34 People Cross To The Other Side And Come Back With Stories That Will Stay With You

I remember realizing I was going to die, using my last moment to do what I could and to apologize to my little brother for him being there, total blackness, and then I was sucked back in with the brightest light and put back into my body where I was met with the most extreme pain but knowingness that I was alive. My life was forced back inside of me and I have never taken it for granted. I was 12 years old in a multiple casualty car accident.

After a major surgery, in the hospital, I bled out, was found not breathing, was Coded and pronounced dead, then was resuscitated. I only recall one part of this at all and later I learned that it happened when they were working on me just before they lost me and coded me; and I woke up and heard some one (a man) say “… [something I didn’t understand…] … Chest line!” Kind of like a command but not totally, and then someone else said something (female voice) something I didn’t understand, and then I said COLD COLD COLd because I was freezing cold, and I felt and saw them put a warm blanket on me, and the very next thing it was all fading away to very quiet and dark, and then SUPER SILENT and completely beautifully velvety black and infinite in space and time, and everything was profoundly peaceful and good, everything—-and I do mean the whole universe and all—-was GOOD and Ok. A-OK. Perfect. Peaceful. And that’s all I recall until waking up in the ICU (almost 20 hours later I found out afterward) where things were not good or peaceful at all for the next ten days.

We definitely don’t need to fear d***h. It’s quite wonderful and good, peaceful, soft, and good on the other side. I’m so glad I got to experience it ahead of time.

When I was nine, I was strangled and had to be resuscitated. My experience being resuscitated is still etched in my memory. It felt like a dream, where I was being dunked under water and coming up for air over and over.

Had stage 4 lymphoma that totally shut down my bone marrow. I had gone to a few doctors that treated various symptoms but that was all they did. By the time it should have been obvious to me that something was really wrong, I was very hypoxic and not thinking clearly. The day I finally went into the hospital, my body and brain were actively shutting down.

For most of that morning I was seeing people that were not there, and having conversations with them. I also saw and smelled sweet smelling smoke in every room.

At one moment during this, I slipped away and nearly died. I saw light but not the classic “light at the end of the tunnel”. It was more like my consciousness faded completely out and everything became dark. Then suddenly the darkness inverted. It was like an infinite sea of particles which all went from dark to light. A sea of infinitesimal lights. This was accompanied by a sensation I can’t fully describe, but the way I’ve always tried to explain it was that it felt like the universe and I traded places. I became the entire universe and the rest of the universe became what had been me. I know, doesn’t make sense, but that was my experience. Then it swapped again and I woke up.

I was driven off a cliff on an ATV by my neighbor when I was 15. He walked away, I definitely didn’t. During my NDE, it was the classic black rippling tunnel (kinda looked like staring through a culvert pipe under a road). The end was a white light with some vague shadowy shapes, but I had a choice. Walk towards the light and that was death, or turn around and walk back out to whatever consequences awaited me. I walked out and woke up to the EMT cutting my clothes off and loading me on the stretcher into the Flight For Life helicopter. Let’s just say the injuries were severe and it took over a decade to get my life back. I’m left with chronic pain, but I’m not dead, so there’s that!

It was complete darkness and silence. I felt at peace finally. Then, the CPR brought me back.

There’s a disconnect that I can only describe as “knowing you woke up but not knowing you fell asleep.” You’re only aware it happened because your brain actually woke back up.

My SIL had thyroid cancer. She legally died on the operating table. She tells us that she saw her late grandparents standing next to her. The hospital was able to revive her.

Several years later, she’s cancer free, and tells us she has a whole new perspective on life.

Absolute nothing. Not like sleep, but complete non existence of time or space. I was young when it happened, but that was one of the most memorable things about it - zero awareness. When I went out it was just like the lights flipped off. When I came back it was kind of like turning an old tv back on that took a second or two to kick in sight/sound etc. There was some peace in the absolute nothing I must say, though I didn't feel it during the time, only afterwards.

I think most people who describe these experiences can attribute it to medicated semi-conscious memories prior to or while technically dead/dying and/or coming back, although there's no way to really prove that either way. That's what the evidence suggests though.

Not me, but my father. January of 2020 he had hip surgery. Successful surgery, all was well. Then all of a sudden he started experiencing symptoms of pneumonia but it wasn't pneumonia. The doctors treated it and couldn't figure out why he kept declining. It was COVID. My father coded multiple times and said he met someone who guided him around the world. He saw all the different countries and people in them. It was like a sidewalk that took him around the world. Absolutely beautiful and he felt incredible peace like he'd never felt before, and beauty and understanding of it all. Then, he was back in our world. The doctors didn't think they'd get him back. My dad said he felt such peace and happiness. We lost my BIL two years prior to this to a drunk driver, and we have all had such a difficult time with it. My dad said that after his experience he knew he was okay. He knew he had no pain. It didn't bring understanding of why we lost such an amazing person in a world full of darkness, but it brought some understanding that he has peace after death. My dad and our family needed that. We're so lucky to have my dad back. I'm thinking of you all. Thank you for such a meaningful question, and to everyone who has shared such powerful experiences.

An expat in SE Asia told me his experience. He claimed he flat lined for a few minutes. When people asked him what the experience was like, he said, "I have good news. There is no hell. I also have bad news, there is no heaven." He said he didn't have any memory of images or any sensation of time passing, just that he passed out and then revived. Perhaps he really wasn't dead, who knows. I believe he was either agnostic or atheist himself. It's been a long time since I had this conversation, also, and most likely he's passed on...and found out for himself if there is an afterlife.

Flatlined twice from internal bleeding, and then spent a week basically in a coma.

Pitch black everywhere, and I was just kind of floating there. There was a black guy in a tuxedo, and a white lady in a white dress. He was playing the cello, she was playing violin.

I couldnt interact with them at all, and they played Pachabel's Canon in D the entire time until I woke up

I wouldnt recommend it, but it wasnt the worst experience tbh.

I have no way of knowing if I was actually gone or if I was just unconscious because no one else was there. I once had an esophageal spasm that hurt so bad that I passed out and hit my head hard on the floor. While I was unconscious, I just remember being surrounded by a ton of faces I recognized, places I had fond memories of, and quotes from friends and family throughout my life. I felt very relaxed, it was peaceful. It reminded me of the intro to Loki S1E6 a bit. The visuals faded and the voices grew incredibly loud and then vanished, leaving me in a black void. In the distance, a bright white light appeared and began rushing towards me. I remembered saying, “Oh F**K no,” and running away from it. Then I woke up in a cold sweat. No clue if I actually was gone or not, but definitely felt like I was heading out.

All tactile sensation was gone, I was in just brain stem consciousness. I was in another realm and the best I could describe it was like being caught in a wave and tumbling through, but having no sense of self or a body. Then I slowly was dragged back(kinda of like waking up if you've ever passed out) and woke up to paramedic waving smelling salts under my nose.

I did not die, but close. Brain was shutting down from smoke and oxygen deprivation.

A phosphorescent bison came to me. He spoke in pure emotions, essentially all is well. (He didn't use language, just feelings)Went from panic to calm acceptance just like that. Was a pivotal moment in my life

Weird thing was I wasn't a fan of bison before this (I didn't dislike them, but my favourite animals were moose and muskox. So why my brain chose a bison, I don't know).

A little over 40 years ago a horse I was riding went over backwards, and when I landed it severed my hepatic vein. At the hospital I remember going in to emergency surgery - I was talking to the medical team, and heard one say “I can’t believe she’s still conscious!” Then I was having a lovely nap, and heard a nice voice asking if I wanted to die. Very non-judgmental, just pleasant. I thought about it and said “oh no, I’m only 28, and my dad would be so disappointed in me if I died just from falling off a horse!” (For the record, I had awesome parents who would have been way more than “disappointed,” they would have been gutted.) Anyway, that lovely voice said, “Well, then, you need to start fighting.” After I woke in ICU I learned my heart had stopped on the operating table, and it took 32 units of blood to save me. Had an awesome surgeon who had served in Vietnam during the war and was no stranger to trauma. He called me his brown pants case. Technically I didn’t die, but it was too close.

I remember talking to my momma and telling her I couldn't find the way out. She told me to find a way to come back. Then I woke up and it was 3 days later and I was in the icu unit.

My personal experience was “seeing” the darkest black than anything I’ve ever seen before then suddenly I was in a very bright room with people milling about. It was intense peace and joy than anything I could imagine.

In the center of the room was Jesus Christ and He told me it wasn’t my time. I asked Him to let me stay but He again told me I couldn’t stay. I then immediately woke up in my bed, gasping for breath.

I truly believe it's like anesthesia. There's just nothing. It's terrifying. I don't want to die and have debilitating anxiety over it. Or like when you sleep and it's dreamless. Just nothing and time goes by and then you wake up. Only when you die, you don't wake up.

I was floating in a black space, no gravity, no floor, but I felt at peace. I look to my left and my whole life flashed in front of me in about 3 seconds. Memories that I completely did not even remember.

Then I saw a white dot, the white light got bigger and bigger, and I knew I was going to heaven, then I heard a voice in my left ear say " it's not your time".

Boom I wake up after not breathing for a few minutes.