1 00:00:02,000 --> 00:00:07,000 Downloaded from YTS.MX 2 00:00:04,130 --> 00:00:07,133 [musical swirl] 3 00:00:08,000 --> 00:00:13,000 Official YIFY movies site: YTS.MX 4 00:00:11,095 --> 00:00:11,762 [water drop] 5 00:00:11,887 --> 00:00:14,098 [crackle] 6 00:00:14,223 --> 00:00:15,641 [rockslide] 7 00:00:15,766 --> 00:00:18,811 [musical tone] 8 00:00:35,119 --> 00:00:36,787 [music] 9 00:00:46,297 --> 00:00:49,300 [music continues] 10 00:01:16,702 --> 00:01:18,412 [doors opening] 11 00:01:20,414 --> 00:01:23,417 Mr. Black: It was July 18th, 1969. 12 00:01:25,419 --> 00:01:28,422 It was early in the morning, about 5:30 a.m. 13 00:01:29,507 --> 00:01:31,175 It was a beautiful day to fly. 14 00:01:31,300 --> 00:01:32,927 {\an8}No wind to speak of. 15 00:01:33,052 --> 00:01:34,595 {\an8}So how could it be better? 16 00:01:36,472 --> 00:01:38,474 We start up the engines. 17 00:01:38,599 --> 00:01:40,392 We were full of fuel. 18 00:01:40,518 --> 00:01:41,185 Everything was fine. 19 00:01:41,310 --> 00:01:43,354 And we started taxiing. 20 00:01:43,562 --> 00:01:45,523 [Engine rumbling] 21 00:01:47,191 --> 00:01:48,275 And then sure enough, 22 00:01:48,400 --> 00:01:50,027 the aircraft started to climb. 23 00:01:50,152 --> 00:01:53,113 Chuck brought the landing gear up. 24 00:01:54,198 --> 00:01:55,866 We were accelerating and climbing 25 00:01:55,991 --> 00:01:56,867 above the runway, 26 00:01:56,992 --> 00:01:59,161 and I think we were about 27 00:01:59,286 --> 00:02:02,456 100 feet above the ground when I started noticing 28 00:02:02,581 --> 00:02:03,624 that something was wrong. 29 00:02:03,874 --> 00:02:05,543 [intense music boom] 30 00:02:05,668 --> 00:02:07,628 You have one engine at higher rpm, 31 00:02:07,753 --> 00:02:09,004 another low rpm. 32 00:02:09,129 --> 00:02:12,049 Now that can happen with an engine failure. 33 00:02:12,216 --> 00:02:13,926 [intense music boom] 34 00:02:14,051 --> 00:02:16,136 And I mean, I grabbed the chairs 35 00:02:16,262 --> 00:02:18,889 and held on and looked out 36 00:02:19,014 --> 00:02:21,433 and I saw a bunch of green grass 37 00:02:21,559 --> 00:02:23,394 and it looked like a city park 38 00:02:23,519 --> 00:02:25,604 And I thought, well, worst case scenario, 39 00:02:25,729 --> 00:02:28,107 we've always been trained to just land in a park. 40 00:02:29,191 --> 00:02:32,194 But the next thing I noticed was 41 00:02:32,361 --> 00:02:35,322 towering trees were filling our windshield 42 00:02:35,447 --> 00:02:36,866 [trees hitting the plane] 43 00:02:36,991 --> 00:02:38,534 Chuck grabbed the flight controls, 44 00:02:38,659 --> 00:02:41,579 and he yanks them all the way left. 45 00:02:41,704 --> 00:02:42,913 As far as they'll go. 46 00:02:43,038 --> 00:02:44,999 And then he pulls them all the way back, 47 00:02:45,124 --> 00:02:46,792 against his chest. 48 00:02:46,917 --> 00:02:49,378 [intense music] 49 00:02:53,257 --> 00:02:54,508 [crash] 50 00:02:56,427 --> 00:02:58,679 [soft music start] 51 00:02:58,929 --> 00:03:01,932 I suddenly found myself 52 00:03:02,057 --> 00:03:05,060 above the crash site, 53 00:03:06,437 --> 00:03:07,897 but unaware 54 00:03:08,022 --> 00:03:11,025 of what I was looking at or why. 55 00:03:11,400 --> 00:03:12,776 I was not in any pain. 56 00:03:12,902 --> 00:03:15,112 I was not in any fear or discomfort. 57 00:03:15,237 --> 00:03:17,781 I was just above this crash site. 58 00:03:17,907 --> 00:03:19,909 [picture click] 59 00:03:22,995 --> 00:03:26,290 I could see an airplane and I could see a pilot. 60 00:03:26,415 --> 00:03:28,918 First of all, my eyes went right to one pilot. 61 00:03:29,043 --> 00:03:31,128 This was Gene. 62 00:03:31,253 --> 00:03:33,756 And then I went over and I saw another pilot 63 00:03:33,881 --> 00:03:35,633 right next to him five feet away. 64 00:03:35,758 --> 00:03:38,719 And I recognized this as Chuck. 65 00:03:41,347 --> 00:03:43,849 And while I'm processing what I'm looking at, 66 00:03:43,974 --> 00:03:47,061 I see a third pilot also about five feet away. 67 00:03:48,437 --> 00:03:51,440 And this is me. 68 00:03:51,649 --> 00:03:54,234 [low rumbling] 69 00:03:57,112 --> 00:03:59,323 [music] 70 00:04:05,955 --> 00:04:09,291 Mr. Burke: Imagine if what we're living here on this 71 00:04:09,416 --> 00:04:12,503 earth is really being lived on a flat, black 72 00:04:12,628 --> 00:04:14,505 and white painting on a wall, 73 00:04:14,630 --> 00:04:15,881 and death is separation. 74 00:04:16,006 --> 00:04:17,508 So when we die, our 75 00:04:17,633 --> 00:04:20,594 spirit separates from our physical body. 76 00:04:20,719 --> 00:04:22,054 [music and rumbling] 77 00:04:22,179 --> 00:04:23,514 You die and you're ripped off 78 00:04:23,639 --> 00:04:25,265 that flat, black and white 79 00:04:25,391 --> 00:04:26,725 two-dimensional painting 80 00:04:26,850 --> 00:04:29,520 your brought out into a three-dimensional room 81 00:04:29,645 --> 00:04:31,689 of color all around you. 82 00:04:31,814 --> 00:04:33,440 [building music and rumbling] 83 00:04:33,565 --> 00:04:34,441 You're experiencing things 84 00:04:34,566 --> 00:04:35,609 you've never experienced before, 85 00:04:35,734 --> 00:04:37,152 even though you can see your world 86 00:04:37,277 --> 00:04:39,363 is contained within this world, 87 00:04:39,488 --> 00:04:40,823 [music] 88 00:04:40,948 --> 00:04:43,033 then imagine you're put back into 89 00:04:43,158 --> 00:04:44,868 that flat, black and white painting, 90 00:04:44,994 --> 00:04:46,495 and you have to describe 91 00:04:46,620 --> 00:04:49,331 three dimensions of color 92 00:04:49,456 --> 00:04:52,459 in two-dimensional black and white terms. 93 00:04:52,584 --> 00:04:53,627 How would you do it? 94 00:04:53,752 --> 00:04:56,588 [dramatic music] 95 00:05:08,392 --> 00:05:11,395 [music continues] 96 00:05:32,624 --> 00:05:33,959 Dr. Sabom: Medically, 97 00:05:34,084 --> 00:05:35,294 Scientifically, 98 00:05:35,544 --> 00:05:37,129 the point of death 99 00:05:37,880 --> 00:05:39,256 cannot be defined. 100 00:05:39,381 --> 00:05:44,511 {\an8}What we do know is there is a process of dying 101 00:05:45,512 --> 00:05:46,972 {\an8}during which I feel the 102 00:05:47,097 --> 00:05:50,017 {\an8}near-death experience occurs. 103 00:05:53,479 --> 00:05:56,106 75% of the people in that first study 104 00:05:56,231 --> 00:05:59,234 have had a documented cardiac arrest. 105 00:06:03,030 --> 00:06:04,364 Part of the experience is they 106 00:06:04,490 --> 00:06:06,116 said they floated up out of their body 107 00:06:06,241 --> 00:06:07,951 and they can see what was going on 108 00:06:08,077 --> 00:06:10,037 during the resuscitation. 109 00:06:10,496 --> 00:06:13,499 I felt that myself, as a cardiologist 110 00:06:13,624 --> 00:06:16,627 could pick that apart. 111 00:07:25,445 --> 00:07:27,656 [button click, reel stops] 112 00:07:29,116 --> 00:07:31,160 Mr. Burke: This is clinical death as we know it, 113 00:07:31,285 --> 00:07:33,245 sometimes for a few minutes, 114 00:07:33,370 --> 00:07:35,873 sometimes 30 minutes, sometimes hours. 115 00:07:35,998 --> 00:07:39,001 {\an8}And yet modern medicine or the miraculous, 116 00:07:39,168 --> 00:07:40,002 {\an8}I don't know, 117 00:07:40,127 --> 00:07:41,628 {\an8}resuscitated them 118 00:07:41,753 --> 00:07:43,297 {\an8}and they were able to come back 119 00:07:43,422 --> 00:07:44,798 {\an8}and talk about it. 120 00:07:44,923 --> 00:07:46,717 You may think you've died. 121 00:07:46,842 --> 00:07:48,552 {\an8}Dr. Sabom: All definitions, medically, 122 00:07:48,677 --> 00:07:50,512 {\an8}scientifically, and legally 123 00:07:50,679 --> 00:07:53,390 {\an8}state that once you go across that red line, 124 00:07:53,515 --> 00:07:55,058 {\an8}i.e. you die, 125 00:07:55,934 --> 00:07:57,477 you don't come back. 126 00:07:57,686 --> 00:08:00,689 And I like to say doctors resuscitate, 127 00:08:01,106 --> 00:08:03,233 not resurrect their patients. 128 00:08:03,358 --> 00:08:04,318 [low music] 129 00:08:04,526 --> 00:08:06,153 Mr. Burke: I was actually an agnostic. 130 00:08:06,278 --> 00:08:08,238 I didn't know if I believed there was a God. 131 00:08:08,363 --> 00:08:10,073 I thought, I don't know if I believe 132 00:08:10,199 --> 00:08:11,200 there's a heaven or not, 133 00:08:11,325 --> 00:08:13,410 but my dad was dying of cancer 134 00:08:13,535 --> 00:08:16,872 and someone gave him the very first research 135 00:08:16,997 --> 00:08:20,000 on what's now called near-death experiences. 136 00:08:20,250 --> 00:08:21,710 And I saw it on his nightstand, 137 00:08:21,835 --> 00:08:24,296 picked it up and read it in one night. 138 00:08:24,421 --> 00:08:26,131 And that just got me curious. 139 00:08:26,256 --> 00:08:29,218 So I kind of opened my my eyes, my mind, 140 00:08:29,676 --> 00:08:31,220 and I started to explore from there. 141 00:08:31,345 --> 00:08:33,555 [pages turning] 142 00:08:34,056 --> 00:08:35,474 I found it fascinating, 143 00:08:35,599 --> 00:08:37,768 kind of, the train of how this 144 00:08:37,893 --> 00:08:39,811 whole near-death experience phenomenon 145 00:08:39,937 --> 00:08:42,898 started to get traction in America. 146 00:08:43,232 --> 00:08:47,069 Dr. George Ritchie was the first one 147 00:08:47,194 --> 00:08:49,905 to really talk publicly about this. 148 00:08:50,030 --> 00:08:52,366 He was actually at Camp Barkeley 149 00:08:52,491 --> 00:08:55,494 getting ready to go fight in World War II. 150 00:08:55,661 --> 00:08:58,372 Joan Rivers: What happened during those 9 minutes? 151 00:08:58,497 --> 00:08:59,748 What did you see? What happened? 152 00:08:59,873 --> 00:09:01,250 Dr. Ritchie: I met the Christ 153 00:09:01,375 --> 00:09:03,126 because I was told to stand up, you are 154 00:09:03,252 --> 00:09:04,878 in the presence of the Son of God. 155 00:09:05,003 --> 00:09:07,089 He came into my room 156 00:09:07,214 --> 00:09:09,633 and he conducted me through four different 157 00:09:09,758 --> 00:09:11,593 realms of life after death. 158 00:09:11,718 --> 00:09:13,762 Life really is forever. We don't die. 159 00:09:13,887 --> 00:09:16,014 Death is nothing more than just a gateway 160 00:09:16,139 --> 00:09:16,890 through which we go. 161 00:09:17,015 --> 00:09:20,477 Mr. Burke: Dr. Moody actually heard him lecture 162 00:09:20,602 --> 00:09:22,187 at the University of Virginia, 163 00:09:22,312 --> 00:09:24,606 where he was a visiting professor 164 00:09:24,731 --> 00:09:25,899 and heard him talk about 165 00:09:26,024 --> 00:09:27,067 this near-death experience. 166 00:09:27,192 --> 00:09:28,568 Dr. Moody: In 1969, 167 00:09:28,694 --> 00:09:30,404 I became a professor of philosophy 168 00:09:30,529 --> 00:09:32,322 at East Carolina University 169 00:09:32,447 --> 00:09:34,616 {\an8}and in teaching courses on Plato. 170 00:09:34,741 --> 00:09:36,159 {\an8}I began to hear these 171 00:09:36,285 --> 00:09:38,537 {\an8}experiences from my students 172 00:09:38,662 --> 00:09:41,248 {\an8}and also from other faculty members. 173 00:09:41,373 --> 00:09:42,457 Dr. Sabom: I was brought into this 174 00:09:42,582 --> 00:09:44,251 field kicking and screaming. 175 00:09:44,376 --> 00:09:46,753 {\an8}I was at the University of Florida in Gainesville 176 00:09:46,878 --> 00:09:48,505 {\an8}with Sarah Kreissinger 177 00:09:48,630 --> 00:09:50,424 {\an8}who was a psychiatric, social worker 178 00:09:50,549 --> 00:09:52,718 {\an8}at the hospital I was working at. 179 00:09:52,843 --> 00:09:54,219 And she had picked up 180 00:09:54,344 --> 00:09:56,763 Raymond Moody's book Life After Life, 181 00:09:56,888 --> 00:09:58,181 about two months 182 00:09:58,307 --> 00:10:00,600 after it was initially published. 183 00:10:00,726 --> 00:10:02,811 She read it. She gave it to me. 184 00:10:02,936 --> 00:10:04,563 She asked me what I thought. 185 00:10:04,688 --> 00:10:05,981 Anchor: This is Dr. Raymond Moody, 186 00:10:06,106 --> 00:10:08,734 noted psychiatrist, lecturer, and researcher. 187 00:10:08,859 --> 00:10:10,569 He is perhaps best known as the author 188 00:10:10,694 --> 00:10:12,112 of the groundbreaking examination 189 00:10:12,237 --> 00:10:13,572 of the near-death experience. 190 00:10:13,697 --> 00:10:16,408 The bestselling book, Life After Life. 191 00:10:16,533 --> 00:10:18,994 It has sold upwards of 15 million copies, 192 00:10:19,119 --> 00:10:21,997 and has been printed in 14 different languages. 193 00:10:22,122 --> 00:10:23,373 Dr. Moody: They tell us, first of all, 194 00:10:23,498 --> 00:10:25,167 that they seem, from their point of view, 195 00:10:25,292 --> 00:10:27,336 to leave their physical bodies 196 00:10:27,461 --> 00:10:30,547 to float up above the scene of the resuscitation 197 00:10:30,672 --> 00:10:33,467 and to watch the events going on down below. 198 00:10:35,844 --> 00:10:37,304 They tell us that they go 199 00:10:37,429 --> 00:10:40,349 through a narrow passageway or a tunnel 200 00:10:41,224 --> 00:10:42,976 into an incredibly brilliant 201 00:10:43,101 --> 00:10:44,686 and warm and loving light 202 00:10:45,729 --> 00:10:46,813 Dr. Sabom: Hogwash. 203 00:10:46,938 --> 00:10:49,483 I never heard these experiences before. 204 00:10:49,608 --> 00:10:50,776 I went into the hospital 205 00:10:50,901 --> 00:10:52,778 asking some of the older physicians, 206 00:10:52,903 --> 00:10:54,946 "Hey, you ever heard a patient say this?" 207 00:10:55,072 --> 00:10:55,906 "No." 208 00:10:56,031 --> 00:10:58,116 [music] 209 00:10:58,450 --> 00:11:00,494 So I was very skeptical 210 00:11:00,619 --> 00:11:02,829 that these things were even occurring. 211 00:11:02,954 --> 00:11:04,498 And if they were occurring, 212 00:11:04,623 --> 00:11:06,333 they were either hallucinations 213 00:11:06,458 --> 00:11:09,378 or delusions or whatever. 214 00:11:09,503 --> 00:11:11,505 [music continues] 215 00:11:11,671 --> 00:11:15,133 In cardiology, we're about scientific studies. 216 00:11:15,384 --> 00:11:16,885 So I asked a few people 217 00:11:17,010 --> 00:11:18,553 who had been resuscitated, 218 00:11:18,678 --> 00:11:19,513 and the third patient 219 00:11:19,638 --> 00:11:21,598 I talked to had an experience 220 00:11:21,723 --> 00:11:23,058 similar to what Moody talked 221 00:11:23,183 --> 00:11:25,394 about in his book, Life After Life. 222 00:11:25,519 --> 00:11:27,979 So, Sarah and I said, 223 00:11:28,105 --> 00:11:31,400 Well, maybe we ought to look into this further. 224 00:11:31,525 --> 00:11:32,609 [typewriter clicks] 225 00:11:32,734 --> 00:11:35,529 We devised a scientific protocol 226 00:11:35,654 --> 00:11:36,905 to interview these people. 227 00:11:37,030 --> 00:11:38,949 We tape recorded the interviews. 228 00:11:39,074 --> 00:11:40,784 We took down their background data, 229 00:11:40,909 --> 00:11:43,495 the demographics, etc.. And... 230 00:11:44,746 --> 00:11:46,998 this went on for five years. 231 00:11:47,124 --> 00:11:48,667 First of all, I'd get permission 232 00:11:48,792 --> 00:11:52,421 to tape record it and then say, 233 00:11:52,546 --> 00:11:53,755 okay, go... 234 00:12:58,236 --> 00:12:59,404 Dr. Sabom: These people say, 235 00:12:59,529 --> 00:13:01,490 "I've never told anybody about this, doc. 236 00:13:01,615 --> 00:13:02,866 And by the way, I'm the only one 237 00:13:02,991 --> 00:13:04,367 that's ever had this." 238 00:13:04,493 --> 00:13:07,120 So the near-death experience at that time, 239 00:13:07,245 --> 00:13:11,374 and that's about 45 years ago was not well known. 240 00:13:11,583 --> 00:13:14,419 And so these people were sort of 241 00:13:14,544 --> 00:13:16,338 coming up with it on their own, 242 00:13:16,463 --> 00:13:19,591 and they were suspicious of me asking the questions, 243 00:13:19,925 --> 00:13:20,759 which to me 244 00:13:20,884 --> 00:13:23,720 lent credibility to what they were telling me. 245 00:13:23,845 --> 00:13:25,514 Dr. Moody: Many of them said, for example, 246 00:13:25,639 --> 00:13:28,391 that they had tried to tell their doctor about it 247 00:13:28,517 --> 00:13:31,394 or a minister about it and that they were dismissed. 248 00:13:31,520 --> 00:13:33,605 And in those initial years, 249 00:13:33,730 --> 00:13:37,025 the people that I talked with were just very happy 250 00:13:37,150 --> 00:13:39,277 that at last somebody would listen to them. 251 00:13:42,239 --> 00:13:44,533 Mr. Storm: I started at Northern Kentucky University 252 00:13:44,658 --> 00:13:46,326 in 1972. 253 00:13:46,785 --> 00:13:49,162 {\an8}I was hired as an assistant professor and I was 254 00:13:50,121 --> 00:13:52,499 {\an8}offered a promotion to full professor 255 00:13:52,624 --> 00:13:55,752 at the age of 25, and I was also given tenure 256 00:13:55,752 --> 00:13:56,753 [music] 257 00:13:56,878 --> 00:13:59,297 my third year. 258 00:14:01,550 --> 00:14:03,134 Seven students, myself 259 00:14:03,260 --> 00:14:03,927 and my wife 260 00:14:04,052 --> 00:14:05,679 toured Amsterdam 261 00:14:05,804 --> 00:14:07,973 and then went up to Denmark. 262 00:14:08,098 --> 00:14:11,059 Spent a few days there, went to Sweden for a day. 263 00:14:11,476 --> 00:14:14,187 And last week, it was a three week trip, 264 00:14:14,312 --> 00:14:17,232 and our last week, was a week in Paris. 265 00:14:19,067 --> 00:14:23,613 It was an art tour, it was, pretty much all museums. 266 00:14:23,738 --> 00:14:26,199 [music continues] 267 00:14:26,324 --> 00:14:28,243 On that Saturday morning, 268 00:14:28,368 --> 00:14:29,911 June 1, 1985, 269 00:14:30,036 --> 00:14:31,121 and I had the most acute 270 00:14:31,246 --> 00:14:32,872 pain I'd ever experienced in my life 271 00:14:32,998 --> 00:14:36,001 in the center of my abdomen. Right there. 272 00:14:36,376 --> 00:14:39,045 [rumbling] 273 00:14:41,047 --> 00:14:42,424 It was terrifying because it 274 00:14:42,549 --> 00:14:43,800 it just came from nowhere. 275 00:14:43,925 --> 00:14:46,136 And I never experienced such acute pain. 276 00:14:46,261 --> 00:14:47,721 I mean, this was like 277 00:14:47,846 --> 00:14:49,347 the kind of pain that blows 278 00:14:49,472 --> 00:14:50,682 the top of your head off. 279 00:14:50,932 --> 00:14:52,934 [rumbling] 280 00:14:55,312 --> 00:14:56,688 A doctor came very quickly, 281 00:14:56,813 --> 00:14:57,939 got me up off the floor, 282 00:14:58,064 --> 00:14:59,858 with a great deal of difficulty because 283 00:14:59,983 --> 00:15:01,192 I couldn't move. 284 00:15:01,318 --> 00:15:02,569 He knew exactly what was wrong. 285 00:15:02,694 --> 00:15:04,738 and told me that I had a perforation 286 00:15:04,863 --> 00:15:05,947 of the duodenum. 287 00:15:06,072 --> 00:15:07,407 Which means I had a hole 288 00:15:07,532 --> 00:15:09,409 go through my small stomach. 289 00:15:10,076 --> 00:15:12,037 What was happening was the hydrochloric acid 290 00:15:12,162 --> 00:15:12,829 and the enzymes 291 00:15:12,954 --> 00:15:13,705 and the bacteria in everything 292 00:15:13,830 --> 00:15:15,123 are now migrating, leaking 293 00:15:15,248 --> 00:15:16,666 into my abdominal cavity. 294 00:15:16,791 --> 00:15:17,834 To put it in crude terms. 295 00:15:17,959 --> 00:15:21,379 I was digesting myself, on the inside. 296 00:15:21,588 --> 00:15:22,422 [liquid explosion] 297 00:15:22,547 --> 00:15:24,049 Without exaggeration, 298 00:15:24,174 --> 00:15:25,675 what it felt like was fire. 299 00:15:25,800 --> 00:15:26,551 [fire explosion] 300 00:15:26,676 --> 00:15:28,094 my wife riding alongside me 301 00:15:28,219 --> 00:15:29,012 in the back of the ambulance 302 00:15:29,137 --> 00:15:31,681 as we traveled 70, 80 miles an hour 303 00:15:31,806 --> 00:15:34,934 through the streets of Paris to the big 304 00:15:35,727 --> 00:15:36,770 city hospital 305 00:15:37,228 --> 00:15:38,855 [emergency sirens] 306 00:15:39,230 --> 00:15:40,649 they confirmed basically, 307 00:15:40,774 --> 00:15:42,484 if I didn't have the surgery in an hour, 308 00:15:42,609 --> 00:15:43,610 I would die. 309 00:15:43,735 --> 00:15:44,944 [squeaky wheel] 310 00:15:45,070 --> 00:15:47,697 So they sent me to the surgical hospital. 311 00:15:47,822 --> 00:15:49,199 And because it was the weekend, 312 00:15:49,324 --> 00:15:51,826 there was no doctor available. 313 00:15:51,951 --> 00:15:54,579 No surgeon available at the hospital 314 00:15:54,704 --> 00:15:57,624 they sent me to. So I was put in a room. 315 00:15:57,624 --> 00:15:59,334 [moaning and yelling] 316 00:15:59,668 --> 00:16:00,710 I begged, I screamed, 317 00:16:00,835 --> 00:16:03,797 I yelled, 318 00:16:03,922 --> 00:16:04,923 [intense music] 319 00:16:05,090 --> 00:16:05,924 and my wife begged 320 00:16:06,049 --> 00:16:07,342 and yelled and screamed, 321 00:16:07,467 --> 00:16:09,469 Beverly: Nurse, can someone please come in here? 322 00:16:09,678 --> 00:16:11,513 [intense music] 323 00:16:11,638 --> 00:16:12,263 Mr. Storm: Sorry. 324 00:16:12,389 --> 00:16:14,766 We need a doctor to prescribe something 325 00:16:14,891 --> 00:16:16,935 Beverly: Can you please talk to someone who can help us? 326 00:16:17,060 --> 00:16:18,061 There has to be somebody, 327 00:16:18,186 --> 00:16:20,230 how can there not be someone here? 328 00:16:20,480 --> 00:16:22,816 [intense music] 329 00:16:24,859 --> 00:16:27,737 Mr. Storm: There I was for 10 hours. 330 00:16:27,862 --> 00:16:29,489 About once an hour, the nurse would come in 331 00:16:29,614 --> 00:16:32,117 and ask how I was doing, and I would tell her in 332 00:16:32,242 --> 00:16:35,203 French and English that I was dying and 333 00:16:36,413 --> 00:16:39,416 shrug their shoulders and walk away. 334 00:16:40,417 --> 00:16:41,459 I wasn't in fear. 335 00:16:41,584 --> 00:16:42,836 I was in terror 336 00:16:42,961 --> 00:16:45,839 Because I was 38 years old, very successful 337 00:16:45,964 --> 00:16:47,590 in my career at the university, 338 00:16:47,716 --> 00:16:51,970 you know, wife and two kids, nice house, two cars. 339 00:16:52,429 --> 00:16:53,680 The thing that kept going through 340 00:16:53,805 --> 00:16:55,682 my mind is this can't be happening. 341 00:16:55,807 --> 00:16:57,934 This can't be happening. This can't be happening. 342 00:16:58,143 --> 00:17:00,353 [clock ticking] 343 00:17:00,478 --> 00:17:01,312 People ask me, 344 00:17:01,438 --> 00:17:02,647 How do you know you were dying? 345 00:17:02,772 --> 00:17:05,692 It's like the stupidest question in the world 346 00:17:06,776 --> 00:17:08,528 when you're dying, you know it 347 00:17:09,654 --> 00:17:11,364 with every breath. 348 00:17:11,489 --> 00:17:14,409 I felt like I had one more breath to go. 349 00:17:14,617 --> 00:17:17,620 [women crying and pleading] 350 00:17:17,912 --> 00:17:21,708 Nurse came into the room at 8:30 that night 351 00:17:21,833 --> 00:17:23,126 and said they were sorry, 352 00:17:23,251 --> 00:17:23,918 but they were 353 00:17:24,043 --> 00:17:26,671 unable to locate a doctor and they would try 354 00:17:26,796 --> 00:17:29,758 to find one the next day, which was Sunday. 355 00:17:30,508 --> 00:17:32,385 Well, when she said that, I was like, 356 00:17:32,510 --> 00:17:34,304 okay, it's over. Done. 357 00:17:34,429 --> 00:17:36,055 You know, I can't do this anymore. 358 00:17:36,181 --> 00:17:38,224 You know, I'm exhausted. 359 00:17:38,349 --> 00:17:39,309 And I looked at her [Beverly], 360 00:17:39,434 --> 00:17:42,353 and it was horrible to see her crying like that. 361 00:17:43,354 --> 00:17:47,025 And I closed my eyes and stopped trying to breathe. 362 00:17:47,150 --> 00:17:50,153 And I went unconscious. 363 00:17:50,278 --> 00:17:51,613 [flat-line tone] 364 00:17:52,489 --> 00:17:54,199 I was an atheist, and I knew that 365 00:17:54,324 --> 00:17:56,367 when you die, it's just over. 366 00:17:56,493 --> 00:18:00,371 It's like the big nothing, you know, void the end. 367 00:18:01,664 --> 00:18:03,124 [music building] 368 00:18:03,249 --> 00:18:03,875 Mr. Black: The official 369 00:18:04,000 --> 00:18:06,961 impact speed recorded by the National 370 00:18:07,086 --> 00:18:10,924 Transportation Safety Board was 135 miles an hour. 371 00:18:12,383 --> 00:18:15,386 We impacted right below the cockpit 372 00:18:15,804 --> 00:18:16,888 with that impact speed. 373 00:18:17,013 --> 00:18:20,225 It just exploded the cockpit into... 374 00:18:20,350 --> 00:18:22,977 {\an8}We just, everything was opened up. 375 00:18:23,102 --> 00:18:25,021 {\an8}We hit that dome and fell, 376 00:18:25,146 --> 00:18:28,066 boom, right down to the ground. 377 00:18:29,651 --> 00:18:31,736 {\an8}I'm told by the curator 378 00:18:31,861 --> 00:18:33,696 {\an8}of the mausoleum, that the mausoleum 379 00:18:33,822 --> 00:18:35,657 {\an8}was six stories, seven stories tall. 380 00:18:35,782 --> 00:18:37,242 {\an8}And we slammed 381 00:18:37,367 --> 00:18:39,494 {\an8}right into the top of it. 382 00:18:41,037 --> 00:18:42,330 I can remember today 383 00:18:42,455 --> 00:18:45,375 as well as I could five years ago, ten years ago. 384 00:18:46,084 --> 00:18:50,129 You realize that you are not 385 00:18:51,381 --> 00:18:53,132 a body. 386 00:18:53,258 --> 00:18:55,301 I believe it's 387 00:18:55,426 --> 00:18:58,388 what happens to everyone when they die. 388 00:19:00,014 --> 00:19:01,766 Mr. Storm: I awoke from unconsciousness 389 00:19:01,891 --> 00:19:03,184 standing there 390 00:19:03,309 --> 00:19:04,561 next to the bed, 391 00:19:04,686 --> 00:19:06,563 feeling better than I ever felt before in my life. 392 00:19:08,898 --> 00:19:12,026 My vision was greatly increased. 393 00:19:12,151 --> 00:19:13,653 {\an8}Instead of seeing 106 394 00:19:13,778 --> 00:19:17,198 {\an8}degrees, I could see almost 360 degrees. 395 00:19:18,074 --> 00:19:20,785 My depth of field was total. 396 00:19:20,910 --> 00:19:23,872 When I looked at something close, I, everything 397 00:19:23,997 --> 00:19:25,415 far was in focus. 398 00:19:25,540 --> 00:19:27,792 Being an artist and being a visual person, not much. 399 00:19:27,917 --> 00:19:30,879 The first thing I was like, Wow, I've never been able 400 00:19:31,004 --> 00:19:31,713 to see like this. 401 00:19:31,838 --> 00:19:33,131 Then I realized I could hear, 402 00:19:33,256 --> 00:19:35,049 smell, taste, touch, everything. 403 00:19:35,174 --> 00:19:36,217 I could feel 404 00:19:36,342 --> 00:19:39,262 all the little nuances in the cold linoleum floor. 405 00:19:40,388 --> 00:19:43,308 I could hear the buzzing of the fluorescent lights 406 00:19:43,433 --> 00:19:46,394 in the ceiling really loudly. 407 00:19:47,270 --> 00:19:50,440 All of my senses were greatly, greatly enhanced. 408 00:19:51,190 --> 00:19:53,401 Mr. Black: I'm looking down and I'm realizing 409 00:19:53,526 --> 00:19:56,446 there's my body, but I'm up here. 410 00:19:56,821 --> 00:20:00,617 I can't be dead because I've never felt more alive. 411 00:20:00,825 --> 00:20:02,702 [music and waves] 412 00:20:02,827 --> 00:20:05,496 I was not only alive, I was free. 413 00:20:05,622 --> 00:20:07,457 And I didn't understand this. 414 00:20:07,582 --> 00:20:09,208 But I realized then, okay, 415 00:20:10,793 --> 00:20:13,796 I am a spirit. 416 00:20:14,047 --> 00:20:17,050 I have a soul. 417 00:20:18,134 --> 00:20:18,927 And I used to live 418 00:20:19,052 --> 00:20:22,013 in that body. 419 00:20:23,473 --> 00:20:26,476 I was pressed up against the instrument panel 420 00:20:27,143 --> 00:20:30,146 and was motionless. 421 00:20:30,313 --> 00:20:32,815 It was 16 minutes before the fire department 422 00:20:32,941 --> 00:20:33,775 got there. 423 00:20:33,900 --> 00:20:36,903 The paramedics got there right after 424 00:20:37,070 --> 00:20:39,072 [emergency sirens] 425 00:20:39,530 --> 00:20:42,533 they put me and Chuck in the same ambulance. 426 00:20:43,076 --> 00:20:48,498 And I have tremendous strong memories 427 00:20:48,831 --> 00:20:53,711 that I'm watching my body and Chuck and I'm chasing 428 00:20:53,836 --> 00:20:56,839 that ambulance as it goes through the streets. 429 00:20:57,006 --> 00:21:00,259 I have no idea how to explain 430 00:21:00,385 --> 00:21:02,553 a lot of the things we're talking about. 431 00:21:02,679 --> 00:21:06,849 But chasing that ambulance without really any effort. 432 00:21:07,100 --> 00:21:07,976 How did I do that? 433 00:21:08,101 --> 00:21:11,020 I don't know. 434 00:21:11,229 --> 00:21:12,814 [music and sirens] 435 00:21:14,357 --> 00:21:15,608 I wasn't worried. 436 00:21:15,733 --> 00:21:16,943 I wasn't in pain. 437 00:21:17,068 --> 00:21:19,404 I wasn't concerned really. 438 00:21:19,529 --> 00:21:24,367 I was questioning, what is this all about 439 00:21:26,452 --> 00:21:28,496 {\an8}Dr. Long: Now, while no two near-death experiences 440 00:21:28,621 --> 00:21:29,414 {\an8}are the same, 441 00:21:29,539 --> 00:21:31,040 {\an8}they have a very consistent 442 00:21:31,165 --> 00:21:33,376 {\an8}pattern of elements or what occurs 443 00:21:33,501 --> 00:21:34,836 {\an8}during the near-death experience. 444 00:21:34,961 --> 00:21:37,797 That typically occur in a very consistent process. 445 00:21:38,006 --> 00:21:39,966 [backround conversation] [medical equipment beeping] 446 00:21:40,091 --> 00:21:40,967 The very first thing that 447 00:21:41,092 --> 00:21:44,012 happens is that close brush with death. 448 00:21:44,137 --> 00:21:45,138 They're unconscious. 449 00:21:45,263 --> 00:21:47,473 They may be clinically dead with absent heartbeat, 450 00:21:47,598 --> 00:21:48,683 absent breathing. 451 00:21:48,808 --> 00:21:50,268 At that time when they shouldn't 452 00:21:50,393 --> 00:21:52,770 have any experience at all, they do. 453 00:21:52,895 --> 00:21:54,772 Often the first thing that happens is 454 00:21:54,897 --> 00:21:57,817 what's called an out-of-body experience. 455 00:21:58,026 --> 00:21:59,485 {\an8}Mr. Burke: People leave their bodies. 456 00:21:59,610 --> 00:22:01,195 {\an8}They're, they're watching 457 00:22:01,320 --> 00:22:03,031 {\an8}the resuscitation many times, but they say 458 00:22:03,156 --> 00:22:05,241 {\an8}they still have a spiritual body. 459 00:22:05,366 --> 00:22:06,451 Dr. Long: From that vantage point, 460 00:22:06,576 --> 00:22:08,411 they can see ongoing earthly events 461 00:22:08,536 --> 00:22:09,912 and often later describe 462 00:22:10,038 --> 00:22:12,999 frantic efforts at their own resuscitation. 463 00:22:13,249 --> 00:22:15,251 [backround conversation] [medical equipment sounds] 464 00:22:16,335 --> 00:22:18,129 Mr. Burke: They move out of that place 465 00:22:18,254 --> 00:22:19,547 of their resuscitation, 466 00:22:19,672 --> 00:22:22,592 and they come to a place of exquisite beauty. 467 00:22:22,759 --> 00:22:25,428 - Dr. Sabom: - They very commonly see a light at times. 468 00:22:25,553 --> 00:22:28,514 They interpret that as a religious figure. 469 00:22:28,723 --> 00:22:32,810 Mr. Burke: And this light was light that is love and life. 470 00:22:33,102 --> 00:22:34,479 It was palpable 471 00:22:34,604 --> 00:22:35,438 and not hard to look at, 472 00:22:35,563 --> 00:22:37,023 but it came out of everything, 473 00:22:37,148 --> 00:22:39,400 and yet it made everything vibrant. 474 00:22:39,525 --> 00:22:41,527 The colors, they say, are far 475 00:22:41,652 --> 00:22:42,945 beyond our color spectrum. 476 00:22:44,322 --> 00:22:45,114 Dr. Long: Music has been 477 00:22:45,239 --> 00:22:47,116 described so beautiful 478 00:22:47,241 --> 00:22:49,243 that they say they've never heard anything like it. 479 00:22:49,368 --> 00:22:51,788 Nothing like that is possible on earth. 480 00:22:51,913 --> 00:22:54,165 Dr. Sabom: Deceased relatives or friends often 481 00:22:54,290 --> 00:22:56,375 come to meet them there. 482 00:22:56,501 --> 00:22:58,878 Mr. Burke: You know, they say we still have all our memories 483 00:22:59,003 --> 00:23:00,963 our humor, we're the same people. 484 00:23:01,089 --> 00:23:03,466 But we meet again on the other side. 485 00:23:03,591 --> 00:23:06,677 {\an8}Dr. Sabom: And some of them say, well, I reached a place where 486 00:23:06,844 --> 00:23:07,553 {\an8}I felt like 487 00:23:07,678 --> 00:23:10,640 {\an8}if I went any further, I wouldn't come back 488 00:23:11,390 --> 00:23:12,058 Dr. Long: At that time, 489 00:23:12,183 --> 00:23:13,726 they may then have a life review. 490 00:23:13,851 --> 00:23:16,771 They may see part or all of their prior life. 491 00:23:16,938 --> 00:23:17,814 [breathe sound] 492 00:23:17,939 --> 00:23:19,398 Dr. Sabom: The whole experience is 493 00:23:19,524 --> 00:23:22,485 very calm, it's very peaceful. 494 00:23:23,277 --> 00:23:26,280 Some people don't want to come back. 495 00:23:26,489 --> 00:23:28,407 [music and whooshing] 496 00:23:28,533 --> 00:23:29,534 Mr. Burke: And then many talk 497 00:23:29,659 --> 00:23:32,870 about a God of light and love 498 00:23:33,371 --> 00:23:35,873 that they experience in this presence. 499 00:23:35,998 --> 00:23:38,292 This light is brighter than the sun, 500 00:23:38,417 --> 00:23:41,212 but again, not just light like we would see 501 00:23:41,337 --> 00:23:42,130 here on earth. 502 00:23:43,047 --> 00:23:46,592 And they feel an unconditional love 503 00:23:46,717 --> 00:23:48,553 and peace and acceptance 504 00:23:48,678 --> 00:23:51,639 from this God like they've never experienced before. 505 00:23:51,764 --> 00:23:52,974 [violin music] 506 00:23:53,099 --> 00:23:55,601 - Dr. Long: - Ultimately, they either make the choice to return 507 00:23:55,726 --> 00:23:58,688 to the earthly body or sent back involuntarily. 508 00:23:59,605 --> 00:24:02,441 Mr. Burke: This God almost always says to them, 509 00:24:02,567 --> 00:24:04,569 Your time is not up yet. 510 00:24:04,694 --> 00:24:07,321 You still have a purpose on Earth. 511 00:24:07,446 --> 00:24:08,489 Sometimes he asks them, 512 00:24:08,614 --> 00:24:09,907 Do you want to stay or do you want to go? 513 00:24:10,032 --> 00:24:12,410 Many times he says, You got to go back. 514 00:24:12,535 --> 00:24:15,538 None of them want to go back. 515 00:24:15,663 --> 00:24:17,331 [music] 516 00:24:20,501 --> 00:24:22,003 Mr. Burke: Not every single one of 517 00:24:22,128 --> 00:24:24,380 them experiences all the commonalities. 518 00:24:24,505 --> 00:24:27,800 Some do, some experience three, four or five, 519 00:24:27,925 --> 00:24:30,887 some ten, 20, some, all of them. 520 00:24:31,470 --> 00:24:33,764 But those commonalities overlap. 521 00:24:33,890 --> 00:24:36,350 But there are uniqueness to each experience. 522 00:24:36,475 --> 00:24:39,520 Like when they encounter this god of light and love, 523 00:24:39,770 --> 00:24:41,981 each one of them feels like 524 00:24:42,106 --> 00:24:44,025 they are the only one God loves. 525 00:24:46,944 --> 00:24:47,695 And yet, 526 00:24:47,820 --> 00:24:50,823 they all feel that way. 527 00:24:52,742 --> 00:24:54,410 [click and rolling] 528 00:24:57,955 --> 00:25:00,541 {\an8}[Historic illustrations of the afterlife] 529 00:25:00,791 --> 00:25:02,460 {\an8}[music] 530 00:25:08,174 --> 00:25:09,217 Mr. Burke: You know actually, these near-death 531 00:25:09,342 --> 00:25:12,303 experiences are not new. 532 00:25:13,429 --> 00:25:15,139 Plato wrote in the Republic about 533 00:25:15,264 --> 00:25:18,184 a soldier who comes to on his funeral pyre 534 00:25:18,601 --> 00:25:21,604 and had an experience like this. 535 00:25:22,188 --> 00:25:24,315 Paul in the New Testament, who wrote much of 536 00:25:24,440 --> 00:25:25,483 the New Testament, 537 00:25:25,608 --> 00:25:27,026 I believe in Acts chapter 14, 538 00:25:27,151 --> 00:25:29,737 He's stoned to death in Lystra 539 00:25:30,029 --> 00:25:31,113 and left for dead. 540 00:25:31,239 --> 00:25:34,075 And then he gets back up and he talks about 541 00:25:34,200 --> 00:25:37,203 how he had an experience of going to heaven 542 00:25:37,495 --> 00:25:38,829 [music] 543 00:25:40,831 --> 00:25:41,916 Dr. Moody: In the ancient world. 544 00:25:42,041 --> 00:25:45,086 Presumably these experiences were very rare. 545 00:25:45,753 --> 00:25:48,089 By the time I started investigating it 546 00:25:48,214 --> 00:25:50,466 in the 60s and 70s, 547 00:25:50,591 --> 00:25:52,802 the advent of cardiopulmonary 548 00:25:52,927 --> 00:25:55,054 resuscitation had greatly increased 549 00:25:55,179 --> 00:25:57,765 the number of people who had been to the brink 550 00:25:57,890 --> 00:25:59,058 of death and recovered. 551 00:25:59,183 --> 00:26:00,977 So there were a lot of cases. 552 00:26:01,102 --> 00:26:04,105 Dr. Sabom: Some of them say, well, I reached a place where 553 00:26:04,230 --> 00:26:04,981 I felt like 554 00:26:05,106 --> 00:26:08,025 if I went any further, I wouldn't come back. 555 00:26:08,317 --> 00:26:11,237 And I get questioned about this a lot. 556 00:26:11,362 --> 00:26:12,154 And the question 557 00:26:12,280 --> 00:26:15,157 is, well, is that really a barrier or not? 558 00:26:15,283 --> 00:26:16,617 And my answer is, 559 00:26:16,742 --> 00:26:18,494 well, I've not been able to interview 560 00:26:18,619 --> 00:26:20,288 any of them that didn't come back. 561 00:26:20,413 --> 00:26:21,580 So I assume 562 00:26:21,706 --> 00:26:25,167 that if they do go over that, it very well may be 563 00:26:25,376 --> 00:26:26,627 a point of no return. 564 00:26:26,752 --> 00:26:28,671 I have no evidence to suggest that, 565 00:26:28,796 --> 00:26:32,383 except I have no evidence to refute it either. 566 00:26:32,717 --> 00:26:35,261 [button clicks and machine starts] 567 00:26:35,803 --> 00:26:37,430 Raymond Moody heard about our work, 568 00:26:37,555 --> 00:26:40,433 so he called us up to his house, 569 00:26:40,558 --> 00:26:43,477 along with two other researchers. 570 00:26:44,020 --> 00:26:46,647 Dr. Moody: And that's when I met all of these wonderful people 571 00:26:46,772 --> 00:26:50,026 Bruce Grayson and Mike Sabom and Kenneth Ring. 572 00:26:51,068 --> 00:26:53,404 Dr. Sabom: We got together, we compared notes 573 00:26:53,529 --> 00:26:54,989 and we said, you know, we ought to form 574 00:26:55,114 --> 00:26:58,659 a group and share with one another what we're doing. 575 00:26:59,076 --> 00:27:00,745 And it eventually turned out to be 576 00:27:00,870 --> 00:27:03,164 what's now known as IANDS 577 00:27:03,289 --> 00:27:06,250 International Association and Near-Death Studies. 578 00:27:06,751 --> 00:27:08,753 [music and pictures moving] 579 00:27:10,004 --> 00:27:12,673 Mr. Burke: After five years of doing research, Dr. Sabom 580 00:27:12,923 --> 00:27:15,885 ends up writing a book convinced that 581 00:27:16,177 --> 00:27:19,805 this really does show that there is life after death. 582 00:27:19,930 --> 00:27:22,600 But then even more fascinating, he publishes 583 00:27:22,725 --> 00:27:23,684 in the Journal of the 584 00:27:23,809 --> 00:27:25,353 American Medical Association 585 00:27:25,478 --> 00:27:27,772 his findings and what changed his mind. 586 00:27:28,397 --> 00:27:30,232 Dr. Long: I was in my residency training 587 00:27:30,358 --> 00:27:32,109 and I was going through a bound journal 588 00:27:32,234 --> 00:27:33,986 looking for a cancer related article. 589 00:27:34,111 --> 00:27:36,989 And completely by accident, I found in the title 590 00:27:37,114 --> 00:27:39,909 of an article the term Near-Death experience. 591 00:27:40,159 --> 00:27:42,203 [music and low rumble] 592 00:27:42,328 --> 00:27:44,080 Dr. Long: Everything I knew as a doctor said, 593 00:27:44,205 --> 00:27:46,749 This is medically inexplicable. 594 00:27:46,874 --> 00:27:47,875 In this article 595 00:27:48,000 --> 00:27:49,502 all around the world, were people 596 00:27:49,627 --> 00:27:51,837 having these experiences while they were unconscious 597 00:27:51,962 --> 00:27:53,756 or even clinically dead 598 00:27:53,881 --> 00:27:55,800 who can't be mystified by that question 599 00:27:55,925 --> 00:27:58,886 of what happens after you die? 600 00:27:59,095 --> 00:28:00,638 [music] 601 00:28:00,763 --> 00:28:03,224 Dr. Moody: As I've traveled around the world to China 602 00:28:03,349 --> 00:28:05,059 and Japan and India 603 00:28:05,184 --> 00:28:08,104 and North and South America and all over Europe, 604 00:28:08,521 --> 00:28:11,107 people all over the world use the word light, 605 00:28:11,232 --> 00:28:12,650 but they say that it's not 606 00:28:12,775 --> 00:28:13,734 the light that comes 607 00:28:13,859 --> 00:28:16,153 from a light bulb or from the sun. 608 00:28:16,278 --> 00:28:18,906 But universally the description is that the 609 00:28:19,031 --> 00:28:21,575 light of complete compassion and love. 610 00:28:21,700 --> 00:28:24,578 And people also say that they learned 611 00:28:24,703 --> 00:28:27,081 from their experience that what we call 612 00:28:27,206 --> 00:28:30,793 death is a transition into some other reality. 613 00:28:31,127 --> 00:28:33,045 So they lose their fear of death. 614 00:28:33,629 --> 00:28:35,965 [rolling thunder and raindrops] 615 00:28:38,426 --> 00:28:41,929 Don Piper: The day was January 18th, 1989, 616 00:28:42,054 --> 00:28:45,057 very chilly by South Texas standards. 617 00:28:45,516 --> 00:28:48,060 {\an8}I almost stopped in a little town 618 00:28:48,185 --> 00:28:50,855 {\an8}before you cross all the bridges to get some 619 00:28:50,980 --> 00:28:52,773 {\an8}some coffee. I didn't. 620 00:28:52,898 --> 00:28:55,234 The people who were on the highway ahead of me, 621 00:28:55,359 --> 00:28:57,486 she wanted some coffee. They pulled over. 622 00:28:57,611 --> 00:29:00,573 I drove past them and they came in behind me, 623 00:29:00,739 --> 00:29:03,742 Dick and Anita, Onarecker. 624 00:29:04,410 --> 00:29:09,457 {\an8}Anita: It was foggy and a slight rain. 625 00:29:09,582 --> 00:29:11,792 {\an8}It was wet 626 00:29:11,917 --> 00:29:14,837 Don: and I knew I would have to cross some bridges. 627 00:29:14,962 --> 00:29:16,213 [thunder and rain] 628 00:29:16,338 --> 00:29:18,966 It was an old bridge 629 00:29:19,091 --> 00:29:22,052 and it is very narrow. 630 00:29:22,595 --> 00:29:25,431 I'm just really focused on getting back 631 00:29:25,556 --> 00:29:28,517 to Alvin, Texas, where I lived. 632 00:29:28,809 --> 00:29:30,603 I was headed back that way 633 00:29:30,728 --> 00:29:32,229 and looking forward to seeing my family, 634 00:29:32,354 --> 00:29:35,691 which I missed for three days, especially my wife. 635 00:29:37,109 --> 00:29:38,277 What I didn't know 636 00:29:38,402 --> 00:29:41,363 was that steep embankment was there. 637 00:29:41,530 --> 00:29:42,698 [gears engaging] 638 00:29:42,823 --> 00:29:44,783 It's like going on a tunnel 639 00:29:44,909 --> 00:29:46,827 because you had this big metal superstructure 640 00:29:46,952 --> 00:29:49,872 above you, on both sides of you. 641 00:29:50,372 --> 00:29:52,124 You can see only really 642 00:29:52,249 --> 00:29:55,169 to the end of the bridge and then 643 00:29:55,461 --> 00:29:57,463 the highway goes up. 644 00:29:57,588 --> 00:30:00,591 So I couldn't see beyond the end of the bridge. 645 00:30:01,008 --> 00:30:02,927 Out of nowhere, a tractor 646 00:30:03,052 --> 00:30:05,971 trailer truck hit the car in his lane, 647 00:30:06,222 --> 00:30:09,350 then came over to my lane and hit me head on. 648 00:30:09,475 --> 00:30:13,145 [Crash] 649 00:30:14,647 --> 00:30:16,690 [Thunder] 650 00:30:22,947 --> 00:30:25,407 Anita: When we approached the bridge, 651 00:30:25,533 --> 00:30:27,910 the first thing on the right 652 00:30:28,035 --> 00:30:31,080 was this large 18 wheeler, and then the next 653 00:30:31,205 --> 00:30:33,624 thing on the left, I believe, was a gray car. 654 00:30:33,749 --> 00:30:36,669 It had a single older man in it. 655 00:30:37,753 --> 00:30:40,923 Then the next thing was Don's red car 656 00:30:41,048 --> 00:30:43,342 that was all crushed and smashed. 657 00:30:43,467 --> 00:30:46,011 So we were only four vehicles on the bridge 658 00:30:46,136 --> 00:30:47,429 at that point. 659 00:30:47,555 --> 00:30:48,430 Swen Spujt: I was stationed 660 00:30:48,556 --> 00:30:50,057 {\an8}in Walker County at the time. 661 00:30:50,182 --> 00:30:51,725 {\an8}I said, How does it look for him? 662 00:30:51,850 --> 00:30:53,644 And they said, "not good at all." 663 00:30:53,769 --> 00:30:56,021 That was, you know, just something I never forgot. 664 00:30:56,146 --> 00:30:57,565 I mean, was seeing that 665 00:30:57,690 --> 00:30:59,858 it was a miserable, miserable day. 666 00:30:59,984 --> 00:31:01,485 Don: Traffic is backed up from miles 667 00:31:01,610 --> 00:31:03,612 in both directions because at that time 668 00:31:03,737 --> 00:31:06,073 there was the only bridge across that lake, 669 00:31:06,198 --> 00:31:07,241 in fact, Dick Onarecker. 670 00:31:07,408 --> 00:31:08,158 And Anita 671 00:31:08,284 --> 00:31:11,787 had to leave their car and walk up on the bridge 672 00:31:11,912 --> 00:31:14,748 to get to where the accident was. 673 00:31:14,873 --> 00:31:16,875 Anita: Police approached Dick first and said, 674 00:31:17,001 --> 00:31:18,919 Don't even bother with that man. 675 00:31:19,044 --> 00:31:21,547 I've already checked him and he has no pulse. 676 00:31:21,672 --> 00:31:23,549 And then Dick did check, 677 00:31:23,674 --> 00:31:26,093 and he could not identify any pulse. 678 00:31:26,218 --> 00:31:27,553 [music] 679 00:31:27,678 --> 00:31:30,598 Don: You could see from this wrecking yard picture that 680 00:31:30,723 --> 00:31:33,684 the trajectory of the truck as it went over. 681 00:31:33,809 --> 00:31:34,810 [music] 682 00:31:34,935 --> 00:31:37,730 When the truck hit me, it literally took 683 00:31:37,855 --> 00:31:40,816 this arm over my shoulder into the back seat. 684 00:31:41,859 --> 00:31:42,860 The steering wheel 685 00:31:42,985 --> 00:31:46,155 actually went horizontal and into my chest 686 00:31:47,239 --> 00:31:50,159 My head had banged up against the metal side 687 00:31:50,284 --> 00:31:53,245 of the interior of the car. 688 00:31:53,495 --> 00:31:56,498 My right leg was broken at the knee, 689 00:31:56,957 --> 00:32:00,461 but I must have slid on the seat a little sideways 690 00:32:01,128 --> 00:32:02,838 because it hit from that angle. 691 00:32:02,963 --> 00:32:06,008 And when it did, it literally severed my left 692 00:32:06,133 --> 00:32:09,136 leg just above the knee, 693 00:32:10,054 --> 00:32:13,182 and four and a half inches of the femur 694 00:32:13,515 --> 00:32:17,019 was ejected from the car and actually never found. 695 00:32:17,895 --> 00:32:19,271 I had been killed instantly. 696 00:32:19,396 --> 00:32:21,523 My heart was not beating, 697 00:32:21,649 --> 00:32:23,275 so it was not pumping blood. 698 00:32:24,568 --> 00:32:27,571 I died on the bridge. 699 00:32:28,697 --> 00:32:30,366 [bird song] 700 00:32:34,036 --> 00:32:37,039 Dr. Neal: I'm a board certified orthopedic spine surgeon 701 00:32:37,790 --> 00:32:42,711 {\an8}and physicians spend their entire career 702 00:32:44,129 --> 00:32:45,506 {\an8}evading death. 703 00:32:45,631 --> 00:32:49,009 {\an8}We believe that if we are smart enough, 704 00:32:49,385 --> 00:32:51,303 if we are well-trained enough, 705 00:32:51,428 --> 00:32:54,765 and if we do a good enough job that we can control 706 00:32:54,890 --> 00:32:57,893 the outcomes, that we can control the variables 707 00:32:58,018 --> 00:33:01,021 and we can cheat death. 708 00:33:03,732 --> 00:33:06,819 My husband and I were avid kayakers. 709 00:33:07,903 --> 00:33:09,988 Kayaking is 710 00:33:10,114 --> 00:33:13,117 both challenging and exhilarating. 711 00:33:13,575 --> 00:33:16,328 We began to go down the river. 712 00:33:16,453 --> 00:33:19,081 We went over the first couple of drops. 713 00:33:19,206 --> 00:33:22,251 It was very high flow, very high 714 00:33:22,376 --> 00:33:24,378 current, strong current. 715 00:33:24,503 --> 00:33:27,214 There is another client that sort of bobbled 716 00:33:27,339 --> 00:33:29,258 her way past me and 717 00:33:29,383 --> 00:33:32,386 ended up sideways at the entrance to the chute. 718 00:33:33,220 --> 00:33:36,140 So my only option was to veer over 719 00:33:36,265 --> 00:33:38,392 and go over the main part of the waterfall 720 00:33:38,517 --> 00:33:41,478 [water splashing] 721 00:33:43,021 --> 00:33:45,149 and the front end of my boat 722 00:33:45,274 --> 00:33:48,235 became pinned 723 00:33:48,610 --> 00:33:50,946 [waterfall sounds] [music intensifying] 724 00:33:51,488 --> 00:33:53,282 and the boat and I were then 725 00:33:53,407 --> 00:33:56,910 completely submerged under 8 to 10 feet of water. 726 00:33:58,203 --> 00:34:01,206 [waterfall sounds] 727 00:34:04,668 --> 00:34:07,963 I recognized that I was probably going to drown. 728 00:34:09,089 --> 00:34:12,092 [waterfall sounds] 729 00:34:12,426 --> 00:34:15,345 I would think about the fact that 730 00:34:15,471 --> 00:34:18,515 I must be dead, but I didn't feel dead. 731 00:34:19,308 --> 00:34:22,269 I felt more alive than I've ever felt. 732 00:34:24,646 --> 00:34:27,107 I felt this incredible experience 733 00:34:27,232 --> 00:34:30,152 like I was just part of the water. 734 00:34:30,694 --> 00:34:33,697 I felt magnificent, actually. 735 00:34:34,740 --> 00:34:37,826 I knew that I was being held by Christ 736 00:34:39,036 --> 00:34:42,039 as purely as I know, 737 00:34:42,414 --> 00:34:43,665 anything. 738 00:34:45,375 --> 00:34:47,961 I know it sounds crazy, 739 00:34:48,086 --> 00:34:52,174 but it's just something that 740 00:34:53,217 --> 00:34:56,220 is outside of our language. 741 00:34:57,429 --> 00:34:59,932 Peter Panagore: We went up a world famous climb, 742 00:35:00,057 --> 00:35:02,559 maybe 500 feet, three pitches up 743 00:35:02,684 --> 00:35:04,436 David Ditchfield: As the train started pulling out, 744 00:35:04,561 --> 00:35:06,438 I just thought, This is it. I'm going to die. 745 00:35:06,563 --> 00:35:08,607 Jeremain: I took a corner to a 90 miles 746 00:35:08,732 --> 00:35:11,193 an hour, flipped over, and it landed on the top. 747 00:35:11,318 --> 00:35:13,612 All I remember seeing was a big white, white light. 748 00:35:13,737 --> 00:35:15,864 Kristen: The knife had gone all the way through my liver. 749 00:35:15,989 --> 00:35:19,034 I had a punctured lung and I started feeling myself 750 00:35:19,701 --> 00:35:20,702 leave my body. 751 00:35:20,828 --> 00:35:22,704 Oprah: You were in the hospital bed, right? 752 00:35:22,830 --> 00:35:24,414 But you had left your body and you 753 00:35:24,540 --> 00:35:26,458 Betty Eadie: My body was on the bed and my spirit ... 754 00:35:26,583 --> 00:35:28,126 Peter: and I could see in every direction. 755 00:35:28,252 --> 00:35:29,962 {\an8}Barbara: Up on the ceiling looking down. 756 00:35:30,087 --> 00:35:32,840 {\an8}There was this feeling of a presence. It felt like God 757 00:35:32,965 --> 00:35:34,758 David: Not like this guy up in the sky. 758 00:35:34,925 --> 00:35:35,968 Anne: And that was God. 759 00:35:36,093 --> 00:35:37,094 I just know it was God 760 00:35:37,219 --> 00:35:39,054 Hila: The meaning of life, of everything, 761 00:35:39,179 --> 00:35:41,139 Johnnie: It was unlike anything I've ever experienced. 762 00:35:41,265 --> 00:35:42,850 David: I have no fear of death. 763 00:35:42,975 --> 00:35:45,561 Tom:...it's with total knowledge and unconditional love... 764 00:35:45,686 --> 00:35:48,564 Hila: It was all the love that is in the universe. 765 00:35:48,730 --> 00:35:50,858 Kirat: Death is not the end. It's probably the beginning. 766 00:35:50,983 --> 00:35:52,276 Dean: I looked into his eyes, It was like 767 00:35:52,401 --> 00:35:54,361 I was looking at forever inside of him, 768 00:35:54,486 --> 00:35:55,779 and I could see the love he had for me. 769 00:35:55,904 --> 00:35:57,614 Hillary: You know, people don't believe you 770 00:35:57,739 --> 00:36:00,242 when you say the story, but it's just so real. 771 00:36:00,409 --> 00:36:02,244 [music] 772 00:36:03,912 --> 00:36:07,082 Dr. Neal: Almost 30 minutes had gone by. 773 00:36:07,249 --> 00:36:11,253 Enough time had passed that they had shifted from 774 00:36:11,753 --> 00:36:15,173 a rescue mode to purely a body recovery mode. 775 00:36:16,133 --> 00:36:20,178 I could see this bloated purple body 776 00:36:20,304 --> 00:36:24,391 and I never felt alive and then dead. 777 00:36:24,516 --> 00:36:27,603 I never felt conscious and unconscious. 778 00:36:28,020 --> 00:36:30,731 I felt conscious and then more conscious 779 00:36:30,856 --> 00:36:35,110 I felt alive and then more alive. 780 00:36:37,237 --> 00:36:40,866 Dr. Sabom: I came into this thing skeptical, mean 781 00:36:40,991 --> 00:36:43,952 {\an8}I could have very easily blown this whole thing off. 782 00:36:44,077 --> 00:36:45,537 {\an8}If you go to the resuscitation 783 00:36:45,662 --> 00:36:46,747 {\an8}for 20 minutes 784 00:36:46,872 --> 00:36:47,539 {\an8}and you've been 785 00:36:47,664 --> 00:36:50,584 {\an8}without oxygen for 20 minutes or whatever, 786 00:36:51,501 --> 00:36:53,795 you're going to lose some neurons, 787 00:36:53,921 --> 00:36:55,130 You're going to have brain damage. 788 00:36:55,255 --> 00:36:56,924 You may not live either. 789 00:36:57,049 --> 00:36:59,718 You'll die a neurologic death 790 00:36:59,843 --> 00:37:02,804 general rule is, the longer without the oxygen. 791 00:37:03,138 --> 00:37:06,808 Normally, the more brain damage you're going to have, 792 00:37:07,184 --> 00:37:10,854 and it's progressive until it's restored. 793 00:37:12,147 --> 00:37:14,274 CBS News: A new study may provide answers 794 00:37:14,399 --> 00:37:15,484 {\an8}to the age old question 795 00:37:15,609 --> 00:37:18,570 {\an8}What happens to our brains when we die? 796 00:37:19,279 --> 00:37:20,447 [music] 797 00:37:20,572 --> 00:37:24,618 {\an8}Dr. Zemmar: The brain has always been the most fascinating 798 00:37:24,826 --> 00:37:26,036 {\an8}and the most interesting 799 00:37:26,161 --> 00:37:27,913 {\an8}organ to me because to the world 800 00:37:28,038 --> 00:37:30,165 {\an8}it is completely unexplored. 801 00:37:30,290 --> 00:37:32,209 I was working in Vancouver at the Vancouver 802 00:37:32,334 --> 00:37:33,335 General Hospital. 803 00:37:33,460 --> 00:37:35,754 This was the 87 year old gentleman. 804 00:37:35,879 --> 00:37:38,799 He came during the emergency shift 805 00:37:39,383 --> 00:37:43,261 with a bleed between the brain and the skull. 806 00:37:43,387 --> 00:37:46,348 We call it a subdural hematoma. 807 00:37:46,682 --> 00:37:48,976 And we decided to operate. 808 00:37:49,101 --> 00:37:50,644 We removed the skull. 809 00:37:50,769 --> 00:37:51,979 We removed the bleeding. 810 00:37:52,104 --> 00:37:53,772 He did fairly well after the surgery 811 00:37:53,897 --> 00:37:55,816 for about three days. 812 00:37:56,066 --> 00:37:58,694 And then he started having seizures. 813 00:37:58,819 --> 00:38:02,531 So we went and applied an EEG to see 814 00:38:02,656 --> 00:38:04,658 where the seizures are coming from 815 00:38:04,783 --> 00:38:06,284 and how to treat them. 816 00:38:06,410 --> 00:38:08,286 Once we had this applied, 817 00:38:08,578 --> 00:38:10,414 he had a heart attack and died. 818 00:38:11,123 --> 00:38:12,457 [music] 819 00:38:12,582 --> 00:38:14,626 So that left us with 820 00:38:14,751 --> 00:38:18,171 the rare recording of the human brain 821 00:38:18,296 --> 00:38:20,007 that went from a life to death. 822 00:38:20,132 --> 00:38:20,882 [flatline tone] 823 00:38:21,008 --> 00:38:24,720 CBS: It's the first ever recording of a dying human 824 00:38:24,845 --> 00:38:27,848 brain, one that happened entirely by chance. 825 00:38:27,973 --> 00:38:29,808 We've heard about people 826 00:38:29,933 --> 00:38:32,352 {\an8}before who have faced near death experiences. 827 00:38:32,477 --> 00:38:34,479 {\an8}Describe this moment 828 00:38:34,604 --> 00:38:36,189 where they were the important moments 829 00:38:36,314 --> 00:38:38,191 in their life flashed before their head. 830 00:38:38,316 --> 00:38:39,735 Is that what we're talking about? 831 00:38:39,860 --> 00:38:41,445 Is that what this is? 832 00:38:41,570 --> 00:38:42,738 - Dr. - Zemmar: From what this case of 833 00:38:42,863 --> 00:38:43,697 One tells us 834 00:38:43,822 --> 00:38:45,741 all the things they are consistently 835 00:38:45,866 --> 00:38:48,452 being described by people who undergo 836 00:38:48,577 --> 00:38:50,037 near-death experience. 837 00:38:50,162 --> 00:38:52,873 These guys have exhibited these brain waves 838 00:38:52,998 --> 00:38:55,917 that exactly the same ones we're measuring 839 00:38:56,043 --> 00:38:59,421 when we record the activity of this patient 840 00:38:59,796 --> 00:39:00,464 30 seconds 841 00:39:00,589 --> 00:39:02,174 before the heart stops beating 842 00:39:02,299 --> 00:39:05,260 and 30 seconds after the heart stops beating, 843 00:39:05,677 --> 00:39:07,846 that we found was quite astonishing. 844 00:39:08,889 --> 00:39:11,058 After searching and searching, 845 00:39:11,183 --> 00:39:14,394 we had not found anybody at the time when we wrote 846 00:39:14,519 --> 00:39:16,438 the manuscript and submitted it 847 00:39:16,563 --> 00:39:19,858 that had full brain recordings 848 00:39:19,983 --> 00:39:21,777 from the dying human brain. 849 00:39:21,902 --> 00:39:24,905 Under acute clinical environments. 850 00:39:25,572 --> 00:39:28,700 brain waves are always present 851 00:39:28,992 --> 00:39:31,703 {\an8}in our brain. 852 00:39:31,828 --> 00:39:34,956 {\an8}They differ in frequency, 853 00:39:35,082 --> 00:39:39,586 {\an8}meaning how many times per second they oscillate. 854 00:39:39,961 --> 00:39:44,841 The high frequency waves are called gamma waves. 855 00:39:45,467 --> 00:39:48,095 Then the lower ones we call them 856 00:39:48,220 --> 00:39:51,223 beta, theta, alpha and delta waves. 857 00:39:51,598 --> 00:39:54,768 Those are slower frequent oscillations. 858 00:39:54,893 --> 00:39:58,897 We found an increased interplay 859 00:39:59,022 --> 00:40:01,983 of these oscillatory bands with each other. 860 00:40:02,109 --> 00:40:03,193 [music] 861 00:40:03,318 --> 00:40:06,530 We looked at how this, for example, 862 00:40:07,280 --> 00:40:10,700 theta waves that are known for memory recall, 863 00:40:10,826 --> 00:40:14,496 how do they couple with gamma waves? 864 00:40:14,913 --> 00:40:17,499 And we found an increased coupling of the 865 00:40:17,624 --> 00:40:20,502 two after a heart stopped beating. 866 00:40:20,627 --> 00:40:23,421 The brain is a prediction machine that is designed 867 00:40:23,547 --> 00:40:24,381 for survival. 868 00:40:25,549 --> 00:40:26,591 So we see something, 869 00:40:26,716 --> 00:40:27,843 we interpret the signal, 870 00:40:27,968 --> 00:40:29,594 we generate a response 871 00:40:30,345 --> 00:40:33,807 in all kinds of responses that the brain generates. 872 00:40:34,766 --> 00:40:38,562 The only one we can measure right now is movement. 873 00:40:38,728 --> 00:40:39,604 [music] 874 00:40:39,855 --> 00:40:42,732 We can't measure what we call thinking. 875 00:40:42,858 --> 00:40:44,317 Can you measure emotions? 876 00:40:44,442 --> 00:40:45,110 Feelings? 877 00:40:45,235 --> 00:40:46,278 I don't know what to answer you. 878 00:40:46,403 --> 00:40:48,196 We can't measure all these things. 879 00:40:48,321 --> 00:40:51,324 We know that the brain somehow does these things. 880 00:40:51,950 --> 00:40:53,034 We may never understand 881 00:40:53,160 --> 00:40:54,578 what exactly happens. 882 00:40:54,703 --> 00:40:56,037 And maybe that's not the most 883 00:40:56,163 --> 00:40:57,873 important thing either. 884 00:40:58,456 --> 00:40:59,583 If the science 885 00:40:59,708 --> 00:41:02,544 can contribute even a minute percentage 886 00:41:02,669 --> 00:41:04,754 and can shed light 887 00:41:04,880 --> 00:41:08,175 on the nature of the human brain dying. 888 00:41:08,550 --> 00:41:09,968 If I could go to my patients 889 00:41:10,093 --> 00:41:11,511 and I could tell them, 890 00:41:11,636 --> 00:41:15,265 it may be that your loved one is replaying 891 00:41:15,390 --> 00:41:17,225 some of the memories of their life. 892 00:41:18,852 --> 00:41:21,855 It somehow makes things easier. 893 00:41:22,063 --> 00:41:24,733 It tells them they're not suffering. 894 00:41:24,858 --> 00:41:27,819 That, I think, would help patients in that 895 00:41:27,944 --> 00:41:30,906 tremendously difficult time. 896 00:41:31,323 --> 00:41:32,741 [music] 897 00:41:36,494 --> 00:41:37,871 [pages turn] 898 00:41:38,163 --> 00:41:39,664 [music] 899 00:41:41,416 --> 00:41:43,335 {\an8}Kang: Growing up in South Korea. 900 00:41:43,460 --> 00:41:44,961 {\an8}I grew up in a Buddhist home. 901 00:41:45,086 --> 00:41:46,463 {\an8}Ever since the age of six, seven, 902 00:41:46,588 --> 00:41:50,508 {\an8}I was asking questions like, Why are humans made? 903 00:41:50,634 --> 00:41:52,636 Why are we born? 904 00:41:52,761 --> 00:41:55,180 What is the purpose of mankind? 905 00:41:55,305 --> 00:41:57,349 Why am I here? 906 00:41:57,474 --> 00:41:58,892 The Buddhist monks at the temple 907 00:41:59,017 --> 00:42:00,518 would say things like, Oh yeah, Steve, 908 00:42:00,644 --> 00:42:02,354 you can go to heaven, you can go to hell, 909 00:42:02,479 --> 00:42:03,271 come back, 910 00:42:03,396 --> 00:42:04,439 you can get reincarnated 911 00:42:04,564 --> 00:42:06,524 into an animal or a different species. 912 00:42:06,650 --> 00:42:08,485 They taught you how to do right and do wrong, 913 00:42:08,610 --> 00:42:10,654 and try to earn your salvation. 914 00:42:10,779 --> 00:42:13,615 My mother, who was trained as a registered nurse, 915 00:42:13,740 --> 00:42:14,407 she got recruited 916 00:42:14,532 --> 00:42:17,494 by a VA veterans hospital in Boston. 917 00:42:18,328 --> 00:42:20,038 You know, she prepared the way for us to come. 918 00:42:20,163 --> 00:42:22,415 So I came with my younger brother in elementary school. 919 00:42:22,666 --> 00:42:24,626 [music] 920 00:42:26,628 --> 00:42:27,420 Kang: The older I got, 921 00:42:27,545 --> 00:42:30,048 middle school and even up to freshman year, 922 00:42:30,173 --> 00:42:31,925 and I remember feeling a lot of confusion. 923 00:42:32,050 --> 00:42:33,760 I remember looking in the mirror and saying, 924 00:42:33,885 --> 00:42:35,470 How come I'm the only one? 925 00:42:35,595 --> 00:42:37,806 How come I have to be Korean? 926 00:42:37,931 --> 00:42:40,350 And it was a big struggle and led me to become 927 00:42:40,475 --> 00:42:41,309 a little rebellious. 928 00:42:41,434 --> 00:42:44,145 Like I joined the garage band. I tried to... 929 00:42:44,271 --> 00:42:45,313 I think I tried a little harder 930 00:42:45,438 --> 00:42:48,400 than others to try to fit in. 931 00:42:49,192 --> 00:42:51,736 And I just remember, you know, always feeling 932 00:42:51,861 --> 00:42:54,739 a little empty, feeling confusion and emptiness. 933 00:42:54,864 --> 00:42:56,199 You know, from high school. 934 00:42:58,994 --> 00:43:00,954 I remember in the summer of 1998, 935 00:43:01,079 --> 00:43:02,998 we will get high in the morning, 936 00:43:03,123 --> 00:43:05,709 in the afternoon, in the evening, the whole summer. 937 00:43:05,834 --> 00:43:08,211 I don't remember being sober for an hour. 938 00:43:08,336 --> 00:43:11,172 And my mom and brother were getting super worried. 939 00:43:11,298 --> 00:43:12,799 I called the Buddhist temple for help. 940 00:43:12,924 --> 00:43:14,009 They didn't help either. 941 00:43:14,134 --> 00:43:14,926 So I realized, like, 942 00:43:15,051 --> 00:43:18,513 this is something that is beyond my power ability to 943 00:43:18,972 --> 00:43:20,640 to to save myself from. 944 00:43:22,976 --> 00:43:24,644 You know, people say when they see demons 945 00:43:24,769 --> 00:43:26,187 or evil spirits, they might think 946 00:43:26,313 --> 00:43:28,898 somebody comes with a pitchfork and horns. 947 00:43:29,024 --> 00:43:30,442 But I had an open eye 948 00:43:30,567 --> 00:43:32,610 vision of all Asian grandpa coming. 949 00:43:32,736 --> 00:43:34,529 He's talking to me like I'm talking to you. 950 00:43:34,654 --> 00:43:35,447 He said, Hey, Steve, I know you're 951 00:43:35,572 --> 00:43:36,323 having a hard time. 952 00:43:36,489 --> 00:43:39,617 If you commit suicide and take your own life, 953 00:43:39,993 --> 00:43:42,954 then I can give you 50,000 less years of hell. 954 00:43:43,079 --> 00:43:44,664 And I'm like, That's a great deal. 955 00:43:44,914 --> 00:43:46,333 [music] 956 00:43:46,458 --> 00:43:47,917 I went to the kitchen. 957 00:43:48,043 --> 00:43:50,128 I grabbed the biggest knife I could find. 958 00:43:50,253 --> 00:43:52,088 Got on my knees. 959 00:43:52,213 --> 00:43:53,048 So I grabbed a knife 960 00:43:53,173 --> 00:43:54,799 and I cut my neck open here, 961 00:43:55,383 --> 00:43:58,053 which, you know, was very painful. 962 00:43:58,386 --> 00:44:00,055 My mom sees the event happening, 963 00:44:00,180 --> 00:44:01,890 so she calls 911. 964 00:44:02,015 --> 00:44:04,059 The cops came, and then there's 965 00:44:04,184 --> 00:44:06,186 the Grandpa spirit is still there speaking to me, 966 00:44:06,311 --> 00:44:07,062 says, Steve, you got to hurry up. 967 00:44:07,187 --> 00:44:08,480 You're going to miss your chance. 968 00:44:08,605 --> 00:44:09,397 Go for the stomach. 969 00:44:09,522 --> 00:44:14,110 So I cut my stomach open, which actually is, 970 00:44:14,277 --> 00:44:16,363 you know, the scars go down all the way here. 971 00:44:16,488 --> 00:44:18,698 I lost a big part of my blood. 972 00:44:19,866 --> 00:44:22,869 The cops came and whacked me with a bat. 973 00:44:23,161 --> 00:44:24,954 I dropped the knife. 974 00:44:25,080 --> 00:44:27,540 I remember losing consciousness. 975 00:44:27,665 --> 00:44:28,958 The whole living was bloody red. 976 00:44:29,084 --> 00:44:31,753 My mom was crying. I remember hearing her. 977 00:44:31,878 --> 00:44:32,962 They put me in the stretcher 978 00:44:33,088 --> 00:44:34,839 because already I'm very damaged. 979 00:44:34,964 --> 00:44:37,217 I'm losing blood, like at a very fast rate 980 00:44:37,342 --> 00:44:39,344 and I'm going in of conscious. 981 00:44:39,469 --> 00:44:41,179 The grandpa spirits gone 982 00:44:41,304 --> 00:44:43,598 and then it was just into the unknown after that. 983 00:44:44,182 --> 00:44:45,392 I remember coming out, 984 00:44:45,809 --> 00:44:49,437 seeing my body and then seeing the E.R. room. 985 00:44:49,562 --> 00:44:53,900 I remember going through just darkness, like even 986 00:44:54,025 --> 00:44:57,028 seeing rocks and stones around me just falling. 987 00:44:57,695 --> 00:45:00,198 It just felt like I was falling in an elevator. 988 00:45:00,323 --> 00:45:03,284 And I don't know how to put it into words exactly, 989 00:45:03,618 --> 00:45:05,412 but I knew I was going to a different place. 990 00:45:05,537 --> 00:45:07,080 There was still real, 991 00:45:07,205 --> 00:45:09,249 more real than anything here on Earth. 992 00:45:09,374 --> 00:45:10,542 I was still fully conscious. 993 00:45:10,667 --> 00:45:11,584 Everything's happening, 994 00:45:11,709 --> 00:45:13,086 but now it's like 995 00:45:13,211 --> 00:45:14,337 there's different set of rules, 996 00:45:14,462 --> 00:45:17,257 there's a different set of awarenesses. 997 00:45:17,382 --> 00:45:19,050 And you're saying goodbye to Earth. 998 00:45:19,175 --> 00:45:21,136 I knew I was saying goodbye to Earth. 999 00:45:21,261 --> 00:45:24,222 And going to another place of eternity. 1000 00:45:24,472 --> 00:45:26,850 And then God came to me and like a ball of light, 1001 00:45:26,975 --> 00:45:28,560 that became like a triangle. 1002 00:45:29,394 --> 00:45:31,646 Behind it I saw the city, 1003 00:45:31,771 --> 00:45:33,982 I looked up and it was glittering like gold. 1004 00:45:34,107 --> 00:45:35,316 The walls were gold. 1005 00:45:35,483 --> 00:45:36,568 [music] 1006 00:45:36,693 --> 00:45:37,569 I don't know how it works, 1007 00:45:37,694 --> 00:45:40,613 but it's definitely a place we go. 1008 00:45:42,157 --> 00:45:44,075 I heard a voice before I woke up. 1009 00:45:44,200 --> 00:45:45,618 I love you. 1010 00:45:45,743 --> 00:45:48,705 And I open my eyes and I'm in the emergency room. 1011 00:45:48,830 --> 00:45:51,624 I was like, Oh my God, I'm alive. 1012 00:45:51,749 --> 00:45:53,251 So first of all, I was so thankful I was alive. 1013 00:45:53,376 --> 00:45:55,628 I look around, my mom's there, 1014 00:45:55,753 --> 00:45:58,465 she's crying, grabbing my hand, son, you know, 1015 00:45:58,590 --> 00:46:00,592 you, you regained consciousness. 1016 00:46:00,717 --> 00:46:03,011 And I was still trying to process what happened, 1017 00:46:03,136 --> 00:46:04,554 but I just knew I was back on Earth. 1018 00:46:06,681 --> 00:46:09,309 They said it took two surgeries to cover 1019 00:46:09,434 --> 00:46:10,602 the blood vessels that were cut. 1020 00:46:10,727 --> 00:46:13,354 A specialist had to fly in at the last minute, 1021 00:46:13,480 --> 00:46:14,981 and if he was late, they told me I would 1022 00:46:15,106 --> 00:46:16,316 have been bye, bye forever. 1023 00:46:16,441 --> 00:46:18,359 My heart and blood wouldn't go back up. 1024 00:46:18,485 --> 00:46:20,069 We just kept sinking, sinking, sinking, 1025 00:46:20,195 --> 00:46:21,529 during the whole surgery. 1026 00:46:21,654 --> 00:46:23,156 And they said it was a miracle. 1027 00:46:23,281 --> 00:46:24,199 Good timing. 1028 00:46:25,158 --> 00:46:26,576 [slow rumbling] 1029 00:46:28,870 --> 00:46:32,248 I know one thing, we all live once and die once. 1030 00:46:32,373 --> 00:46:34,751 And there is judgment after. 1031 00:46:35,502 --> 00:46:37,712 [low rumbles] 1032 00:46:42,509 --> 00:46:43,343 Dr. Sabom: I think that there are 1033 00:46:43,468 --> 00:46:47,263 a lot of people that do take advantage of this. 1034 00:46:47,555 --> 00:46:49,807 The novelty and the fascination 1035 00:46:49,933 --> 00:46:52,810 of this experience. 1036 00:46:52,936 --> 00:46:55,021 We're all to die and we all want to know 1037 00:46:55,146 --> 00:46:56,689 what's going to happen once that happens. 1038 00:46:56,814 --> 00:46:57,857 So, I mean, 1039 00:46:57,982 --> 00:47:01,569 this is speaking to us all. And of great importance. 1040 00:47:02,695 --> 00:47:05,698 That can be abused. 1041 00:47:06,908 --> 00:47:09,369 Some of these these cases 1042 00:47:09,494 --> 00:47:11,829 are transmitted through 1043 00:47:11,955 --> 00:47:14,666 several different people before they get in print. 1044 00:47:14,791 --> 00:47:16,209 And they get a lot of attention 1045 00:47:16,334 --> 00:47:17,418 because they're fantastic. 1046 00:47:17,544 --> 00:47:19,003 But what I've tried to 1047 00:47:19,128 --> 00:47:22,423 do is remove some of the subjectivity 1048 00:47:23,091 --> 00:47:26,010 to these experiences. 1049 00:47:26,135 --> 00:47:28,304 And put data out there 1050 00:47:28,429 --> 00:47:31,849 that's been scientifically, rigorously collected. 1051 00:47:32,934 --> 00:47:34,769 There's no way you can verify 1052 00:47:34,894 --> 00:47:37,272 the transcendental part of the experience. 1053 00:47:37,397 --> 00:47:38,856 The person feels like they go 1054 00:47:38,982 --> 00:47:41,317 to an otherworldly environment 1055 00:47:41,442 --> 00:47:42,944 as opposed to their environment 1056 00:47:43,069 --> 00:47:44,779 right there in the room with them. 1057 00:47:44,904 --> 00:47:46,906 {\an8}Mr. Burke: What really convinced me and what convinced 1058 00:47:47,031 --> 00:47:51,119 {\an8}many skeptical doctors, oncologist, cardiologist, 1059 00:47:51,369 --> 00:47:54,956 {\an8}is that when people initially leave their body, 1060 00:47:55,248 --> 00:47:56,583 they say that many times 1061 00:47:56,708 --> 00:47:57,792 they were in the room 1062 00:47:57,917 --> 00:48:00,837 still where they were being resuscitated or worked on 1063 00:48:01,004 --> 00:48:01,671 many times up 1064 00:48:01,796 --> 00:48:04,716 near the ceiling, looking down, watching. 1065 00:48:04,882 --> 00:48:07,010 They felt incredible peace, even though 1066 00:48:07,135 --> 00:48:08,094 it was chaotic. 1067 00:48:09,470 --> 00:48:11,055 oftentimes in the room 1068 00:48:11,180 --> 00:48:13,182 where they were working on their body, 1069 00:48:14,183 --> 00:48:16,394 When they would come back, 1070 00:48:16,519 --> 00:48:19,480 they were able to give corroborative evidence 1071 00:48:19,939 --> 00:48:21,566 that they actually saw 1072 00:48:21,691 --> 00:48:22,817 what was going on in the room, 1073 00:48:22,942 --> 00:48:24,611 even though they were unconscious 1074 00:48:24,736 --> 00:48:26,904 at the time they were worked on. 1075 00:48:27,030 --> 00:48:29,991 They shouldn't have been able to see this. 1076 00:48:30,450 --> 00:48:33,786 Dr. Sabom: Autoscopic means self-visualization. 1077 00:48:33,911 --> 00:48:37,332 They were visualizing themself from the ceiling, 1078 00:48:37,498 --> 00:48:41,085 lying in bed, lifeless, or being resuscitated. 1079 00:48:42,503 --> 00:48:45,131 That is the verifiable part 1080 00:48:45,256 --> 00:48:47,383 of a near-death experience, where you can go back 1081 00:48:47,508 --> 00:48:49,302 and either verify what they said they saw 1082 00:48:49,427 --> 00:48:51,179 or what actually occurred. 1083 00:48:51,304 --> 00:48:53,306 And that's what I wanted. 1084 00:48:53,431 --> 00:48:54,474 That was the main thing 1085 00:48:54,599 --> 00:48:56,726 that got me hooked on this thing. 1086 00:48:56,851 --> 00:48:58,728 And I paid very little attention 1087 00:48:58,853 --> 00:49:01,356 to the tunnel, the light, the deceased relatives 1088 00:49:01,481 --> 00:49:03,775 and friends, the religious figures. 1089 00:49:03,900 --> 00:49:07,153 For me as a cardiologist, scientist, 1090 00:49:07,278 --> 00:49:08,446 and a physician, 1091 00:49:08,571 --> 00:49:10,156 I wanted some verification, 1092 00:49:10,281 --> 00:49:11,991 I wanted some medical records. 1093 00:49:12,116 --> 00:49:14,827 I wanted to talk to people who had been there 1094 00:49:14,952 --> 00:49:17,955 and seen what had happened in the room. 1095 00:49:19,582 --> 00:49:22,251 [light music] 1096 00:49:26,339 --> 00:49:27,799 Dr. Greene: Back in the early 1990s, 1097 00:49:27,924 --> 00:49:30,510 when I was a resident training and neurosurgery 1098 00:49:30,635 --> 00:49:33,638 at Phoenix and at the Barrow Neurological Institute, 1099 00:49:33,763 --> 00:49:36,349 one of the best places to go in the world. 1100 00:49:36,474 --> 00:49:39,394 It was a destination center for neurosurgery. 1101 00:49:40,103 --> 00:49:41,479 {\an8}I was on the Chairman Service, 1102 00:49:41,604 --> 00:49:44,023 {\an8}Dr. Robert Spetzler 1103 00:49:44,148 --> 00:49:47,360 and Dr. Spetzler is world renowned. 1104 00:49:47,485 --> 00:49:49,153 There was a patient who came to him 1105 00:49:49,278 --> 00:49:51,197 named Pamela Reynolds, 1106 00:49:52,532 --> 00:49:55,076 Dr. Spetzler: What we're looking at is the aneurysm that she had. 1107 00:49:55,201 --> 00:49:57,203 Which is at the very base of the brain. 1108 00:49:57,328 --> 00:49:59,288 {\an8}This is the balloon that can burst 1109 00:49:59,414 --> 00:50:02,166 {\an8}and cause this incredible catastrophe. 1110 00:50:02,291 --> 00:50:05,002 It's all the way at the very base of the brain. 1111 00:50:05,128 --> 00:50:06,796 And that is why it's so 1112 00:50:06,921 --> 00:50:08,423 incredibly difficult to get there. 1113 00:50:08,548 --> 00:50:10,550 Dr. Greene: The anatomical location of the basal 1114 00:50:10,675 --> 00:50:13,678 artery is a neurosurgeons no man's land. 1115 00:50:14,429 --> 00:50:16,389 She underwent an operation. 1116 00:50:16,514 --> 00:50:17,265 Again, 1117 00:50:17,390 --> 00:50:20,017 pretty unusual operation called cardiac standstill. 1118 00:50:20,143 --> 00:50:21,978 I came in several times into the operating room 1119 00:50:22,103 --> 00:50:23,312 because it's a cardiac 1120 00:50:23,438 --> 00:50:25,440 standstill case and they're fascinating. 1121 00:50:25,565 --> 00:50:28,359 Dr. Sabom: If you were going to do a laboratory experiment, 1122 00:50:28,484 --> 00:50:30,153 this is the perfect experiment. 1123 00:50:30,278 --> 00:50:32,155 She was put on the operating room table 1124 00:50:32,280 --> 00:50:35,241 and immediately put under general anesthesia. 1125 00:50:35,700 --> 00:50:38,077 Dr. Greene: The cardiac standstill operation requires 1126 00:50:38,202 --> 00:50:41,205 teams of medical providers, surgical providers, 1127 00:50:41,414 --> 00:50:42,707 all of which is designed to: 1128 00:50:42,832 --> 00:50:46,002 1. drop the temperature of a person's body. 1129 00:50:46,127 --> 00:50:49,464 2. Drain out all the blood out of their body. 1130 00:50:49,589 --> 00:50:53,509 3. Keep them in a state of suspended animation, 1131 00:50:53,968 --> 00:50:55,845 shut down brain function. 1132 00:50:55,970 --> 00:50:57,597 And you've actually stopped the heart. 1133 00:50:57,722 --> 00:50:59,348 [backround noises and conversations] 1134 00:51:00,057 --> 00:51:02,477 Dr. Sabom: They had these things in her ears 1135 00:51:02,602 --> 00:51:06,481 that emitted 95 to 100 decibel clicks. 1136 00:51:06,606 --> 00:51:08,149 If the click went off 1137 00:51:08,274 --> 00:51:11,360 and you saw spike on the EEG 1138 00:51:11,486 --> 00:51:13,738 that was measuring the brain stem, 1139 00:51:13,863 --> 00:51:16,491 then you knew the brainstem was active. 1140 00:51:16,616 --> 00:51:18,034 Dr. Greene: No heart that's beating, 1141 00:51:18,159 --> 00:51:21,788 a brain that's no longer functioning. 1142 00:51:21,913 --> 00:51:23,372 Dr. Sabom: And what they had to do is get it 1143 00:51:23,498 --> 00:51:26,334 so that those clicks were eliciting no 1144 00:51:26,459 --> 00:51:29,378 brainstem reactivity, i.e. 1145 00:51:29,504 --> 00:51:30,963 it was flatlined. 1146 00:51:32,465 --> 00:51:35,218 So was pretty much totally isolated 1147 00:51:35,343 --> 00:51:37,595 from the environment physically. 1148 00:51:37,720 --> 00:51:41,140 And medically, she was in a-- 1149 00:51:41,265 --> 00:51:43,643 that's why they call procedure standstill. 1150 00:51:43,768 --> 00:51:45,520 Everything was at a standstill. 1151 00:51:46,771 --> 00:51:47,939 Tom Wilkinson: She would be clinically dead 1152 00:51:48,064 --> 00:51:50,274 for a whole hour of the operation. 1153 00:51:50,733 --> 00:51:52,276 [music] 1154 00:51:52,401 --> 00:51:55,238 Dr. Sabom: She had a three part near-death experience. 1155 00:51:55,363 --> 00:51:57,698 The first part was out-of-body, 1156 00:51:57,824 --> 00:51:59,242 autoscopic part, 1157 00:51:59,367 --> 00:52:02,620 When Spetzler first started up the brain saw 1158 00:52:03,371 --> 00:52:06,165 she heard the conversation between Spetzler and 1159 00:52:06,290 --> 00:52:07,458 the surgeon 1160 00:52:07,583 --> 00:52:09,710 about the artery being too small 1161 00:52:09,836 --> 00:52:10,962 in her right femoral artery, 1162 00:52:11,087 --> 00:52:13,506 and they had to switch over to the left. 1163 00:52:13,631 --> 00:52:14,674 The visual part. 1164 00:52:14,799 --> 00:52:18,678 She saw the bone saw, which I didn't even know 1165 00:52:18,803 --> 00:52:21,722 what it looked like myself as a cardiologist. 1166 00:52:21,848 --> 00:52:23,432 {\an8}Pam: And I was then looking down at the body. 1167 00:52:23,558 --> 00:52:26,894 {\an8}I knew it was my body, but I didn't care. 1168 00:52:27,645 --> 00:52:29,772 My vantage point was sort of 1169 00:52:29,897 --> 00:52:32,024 sitting on the doctor's shoulder. 1170 00:52:32,149 --> 00:52:35,236 I remember the instrument in his hand. 1171 00:52:36,070 --> 00:52:39,866 It looked like the handle of my electric toothbrush. 1172 00:52:39,991 --> 00:52:42,952 Dr. Sabom: And then she said that there was this tray 1173 00:52:43,452 --> 00:52:47,248 of instruments to the right of Spetzler, 1174 00:52:47,498 --> 00:52:50,209 that it looked like the socket wrench set that 1175 00:52:50,334 --> 00:52:51,544 her father used to have. 1176 00:52:53,087 --> 00:52:56,048 And then the other stuff was the same autoscopic. 1177 00:52:56,173 --> 00:52:58,384 And in between those two experiences, 1178 00:52:58,509 --> 00:52:59,594 which she relates 1179 00:52:59,719 --> 00:53:02,722 the experience as a continuous experience, 1180 00:53:03,347 --> 00:53:05,182 she had the transcendental experience. 1181 00:53:05,308 --> 00:53:06,517 Pam: I felt a presence. 1182 00:53:06,642 --> 00:53:08,019 I sort of turned around 1183 00:53:08,144 --> 00:53:10,521 to look at a pin-point of light. 1184 00:53:10,646 --> 00:53:12,815 Dr. Sabom: Well, how do you know the transcendental 1185 00:53:12,940 --> 00:53:14,567 experience happened 1186 00:53:14,692 --> 00:53:16,736 when the blood was drained out of her head? 1187 00:53:16,861 --> 00:53:18,863 Well, you don't. 1188 00:53:18,988 --> 00:53:21,240 All you can do is infer it. 1189 00:53:21,365 --> 00:53:22,533 You can't prove it. 1190 00:53:22,658 --> 00:53:24,702 The other two are time anchored. 1191 00:53:24,827 --> 00:53:27,038 The middle is not. 1192 00:53:27,580 --> 00:53:29,248 [medical equipment beeping] 1193 00:53:30,041 --> 00:53:31,334 Dr. Greene: Pam came back, 1194 00:53:32,126 --> 00:53:34,253 I believe, the following day. 1195 00:53:35,171 --> 00:53:36,839 As with every patient, I'm rounding on her 1196 00:53:36,964 --> 00:53:39,592 in the intensive care unit before the chairman rounds 1197 00:53:39,717 --> 00:53:42,720 and she's awake talking with me. 1198 00:53:43,220 --> 00:53:44,472 You know, usually ask the 1199 00:53:44,597 --> 00:53:45,932 typical questions How are you feeling? 1200 00:53:46,057 --> 00:53:48,601 {\an8}after that tube was removed from her by extubation 1201 00:53:48,726 --> 00:53:50,353 {\an8}and she was able to control her airway 1202 00:53:50,478 --> 00:53:52,521 {\an8}and she was becoming more lucid? 1203 00:53:52,647 --> 00:53:54,649 Well, she had a lot to talk about. 1204 00:53:55,650 --> 00:53:56,609 She began to 1205 00:53:56,734 --> 00:53:59,737 describe some details about her operation. 1206 00:54:00,279 --> 00:54:02,490 And as she spoke, 1207 00:54:02,615 --> 00:54:04,825 I became spooked. 1208 00:54:07,203 --> 00:54:09,664 She talked about her blood vessels and her 1209 00:54:09,789 --> 00:54:12,750 groin, being canulated and being too small. 1210 00:54:12,875 --> 00:54:14,168 [music] 1211 00:54:14,293 --> 00:54:17,254 She talked about her heart being shocked twice. 1212 00:54:18,506 --> 00:54:21,509 Giving me details that she just shouldn't know. 1213 00:54:22,009 --> 00:54:25,012 I sort of put the kibosh on the conversation. 1214 00:54:25,680 --> 00:54:27,974 "Pam, you need to get some rest. 1215 00:54:28,099 --> 00:54:29,600 I'll come back later." 1216 00:54:29,725 --> 00:54:30,643 I went to my chairman 1217 00:54:30,768 --> 00:54:33,437 and told Dr. Spetzler, 1218 00:54:33,562 --> 00:54:35,815 "You need to talk with Pam Reynolds. 1219 00:54:36,649 --> 00:54:39,652 She's describing stuff that she just shouldn't know. 1220 00:54:40,152 --> 00:54:42,655 This ain't right." 1221 00:54:44,031 --> 00:54:44,991 Functionally speaking, 1222 00:54:45,116 --> 00:54:46,909 Pam, was dead. 1223 00:54:47,952 --> 00:54:50,830 Dr. Moody: Typically, when people are coming out of a dream 1224 00:54:50,955 --> 00:54:51,664 in the morning, 1225 00:54:51,789 --> 00:54:54,709 they feel like they're coming back to reality. 1226 00:54:55,042 --> 00:54:58,462 But people who have a near-death experience 1227 00:54:58,587 --> 00:55:01,340 say that is they go into that experience, 1228 00:55:01,590 --> 00:55:04,468 it's this life that becomes dreamlike. 1229 00:55:04,593 --> 00:55:07,555 {\an8}People feel that when they, from the world's 1230 00:55:07,680 --> 00:55:11,392 {\an8}point of view, are dying, they actually are waking up 1231 00:55:11,892 --> 00:55:15,187 {\an8}to a reality that this state of existence 1232 00:55:15,312 --> 00:55:17,857 that we're in now seemed like a dream or 1233 00:55:17,982 --> 00:55:19,275 as though you're asleep. 1234 00:55:19,775 --> 00:55:22,278 [music] 1235 00:55:25,072 --> 00:55:25,948 Dr. Sabom: I think the near-death 1236 00:55:26,073 --> 00:55:29,243 experience is where science meets religion. 1237 00:55:29,368 --> 00:55:32,329 There is a big difference between proof and evidence. 1238 00:55:32,538 --> 00:55:34,081 This is all evidence, 1239 00:55:34,206 --> 00:55:36,751 but enough evidence at some point 1240 00:55:36,876 --> 00:55:42,465 makes it so close to proof that most people would say 1241 00:55:43,841 --> 00:55:44,550 it's right, 1242 00:55:44,675 --> 00:55:46,093 it's real. 1243 00:55:46,677 --> 00:55:48,137 [music] 1244 00:55:48,637 --> 00:55:51,640 I got to watch what I say because I don't want to 1245 00:55:51,891 --> 00:55:54,894 unnecessarily alienate people. 1246 00:55:55,102 --> 00:55:57,938 I think skepticism is good 1247 00:55:58,064 --> 00:55:59,982 skepticism, true skepticism. 1248 00:56:00,107 --> 00:56:02,193 But rigidity is not. 1249 00:56:02,318 --> 00:56:04,070 In other words, if you have an 1250 00:56:04,195 --> 00:56:07,239 ideological opposition to something 1251 00:56:07,782 --> 00:56:11,327 and you fight tooth and nail to support it, 1252 00:56:11,535 --> 00:56:14,538 or at least advocate it 1253 00:56:15,331 --> 00:56:17,500 and refuse to look at the other side, 1254 00:56:17,625 --> 00:56:19,043 that's not being objective. 1255 00:56:19,168 --> 00:56:20,753 {\an8}Dr. Long: There's a lot about the afterlife 1256 00:56:20,878 --> 00:56:22,338 {\an8}that we don't know for sure. 1257 00:56:22,463 --> 00:56:25,341 {\an8}We'll all know for real only after we die. 1258 00:56:25,466 --> 00:56:27,510 {\an8}And not completely before then. 1259 00:56:28,094 --> 00:56:30,763 Mr. Burke: There have been lots of alternate theories 1260 00:56:30,888 --> 00:56:32,807 fighter pilots syndrome. 1261 00:56:33,099 --> 00:56:34,058 [crash] 1262 00:56:34,183 --> 00:56:34,850 You're pulling G's, 1263 00:56:34,975 --> 00:56:36,977 It feels like you're going through a tunnel. 1264 00:56:37,103 --> 00:56:37,978 Some say 1265 00:56:38,104 --> 00:56:41,732 psychedelic drugs like DMT or LSD or mescaline, 1266 00:56:42,733 --> 00:56:45,027 vibrant colors and, and, 1267 00:56:45,152 --> 00:56:48,114 maybe going to another place, 1268 00:56:48,697 --> 00:56:51,617 Dr. Long: You name it, DMT, Ketamine, LSD, 1269 00:56:51,742 --> 00:56:52,868 those are 1270 00:56:52,993 --> 00:56:55,579 generally illicit substances that produce 1271 00:56:55,704 --> 00:56:56,747 hallucinatory effects. 1272 00:56:56,872 --> 00:56:58,332 And in fact, many people 1273 00:56:58,457 --> 00:57:00,334 that take these illicit substances 1274 00:57:00,459 --> 00:57:03,337 and the difference between the experience they have 1275 00:57:03,462 --> 00:57:06,132 and the typical near-death experience 1276 00:57:06,257 --> 00:57:07,633 is very striking. 1277 00:57:08,342 --> 00:57:10,970 Mr. Burke: The problem is that 1278 00:57:11,095 --> 00:57:14,473 all of those might describe one aspect. 1279 00:57:14,640 --> 00:57:15,933 [music] 1280 00:57:16,058 --> 00:57:19,019 You have people and we're talking thousands 1281 00:57:19,145 --> 00:57:22,857 and thousands of people all around the globe, old, 1282 00:57:22,982 --> 00:57:26,569 young, sighted people, blind people. 1283 00:57:27,069 --> 00:57:29,446 And they're saying the same thing, 1284 00:57:29,572 --> 00:57:32,324 though on the other side, blind people can see 1285 00:57:32,449 --> 00:57:35,077 they have to adjust to it, to describing things 1286 00:57:35,202 --> 00:57:38,038 that they see, but they see the same things. 1287 00:57:38,164 --> 00:57:41,208 And there was one study done with 23 blind people, 1288 00:57:41,333 --> 00:57:43,919 14 of them blind from birth, 1289 00:57:44,044 --> 00:57:45,171 two of them that I report 1290 00:57:45,296 --> 00:57:48,257 about describe the light coming out of everything. 1291 00:57:49,049 --> 00:57:51,343 Dr. Long: There's the near-death experience of Marta. 1292 00:57:51,468 --> 00:57:54,805 She was a five-year-old girl and totally blind. 1293 00:57:55,264 --> 00:57:58,017 Marta went into a lake and drowned, 1294 00:57:58,142 --> 00:58:00,853 and her consciousness rose above her body. 1295 00:58:00,978 --> 00:58:04,231 She described vividly details of birds' feathers, 1296 00:58:04,356 --> 00:58:07,276 birds' eyes, details on telephone poles. 1297 00:58:07,443 --> 00:58:10,654 It's remarkable to me how someone totally blind 1298 00:58:11,071 --> 00:58:12,156 can be fascinated 1299 00:58:12,281 --> 00:58:14,617 by mundane things that you and I 1300 00:58:14,742 --> 00:58:16,493 would not consider to be so exciting. 1301 00:58:16,619 --> 00:58:18,746 Seeing this for the first time 1302 00:58:18,871 --> 00:58:20,956 while she's unconscious 1303 00:58:21,081 --> 00:58:22,958 and below the surface of the water 1304 00:58:23,083 --> 00:58:25,586 and yet having a near-death experience. 1305 00:58:25,711 --> 00:58:29,256 Mr. Burke: So how do you get a lucid experience 1306 00:58:29,882 --> 00:58:32,468 that happens both for people who have had 1307 00:58:32,593 --> 00:58:33,886 [rumbling] 1308 00:58:34,011 --> 00:58:35,429 hallucinogenic 1309 00:58:35,554 --> 00:58:38,224 drugs potentially in the hospital or, 1310 00:58:38,349 --> 00:58:40,017 you know, anesthesia, 1311 00:58:40,142 --> 00:58:41,143 But they're saying 1312 00:58:41,268 --> 00:58:44,188 the same things as those who have had no anesthesia 1313 00:58:44,313 --> 00:58:46,941 and the same things that little kids say, 1314 00:58:47,066 --> 00:58:48,734 the same things that people from different 1315 00:58:48,859 --> 00:58:50,444 religious backgrounds and cultures 1316 00:58:50,569 --> 00:58:53,697 say you don't have mass hallucinations. 1317 00:58:53,989 --> 00:58:57,409 [music] 1318 00:59:01,121 --> 00:59:02,915 Don: The moment the truck struck me, 1319 00:59:03,040 --> 00:59:06,001 I was standing at the gates of Heaven. 1320 00:59:07,336 --> 00:59:10,005 [wind blowing] [waves crashing] 1321 00:59:11,799 --> 00:59:14,593 And it was magnificent. 1322 00:59:14,718 --> 00:59:17,054 It was like the inside of an oyster. 1323 00:59:17,179 --> 00:59:20,766 It was pearl and dazzling, 1324 00:59:21,016 --> 00:59:24,019 almost like it was living. 1325 00:59:25,521 --> 00:59:27,815 It just looked that way because of the light 1326 00:59:27,940 --> 00:59:30,901 reflecting off the gate. 1327 00:59:32,027 --> 00:59:33,612 {\an8}Heaven is light. 1328 00:59:33,737 --> 00:59:34,655 {\an8}God is light. 1329 00:59:34,780 --> 00:59:36,824 {\an8}It's... it's astounding. 1330 00:59:37,032 --> 00:59:38,701 [music] 1331 00:59:39,076 --> 00:59:40,494 Don: One of the most difficult things 1332 00:59:40,619 --> 00:59:42,204 about talking about heaven 1333 00:59:42,329 --> 00:59:44,748 is that you have to do it with earthly words, 1334 00:59:44,873 --> 00:59:48,502 and there are no earthly words that do it justice. 1335 00:59:49,086 --> 00:59:50,754 [wind blowing] 1336 00:59:55,676 --> 00:59:58,470 Mr. Black: I did think for a moment, okay, I died. 1337 00:59:58,595 --> 01:00:00,180 Okay, I'm gone. 1338 01:00:00,306 --> 01:00:01,307 And was I sad? 1339 01:00:01,432 --> 01:00:03,267 No, not at all. 1340 01:00:03,475 --> 01:00:04,810 [music] 1341 01:00:06,312 --> 01:00:06,979 I wasn't worried 1342 01:00:07,104 --> 01:00:08,480 about my mom or dad 1343 01:00:08,605 --> 01:00:11,025 or what they would think or my--, nothing. 1344 01:00:11,150 --> 01:00:13,986 {\an8}I was only looking forward to where I was going 1345 01:00:14,111 --> 01:00:17,573 {\an8}and it was nothing but joy and peace, love and unity. 1346 01:00:18,032 --> 01:00:20,409 [water sounds and music] 1347 01:00:25,414 --> 01:00:28,417 Don: I was surrounded by people I knew and loved in life. 1348 01:00:28,542 --> 01:00:29,918 [backround video conversations] 1349 01:00:30,044 --> 01:00:32,880 The first person I saw was my grandfather. 1350 01:00:33,005 --> 01:00:35,174 I was very close to my grandfather. 1351 01:00:35,299 --> 01:00:38,010 The last time I saw him, he was in a casket. 1352 01:00:38,135 --> 01:00:40,971 At his funeral, he did not look good. 1353 01:00:41,096 --> 01:00:44,058 Now I'm standing at the gates of Heaven, 1354 01:00:44,183 --> 01:00:46,101 and there he is to greet me. 1355 01:00:46,226 --> 01:00:47,519 And he looked really good. 1356 01:00:47,644 --> 01:00:48,979 He extended his hands to me 1357 01:00:49,104 --> 01:00:51,106 and spoke a language I've never heard before, 1358 01:00:51,231 --> 01:00:55,402 but fully understood and said, Welcome home, Donnie. 1359 01:00:55,986 --> 01:00:58,155 [music] 1360 01:01:01,867 --> 01:01:05,788 Mr. Black: I recognized this group of people. 1361 01:01:05,954 --> 01:01:11,543 These people are looking at me with such love. 1362 01:01:11,794 --> 01:01:13,545 [music] 1363 01:01:14,546 --> 01:01:18,217 They're all seemingly at the prime of their life. 1364 01:01:18,592 --> 01:01:19,593 And these people 1365 01:01:19,718 --> 01:01:23,305 were greeting me and they were so delighted 1366 01:01:23,680 --> 01:01:26,683 that I was there, 1367 01:01:27,309 --> 01:01:30,604 {\an8}Dr. Neal: And I knew that they were there for me, 1368 01:01:30,729 --> 01:01:34,108 {\an8}to welcome me, to greet me, to to love me, 1369 01:01:34,233 --> 01:01:36,235 to make me feel known. 1370 01:01:36,902 --> 01:01:39,405 And I knew that they had known loved me 1371 01:01:39,530 --> 01:01:42,449 as long as I've existed. 1372 01:01:43,158 --> 01:01:45,160 [music and wind] 1373 01:01:46,203 --> 01:01:48,622 Don: The music was phenomenal. 1374 01:01:48,747 --> 01:01:51,750 Thousands of songs at the same time without chaos, 1375 01:01:52,418 --> 01:01:53,752 all manner of music, 1376 01:01:54,086 --> 01:01:55,421 instrumental, 1377 01:01:55,838 --> 01:01:57,589 choruses, 1378 01:01:59,800 --> 01:02:03,137 Astoundingly, they just invade you. 1379 01:02:03,262 --> 01:02:06,223 I mean, you're permeated by the music. 1380 01:02:06,348 --> 01:02:09,017 [waves of water and music] 1381 01:02:11,228 --> 01:02:14,940 My senses were incredibly vivid, 1382 01:02:15,065 --> 01:02:18,819 you know, touch and taste and feel and hearing. 1383 01:02:18,944 --> 01:02:20,070 It was just all. 1384 01:02:20,195 --> 01:02:21,447 It's just the most real thing 1385 01:02:21,572 --> 01:02:22,948 that's ever happened to me. 1386 01:02:25,451 --> 01:02:28,871 After I greeted the people, they parted 1387 01:02:28,996 --> 01:02:31,999 and I could see through the gate. 1388 01:02:32,833 --> 01:02:34,793 There was a long boulevard that 1389 01:02:34,918 --> 01:02:36,753 really bisects the city 1390 01:02:36,879 --> 01:02:39,882 and it appears to be constructed of gold. 1391 01:02:40,424 --> 01:02:43,427 So many of the things that we experience here 1392 01:02:43,719 --> 01:02:46,472 are there, but much infinitely 1393 01:02:46,597 --> 01:02:49,516 more glorious and perfect. 1394 01:02:49,683 --> 01:02:52,102 I wanted to climb that hill 1395 01:02:52,227 --> 01:02:54,354 and fall at the feet of the great 1396 01:02:54,480 --> 01:02:56,523 God of all creation and say, 1397 01:02:56,648 --> 01:02:59,359 "Thank you for letting me come." 1398 01:02:59,485 --> 01:03:00,777 That was my objective. 1399 01:03:01,069 --> 01:03:02,404 [loud closing sound] 1400 01:03:07,242 --> 01:03:09,870 Mr. Burke: Not every near-death experience is a good one. 1401 01:03:09,995 --> 01:03:13,332 23% of those who come forward talking about them 1402 01:03:13,957 --> 01:03:16,960 talk about how they had hellish experiences. 1403 01:03:18,629 --> 01:03:20,964 [TV Static] 1404 01:03:26,803 --> 01:03:27,596 Paul: At that time, 1405 01:03:27,721 --> 01:03:30,641 I, I felt really empty. 1406 01:03:30,766 --> 01:03:33,018 {\an8}It just seemed like the best thing to do 1407 01:03:33,143 --> 01:03:35,020 {\an8}was just to die at that point. 1408 01:03:35,145 --> 01:03:37,314 {\an8}If I die, then it's game over. 1409 01:03:37,439 --> 01:03:39,858 {\an8}And if I die, then the pain and the suffering, 1410 01:03:39,983 --> 01:03:41,360 the depression, 1411 01:03:41,485 --> 01:03:43,904 the darkness, all this is going to stop. 1412 01:03:44,029 --> 01:03:46,114 Well, if I do enough cocaine, 1413 01:03:46,240 --> 01:03:47,866 then maybe my heart will stop beating 1414 01:03:47,991 --> 01:03:50,244 because it feels like it's racing out of my chest. 1415 01:03:50,410 --> 01:03:51,828 [heartbeats] [heartbeats stop] 1416 01:03:54,581 --> 01:03:56,833 [whooshing] 1417 01:03:57,668 --> 01:03:58,877 And I didn't see a bright light. 1418 01:03:59,002 --> 01:03:59,920 I saw a black tunnel. 1419 01:04:00,045 --> 01:04:01,630 It felt like somebody grabbed me and dropped me 1420 01:04:01,755 --> 01:04:04,174 in this outer darkness. 1421 01:04:04,299 --> 01:04:06,885 As I started racing down this tunnel, 1422 01:04:07,010 --> 01:04:08,387 it seemed like infinity. 1423 01:04:08,512 --> 01:04:11,306 It was like a bottomless pit. 1424 01:04:11,431 --> 01:04:13,934 I don't know how, but I was no longer high. 1425 01:04:14,059 --> 01:04:17,062 All my senses were at 1,000. 1426 01:04:18,647 --> 01:04:20,399 I knew that I had died, 1427 01:04:20,524 --> 01:04:22,025 and it was one of the scariest moments 1428 01:04:22,150 --> 01:04:24,111 in my entire life. 1429 01:04:25,320 --> 01:04:27,281 And I'm racing down this tunnel 1430 01:04:27,406 --> 01:04:28,949 that seems like forever, 1431 01:04:29,074 --> 01:04:31,577 like a thousand miles an hour 1432 01:04:31,702 --> 01:04:33,620 as I'm just freefalling. 1433 01:04:33,870 --> 01:04:35,539 [low violin tones] 1434 01:04:36,081 --> 01:04:38,292 If I'm going to hell, there's got to be a mistake 1435 01:04:38,417 --> 01:04:40,377 because I never killed anybody. 1436 01:04:40,502 --> 01:04:41,461 I didn't rob a bank. 1437 01:04:41,587 --> 01:04:43,505 I mean, I'm a good person. 1438 01:04:43,630 --> 01:04:44,631 I'm not a bad guy. 1439 01:04:44,756 --> 01:04:46,967 The only person I hurt was myself. 1440 01:04:47,092 --> 01:04:50,178 When I began to justify how good I was, 1441 01:04:50,804 --> 01:04:52,431 it went faster 1442 01:04:52,556 --> 01:04:54,558 like 2,000 miles an hour. 1443 01:04:56,226 --> 01:04:58,103 It speeded up the process. 1444 01:04:58,228 --> 01:05:01,189 Like, now you're really going to Hell. 1445 01:05:02,357 --> 01:05:04,651 I remember at that point I cried out 1446 01:05:04,776 --> 01:05:07,738 with all desperation. 1447 01:05:09,531 --> 01:05:13,201 I said, "God, you need to come help me right now. 1448 01:05:14,036 --> 01:05:17,039 because I need you. 1449 01:05:17,873 --> 01:05:20,876 If you really exist, I need your help. 1450 01:05:21,418 --> 01:05:22,669 So you got to come help me. 1451 01:05:22,794 --> 01:05:25,714 Please, God, I need your help." 1452 01:05:27,007 --> 01:05:29,009 [low tones] 1453 01:05:30,594 --> 01:05:31,345 Mr. Storm: In the bed 1454 01:05:31,470 --> 01:05:34,389 that I had been in was this big slab of meat. 1455 01:05:34,598 --> 01:05:36,642 And when I looked at the face, 1456 01:05:36,767 --> 01:05:39,811 it bore an amazing resemblance to me. 1457 01:05:41,730 --> 01:05:44,483 And I could not understand 1458 01:05:44,608 --> 01:05:47,027 how that could resemble me. 1459 01:05:47,152 --> 01:05:49,237 But I was perfectly well standing there, 1460 01:05:49,363 --> 01:05:52,282 perfectly alive, looking at this, 1461 01:05:52,491 --> 01:05:53,408 hunk of meat. 1462 01:05:54,910 --> 01:05:56,745 The other thing that bothered me was that 1463 01:05:56,870 --> 01:05:59,831 my wife would not respond to me. 1464 01:06:01,667 --> 01:06:03,585 {\an8}Well, at first I started talking in a nice voice, 1465 01:06:03,710 --> 01:06:05,253 {\an8}and then I started yelling at her, like, you know, 1466 01:06:06,588 --> 01:06:08,924 {\an8}what the hell is going on here? 1467 01:06:09,049 --> 01:06:11,093 Look at me. Talk to me. 1468 01:06:11,218 --> 01:06:12,135 You know, I'm all better. 1469 01:06:12,260 --> 01:06:14,805 You know, what's that thing in the bed? 1470 01:06:14,930 --> 01:06:16,473 How did it get there? 1471 01:06:18,100 --> 01:06:21,103 I was very upset, very distressed. 1472 01:06:21,436 --> 01:06:24,272 And then I heard people out in the hallway 1473 01:06:24,398 --> 01:06:27,275 outside the well-lit room 1474 01:06:28,068 --> 01:06:32,406 in the darkish-gray, hazy hallway. 1475 01:06:33,115 --> 01:06:35,117 [music] 1476 01:06:40,372 --> 01:06:42,249 And there was a group of people standing 1477 01:06:42,374 --> 01:06:45,961 outside the light of the room in the hallway. 1478 01:06:46,628 --> 01:06:47,504 I said, "I'm sick. 1479 01:06:47,629 --> 01:06:49,172 I need a doctor." 1480 01:06:50,674 --> 01:06:53,260 And they said, "We know. 1481 01:06:53,385 --> 01:06:54,928 We know all about you. 1482 01:06:55,053 --> 01:06:56,346 It's time for you to come with us." 1483 01:06:56,471 --> 01:06:59,015 So I thought that they were 1484 01:06:59,141 --> 01:07:02,102 hospital personnel to take me to a doctor. 1485 01:07:02,394 --> 01:07:04,146 [low tones] 1486 01:07:05,355 --> 01:07:06,606 When I left the room 1487 01:07:06,732 --> 01:07:07,983 and went into the hall, 1488 01:07:09,401 --> 01:07:11,153 I can't explain how I knew, 1489 01:07:11,278 --> 01:07:13,155 I couldn't go back into the room. 1490 01:07:13,280 --> 01:07:14,531 The door didn't close, 1491 01:07:14,656 --> 01:07:16,199 but I knew that it was impossible 1492 01:07:16,324 --> 01:07:18,952 for me to go back into the light of the room. 1493 01:07:19,077 --> 01:07:21,288 So I hesitated and the people became very... 1494 01:07:21,413 --> 01:07:23,331 Hurry up, Let's go. Let's go. 1495 01:07:23,457 --> 01:07:25,167 We can't wait anymore. You know. 1496 01:07:25,292 --> 01:07:27,919 We've been here a long time waiting for you. 1497 01:07:28,044 --> 01:07:28,795 Hurry up. 1498 01:07:28,920 --> 01:07:32,132 So I gave in and went with them 1499 01:07:32,257 --> 01:07:34,426 and they immediately surrounded me 1500 01:07:34,551 --> 01:07:37,137 and moved me forward into that greyness. 1501 01:07:38,805 --> 01:07:41,141 [dramatic music] 1502 01:07:48,356 --> 01:07:52,527 As we moved along, I could not perceive walls, 1503 01:07:52,861 --> 01:07:56,281 ceiling, any feature at all. 1504 01:07:56,907 --> 01:07:58,700 And we walked and walked and walked. 1505 01:07:58,825 --> 01:08:00,494 And after a while I was like, okay, 1506 01:08:00,619 --> 01:08:02,662 this hospital's not that big, you know? 1507 01:08:02,788 --> 01:08:05,707 I mean, we walked miles now, and it's like, 1508 01:08:05,916 --> 01:08:07,584 where's the stairs? 1509 01:08:07,709 --> 01:08:08,919 You know, where's the up and down? 1510 01:08:09,044 --> 01:08:11,087 Where's the walls? And there was nothing. 1511 01:08:11,213 --> 01:08:12,714 We just walked and walked. 1512 01:08:15,550 --> 01:08:16,718 So I was asking the people 1513 01:08:16,843 --> 01:08:18,720 around me like, this isn't the hospital, 1514 01:08:18,845 --> 01:08:21,223 This isn't right, you know, where are we? 1515 01:08:21,348 --> 01:08:22,057 Stuff like that, and, 1516 01:08:22,182 --> 01:08:25,519 their response was, "Shut up, be quiet. 1517 01:08:25,811 --> 01:08:26,478 Keep moving. 1518 01:08:26,603 --> 01:08:28,188 Move, move, move!" 1519 01:08:28,396 --> 01:08:29,773 [dramatic music] 1520 01:08:30,607 --> 01:08:33,151 They'd say, "You're going to find out. 1521 01:08:33,276 --> 01:08:35,362 You'll find out. 1522 01:08:35,487 --> 01:08:38,448 You're going to get there." 1523 01:08:38,615 --> 01:08:39,574 [low background voices] 1524 01:08:39,699 --> 01:08:41,451 There was a lot of people around us, 1525 01:08:41,576 --> 01:08:42,911 possibly hundreds, 1526 01:08:43,036 --> 01:08:44,579 I don't know. They were 1527 01:08:44,704 --> 01:08:47,749 being very vulgar, very threatening, very scary. 1528 01:08:48,875 --> 01:08:50,710 I'm in abject darkness. 1529 01:08:50,836 --> 01:08:53,213 I have absolutely no idea which way 1530 01:08:53,338 --> 01:08:55,590 is forward, backward. I mean, 1531 01:08:55,715 --> 01:08:57,759 all I knew was I wanted to get away from them. 1532 01:08:57,884 --> 01:09:00,428 [music and crackling] 1533 01:09:00,554 --> 01:09:03,223 They said, "No, you've got further to go." 1534 01:09:03,348 --> 01:09:06,268 And they started to push and shove me. 1535 01:09:07,102 --> 01:09:09,938 And I fought back. 1536 01:09:10,063 --> 01:09:13,066 They began by punching, shoving, kicking. 1537 01:09:14,150 --> 01:09:17,654 And then they started biting, scratching 1538 01:09:17,779 --> 01:09:18,738 [sinister laughter] 1539 01:09:18,864 --> 01:09:21,741 and tearing me apart, literally. 1540 01:09:21,867 --> 01:09:24,077 disemboweling me, gouging my eyes. 1541 01:09:24,202 --> 01:09:25,745 And it was all accompanied 1542 01:09:25,871 --> 01:09:27,539 with a great deal of laughter and joy. 1543 01:09:28,164 --> 01:09:30,834 [dark noises] [backround laughter] 1544 01:09:32,627 --> 01:09:35,005 I thought about 1545 01:09:35,130 --> 01:09:36,798 my whole life and everything seemed like 1546 01:09:36,923 --> 01:09:38,800 what was the point. 1547 01:09:38,925 --> 01:09:40,760 And I realized that my relationships 1548 01:09:40,886 --> 01:09:43,805 with my mother and father were a disaster. 1549 01:09:44,139 --> 01:09:47,142 My relationship with my sisters wasn't good. 1550 01:09:47,350 --> 01:09:50,604 My relationship with my wife was very troubled. 1551 01:09:50,812 --> 01:09:52,689 [music] 1552 01:09:52,814 --> 01:09:55,233 I was not proud or pleased 1553 01:09:55,358 --> 01:09:57,569 with my relationship with my two children. 1554 01:09:57,694 --> 01:09:59,738 [music] 1555 01:09:59,863 --> 01:10:01,781 I sank into 1556 01:10:01,907 --> 01:10:05,619 a pit of despair and hopelessness 1557 01:10:05,744 --> 01:10:07,996 that I can't begin to describe. 1558 01:10:08,121 --> 01:10:10,332 [crackling] 1559 01:10:12,375 --> 01:10:17,005 My mind offered up a memory of myself as a little boy 1560 01:10:17,130 --> 01:10:20,091 going to a Sunday school singing "Jesus Loves Me" 1561 01:10:20,967 --> 01:10:22,260 When I was a little boy 1562 01:10:22,385 --> 01:10:24,471 and I was afraid, like having nightmares 1563 01:10:24,596 --> 01:10:27,641 at night or whatever, I would pray to Him and 1564 01:10:28,183 --> 01:10:30,143 He would chase the lions and tigers. 1565 01:10:30,268 --> 01:10:32,270 and bears away. 1566 01:10:32,395 --> 01:10:34,940 And as a child, it was, like, mostly 1567 01:10:35,065 --> 01:10:36,983 in the image of like a superhero. 1568 01:10:37,108 --> 01:10:39,152 Jesus was like a superhero. 1569 01:10:39,277 --> 01:10:40,153 And so... 1570 01:10:40,487 --> 01:10:41,196 that's it. 1571 01:10:41,529 --> 01:10:43,031 That was all I knew. 1572 01:10:43,156 --> 01:10:46,701 So I called out to him in complete desperation, 1573 01:10:47,953 --> 01:10:51,039 A tiny little star appeared in the sky, 1574 01:10:51,164 --> 01:10:52,374 [thunder rumbling] 1575 01:10:52,499 --> 01:10:54,584 and very rapidly it got brighter 1576 01:10:54,709 --> 01:10:57,629 and brighter and brighter. 1577 01:10:58,254 --> 01:11:00,048 Mr. Black: I started moving 1578 01:11:00,173 --> 01:11:03,385 helplessly without direction. 1579 01:11:03,510 --> 01:11:05,345 I had nothing to do with this. 1580 01:11:05,470 --> 01:11:07,305 I started moving out of the room. 1581 01:11:07,430 --> 01:11:09,641 I next realized that 1582 01:11:09,766 --> 01:11:12,894 I have left the hospital and now I'm traveling 1583 01:11:13,603 --> 01:11:16,606 almost like a rocket ship, just moving 1584 01:11:16,856 --> 01:11:18,274 out of this atmosphere. 1585 01:11:18,441 --> 01:11:19,776 [boom and rumbling] 1586 01:11:20,568 --> 01:11:23,571 As if in deep space. 1587 01:11:24,948 --> 01:11:28,326 Mr. Storm: I realized we were not on the ground anymore. 1588 01:11:28,451 --> 01:11:31,413 We were moving upward, straight upwards. 1589 01:11:31,538 --> 01:11:33,248 [thunder rumbling] 1590 01:11:33,373 --> 01:11:35,458 So I've got my face buried in His chest 1591 01:11:35,583 --> 01:11:36,418 hanging on to Him. 1592 01:11:36,543 --> 01:11:39,045 I'm like, I don't want to let me go because I, 1593 01:11:39,170 --> 01:11:40,547 I'm afraid if I let go, 1594 01:11:40,672 --> 01:11:42,507 or if he lets go, I'm going to fall back 1595 01:11:42,632 --> 01:11:44,384 into that horrible place again. 1596 01:11:44,509 --> 01:11:47,303 Mr. Black: And there was a beam of light that was lighting 1597 01:11:47,429 --> 01:11:50,348 the pathway of where I was going. 1598 01:11:50,473 --> 01:11:52,684 [music] 1599 01:11:52,809 --> 01:11:54,477 Paul: My whole life flashed in front of me 1600 01:11:54,602 --> 01:11:56,104 as big as the sky, 1601 01:11:56,980 --> 01:11:58,773 Mr. Black: Tiny spheres of light. 1602 01:11:59,441 --> 01:12:02,402 They weren't planets, they weren't stars. 1603 01:12:02,527 --> 01:12:05,530 These were beings going to Earth 1604 01:12:05,947 --> 01:12:07,991 Mr. Storm: Where we were going is what I first thought 1605 01:12:08,116 --> 01:12:11,536 was a galaxy. A huge world of light. 1606 01:12:11,911 --> 01:12:13,788 Mr. Black: The light that I'm looking at, 1607 01:12:13,913 --> 01:12:16,958 is coming from none other than God Himself. 1608 01:12:17,083 --> 01:12:19,627 [music] 1609 01:12:20,336 --> 01:12:23,339 Inside the light was life, 1610 01:12:24,924 --> 01:12:27,927 And inside that light was love. 1611 01:12:28,053 --> 01:12:31,723 And my body is still on Earth. 1612 01:12:33,308 --> 01:12:36,770 My brain and eyeballs are back there. 1613 01:12:37,937 --> 01:12:39,773 But, I'm sensing and discerning 1614 01:12:39,898 --> 01:12:42,817 all of these things. 1615 01:12:43,651 --> 01:12:44,986 Paul: When you leave this earth 1616 01:12:45,111 --> 01:12:47,280 and you step into the eternity, 1617 01:12:47,405 --> 01:12:50,408 everything is crystal clear. 1618 01:12:51,034 --> 01:12:52,368 [music] 1619 01:12:57,999 --> 01:13:00,085 Mr. Black: I knew I was coming to this holy area 1620 01:13:00,210 --> 01:13:01,669 and obviously 1621 01:13:01,795 --> 01:13:04,714 it took another second to connect the dots. 1622 01:13:04,839 --> 01:13:06,257 This is Heaven. 1623 01:13:06,466 --> 01:13:08,218 [music playing] 1624 01:13:11,679 --> 01:13:12,597 Mr. Storm: And he spoke to me 1625 01:13:12,722 --> 01:13:15,642 for the first time in his voice, 1626 01:13:15,767 --> 01:13:17,894 but it was telepathic but it wasn't 1627 01:13:18,019 --> 01:13:19,062 a thought of mine. 1628 01:13:19,187 --> 01:13:21,314 It was his voice in my head. 1629 01:13:21,439 --> 01:13:22,982 And then he said, I've got some people 1630 01:13:23,108 --> 01:13:24,359 that I want you to meet. 1631 01:13:24,484 --> 01:13:26,152 They've recorded your life 1632 01:13:26,277 --> 01:13:29,239 and they want show you your life. 1633 01:13:29,781 --> 01:13:31,658 So they proceeded to 1634 01:13:31,783 --> 01:13:33,952 show me my life in chronological order. 1635 01:13:34,327 --> 01:13:36,663 [movie reel clicks] 1636 01:13:38,748 --> 01:13:41,751 What I saw, to summarize it, was 1637 01:13:42,877 --> 01:13:44,712 happy youth 1638 01:13:44,838 --> 01:13:45,755 pretty much 1639 01:13:45,880 --> 01:13:49,217 going to adolescence, everything going sour, 1640 01:13:50,385 --> 01:13:51,636 particularly with my relationship 1641 01:13:51,761 --> 01:13:52,470 with my father. 1642 01:13:52,595 --> 01:13:56,808 Because of my father's cruelty to me, 1643 01:13:58,017 --> 01:13:59,686 I was cruel back. 1644 01:14:01,563 --> 01:14:04,482 My father was physically and emotionally abusive 1645 01:14:04,607 --> 01:14:07,861 every day to my mother, my sisters and to me. 1646 01:14:09,904 --> 01:14:11,114 I mean, it never stopped. 1647 01:14:13,408 --> 01:14:14,951 The only way that I could deal with it 1648 01:14:15,076 --> 01:14:17,954 was to try and not feel anything. 1649 01:14:18,329 --> 01:14:20,165 And all he wanted for me 1650 01:14:20,290 --> 01:14:23,418 was to be a little duplicate of him, 1651 01:14:23,751 --> 01:14:26,629 you know, just be subservient to him. 1652 01:14:26,754 --> 01:14:29,382 You know, being being disobedient 1653 01:14:29,507 --> 01:14:31,843 had immediate physical consequences 1654 01:14:31,968 --> 01:14:34,929 of being kicked or punched or hit. 1655 01:14:36,181 --> 01:14:38,933 And I saw myself striving 1656 01:14:39,058 --> 01:14:42,353 to become emotionless and feeling-less, 1657 01:14:43,229 --> 01:14:45,273 which was a way for me to protect myself 1658 01:14:45,398 --> 01:14:46,357 from being hurt. 1659 01:14:46,482 --> 01:14:47,984 [music] 1660 01:14:48,359 --> 01:14:51,196 As I became more manipulative 1661 01:14:51,321 --> 01:14:53,198 and successful, 1662 01:14:53,323 --> 01:14:56,451 the more the angels and Jesus expressed 1663 01:14:56,576 --> 01:14:57,785 their disappointment 1664 01:14:57,911 --> 01:15:00,914 and sadness with me and my life. 1665 01:15:02,582 --> 01:15:04,918 And it really hurt to disappoint them 1666 01:15:05,043 --> 01:15:05,877 because I here 1667 01:15:06,002 --> 01:15:08,963 I have these newfound friends, my big rescuer, 1668 01:15:09,964 --> 01:15:12,967 you know, best friend I ever had. 1669 01:15:14,802 --> 01:15:16,554 And I'm-- and I'm looking at my life 1670 01:15:16,679 --> 01:15:19,599 and I'm a big, huge disappointment. 1671 01:15:19,849 --> 01:15:21,517 [music] 1672 01:15:22,602 --> 01:15:25,772 and you should put me back. 1673 01:15:26,898 --> 01:15:29,400 I don't belong here. 1674 01:15:29,984 --> 01:15:31,986 [crying and music] 1675 01:15:33,780 --> 01:15:34,906 You know, you've made a mistake. 1676 01:15:35,031 --> 01:15:35,990 I don't belong here. 1677 01:15:36,115 --> 01:15:38,076 And he said, "We don't make mistakes. 1678 01:15:38,201 --> 01:15:41,079 You do belong here." 1679 01:15:41,204 --> 01:15:42,455 [music] 1680 01:15:45,917 --> 01:15:46,918 Dr. Neal: At this point. 1681 01:15:47,043 --> 01:15:48,795 I had had 1682 01:15:48,920 --> 01:15:50,880 a number of operations and 1683 01:15:51,005 --> 01:15:55,385 I was finally able to be upright instead of 1684 01:15:55,969 --> 01:15:56,928 wheelchair bound. 1685 01:15:58,471 --> 01:16:00,139 But I, 1686 01:16:00,265 --> 01:16:03,268 wasn't able to walk very well. 1687 01:16:05,561 --> 01:16:08,564 When I was sent back to my body, 1688 01:16:09,565 --> 01:16:12,735 I knew that sharing my experiences 1689 01:16:12,860 --> 01:16:15,780 with other people was part of the deal. 1690 01:16:16,656 --> 01:16:20,618 I knew that part of that was writing about them. 1691 01:16:21,536 --> 01:16:23,913 And so I woke up 1692 01:16:24,038 --> 01:16:27,750 and I spent the next week or so 1693 01:16:28,376 --> 01:16:31,796 getting up at three or four in the morning and 1694 01:16:32,422 --> 01:16:35,425 writing for a few hours before the morning routine. 1695 01:16:36,634 --> 01:16:40,555 And so I, you know, made my final revisions. 1696 01:16:40,680 --> 01:16:43,891 And when I hit the save button, 1697 01:16:44,142 --> 01:16:47,812 I took my youngest son, who was still living at home 1698 01:16:48,479 --> 01:16:51,482 into town to get ice cream so we could celebrate. 1699 01:16:52,150 --> 01:16:55,153 And so as we were driving into town 1700 01:16:56,487 --> 01:17:00,158 to celebrate, I called my older boys 1701 01:17:00,992 --> 01:17:03,995 because my oldest son and his brother 1702 01:17:04,370 --> 01:17:06,956 were at the time living in Maine. 1703 01:17:07,081 --> 01:17:08,207 They were ski training. 1704 01:17:08,333 --> 01:17:09,542 [music] 1705 01:17:10,335 --> 01:17:11,753 And I called them 1706 01:17:11,878 --> 01:17:14,839 to share this great news. 1707 01:17:15,965 --> 01:17:18,593 And the coach answered the phone 1708 01:17:18,718 --> 01:17:22,513 and told me that Willie had just been hit 1709 01:17:22,638 --> 01:17:24,599 by a car and killed. 1710 01:17:24,807 --> 01:17:26,476 [holding back tears] 1711 01:17:32,648 --> 01:17:33,858 and um, 1712 01:17:34,776 --> 01:17:36,110 [music] 1713 01:17:40,656 --> 01:17:41,991 I mean, 1714 01:17:43,368 --> 01:17:45,578 I reacted 1715 01:17:45,703 --> 01:17:48,664 like any mother would. 1716 01:17:52,877 --> 01:17:54,879 [emergency sirens] 1717 01:17:57,006 --> 01:18:00,718 The depth of my spiritual knowledge, 1718 01:18:02,053 --> 01:18:05,223 does not protect me from grief. 1719 01:18:06,474 --> 01:18:09,477 It doesn't protect me from 1720 01:18:09,602 --> 01:18:12,563 sorrow or any of those things. 1721 01:18:14,273 --> 01:18:15,400 The depth of pain, 1722 01:18:15,525 --> 01:18:18,486 of losing a child is, 1723 01:18:19,195 --> 01:18:21,989 I don't think, a 1724 01:18:22,115 --> 01:18:24,200 pain that can be replicated by 1725 01:18:24,325 --> 01:18:27,245 any other human experience. 1726 01:18:28,788 --> 01:18:31,791 I mean, I was devastated 1727 01:18:32,250 --> 01:18:33,918 [music playing] 1728 01:18:36,421 --> 01:18:38,131 [rain falling] 1729 01:18:40,216 --> 01:18:42,051 [distant thunder] 1730 01:18:48,641 --> 01:18:51,644 Don: And it all stopped 1731 01:18:52,770 --> 01:18:55,773 just as quickly I arrived. 1732 01:18:59,235 --> 01:19:01,946 [emergency sirens] 1733 01:19:02,071 --> 01:19:04,824 That accident happened at 11:45 in the morning. 1734 01:19:04,949 --> 01:19:07,952 I arrived at Hermann Memorial Hospital 1735 01:19:08,202 --> 01:19:11,205 at like 6:15 that night. 1736 01:19:11,622 --> 01:19:14,500 {\an8}So they went and got my wife out of her classroom, 1737 01:19:14,625 --> 01:19:15,460 {\an8}brought it down to the office 1738 01:19:15,585 --> 01:19:17,086 {\an8}and told her the news. 1739 01:19:17,753 --> 01:19:20,214 Eva: And I walked down the hall and into the office, 1740 01:19:20,339 --> 01:19:21,883 {\an8}and our assistant principal 1741 01:19:22,008 --> 01:19:23,426 {\an8}came out from around her desk 1742 01:19:23,551 --> 01:19:25,136 {\an8}and just wrapped me in this hug. 1743 01:19:25,261 --> 01:19:28,139 And she says, "Don's been in an accident." 1744 01:19:28,264 --> 01:19:30,266 And that's all that we knew. 1745 01:19:30,391 --> 01:19:33,394 Don: I was taken into surgery that evening 1746 01:19:33,644 --> 01:19:36,647 and was in surgery for 12 hours. 1747 01:19:38,441 --> 01:19:39,942 The next day 1748 01:19:40,067 --> 01:19:42,987 was when I realized I was in the recovery room. 1749 01:19:43,696 --> 01:19:46,699 Eva: The emergency room had called 1750 01:19:46,824 --> 01:19:49,076 and the nurse said, he can't hold the phone, 1751 01:19:49,202 --> 01:19:50,995 but I'm going to put it next to his ear 1752 01:19:51,120 --> 01:19:52,747 so he can hear you. 1753 01:19:53,998 --> 01:19:55,041 And I started with the questions, 1754 01:19:55,166 --> 01:19:57,001 "Are you okay? What happened? 1755 01:19:57,126 --> 01:19:58,169 Do I need to come out there?" 1756 01:19:58,294 --> 01:20:01,172 just, you know, rambling sort of things. 1757 01:20:01,297 --> 01:20:02,882 And all I could hear him say was, 1758 01:20:03,007 --> 01:20:04,759 "I just want to go home. 1759 01:20:04,884 --> 01:20:06,010 I just want to go home." 1760 01:20:06,219 --> 01:20:08,221 [hospital machine sounds] [wheezing breaths] 1761 01:20:08,429 --> 01:20:09,639 Later, I understood 1762 01:20:09,764 --> 01:20:12,683 that he meant his Heavenly home. 1763 01:20:13,684 --> 01:20:14,477 Don: Had I had a choice, 1764 01:20:14,602 --> 01:20:16,187 I would not have come back here. 1765 01:20:16,312 --> 01:20:19,357 I mean, I've had 30 wonderful years here, 1766 01:20:19,982 --> 01:20:21,776 but I would still rather be there. 1767 01:20:21,901 --> 01:20:23,027 I know what happens next, 1768 01:20:23,152 --> 01:20:25,404 and it's it's always better there 1769 01:20:25,530 --> 01:20:26,781 than it will ever be here. 1770 01:20:26,906 --> 01:20:29,867 So I didn't really want to come back, but 1771 01:20:30,284 --> 01:20:32,286 I didn't get a choice. 1772 01:20:34,247 --> 01:20:36,499 Eva: He went into a deep depression. 1773 01:20:36,624 --> 01:20:40,545 And I would go in, and he would just lay there. 1774 01:20:40,836 --> 01:20:44,090 He wouldn't talk to me. He wouldn't acknowledge me. 1775 01:20:44,882 --> 01:20:46,133 I would bring papers to grade. 1776 01:20:46,259 --> 01:20:47,927 I would sit over in the corner and grade 1777 01:20:48,052 --> 01:20:50,137 and stay there till about 11:00 1778 01:20:50,263 --> 01:20:52,056 almost every night. 1779 01:20:52,807 --> 01:20:54,141 And then I'd tell him goodnight, 1780 01:20:54,267 --> 01:20:55,518 and I'd leave. 1781 01:20:55,768 --> 01:20:57,687 [music] [deep crying breaths] 1782 01:20:59,397 --> 01:21:02,400 And it was hurtful, because I thought, you're alive. 1783 01:21:02,817 --> 01:21:04,402 You know, you're alive. You're back with us. 1784 01:21:04,527 --> 01:21:05,486 Don't you love us enough to 1785 01:21:05,611 --> 01:21:06,904 be glad to be back with us? 1786 01:21:09,115 --> 01:21:12,201 And to me, that was harder to deal with. 1787 01:21:12,326 --> 01:21:14,203 The depression was harder to deal with 1788 01:21:14,328 --> 01:21:17,331 than the physical injuries, which were massive. 1789 01:21:17,873 --> 01:21:20,042 And I remember one night, 1790 01:21:20,167 --> 01:21:21,627 I thought, you know what? 1791 01:21:21,752 --> 01:21:23,212 I'm going to go home early tonight, 1792 01:21:23,337 --> 01:21:25,214 and I'm going to take a warm shower, 1793 01:21:25,339 --> 01:21:26,757 and I'm going to crawl in the bed, 1794 01:21:26,882 --> 01:21:28,509 and get a good night's sleep. 1795 01:21:28,634 --> 01:21:31,596 So I gathered up all my stuff, 1796 01:21:31,721 --> 01:21:33,097 and I just said, 1797 01:21:33,222 --> 01:21:35,308 well, I guess I'll see you tomorrow. 1798 01:21:40,605 --> 01:21:43,399 No response. 1799 01:21:43,524 --> 01:21:44,692 That night, something 1800 01:21:44,817 --> 01:21:47,695 clicked inside of me, and I had had it. 1801 01:21:47,903 --> 01:21:50,865 And I dropped that book bag, 1802 01:21:50,990 --> 01:21:53,576 and I stomped my way over to the side of the bed, 1803 01:21:53,701 --> 01:21:54,952 and I let him have it. 1804 01:21:55,077 --> 01:21:56,787 What is wrong with you? 1805 01:21:56,912 --> 01:21:58,414 Why aren't you glad to see us? 1806 01:21:58,539 --> 01:22:00,333 Why aren't you glad that you're back with us? 1807 01:22:00,458 --> 01:22:02,251 It was just-- it just tumbled out. 1808 01:22:02,585 --> 01:22:04,587 [music] 1809 01:22:04,712 --> 01:22:05,921 And so I grabbed my stuff up, 1810 01:22:06,047 --> 01:22:08,132 and I'm walking out the door. 1811 01:22:08,257 --> 01:22:11,177 And there was a big mirror next to his bed. 1812 01:22:12,845 --> 01:22:15,848 And I looked over there, and he was crying. 1813 01:22:17,558 --> 01:22:19,143 Just tears. 1814 01:22:20,019 --> 01:22:23,689 So I walked myself back over, and I kind of had to- 1815 01:22:23,898 --> 01:22:26,901 he had so many metal things that we had kind of 1816 01:22:27,193 --> 01:22:30,196 got my way in and I just wrapped him in my arms. 1817 01:22:30,738 --> 01:22:33,532 And I said, It's going to be okay. 1818 01:22:33,658 --> 01:22:37,870 And I realized then that 1819 01:22:39,163 --> 01:22:42,124 I had to accept that sometimes 1820 01:22:42,416 --> 01:22:45,378 he was going through things I didn't understand. 1821 01:22:47,129 --> 01:22:50,132 [music] 1822 01:22:54,470 --> 01:22:56,597 Mr. Storm: Finally, 1823 01:22:56,722 --> 01:22:59,433 I got through it. 1824 01:22:59,558 --> 01:23:01,394 Jesus said, "Do you have any questions?" 1825 01:23:01,519 --> 01:23:03,020 I said, "I've got a million questions." 1826 01:23:03,145 --> 01:23:05,147 He said, "What do you want to know?" 1827 01:23:05,272 --> 01:23:06,232 So I asked him everything that 1828 01:23:06,357 --> 01:23:08,192 I could think of to know, 1829 01:23:08,317 --> 01:23:09,860 And if we went through that, 1830 01:23:09,985 --> 01:23:11,278 it would take us several years. 1831 01:23:12,738 --> 01:23:14,323 And He gave me a whole 1832 01:23:14,448 --> 01:23:16,951 new understanding of everything. 1833 01:23:17,076 --> 01:23:18,452 I said, "Great, 1834 01:23:18,577 --> 01:23:20,287 Now that I understand, I want to go to heaven." 1835 01:23:20,413 --> 01:23:21,831 He said, "um um, 1836 01:23:22,915 --> 01:23:24,709 You're not ready for Heaven yet." 1837 01:23:24,917 --> 01:23:26,293 [music] 1838 01:23:26,419 --> 01:23:28,421 Finally, I said, "What do you want me to do?" 1839 01:23:28,546 --> 01:23:29,672 "I want you to love the person 1840 01:23:29,797 --> 01:23:30,548 that you're with." 1841 01:23:30,715 --> 01:23:32,258 I said, "Okay, yeah, but then what 1842 01:23:32,383 --> 01:23:33,509 do you want me to do after I do that?" 1843 01:23:33,634 --> 01:23:35,386 And He said, "No, that's what I want you to do." 1844 01:23:35,511 --> 01:23:38,514 I said, you know, "What good is that going to do?" 1845 01:23:38,639 --> 01:23:40,808 He said, "It's going to change the world." 1846 01:23:41,642 --> 01:23:44,645 And I said, "That's going to change the world? 1847 01:23:45,229 --> 01:23:47,314 I don't think so, no." 1848 01:23:47,440 --> 01:23:48,399 I said, "You don't understand. 1849 01:23:48,524 --> 01:23:50,985 The world is like a terrible, cruel place. 1850 01:23:51,110 --> 01:23:52,653 Even if I love someone, they're just going to go 1851 01:23:52,778 --> 01:23:55,531 get beat up somewhere else and not going to--" 1852 01:23:55,656 --> 01:23:57,199 He said, "No, if you love someone, 1853 01:23:57,324 --> 01:23:59,160 they'll take that love out into the world 1854 01:23:59,285 --> 01:24:01,829 and maybe they'll love somebody and it'll 1855 01:24:01,954 --> 01:24:02,913 grow and grow and grow." 1856 01:24:03,038 --> 01:24:04,540 I said, "It's not going to work." 1857 01:24:04,665 --> 01:24:05,583 And He said, "It's God's plan. 1858 01:24:05,708 --> 01:24:07,168 It's going to work." 1859 01:24:07,293 --> 01:24:09,712 Well, when he pulls out the God's plan work, 1860 01:24:09,837 --> 01:24:10,504 you know, 1861 01:24:10,629 --> 01:24:11,964 I mean, like, what can you say? 1862 01:24:12,131 --> 01:24:14,467 [dramatic music] 1863 01:24:15,676 --> 01:24:18,679 And so finally I conceded. 1864 01:24:18,804 --> 01:24:20,181 and I said, "Okay, I'll go back." 1865 01:24:20,306 --> 01:24:21,557 And with that, bang, 1866 01:24:21,682 --> 01:24:23,601 I'm in the body, I'm in the bed. 1867 01:24:23,726 --> 01:24:27,062 [dramatic music] 1868 01:24:29,273 --> 01:24:30,441 The nurse who'd been in the room 1869 01:24:30,566 --> 01:24:31,901 comes in and says, 1870 01:24:32,026 --> 01:24:33,694 a doctor has arrived at the hospital and 1871 01:24:33,819 --> 01:24:36,530 we're going to prepare you for surgery. 1872 01:24:36,655 --> 01:24:38,199 When I awoke, 1873 01:24:38,324 --> 01:24:40,451 I knew that what had happened to me 1874 01:24:40,576 --> 01:24:43,579 was the most important thing in my life. 1875 01:24:43,704 --> 01:24:44,955 [music] 1876 01:24:45,080 --> 01:24:48,751 Because now my life had real meaning and purpose. 1877 01:24:50,169 --> 01:24:51,337 I was very, very weak. 1878 01:24:51,462 --> 01:24:54,381 I had been in surgery for hours. 1879 01:24:55,925 --> 01:24:57,551 I'd spent most of the morning 1880 01:24:57,676 --> 01:24:58,886 trying to think of how I was going 1881 01:24:59,011 --> 01:25:01,972 to tell my wife what had happened. 1882 01:25:02,765 --> 01:25:05,726 I said to her, "It's all love." 1883 01:25:07,144 --> 01:25:09,021 She said, "I love you." 1884 01:25:09,146 --> 01:25:11,649 And I said, "I know you love me, but it's all love." 1885 01:25:11,774 --> 01:25:14,193 [music] 1886 01:25:14,318 --> 01:25:17,321 She said, "What are you talking about?" 1887 01:25:17,488 --> 01:25:20,491 And I said, "It's an ocean of love. 1888 01:25:21,784 --> 01:25:24,745 And you have to just go in 1889 01:25:25,037 --> 01:25:28,040 into that ocean of love and be a part of it." 1890 01:25:30,167 --> 01:25:33,170 And she said, "Okay, honey, 1891 01:25:35,047 --> 01:25:37,383 Try to get some rest." 1892 01:25:37,925 --> 01:25:39,593 [music] 1893 01:25:41,846 --> 01:25:42,972 Here I am. I'm I' giv-- 1894 01:25:43,097 --> 01:25:46,016 I'm giving her the abbreviated 1895 01:25:46,559 --> 01:25:49,562 wisdom of God. 1896 01:25:50,771 --> 01:25:52,731 And she's basically telling me, 1897 01:25:52,857 --> 01:25:54,275 you know, you're making no sense. 1898 01:25:54,400 --> 01:25:55,860 It's crazy talk. 1899 01:25:56,151 --> 01:25:57,486 [music] 1900 01:25:58,654 --> 01:25:59,864 From that day forward, 1901 01:25:59,989 --> 01:26:03,534 I tried to tell people about God, Heaven, Hell, 1902 01:26:04,910 --> 01:26:07,913 what I'd experienced, and nobody, 1903 01:26:08,372 --> 01:26:11,375 nobody took me seriously at all. 1904 01:26:11,709 --> 01:26:13,335 I was a zealot. 1905 01:26:13,460 --> 01:26:14,753 I was a complete zealot. 1906 01:26:14,879 --> 01:26:17,798 And it was 1907 01:26:18,382 --> 01:26:19,925 not good for my relationship 1908 01:26:20,050 --> 01:26:22,970 with my kids because the more that they 1909 01:26:23,929 --> 01:26:26,932 did not respect what I was trying to tell them 1910 01:26:27,349 --> 01:26:30,144 and the more they told me I was nuts and crazy 1911 01:26:30,269 --> 01:26:31,312 and stuff like that, the more... 1912 01:26:32,646 --> 01:26:34,440 it totally alienated them 1913 01:26:34,565 --> 01:26:37,109 from the Bible, from God, from me. 1914 01:26:37,234 --> 01:26:40,237 I mean, it was completely counterproductive. 1915 01:26:41,238 --> 01:26:42,865 It was a disaster. 1916 01:26:43,490 --> 01:26:45,200 [music] 1917 01:26:50,372 --> 01:26:51,832 My wife left me. 1918 01:26:53,083 --> 01:26:56,462 She poisoned the kids against me. 1919 01:26:58,964 --> 01:27:00,049 They've rejected me. 1920 01:27:00,174 --> 01:27:01,175 They don't want anything to do with me. 1921 01:27:01,300 --> 01:27:04,261 They think I'm a crazy man. 1922 01:27:05,346 --> 01:27:08,349 It's all going to work out. 1923 01:27:08,891 --> 01:27:11,226 [music] 1924 01:27:12,686 --> 01:27:14,021 I know that God works stuff out. 1925 01:27:14,146 --> 01:27:17,107 It just doesn't happen on our time frame. 1926 01:27:17,566 --> 01:27:19,026 I mean, I'd like it now. 1927 01:27:19,151 --> 01:27:20,903 It's not happening right now, 1928 01:27:21,028 --> 01:27:21,987 but it could happen tomorrow. 1929 01:27:22,112 --> 01:27:24,907 It might take a long time. 1930 01:27:25,032 --> 01:27:26,450 I don't know, 1931 01:27:27,409 --> 01:27:28,744 [music] 1932 01:27:31,413 --> 01:27:32,498 Eva: A couple of years down the road 1933 01:27:32,623 --> 01:27:33,248 when I found out 1934 01:27:33,374 --> 01:27:34,875 about the Heaven experience, 1935 01:27:35,000 --> 01:27:35,876 people have asked me, 1936 01:27:36,001 --> 01:27:38,545 "Aren't you mad that he didn't tell you?" 1937 01:27:38,671 --> 01:27:40,297 Not really. 1938 01:27:40,422 --> 01:27:44,051 I was relieved because now I understand. 1939 01:27:45,511 --> 01:27:46,679 You know, if you've been to Heaven, 1940 01:27:46,804 --> 01:27:49,139 why would you want to be back in the pain 1941 01:27:49,264 --> 01:27:50,641 that he was in? 1942 01:27:51,392 --> 01:27:52,726 [musical tones] 1943 01:27:54,019 --> 01:27:56,438 Don: I found myself on a daily basis 1944 01:27:56,563 --> 01:27:59,316 with all these devices attached to me 1945 01:27:59,441 --> 01:28:02,152 and unable to move at all. 1946 01:28:02,277 --> 01:28:03,988 I couldn't do a single solitary thing 1947 01:28:04,113 --> 01:28:05,030 for myself at all. 1948 01:28:05,155 --> 01:28:07,616 38 and then 39 year old man 1949 01:28:07,741 --> 01:28:10,703 who was completely helpless. 1950 01:28:12,955 --> 01:28:14,289 [low piano chord] 1951 01:28:16,500 --> 01:28:17,376 Why? 1952 01:28:18,127 --> 01:28:19,586 You let me see that, 1953 01:28:19,837 --> 01:28:21,463 And you brought me back to this. 1954 01:28:22,131 --> 01:28:23,966 What is going on here? 1955 01:28:24,174 --> 01:28:27,177 What was the purpose of this? 1956 01:28:30,180 --> 01:28:32,182 [piano music] 1957 01:28:35,853 --> 01:28:37,438 Dr. Moody: In my studies of psychiatry, 1958 01:28:37,563 --> 01:28:39,732 I quickly realized that practically 1959 01:28:39,857 --> 01:28:42,776 everybody is chasing something. 1960 01:28:43,569 --> 01:28:46,780 Some chase fame or money or power. 1961 01:28:47,698 --> 01:28:50,659 But what I quickly realized in talking with people 1962 01:28:50,784 --> 01:28:52,369 who had near-death experiences 1963 01:28:52,494 --> 01:28:54,621 is that whatever they were chasing 1964 01:28:54,747 --> 01:28:57,708 before this experience, convinced them that 1965 01:28:58,000 --> 01:29:00,753 what life is all about is learning to love. 1966 01:29:01,003 --> 01:29:03,672 [music] 1967 01:29:04,506 --> 01:29:07,468 Mr. Burke: And they all come back all around the globe 1968 01:29:07,676 --> 01:29:11,138 with the same "aha". That God is love. 1969 01:29:11,555 --> 01:29:13,474 And that how we treat and love one another 1970 01:29:13,599 --> 01:29:15,976 is what matters most to God. 1971 01:29:16,101 --> 01:29:16,810 You have people 1972 01:29:16,935 --> 01:29:19,396 who have these experiences and come back 1973 01:29:19,521 --> 01:29:22,483 and their life is radically changed. 1974 01:29:22,775 --> 01:29:24,693 [music] 1975 01:29:24,818 --> 01:29:25,652 Mr. Storm: When I came back 1976 01:29:25,778 --> 01:29:26,945 one of the things I knew I wanted 1977 01:29:27,071 --> 01:29:29,990 to make friends with my dad. 1978 01:29:30,991 --> 01:29:33,660 Not only was I able to forgive my father 1979 01:29:33,786 --> 01:29:36,622 because I understood that he was just messed up 1980 01:29:36,747 --> 01:29:39,166 because of his messed up childhood. 1981 01:29:39,291 --> 01:29:40,626 All my father really wanted to do 1982 01:29:40,751 --> 01:29:42,169 was to be loved but he 1983 01:29:42,294 --> 01:29:44,296 didn't know how to do that in an appropriate way. 1984 01:29:44,421 --> 01:29:46,799 So he tried to be loved in inappropriate ways. 1985 01:29:46,924 --> 01:29:49,843 He thought obedience and discipline. 1986 01:29:50,636 --> 01:29:52,054 And my mother and my sisters 1987 01:29:52,179 --> 01:29:53,222 were really angry with me 1988 01:29:53,347 --> 01:29:56,266 because they all told me several times 1989 01:29:57,017 --> 01:29:58,936 "You and Dad hated each other 1990 01:29:59,061 --> 01:30:01,980 and now you're his best friend. Why?" 1991 01:30:03,732 --> 01:30:05,734 And I'd say, "Because he's my dad." 1992 01:30:07,361 --> 01:30:09,154 Grace is passed along and passed along 1993 01:30:09,279 --> 01:30:11,824 and passed along. And it's powerful. 1994 01:30:11,949 --> 01:30:13,951 It's powerful because people change lives 1995 01:30:14,076 --> 01:30:15,202 for the good. 1996 01:30:15,327 --> 01:30:19,289 They find hope, peace, love, joy, contentment. 1997 01:30:19,414 --> 01:30:21,875 You know. 1998 01:30:22,000 --> 01:30:23,710 And they also find 1999 01:30:23,836 --> 01:30:25,712 God and eternal life. 2000 01:30:26,004 --> 01:30:28,924 [music] 2001 01:30:33,137 --> 01:30:35,556 Dr. Neal: When I was being shown 2002 01:30:35,681 --> 01:30:37,558 the ripple effect of my own actions 2003 01:30:37,683 --> 01:30:41,145 and my own words, I was able to see this 2004 01:30:41,645 --> 01:30:45,816 20, 25, 35 times removed from me. 2005 01:30:47,067 --> 01:30:48,443 That's 2006 01:30:48,569 --> 01:30:51,572 a big distance. 2007 01:30:51,822 --> 01:30:54,825 I understood all the hurts and sorrows and dreams. 2008 01:30:55,159 --> 01:30:58,787 Everything that had brought me to that point in time 2009 01:30:59,204 --> 01:31:02,207 when I may have hurt someone else. 2010 01:31:02,332 --> 01:31:05,252 I also had this complete understanding 2011 01:31:05,377 --> 01:31:06,712 of the back story 2012 01:31:06,837 --> 01:31:08,297 or the, you know, the life story 2013 01:31:08,422 --> 01:31:10,465 of the other people involved 2014 01:31:11,008 --> 01:31:13,427 and everything that had brought them 2015 01:31:13,552 --> 01:31:16,388 to that moment in time where they hurt me 2016 01:31:16,513 --> 01:31:17,764 or they hurt someone I loved 2017 01:31:19,600 --> 01:31:21,310 What we each say and what we 2018 01:31:21,435 --> 01:31:24,479 each do and the choices we make matter. 2019 01:31:25,647 --> 01:31:26,857 They really do. 2020 01:31:27,441 --> 01:31:29,109 [music] [video conversations] 2021 01:31:33,780 --> 01:31:36,783 Dr. Neal: When I talk about my son's death, 2022 01:31:37,034 --> 01:31:38,827 I know that he went home, 2023 01:31:38,952 --> 01:31:41,747 and I'm sure that he didn't want to come back either. 2024 01:31:41,872 --> 01:31:44,791 I'm sure he was reassured that we would be fine. 2025 01:31:46,627 --> 01:31:48,503 When my time on earth is done, 2026 01:31:48,629 --> 01:31:51,215 my oldest son will be there to greet me, 2027 01:31:51,340 --> 01:31:54,343 my father, my stepfather. 2028 01:31:54,885 --> 01:31:55,719 I now know 2029 01:31:55,844 --> 01:31:58,388 other people who have died, people who I love, people 2030 01:31:58,513 --> 01:31:59,848 who are important in my life. 2031 01:31:59,973 --> 01:32:01,266 I don't see 2032 01:32:01,391 --> 01:32:04,436 us here on Earth, and God's world is over here. 2033 01:32:04,895 --> 01:32:08,190 I think we exist in the midst of it. 2034 01:32:08,565 --> 01:32:10,651 [music] 2035 01:32:11,360 --> 01:32:13,320 I had the most 2036 01:32:13,445 --> 01:32:16,365 overwhelming sense of being home, 2037 01:32:17,032 --> 01:32:18,742 of being where I really belong, 2038 01:32:18,867 --> 01:32:21,411 where we really belong, all of us. 2039 01:32:23,163 --> 01:32:25,832 Kang: It took about a few months to recover fully. 2040 01:32:25,999 --> 01:32:28,168 I was still feeling the pain, 2041 01:32:28,293 --> 01:32:31,296 feeling a little down, depressed. Seeing Hell 2042 01:32:31,421 --> 01:32:35,550 and Heaven, changed me to kind of prioritize others. 2043 01:32:36,343 --> 01:32:39,388 So at the age of 35, I joined the Army Reserves. 2044 01:32:40,222 --> 01:32:42,266 I became a chaplain. 2045 01:32:42,391 --> 01:32:43,684 People just came back from war 2046 01:32:43,809 --> 01:32:44,893 and you could tell that they had 2047 01:32:45,018 --> 01:32:47,312 a very heartbroken experience 2048 01:32:47,437 --> 01:32:50,148 or a psychological damage, or the atrocities of war. 2049 01:32:50,274 --> 01:32:52,442 So we did a lot of counseling. 2050 01:32:52,567 --> 01:32:54,111 We would pick up phone calls at two, 2051 01:32:54,236 --> 01:32:55,237 three in the morning, 2052 01:32:55,362 --> 01:32:57,614 go with them to training, hang out with them. 2053 01:32:57,739 --> 01:33:00,492 I would tell them that there's hope. 2054 01:33:00,617 --> 01:33:03,578 I would tell them that depression is not forever. 2055 01:33:05,330 --> 01:33:07,332 I believe all over the world, 2056 01:33:07,457 --> 01:33:08,750 there are so many unique 2057 01:33:08,875 --> 01:33:10,836 NDEs, near-death experiences, 2058 01:33:10,961 --> 01:33:11,962 and so many cultures 2059 01:33:12,087 --> 01:33:14,089 and backgrounds, American or not, 2060 01:33:14,214 --> 01:33:16,842 all types of religions, because 2061 01:33:16,967 --> 01:33:18,510 death is as real as life. 2062 01:33:19,594 --> 01:33:21,263 And I believe God in his mercy, 2063 01:33:21,388 --> 01:33:22,764 no matter what religious background 2064 01:33:22,889 --> 01:33:24,891 you are, allows you to go through that 2065 01:33:25,017 --> 01:33:28,020 so that you can seek Him in the process. 2066 01:33:28,770 --> 01:33:31,273 Don: I don't know why some people survive 2067 01:33:31,398 --> 01:33:33,191 and some people don't. 2068 01:33:33,317 --> 01:33:34,568 I wish. 2069 01:33:34,693 --> 01:33:36,486 I wouldn't have survived. 2070 01:33:36,611 --> 01:33:37,612 I've had some very real things 2071 01:33:37,738 --> 01:33:38,572 happen to me on Earth. 2072 01:33:38,697 --> 01:33:40,866 The birth of five grandchildren, 2073 01:33:40,991 --> 01:33:42,659 seeing my children all graduate. 2074 01:33:42,784 --> 01:33:45,704 I mean, it's been glorious in many ways, 2075 01:33:46,038 --> 01:33:47,539 but nothing compares to Heaven. 2076 01:33:47,664 --> 01:33:49,333 It's just, that's the most real thing. 2077 01:33:49,458 --> 01:33:51,376 That is my reality. 2078 01:33:51,501 --> 01:33:53,211 This is not. 2079 01:33:53,337 --> 01:33:54,004 Mr. Burke: What do we have 2080 01:33:54,129 --> 01:33:57,049 more in common as humanity than death? 2081 01:33:57,299 --> 01:34:00,969 And to know that there is hope beyond this life, 2082 01:34:01,762 --> 01:34:04,056 that there truly is beauty, 2083 01:34:04,181 --> 01:34:06,975 and relationship and love 2084 01:34:07,100 --> 01:34:09,770 and adventure ahead. 2085 01:34:09,895 --> 01:34:11,271 You know, that 2086 01:34:11,396 --> 01:34:14,149 all of our our history and our memories, 2087 01:34:14,274 --> 01:34:16,985 they don't end and we don't become something else. 2088 01:34:17,110 --> 01:34:18,028 It goes on. 2089 01:34:18,445 --> 01:34:19,863 [music] 2090 01:34:21,615 --> 01:34:23,241 Dr. Sabom: People ought to keep an open mind 2091 01:34:23,367 --> 01:34:25,077 to what's going on, 2092 01:34:25,202 --> 01:34:27,954 not accept everything they hear 2093 01:34:28,789 --> 01:34:31,833 from people, from me, from anybody. 2094 01:34:32,667 --> 01:34:35,670 Be skeptical, ask questions, 2095 01:34:36,755 --> 01:34:38,507 think about it. 2096 01:34:38,632 --> 01:34:41,676 There are things that we can't explain, and I think 2097 01:34:41,968 --> 01:34:45,180 it needs to be documented as much as we can. 2098 01:34:45,472 --> 01:34:49,017 Documentation's important. Without that, 2099 01:34:49,684 --> 01:34:52,687 it's an interesting story, and that's it. 2100 01:34:55,023 --> 01:34:56,525 We can only do so much. 2101 01:34:56,650 --> 01:34:58,110 You know, we're human beings 2102 01:34:58,235 --> 01:34:59,778 and we do the best we can. 2103 01:34:59,903 --> 01:35:01,655 I think most people really do. 2104 01:35:01,780 --> 01:35:03,740 We don't have all the answers, 2105 01:35:03,865 --> 01:35:06,827 and I don't think we ever will have all the answers. 2106 01:35:06,952 --> 01:35:09,204 In the scientific realm. 2107 01:35:09,329 --> 01:35:11,832 What is a human soul? Is a human soul? 2108 01:35:11,957 --> 01:35:13,834 does it live after death? 2109 01:35:13,959 --> 01:35:15,168 I don't think science is going 2110 01:35:15,293 --> 01:35:16,670 to answer those questions. 2111 01:35:16,795 --> 01:35:19,881 I think all of these near-death experiences 2112 01:35:21,341 --> 01:35:24,594 suggest that that's possible. 2113 01:35:25,720 --> 01:35:28,515 [somber music] 2114 01:36:01,006 --> 01:36:02,632 [Clicking of machine]