Ever have a near-death experience?

[NNN0LHI]

I was about 5 years old when I nearly drowned in the Kankakee river. I can remember that day just like it was yesterday. My family and some friends of the family all went and rented a small cabin on the river.

It was hot that day. All us kids were all crammed into the back seat of my fathers old big blue Dodge to go into town to get some food at the grocery store. Us kids were betting each other which one would make it back to the beach to cool off first.

I won that bet. But instead of jumping into the water where it was shallow I jumped into the deeper part for the boats. When my dad found me he said he just seen my hair floating just beneath the water. And that is what he grabbed and pulled my out by.

I don't remember being afraid or struggling. It was a dream like state. And I remember watching my past life passing by as though I was watching an old black and white newsreel.

Ended up buying this house which is located only a few miles from the same river. I go there fishing all the time. Big violent river too. But it doesn't scare me. I have always liked being around water.

Don

[rbnyc]

1. Today is the 8th anniversary of my near-death experience.

What a story! I'm glad you are not afraid of water.

[kayakjohnny]

2. "Past life passing by"?

That is the most intriguing part of your post. Did you mean to say that?

Glad you made it through that episode. And it's so cool that you still like being around water.

No close calls for me to add here.

Maybe two or three ocean rescues where I felt so exhausted that I thought I may die along with the people I was saving.

But at the last minute we all caught a break and made it back to shore.

[NNN0LHI]

3. Yes I was watching the first 5 years of my life in reverse

I remember relating that to my parents soon as they revived me. Never forget that.

And no religious overtones either. I am an atheist.

Don

[kayakjohnny]

5. OK... Thanks.

I thought you meant past as in 'previous'.

Cheers.

[Callalily]

4. No near death experiences here . . .

but I do hope that if it ever happens (near or for real) that I too will experience a dream-like state.

Glad to hear that you still love the water!

[DevonRex]

6. Yes.

But I only tell it to people who need to hear it. It's the only time I am able to tell it, really.

[NNN0LHI]

7. I understand

For some reason or another this has never bothered me to talk about. But I can certainly understand others who may not want to.

Thanks for your input.

:hi:

Don

[DevonRex]

8. Yeah, different

circumstances completely. Otherwise I'd talk. :) I have seen a ghost before. How's that?

[NNN0LHI]

9. That is good enough for me

I don't believe in pushing this kind of thing.

Even though I don't mind talking about my experience I sure wouldn't appreciate someone bugging me about if I didn't want to.

Take care and see you later.

Don

[Trailrider1951]

10. I, too, have had an out-of-the-body experience after an accident when I was 5

I was never near death, but I was severely injured with a fractured pelvis, several broken ribs and a concussion. I was hit by a car when I ran out between 2 parked cars to get home. I saw the car coming, but a little voice in my head said, "You can make it." It lied. Next thing I know, I am floating above the scene watching what went on. I remember no pain, no grief, no anger, just a detached interest in what would happen next. I saw myself crumpled on the side of the road, and my Mom come screaming out of the house. There were neighbors there as well, trying to keep her from moving me. I saw a red ambulance pull up and two men got out and pulled a stretcher out of the back. They bent down and checked me, and started to load me onto the stretcher. Then, WHAM!!!, I was back inside my head looking up into the face of the paramedic. They took me to a nearby hospital for my injuries. Later, I tried to talk to my Mom about what I saw, and she just freaked out. I was unconscious, how could I see what was going on? How did I see all the details of what happened? All I know is, the experience was REAL. It was no dream. I now know beyond a shadow of a doubt that we exist outside our bodies. And, no, I didn't see God, and I didn't see Jesus. I just saw what happened.

[whistler162]

11. Does going into GD or GD:P count?

[MrScorpio]

12. Mostly with cars

More than one.

Strange enough, all the cars were undamaged in the incidents.

But one slip to the left or the right and I wouldn't be here today.

[Danmel]

13. No, but I had an out of body experience

When I was 14. I was babysitting for my next door neighbors kids. The younger one was 2. I went into his room just to see if he had fallen asleep and he was choking!!!!
He had swallowed a hard candy. I just calmly took him out of his crib, turned him around, whacked him between the shoulder blades and out came a tootsie pop drop!!
I have no idea where he found it. I put him in his crib with out it- I have no idea how I knew what to do- this was pre- heimlich maneuver.
I watched myself do it. I didn't freak out till afterward when he was crying and I was crying and his 4 year old brother was asking why we were crying.

[kimi]

14. I almost died several times awhile back

when I got sick in Japan, no one knew what was going on. It turned out to be a rare auto-immune disorder, but it took numerous tests, lots of work-ups, biopsies, etc, to figure it all out. Luckily, I was comatose for most of it, but I have rare flashes of outlook into that time. Weird stuff. I have hazy recollections of seeing my kids, old friends, pets who've long been gone etc. The main thing that I remember was emotion - a feeling that I needed to get back to my kids, most of all, that drove me, maybe to come back. Later on, my (now ex) husband says that my doc called him several times from Hawaii to Japan (where we were stationed) to say that I probably wouldn't make it through the night. Kidney, liver, heart failure -- you name it, I had it.

But here I am. As near to death as you can be. I'm not scared of it so much, anymore. I just want my kids to be okay with it, that scares me more than anything.

[lunatica]

15. My mother had a near death experience many years ago

She was out of her body feeling like she was floating in the sky with clouds all around her and the feeling of such intense relief from the pain she had been in. She said she didn't want to return to her body. No Jesus or anything either. I've heard people say that you see what you believe in. Atheists and agnostics don't see Jesus because they aren't religious. It makes sense. At least as much sense as having out of body experiences or near death experiences.

[emilyg]

16. I don't remember being afraid or struggling. It was a dream like state. And I remember watching my p

That's what I remember - almost drowned at Coney Island.

[kentauros]

17. No, but I love reading all these personal accounts

:hi:

I've had plenty of OBEs, but no NDEs.
I like reading this site from time to time, too: http://near-death.com

[Sugarcoated]

21. I love reading about them also

NDEs, OBEs, I'm fascinated with every detail.

[kentauros]

24. Have you ever read the books of Robert Monroe or Bob Peterson?

Both had some wild experiences in OBE, though Monroe took it many steps further and began to study them. Eventually, he set up an institute for that purpose. I need to reread the books, because I remember his third book read more like a spiritual fantasy, yet he went through it all :D

[Sugarcoated]

26. I've read books by both authors

except the third one by Monroe. I don't remember a book about a spiritual journey, I'll have to look that one up. Thanks!

[kentauros]

27. Well, I consider his "excursions" pretty spiritual

at least for how far he goes in them. You'll see for yourself and make your own conclusions. It's all pretty wild stuff anyway :)

[Forkboy]

18. Yes. I've called it life.

:)

[Tikki]

19. Yes......

Tikki

[RSillsbee]

20. Got shot once

I remember laying on the ground wondering why it didn't hurt and if that meant I was dying.

That's about as close as I got

[kwassa]

22. let's see .... there was the heart attacks ....

the near-drowning experience as a child similar to yours ...

and then ...

last year's secondary adrenal insufficiency, all my body systems going haywire, from, of all things, overuse of a steroid cream for psoriasis.

I was riding to the hospital in an ambulance with disbelieving EMTs, who wouldn't even put on the siren until they discovered at the last minute that my blood pressure was 50 over 25. I could feel my body shutting down.

I was watching a beautiful sunrise through the rather large windows on the back of this ambulance. I felt at peace. The sunrise was wonderful. I thought, if this is dying, it isn't so bad.

I didn't relive earlier life experiences, though.

[pscot]

23. Yes. About 3 years ago

I learned some things about myself. It changed me.

[Kaleva]

25. Everytime I'm in GD

So often I've read something that gets me worked up to the point where I compose a reply that may or may not get me tombstoned. But then I calm down and either delete what I wrote or rewrite it.

[cherokeeprogressive]

28. I was hitch-hiking in 1980 and almost got into William Bonin's (aka The Freeway Strangler) van.

in La Mirada, CA.

He confessed to 21 murders and was executed in 1996.

[Pool Hall Ace]

31. Yowza!! So what made you decide not to get in?

This entire thread is fascinating, but I'm really intrigued by your experience!

[JTG of the PRB]

29. My only sort-of near-death experience involves a volcano.

And I call it a "sort-of" near-death experience because I don't think my life was truly in danger but it sure scared the hell out of me.

Six years ago, a bunch of my friends graduated from college. I still had a year left, but we all decided to take a big group trip to Hawaii to celebrate. We spent a total of a week and a half traveling among three of the islands, and a few of those days we spent on the big island, in and around Hilo. Of course, from Hilo we were only a very short trip down to Volcanoes National Park, so we decided to spend an entire day in the park.

We toured around the upper craters and saw steam vents (there may in fact exist a picture of me standing on the wrong side of a fence next to a steam vent, but who can tell for sure?), hiked a bit through the rain forest to see some long-dormant lava tubes, and made offerings to Pele. Then, we decided to travel down near the shore where the lava was still actively flowing from Kilauea into the Pacific Ocean. Truly a spectacular sight, but we had to hike across close to three miles of lava rock to get to the spot where lava was flowing.

So we parked the rented minivan and set off across the uneven, jagged landscape. It was a difficult hike even for those of us used to hiking the mountains in Colorado, and when we arrived at the right spot we had to cover out mouths and noses with our shirts because of all the vog. We saw the glow of lava and the bursts of steam from the water and knew we were close.

Now, one thing you notice walking across the lava rock is that sometimes the ground beneath your feet sounds hollow. This is because of the various inactive (or mostly inactive) lava tubes that cover the area. I made a note of it because I thought it was cool, then we all went over to look at a little skylight glowing a dull red nearby.

We sound found a spot on the rocks, settled in with some food and water, and waited as the darkness grew around us. The sight of the molten lava flowing into the ocean was spectacular, and it's something I'll never forget as long as I live. Simply beautiful.

When we decided it was time to go, we got up and made our way back along the dark lava rock. That little skylight we had seen before was now the subject of great interest, as a thin trickle of lava was slowly flowing out of it. Some of my braver/foolhardier friends decided to get close enough to take some impressive pictures, and it was almost a complete disaster. As people were snapping pictures, we suddenly heard this odd *blorp* sound (seriously, it sounded like that) and all of a sudden a very large surge of white-hot lava surged out of the skylight and turned the trickle into a river. One of my friends barely got away with his life.

The sight was terrifying and impressive, so after I had sprinted about ten yards across the dark lava rock I turned and snapped a couple of pictures before deciding it was time to get the hell out of there. I met up with a couple more friends and began sprinting back in the direction of where we had parked nearly 3 miles away. As we ran, I noticed that the air around us has started to get hot. Very hot.

When I looked down for a moment as we ran, I saw something that sent my adrenaline rocketing up to an entirely different level. The cracks in the ground beneath my feet were glowing red.

A lava tube had reactivated quite intensely during the time we had been sitting and relaxing. Looking back up, I continued sprinting in the darkness, and to this day I'm still not sure how I didn't fall and hurt myself on those uneven, jagged rocks. Finally, when we couldn't run any more, we collapsed and gasped for breath while we waited for the rest of our friends. When someone with a flashlight came by, we took a look at out shoes.

The soles had partially melted.

Then, of course, we still had the hike back to the car in the darkness with only one of the two large flashlights we had brought (the other having been consumed by the lava). Possibly the most grueling hike in my life, but one of the most exciting and interesting and terrifying ones as well. By the time we got back to the hotel room, we all collapsed and went to bed immediately. Instead of hitting the beach the next day, a couple of us decided to relax and watch a MythBusters marathon instead.

So, yeah. Not exactly a near-death experience, but it sure scared the hell out of me! :) And, of course, I had lava nightmares frequently for the next month.

[Sugarcoated]

30. That's a wild story JTG

I would never have the nerve to go near a volcano, but what an experience!