While dying underwater angels gave her new life

I was born and raised in Queens, New York, the youngest daughter in a family of five children. My Mom and Dad raised me Roman Catholic, and worked two jobs each to be able to send me and two of my siblings to Catholic school. I attended private school from 6-8th grade, then an all girls Catholic school from 9th-11th grade. My parents weren't devout, and more times than not missed church on Sundays, but managed to get the family to Mass during holidays.

I was always a 'sensitive' child, having the ability to see spirits from an early age. Back when I was five or six, I would tell my family members I saw floating orbs and they told it was just my imagination. After some time, I began to lose that special sensitivity. When I was 17, my parents moved to Port Charlotte, Florida and I attended my senior year of high school in a co-ed public high school.

Before leaving New York, I was accepted into the Delayed Entry Program in the U.S. Navy, and would join the service after graduating high school in Florida, in May of 1985. After successfully finishing training for my rating, I was sent to my first duty station, U.S. Naval Facility, Coos Head, in Oregon in November of 1985.

The Day I Almost Died

It was 1986, and I was 19 years old when I had my NDE. I was in Oregon, and at my new duty station, it was common to get involved in outdoors activities with my co-workers. I was soon pressured to sign up for the white water rafting trip because everyone in my watch section was going. I purchased a ticket reluctantly, joining my co-workers on the Rogue River for their May group tour.

The current that year was historically higher and swifter than normal because spring had arrived, melting the snow in the mountains. I uneventfully traveled through the Class II, III rapids in an inflatable Sevylor one person kayak during the morning. The paddling seemed easy and the flow of the water and conversation around me was rather relaxed. The vast majority of the rapids were pretty forgiving. We stopped at midday for lunch on the shore and to take a rest break before continuing our trip to much more challenging sections of the river. After a few minor rapids in Mule Canyon, our guide led our group into the most dangerous part of the Rogue, known as Blossom Bar. The Class IV section of the river was clogged with huge boulders, and swirling hole like vortices. The standard route through the churning water to pass the boulders required me to make a crucial left-to-right paddling move to avoid being swept into a lineup of rocks known as the 'Picket Fence.' My failure to do that quickly, caused me to slam into the boulders, and roll out of the kayak into the freezing water.

I wore a life vest, but the current dragged me right into a boiling hole of turbulent water. The shock of the cold water caused me to gasp, and in doing so, I inhaled river water deep into my lungs. I became disoriented, losing my spatial orientation in the water. I could see the sky above, but couldn't reach the surface to get air. The current dragged me down the more I fought against it, my lungs burned as panic set in. I suddenly believed that I was going to die there, and the last thing I remember was saying, 'God please help me!' Without oxygen, I grew weaker and eventually stopped struggling entirely. I went limp in the cold darkness of the water, and suddenly I could no longer feel the burning and ache of the water in my lungs. The darkness around me grew completely white, and I felt like I was rushing at light speed through a tunnel. I felt warm as the pain left me, at peace with myself and the environment around me.

Unconditional, pure love radiated all around me, and into me. LOVE covered me like a warm blanket from an unknown source.

As I left the tunnel, I was aware of parts of my body that were visible like my hands, arms and chest. Looking down I couldn't see any feet. I did see a silver cord attached to my body which had a luminescence to it. Looking around me, I could see a room that appeared to be formed from pure white clouds, yet wasn't solid. In the room were three beings, made of shimmering crystal. Light shone through them like a glass prism, forming a rainbow. One was larger than the other two, but all of them spoke to me. I was afraid of them, and they seemed to realize this. Instantly, they transformed into what I recognized as angels. They didn't have bird wings, they had fibers like fiber optic cables that were shaped like wings and pure light shone through the fibers, forming colors in all shades. When they spoke, their messages were sent telepathically. They could read my thoughts.

Looking into their eyes, they were shades of intense colors that changed and shifted with electric sparks. Almost as if I were watching a DVD still spinning in a DVD player. And the love radiated from their eyes, as if I were the most precious creation God had ever placed into existence. It was as if they knew me intimately, yet I didn't feel uncomfortable feeling that they did.

The larger angel said, 'You have arrived too soon, the time has not come yet for you to be here. You must go back and finish your work on Earth. But since you are here, we will show you things.' The larger angel held a large book, but its pages were like images instead of words. I saw scenes of my life from the moment of my conception to the moment I fell out of the kayak into the river. The pages flipped rapidly, like watching a movie. I was instantly reminded of all the things I did for others, or failed to do for someone. They showed me a man I didn't know, whose face I could not see clearly, and many children that were still yet to be. One of the smaller angels said, 'I am Yahshael. I have been with you since the dawn of time, and I will be with you for eternity. You must go back, you have to be there for them. I will show you what you can look forward to, but then you have to go back to your body.'

Instantly, Yahshael and I were teleported to the center of a vast golden field. I could hear the most beautiful music and I could feel it moving through me. The breeze blew against the tall golden wheat stalks, and as it did I could feel the spirit of all things living around me: animals, plants, the elements. I was one with them. I looked up and saw a huge ball of light that cast the purest, warm light all around me and felt God touch my skin. He knew me, he loved me no matter how imperfect my Earthly life had been. I was perfect and whole, I felt no pain. The angel took me up higher, and I felt like I was soaring endlessly. I could see a huge waterfall with no beginning and no end. Love and peace reigned here. I sensed the presence of loved ones that had passed on, but I didn't see them. We moved over the golden field, and at the end of it, was a country fence, and beyond that was a enormous tree with a canopy of gold leaves. When the breeze touched the leaves, they would fly off the tree's branches in the shape of colorful birds of all varieties. There was a lake beside it, and it flowed on both sides of the boundary. I looked down into the water, and it had a gloss to it like liquid mercury does. But when you look through it, you can see people that are living on Earth.

Yahshael said again, 'I have been with you since the dawn of time, and I will be with you for eternity. You cannot cross the barrier. It is time for you to go back to your existence on Earth. You have work to finish first.' Words could not express the sorrow I felt to have to leave that place. I cried and begged for him to let me stay. He said, 'When it is time, I will come for you. But now-' And with that, he wrestled my spirit back into my earthly body, with so much force that I was popped clear of the rocky hole that I was trapped in under the water. All the water I inhaled came flying out of my lungs, as I gasped and took a panicked breath of air. I became aware of the pain almost immediately in my chest, and the hand of a rescuer grabbing me by the back of my life vest. I nearly knocked him out of his kayak, and then someone else on a bigger water boat pulled me up into the boat and back into this Earthly dimension. It took me a long time to understand why I am here, and still I question. 'Why me?

I even did research about the Rogue River after my near-drowning. Over 21 people have died at Blossom Bar since my NDE. They died, and I survived.

Because of my NDE, I am closer to God, and realize now that life is not a series of consequences, but of parallels and choices. My choices directly affect those around me, and we are all interconnected. My purpose had not yet been fullfiled, it would take me years to realize that I was meant to heal others. My sensitive abilities grew stronger after my NDE. I am empathic, claircognizant and clairaudient now. I can hear the voices of those beyond the veil, but still have not trained myself to see spirit clearly with my human eyes.

 
My NDE has and will continue to be the most metaphysically profound experience I've ever had. I was brought to tears writing this memory of my experience, because my words pale in comparison to all the things I saw, felt and heard during my journey into a heavenly realm. I'm not religious, but I remain closer to spirit than ever because of my NDE. I know that there are dimensions beyond this one, and that I am here for a reason.

Laura L's near-death experience, NDERF.org

Dying child given choice and returns to mother

I am an army brat and my parents were stationed in Germany. My father was away on a training mission and my mother was a stay-at-home parent. We lived in military housing, which was a apartment building. The neighbor across the hall had asked my mom to babysit her baby and she had dropped the baby and baby's diaper bag off at the apartment. Unbeknownst to my mother, the lady had poured two containers of orange-flavored baby aspirin into one container, and then put the container in a small brown paper sack and tucked into the diaper bag. When my mom was in the kitchen fixing a bottle for the baby, I sneaked into the diaper bag and found the container of hidden aspirin. I ate them all. Needless to say, later while watching cartoons, my eyes rolled back and I went into convulsions. My mother screamed for help and I was transported to the hospital. The lady with the baby saw that the aspirin was missing. She contacted the hospital to inform them of our arrival and about the missing aspirin. Too much time had passed and the aspirin was already in my bloodstream. By the time we made it to the hospital, I was limp and lifeless in my mother's arms.

The medical team rushed me into a room where they started trying to revive me. As they worked on me, I left my body and was watching from above. I could see and hear everything, but could not feel what they were doing to the body below. I can remember vividly watching with curiosity and interest. While watching the doctors and nurses working on the body below, I also remember being able to watch what was happening at the same time in the room they had taken my mom. I could feel my mother's hysteria and distraught, as if her emotions were my own. I remember being overwhelmed with feelings of intense love for my mother. I had memories of a past life that I had shared before this one that involved both my mother and my sister.

I also experienced a knowing of my mother's future through two separate scenarios: One if I decided to leave this life, and one if I decided to stay. The knowing felt like a gift being given and even though I had a 3-year-old mentality I was able to receive this information as if I was a mature person. I cannot relate how much time passed, but I remember making a decision. Once I did this, I felt myself pulled back into the body I had been watching below me.

Immediately, I felt everything being done to me. Because this happened when I was 3 all the details other than the ones described are all I remember.  

Teresa M, NDERF.org

Child's near drowning and telepathic rescue

There was a swimming pool built at the end of the yard within the walls of the newly built house. I talked my 6’4”mentally-retarded cousin to go swimming with me even though I was not allowed to go into the pool without an adult. I was pushing off the sides of the pool, demonstrating to my cousin that I knew how to swim. At one point, I didn’t push off the side of the pool hard enough causing me get stuck face down in the middle of the pool. I struggled for a short amount of time and swallowed one gulp of water. I remember making a conscious decision to not drink anymore water. When I shut my mouth and nose, I passed out.

Instantly, I found myself standing on the side of the pool and looking at myself facedown in the water. I was not moving. My cousin was standing behind me to watch the trick I told him I could do. I was completely at peace and had, what I would describe as, a better-than-bird's-eye view. I remember my attention being drawn towards the sky. When I looked up, I knew there were many different places I could go exploring. Even though I wanted to go, I looked back at my body and realized I needed help. I went through the yard looking for someone to help me. My feet were floating above the ground. I found it odd that there was nobody around because there usually were plenty of people around and it was broad daylight.

I went into the ground floor of the main house and straight into the cook's room. I saw the cook asleep on his stomach in his bed in his very small bedroom. The back of his head was facing me. I was floating against the wall at the foot of his bed. I screamed for him in a panic, but the words that came out - it was energy. That same instant, he startled me because he jumped out of the bed and ran out of the room. He made it to the threshold of the door that led to the yard. He fell to a sitting position with his hands on his head. I stayed next to him until I saw him look up and towards where my body was in the pool. When I saw him get up and run towards the pool, I followed but got there before him. I went right back to where I originally showed up when I first left my body. When he got to the pool, I was facing him and on the opposite side of the pool. I saw him teetering on the edge of the pool trying to reach me without jumping in. I then went back into my body.

I threw my hand up to him and he was able to grab my arm. He pulled me out of the pool. I didn’t cry, cough, throw up, or speak for the rest of the day. I only moved from the spot that I was last put in if I was led by someone to a new spot. I was in a state of total peace like I’ve never known before that moment and never known since. I remember every detail of that moment to this day, even though I can’t not remember anything else before or after that moment with that kind of detail. I remember the cook leading me back towards the main house and calling to several other people to join him so he could explain what just happened. He said he had just fallen asleep; when suddenly, he felt like the room exploded and he jumped out of bed so shaken that he barely made it to the threshold of the door before he had to sit down. As he was trying to figure out what had just happened. That’s when he saw clothes hanging on the rebar that was still exposed near the swimming pool. He said he knew I was in the pool and went running to find me. He said, as tears ran down his cheeks, 'She wasn’t moving. I thought she was gone!' I never talked about what I saw until I was in my late teens and most people were dismissive of my story. I started researching other accounts to compare my experience when I was in my 20's but never found an exact account like mine.  

Sandra M's near-death experience, NDERF.org

Dead homeowner befriends the new owners' son

Leslie Kean writes in Surviving Death: “Pat was an attorney and lived with her husband, Mark, and twelve-year-old son Chris. Her mother lived nearby. Only a short time before she contacted me, she learned that her son had been having conversations with a ‘ghost’ he identified as that of the woman who had been the previous owner of their home. She also learned that these almost daily conversations had been going on for well over a year.

 

“Since moving into the house, Pat, as well as her husband, her mother (on visits), and more frequently her son Chris, had seen an apparition appearing and disappearing in the house. The initial sightings had come shortly after they moved in, when Chris was eleven. They saw the apparition of an elderly woman walking through the living room, typically toward the stairs. In a number of instances, the figure waved at the them before disappearing a few seconds later.

 

“Pat had grown up in a family environment that acknowledged and even discussed psychic experience, and she was not afraid of the apparition. Still, she didn’t tell the other family members about seeing it until after her son had spoken up. Nor had her mother or husband told any other family member about their own experience.

 

“Things came to a head when Chris began talking about the origins of some of the antique furniture, and specifically dolls, in the collection of the former homeowner that were still in the house. When Pat asked if Chris had found some kind of diary or letters describing the items and their stories—something they’d been looking for throughout the house since they moved in—Christ simply replied, ‘Lois told me.’

 

"Who’s Lois?" asked Pat.

 

"You know, Lois—the ghost you, Dad, and Grandma have been seeing since we moved in.

 

"How do you know we’d been seeing a ghost?"

 

"Lois told me.

 

Then Chris told his mother that Lois "had appeared to him every day since the first time he saw her, when he waved back at the figure he saw. He said that the woman did not disappear once he waved at her, but rather approached him and began communicating.

 

Kean writes: “I was quite excited to interview the family and observe the environment, especially since Pat stated that Chris was able to get verifiable information from Lois. This is a rarity when it comes to apparition cases. Apparently Lois not only spoke with Chris, but she also watched television quite a bit with him (and even, he said, helped him with his homework).

 

“Pat arranged for me to have lunch with the therapist who Pat had asked to talk with Chris. The therapist admitted he was an agnostic when it came to ghosts, but told me he was convinced that Chris was well adjusted, incredibly mature for his age and not prone to making things up, consciously or otherwise. If fact, he said, that if his other clients were as well adjusted as Chris, they wouldn’t need therapy at all. While based only on a single session, he commented that it seemed the boy’s relationships with his parents and grandmother were all very good.”

 

Kean describes her visit to the house as follows: “Pat and her mother said they had seen the figure for fleeting moments, and she always appeared as an elderly woman. Chris, on the other hand, told me himself that he had been seeing her almost every day for more than a year and a half, since that first time he waved back at her. He told us she didn’t always appear as an old woman. Lois often shifted her appearance, looking like a teenager, a six-year-old, a woman in her thirties, and sometimes middle-aged. When I asked him about her clothes, Chris said they changed all the time. Pat and her mother also admitted to seeing Lois wearing different clothing, even though she was always the same elderly woman when they saw her." Kean felt this was significant, "as was the appearance of Lois at different ages. Changing clothing and even changing ages, especially when coupled with interaction and communication, is an indicator of self-awareness and consciousness.”

 

After walking through the house, Kean writes, “We ended up in the living room and sat down in a semicircle facing Chris, to ask Lois some questions. Chris was seated next to an empty easy chair he identified as Lois’s favorite spot to sit. According to the boy, she was sitting right there, although no one else could see her.

 

Kean writes that she asked Lois how she “appeared in a form that people could see—how was that possible? Through Chris, Lois said she believed she did not have a ‘form.’ She believed she was some kind of ‘ball of energy’ that was able to communicate by ‘projecting her thoughts’ to others. These thoughts included visual and verbal information that she would ‘project into the minds of others’ so they would ‘see’ and ‘hear’ her as if she were really there.

 

Kean asked her why she "was Lois appearing in different forms and clothing?”

 

"Because that’s how she felt that day," Chris replied.

 

Kean also asked Lois: “why she was still hanging around her old house, why she had not passed on. The answer was that she had many parties in her life, and hadn’t been an avid churchgoer. A believer in heaven and hell, she thought too much partying and not enough church might send her to hell, so she figured, why take a chance? From her deathbed in the hospital, she focused on being back at home. When she felt herself slipping away, the next thing she knew she was in her house.

 

After Kean asked Lois if she had any questions, Chris looked at the empty chair and then told Kean about what she and the two persons accompanying her on this visit had talked about during their drive to the house.

 

After looking over to the chair again, Chris said a bit sheepishly: "You’re probably not going to like this, but Lois wanted to make sure you weren’t bringing blasters to get rid of her, so she hitched a ride with you here and eavesdropped on your conversation."

 

Kean writes: “Chris continued to see Lois on a daily basis for a while, but then lost interest as he grew up and discovered (and was discovered by) real girls. However, I was informed that Lois continued to help him with schoolwork, and even offered advice about his girlfriends. When last I spoke with Pat, Lois was still in the house, still seen on occasion by members of the family, and still apparently happy to be earthbound in her lifetime home.”

 

 

Leslie Kean, Surviving Death: A Journalist Investigates Evidence for an Afterlife (Three Rivers Press, 2017).

Swing Low, Sweet Chariot

Swing low, sweet chariot, comin’ for to carry me home.


Swing low, sweet chariot, comin’ for to carry me home.                      

 

I looked over Jordan and what did I see?


Comin’ for to carry me home.


A band of angels coming after me.


Comin’ for to carry me home.                               

 

If you get there before I do.


Comin’ for to carry me home.


Tell all my friends I’m coming, too.


Comin’ for to carry me home.                               

 

I'm sometimes up and sometimes down.


Comin’ for to carry me home.


But still my soul feels heaven bound.


Comin’ for to carry me home.                               

Measha Brueggergosman

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpLszBOka0k

Leslie Kean's dead brother communicates with her

Leslie Kean, author of Surviving Death, writes: “I take after death communications (ADCs) seriously partly because I received some dramatic ones myself over a two-year period (from 2013 to 2015) while researching evidence included in this book. Although they are very personal and remain puzzling, they made a deep impression on me, and after much thought I decided it would be dishonest for me to withhold them from my narrative. They are part of my investigation—the time was fortuitous—and I kept an open and receptive mind throughout the process, sometimes even asking for an ADC to occur through directed thought. Some of the experiences had an interesting link to aspects of my mediumship readings. These paranormal events may be hard to believe (they were for me), but in reporting on them here, I trust myself as the most reliable source I know! You can be absolutely certain that everything I describe is exactly as it occurred, down to the smallest details. I made notes immediately after each event and analyzed them afterward. I understand why ADCs have so much impact, and how profoundly mysterious, and provocative, they are. They evoked a complex set of emotions in me—expanded awareness, elation, incomprehension, questioning, doubt, and hope—and always a sense of connection to something nonlocal.

 

“My younger brother died unexpectedly in January 2013. We were always bonded and through his life he was closer to me than he was to our other two siblings. Sadly, I don’t think I realized how much I cared about him until after he died. The shock of his sudden departure, and our unfinished relationship, was a different kind of emotional pain than anything I had ever known, and I never could have predicted the deep effect it had on me.

 

“My first ADC came out of the blue before I had entertained even the slightest thought of any such communications. I was lying on my bed alone, in deep mourning with the overwhelming pain of my brother being gone forever. Suddenly his voice burst onto the scene. It startled me, because as I experienced it, it was not generated from my brain; it was from the outside. I heard his familiar voice clearly say, ‘Leslie . . . I’m fine. It’s okay.’ The way he said my name was unique to the way he spoke; it was so clearly his tone. His emphasis was: ‘Hey—stop! Everything is totally okay and I’m fine!’ I was stunned because it was like a sudden and jolting external intrusion, completely different from a thought or memory.

 

“This seemed like an experience of telepathy: I felt like I was hearing with my mind and not my ears. It wasn’t in my mind, but was perceived by my mind, as if my consciousness had its own nonphysical ears. It had sound: it was loud, but not quite like someone talking, because it wasn’t localized to one spot. I was completely taken aback.’

 

“Some months later, I was staying at my family’s summer house on the coast in Massachusetts. One afternoon I was in the woods and sat on a rock near the ocean, and in a deep, lengthy, heartfelt meditation I connect to my brother and asked him for a sign. I wanted more ‘proof’ that he was there—something physical that would make it obvious to me.

 

“The next morning, I woke up and groggily went into the kitchen, turned on the light, and made coffee. After adding milk to my cup, I was just about to put it in the microwave when the ceiling light blinked twice—off, on; off, on—and then went off. The microwave went off also, along with the light above the stove on an adjacent wall. The other lights in the kitchen remained on. I checked the lights in rooms nearby, and they were all working. Well, all I wanted was a hot cup of coffee, so I picked up the microwave and plugged it into a working socket on another counter. Then it hit me: Is this Garry? Then the lights came back on. They had been off about three or four minutes.

 

“Some requests I made for signs after that were not answered. But on May 15, 2014, I went into a meditative state and once again passionately and deeply asked my brother Garry to do something definite, something obvious, to show his presence. I need more proof! I never get enough physical manifestations to convince me! I need to dispel my doubt! The request was not made casually, and I spent much time delivering it.

 

“The next day, I was cooking and using Spectrum organic sesame oil. In one bottle there was only a little left, and I had a second bottle about a third full. So, I emptied the remaining sesame oil from that jar into the second one, and put the now-empty bottle down on the counter with the cap loosely on top. (The standard sixteen-ounce jar had a narrow neck with a plastic opening allowing the cap to be screwed on.) About a minute later, suddenly the top went shooting straight up into the air about five or six inches, and fell on the counter. There was a force there, seeming to be coming from inside the empty bottle, strong enough to send the cap flying into the air. But there was nothing inside the empty bottle. I admit that I was elated. My brother was delivering in spades!"

 

Leslie Kean, Surviving Death: A Journalist Investigates Evidence for an Afterlife (Three Rivers Press, 2017).

Communications from a deceased friend

In Surviving Death Leslie Kean writes: “Jane Katra holds a PhD in public health, was a professor at the University of Oregon, and coauthored two books on nonlocal consciousness and healing with physicist Russel Targ, who was a pioneer in the development of the laser. In 2002, psychiatrist Elisabeth Targ, her close friend and Russell’s daughter, died. Elisabeth had spent a decade at Stanford University, becoming a certified Russian translator and then earning her medical degree. In January 2002, she was awarded a National Institutes of Health grant of $1.5 million to carry out two distant-healing prayer studies, one on patients with glioblastoma multiforme, a rare and aggressive brain tumor. Two months later, Elisabeth received the devastating diagnosis of a fast-growing tumor of the same type she was about to study. She died at the age of forty, in Palo Alto, California.

 

“Coming from a ‘science-minded family’ of intellectuals, Jane did not accept that communications could come from someone who had died. That changed for her and others after Elisabeth seemingly sent so many messages and signs to such a range of people that the source of the communications became incontestable. Jane explains:

 

“I have been the recipient of or witness to over thirty surprising and spontaneous communications from Elisabeth. The most evidential ones were those received by more than one person at the same time: a communication in a foreign language unknown to the recipient; lights flashing on and off or books about healing moving themselves off shelves when people talked about her; messages to two people regarding serious health problems unknown to either of them; and a prediction wherein several people received different, incomplete communications, and when we put them together, they completed an idea.”

 

Leslie Kean, Surviving Death: A Journalist Investigates Evidence for an Afterlife (Three Rivers Press, 2017).