Near Death Experiences

Mike:  I hate to disappoint those that have the stereotype that you see lights, rainbows and all of that. There weren’t any bright lights, tunnels of light or any types of light at all, either on the way to where I went or on the return path. I was just there and back again.

In my mind, I can recall with such detail what it was like to all of my senses. I’m not much of an author but I will do my best to convey what it was like.

I found myself in a desert type area. It appeared to have been an old drive-in theater. The blacktop was barely visible due to the sand that had been blown over the road by the warm winds. Other than the theater, which had the majority of my focus, there wasn’t much to see. There were a few small house-like buildings to one side of it. Everywhere else that I looked, it was just desert as far as I could see. There were hills off to one side in the distance.

My initial guess was that I was on an old reservation. Everyone that I saw was Native-American in appearance. The economic condition of the area appeared to have been poverty. I’m not saying that as a stereotype but as an observation of that single experience.

There was a little boy playing in the shade near one of the fences that extended from what appeared to be the screen for the drive-in. The fences extending from each side of the screen was a large chain strung between three-foot high poles. At the base of the screen was a small shop that resembled a fireworks outlet.

The most remarkable thing about this experience is that not only did I have my normal senses but also I had what seemed to be other senses or just my normal senses enhanced many times over. I could see as though I were looking at something normally, like looking that my monitor as I type this out but also an overhead view of myself and everything around me at the same time. It was like having a picture-in-picture view of everything. It was wonderful.

Shortly after arriving wherever I was, a group of bikers came rolling through as though from a movie. I followed them through the small town to the other side of the lot to a barn. There was a river that ran through near the barn that allowed for trees to grow near its banks and provided water for grass and other vegetation to grow near the barn.

As the day went on and night began to fall, festivities went on in field in front of the barn. There was a large bonfire in the center of the field where a pig was roasted. Music, laughter and fireworks filled the air. Some of the people sat in folding chairs around the fire and others were dancing to the music. All were enjoying themselves, myself included.

As night fell and the stars became visible, the party started to wind down. Some of the people moved into the barn. A short while later, the entire party was moved indoors. The barn had a loft to each side and open windows. There was lighting up on the lofted areas that somewhat lit the ground level.

I won’t go into detail as to what then transpired inside the barn, it wasn’t pleasant. I will say that I had to make a decision in there. I believe that the decision that I had to make was whether to continue on or return. I chose to return.  

(To read Mike's entire story, click here.)   

Meg:  My hospital room was not a room per se, but rather, one of four beds around a set of pillars in the lobby of Swedish Medical Center, open for everyone to see.  Each bed had a male nurse at constant attendance at the bedside.  Each nurse was sitting at a computer, busy taking notes, vital signs, etc.  A beautiful woman with long dark hair showed up to my room.  I remember her telling me she was the chaplain.  She held my hand and said a beautiful prayer, the most wonderful prayer I had ever heard in my life.  She made me feel so loved and so warm.  The words she prayed moved me like no words had moved me before.  It was as though she was an angel.  She asked me to follow her to the chapel, and I did.  I floated through the hallways of Swedish, but they weren't really like hallways--they were more like dark tunnels.  Sort of like a labyrinth.  When I got there the doors were shut.  I waited and waited.  She never showed up.  I waited and waited, but I wasn't scared.  My next memory was that I was back in bed.  After doing some research, I do believe this dream represented a near-death experience.  (When I went into cardiac arrest, a code was called and CPR was performed on me for 45 minutes with no success.  A chaplain was called to pray with my husband, Tom.  Two minutes after this chaplain said the most beautiful prayer Tom had ever heard in his life, my heartbeat came back.  Weeks later, during one of my conscious moments, I wrote down my dream and described this woman to Tom.  He told me that I was describing Christine, the chaplain who said the prayer the night of my cardiac arrest.)