mistake, every joy, and every hidden thought. This awareness brought an overwhelming sense of total acceptance. The 'God' I encountered didn't judge; instead, It provided the protective light by which I judged myself during the life review.

Concerning our Earthly lives other than Religion:

During your experience, did you gain special knowledge or information about your purpose? Yes
Sure! I think when any person is incapacitated to such a degree, we are taken care of and have a sense of knowing.

During your experience, did you gain information about the meaning of life? No

During your experience, did you gain information about an afterlife? Yes
Yes

Did you gain information about how to live our lives? Yes
I believe I was spoken to by many people while in the hospital, and I thought that they were my savior.

During your experience, did you gain information about life's difficulties, challenges and hardships? Uncertain
I do not know

During your experience, did you gain information about love? Uncertain
I really do not know; it happened quite a while ago.

What life changes occurred in your life after your experience? Large changes in my life
Not many changes. It happened, and we move on. The most frustrating part was the label, though. Suddenly, I wasn't just a kid anymore—I was a TBI survivor, a medical case to be monitored and managed. It was exhausting. Everyone around me was so focused on my 'recovery' and the 'damage' to my brain, but they were looking at the wrong map. They saw a traumatic injury; I was reeling from a spiritual explosion. I felt like I was being treated as 'broken' by people who couldn't even perceive the wholeness I’d just experienced. There was this constant uncertainty: how do you explain to a neurologist that you don't know if the 'lapse' was real or how it happened, but that it made their version of reality feel paper-thin? I didn't like it very much. Nothing about being a 'patient' made sense to me. I was being 'rehabilitated' back into a world that felt small and artificial. I wasn't just healing from an injury; I was mourning a Home they didn't even believe existed, all while being told I was the one with the 'disordered' perception.

Have your relationships changed specifically because of your experience? Yes
Looking back, coming back at 10 years old was the start of a life that never quite seemed to even out. After touching that other place, my relationships and my connection to this world were permanently fractured. There’s always been this extremely confusing gap between me and everyone else; while they are busy living, I feel like I’m just observing a reality that doesn't fit me anymore. It’s led to a profound sense of not caring much about life in the way people are 'supposed' to. The ambitions and the daily drama of this world feel hollow compared to the timelessness I remember. It’s not that I’m giving up; it’s just that once you’ve seen the 'blueprints' of a better dimension, this version of reality feels like a clinical hell. I find myself quietly hoping that I’ll eventually be taken back to a place that actually makes sense—a dimension that is a bit better, where the light is real and the weight of this body is gone. The scars I carry are jagged, daily reminders that I’m trapped in the role of a 'TBI survivor' in this dimension. But they sit alongside memories of the strange and unusual, like that newspaper date I saw when I first got home. That date was a haunting piece of evidence that my time wasn't their time. I’m still living in that mystery, a ten-year-old traveler who grew up but never truly 'returned,' just waiting for the next relocation to a world that feels like Home.

After the NDE:

Was the experience difficult to express in words? Yes
I do not remember much, but I do know that I had a feeling of abduction and/or something against my will.

How accurately do you remember the experience in comparison to other life events that occurred around the time of the experience? I remember the experience less accurately than other life events that occurred around the time of the experience
I do not remember much from the event. I can remember things from before the event and things after the event.

Do you have any psychic, non-ordinary or other special gifts after your experience that you did not have before the experience? Uncertain
Maybe.

Are there one or several parts of your experience that are especially meaningful or significant to you? My family stood by my side during this time, thanks!

Have you ever shared this experience with others? Yes
Sure! There are loads of organizations I've been with where I would share this sort of thing. I came out during my college years. People are respectful of self-disclosure. I can imagine some were influenced, sure. It might have given them inspiration or motivation to disclose themselves.

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 probably not real
Waking up in that hospital bed was the ultimate surreal disconnect. One moment I was suspended in a place where time didn't exist, and the next, I was slammed back into a world of sterile smells, beeping monitors, and a body that felt heavy and broken. It’s completely unbelievable. You’re lying there with everyone hovering over you, celebrating that you’re 'back,' but you feel like you’ve been dropped onto a foreign planet. It isn't something you process in an hour or even a day. It takes a long time for the reality of being 'here' again to actually sink in. You’re caught in this blur where you’re trying to reconcile the infinite peace you just left with the sudden, sharp edges of a hospital room. Then, you see the scars. Those marks became the physical anchors I didn’t want. Every time I looked at them, they were these jagged, permanent reminders that the 'real world' had reclaimed me. They were the evidence of the trauma everyone else was obsessed with, but for me, they were just proof that I was no longer in that other place. They forced me to face a reality that didn't make any sense anymore, a world where I was a 'TBI survivor' with a scarred body, even though my soul was still vibrating with the afterglow of the stars.

What do you believe about the reality of your experience now? Experience was definitely real
It all begins and ends with a mystery that I still can’t solve, and to be honest, it remains extremely confusing. I live in a two-fold reality: one part of me is a medical survivor with the scars to prove it, and the other part is a witness to a lapse in time that defies every rule of this world. Nothing about the return made sense. Waking up in that hospital was an unbelievable fog, and it took a long time for the weight of being 'back' to actually sink in. But the moment the 'real world' truly fractured for me was when I finally got home from that clinical setting. I remember picking up a newspaper, still dazed and reeling from that interdimensional blur, and staring at the date on the front page. Looking at that date while I was still vibrating from the timelessness of the other side was haunting. The math didn't add up. My mind was trying to bridge the gap between the days the calendar said had passed and the eternities I felt I had lived. At the time, I was in too much of a fog to even know what to think, but now I know there was something profoundly odd going on. That newspaper is just one of many memories I have of the strange and unusual. It sits alongside the memories of being transported to a place where time doesn't exist. I see my scars every day, and they are jagged reminders of the 'TBI survivor' the doctors saw, proof I was hurt in this dimension. But those other memories, the ones that don't fit into a medical file, are just as real. I am caught in a mystery where I am simultaneously a patient and a traveler, and I’m still trying to make sense of a story that has two different timelines. Currently, I'm fine thanks.

At any time in your life, has anything ever reproduced any part of the experience? Yes
Sure! I'm reminded of this experience constantly. I don't know if it reproduces it, but I am definitely reminded of it.

Did the questions asked and information that you provided accurately and comprehensively describe your experience? No
No, I don’t think any set of questions could ever comprehensively capture the full scope of what happened. This NDE is ancient; it happened many moons ago while I was still in my youth, so the strict credibility of every tiny detail might not be all there after so much time. However, I think this provides a solid description of the core of it. Over the years, I have forgotten certain things, but it’s comforting to know there are people and organizations that truly care about others who have been through this. It feels like a safe place to finally come and just be myself, without the weight of the labels or the medical files. While the words here might not cover every inch of that other dimension, it’s a relief to share it in a space where the strange and unusual is understood.