Near-death experiences are life-threatening episodes when the human body is gravely injured. Often many people who experience these are clinically dead for a matter of seconds or minutes with a stopped heart. Individuals who experience NDEs often report similar characteristics whether their visions are positive or negative. When positive, people report becoming pain-free, seeing a bright light at the end of a tunnel, detaching from one’s body and floating above it and sometimes flying off into space. Often people recall meeting a deceased loved one or guardian angels. When negative, such experiences may include feelings of anguish, distress, a void, devastation, and vast emptiness. Sometimes even, People often report seeing hellish places and dark things like their own rendition of “the devil.”
NDEs at this point are not well understood by science, but one thing is clear, thousands perhaps millions of people who have come close to death have experienced these, and often upon returning, the event leads to a dramatic change in lifestyle.
In this post, we will examine on such case, the strange events involving twenty-five-year-old Dannion Brinkley.
On September 17, 1975, Brinkley was on the phone with his friend, Tom, in his Aiken, South Carolina home, when he was struck by lightning and literally thrown across the room. On average, 1 in 15,300 people are struck by lightning sech year or about 270 in the US or 2,000 in the world.
As Brinkley was struck, over 180,000 volts of electricity was shot through his body. Within seconds, Brinkley saw his wife, Sandy, trying to resuscitate him. Soon, He saw Tom arrive and try and help. As He was watching this, he suddenly realized that he was actually floating above himself, watching these events unfold.
Next, he walked down a tunnel and saw a form come out of a misty blue cloud. He then began to experience everything that had happened to him during his life. He also was put in the place of every person he had encountered. He admits that during his childhood and young adult life, he was self-centered, mean, and a bully. During his experience, he was confronted by all of the people he had victimized over the years. He felt everything that they had gone through.
As this was occurring, Dannion was being rushed by an ambulance to the hospital. In the emergency room, his breathing faltered and then stopped. Minutes later, Tom was told that he was dead and had difficulty accepting this. As such, He went to the room where Brinkley was placed.
Suddenly, he saw the sheet over him moving. Brinkley said at that point, he went from a spiritual place back to the physical world. Miraculously, he returned to life after being declared dead for twenty minutes.
Brinkley, as expected, was still in a grave condition for quite some time. A week later, he was released but was unable to walk or talk. His eyes were so light-sensitive that he had to wear welder’s glasses all day.
For seven months, he remained partially paralyzed. It would take another two years for him to learn how to walk and eat again.
When Brinkley was finally able to describe his near-death experience, he recalled one vision, which was being in a cathedral, a “place of learning”, with thirteen beings. They approached him, one at a time, showing him a box. Inside each box was an image of an event that would happen in the future. He shared his visions with several of his friends, who verified that these predictions were made prior to the events unfolding. These included Ronald Reagan’s election, the Soviet Union’s collapse, and the Gulf War in 1991.
Brinkley was convinced that his near-death experience brought about his psychic abilities. A year after the accident, he attended a lecture by Dr. Raymond Moody who studied near-death experiences. Moody began working with him for several years. Moody claims that in 1976, Dannion told him that the Soviet Union would fall in 1990.
In the years since his experience, Brinkley has used his psychic abilities to help others. One of these abilities is helping police investigators solve crimes. He was able to help solve the 1993 murder of John and Nancy Bosco. He accurately described the killer, who was identified as Shadow Clark.
In order to verify his psychic powers, Dr. William Roll observed Brinkley in a series of tests. He gave readings for eight people that he had never met before. He picked out certain details about the people that he would have not known. Dr. Roll was convinced that he was legitimate.
As fascinating as this story is, what’s perhaps even more interesting is that Brinkley recalls having two others NDEs in his life so far. One during a 1989 open-heart surgery and another during a 1997 brain surgery.
Today, Brinkley spends most of his time volunteering at hospices and nursing homes throughout the country, relating to others his experience and why they should not fear death. He believed that his experience has allowed him to be qualified to counsel others.
Like all things unexplained by science, the story of Brinkley has been questioned by some skeptics who claim he is just trying to sell books. Still, it should be noted that Brinkley is somewhat of a pioneer in this area having popularized NDEs with his first experience in 1976. Today thousands of books have been written on the subject and even major movies such as “Heaven is for Real” involving a 4-year-old boy.
NDEs are controversial in nature as some scientists believe that there is an explanation of what happens. Still, this doesn’t explain many of the stories reported, such as patients being able to recall intimate details of their operation while they were clinically dead. Also, there are several reports of people seeing events in other areas of the hospital, which would turn out to be true.
As science continues to search for answers and more people continue to come forward with their stories, perhaps one day we will get an answer. Or maybe this is one mystery that is not meant to be understood while living.
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