Brendan F NDE

Experience Description

On the day in question my mother took me and my brother and sister shopping. Being the youngest (two and a half years old), I was placed in a pushchair. (The British word for the US ‘stroller’ or ‘baby carriage’) After reaching the shop, my mother parked the pushchair outside and left the three of us there to wait whilst she went inside to do her shopping.

Now, me being the explorative type, I decided to get up and go exploring, and I was actually able to begin doing this, as I was not strapped into the pushchair. However, after taking a few steps towards the end of the pushchair where the handle is located, the whole thing toppled over and I went crashing head first down onto the ground.

Even before I hit the ground, I found myself outside of my body, standing about three feet away from the pushchair, looking at myself lying on the ground. Then I watched my brother and sister run into the shop to fetch my mother. My mother came rushing out of the shop and when she saw me lying stationary on the ground, she threw her arms into the air and ran back into the shop to seek help. Within a short time, one of the workers from the shop came running out with my mother, glanced down at me and then ran back into the shop to reappear a short while later carrying a large bandage. He then picked me up, placed me back into the pushchair, and started to wrap the bandage around my head. It was at this point that the experience ended.

Whilst all this was going on, I did not hear a sound, everything was silent. Even though I saw my brother and sister panicking with their arms waving in the air. My mother, well, I could see her mouth screaming but I heard nothing. The gentleman who bandaged my head was moving his lips as though speaking but I still heard nothing.

What I witnessed visually also defies explanation. I could see no color at all. Everything around me was a silvery-gray form of light. Incidentally, fifty-two years later I was able to describe in great detail to my brother what the shop worker had been wearing.

Background Information:

Gender: Male

Date NDE Occurred: 1960

NDE Elements:

At the time of your experience, was there an associated life-threatening event? Yes Accident. Direct head injury 'Life threatening event, but not clinical death' I was unconscious on the ground and have no recollection of a visit to a hospital, although my brother assures me that I was taken to the hospital.

How do you consider the content of your experience? Neither pleasant NOR distressing

The experience included: Out of body experience

Did you feel separated from your body? Yes I witnessed my mother, brother and sister, and the shop worker all in a state of panic. I witnessed my brother and sister run into the shop to fetch my mother, I witnessed my mother throw her arms into the air, and also, I watched as the shop worker bandaged my head—whilst at the same time, I heard absolutely nothing. Some fifty-two years later, I told my brother in great detail what I witnessed / experienced, and to say he was shocked would be an understatement. He confirmed everything that I told him, including the color of the coveralls the shop worker was wearing (white.) I clearly left my body and existed outside it

How did your highest level of consciousness and alertness during the experience compare to your normal everyday consciousness and alertness? More consciousness and alertness than normal As a young child my alertness was never one hundred percent, as most of the time I was easily distracted by events that surrounded me.

At what time during the experience were you at your highest level of consciousness and alertness? Everything that happened during my experience is still fresh in my mind, so I can only conclude that my alertness was one-hundred percent. In fact, it is almost like photographic memory recall.

Were your thoughts speeded up? No

Did time seem to speed up or slow down? No

Were your senses more vivid than usual? No

Please compare your vision during the experience to your everyday vision that you had immediately prior to the time of the experience. Prior to my experience, my vision was one-hundred percent in color. During the experience everything was silvery-gray.

Please compare your hearing during the experience to your everyday hearing that you had immediately prior to the time of the experience. Prior to the experience my hearing was one-hundred percent normal, but during the experience I could not hear a thing. Absolutely nothing, even though I could see my mother, siblings and the shop worker moving their lips.

Did you seem to be aware of things going on elsewhere? No

Did you pass into or through a tunnel? No

Did you see any beings in your experience? No

Did you encounter or become aware of any deceased (or alive) beings? No

The experience included: Unearthly light

Did you see, or feel surrounded by, a brilliant light? No

Did you see an unearthly light? Yes The light that I witnessed was strange, to say the least. It was a silvery-gray color. There were no actual colors. It was a bit like looking at a very old, faded, black and white photograph.

Did you seem to enter some other, unearthly world? No

What emotions did you feel during the experience? I felt no emotions at all. You could say that I was emotionally neutral.

Did you have a feeling of peace or pleasantness? No

Did you have a feeling of joy? No

Did you feel a sense of harmony or unity with the universe? No

Did you suddenly seem to understand everything? No

Did scenes from your past come back to you? No

Did scenes from the future come to you? No

Did you come to a border or point of no return? No

God, Spiritual and Religion:

What importance did you place on your religious/spiritual life prior to your experience? Unknown

What was your religion prior to your experience? Christian- Catholic Although I was born a Catholic I was too young at the time to understand religion.

Have your religious practices changed since your experience? No

What importance do you place on your religious/spiritual life after your experience? Greatly important to me

What is your religion now? Do not know I was put off religion at a young age (9) by a Nun who struck me in the face for asking "where does god come from" whilst attending a Sunday School session. However, I would describe myself as somewhat of a spiritualist and I do not mean that in any religious sense.

Did your experience include features consistent with your earthly beliefs? Content that was both consistent and not consistent with the beliefs you had at the time of your experience During the experience I observed my brother and sister run into the shop in a state of panic to fetch my mother who after witnessing me stationary on floor was also in a state of panic, this for me was normal behaviour. What was not normal was the distinct lack of color and sound.

Did you have a change in your values and beliefs because of your experience? Yes Can't answer that question either way, as I was only two and a half years old at the time.

Did you seem to encounter a mystical being or presence, or hear an unidentifiable voice? No

Did you see deceased or religious spirits? No

Did you encounter or become aware of any beings who previously lived on earth who are described by name in religions (for example: Jesus, Muhammad, Buddha, etc.)? No

During your experience, did you gain information about premortal existence? No

During your experience, did you gain information about universal connection or oneness? No

Did you believe in the existence of God prior to your experience? Unknown

During your experience, did you gain information about the existence of God? No

Do you believe in the existence of God after your experience? I am uncertain if God exists

Concerning our Earthly lives other than Religion:

During your experience, did you gain special knowledge or information about your purpose? No

Did you believe that our earthly lives are meaningful and significant prior to your experience? Unknown

During your experience, did you gain information about the meaning of life? No

Did you believe in an afterlife prior to your experience? Unknown

Do you believe in an afterlife after your experience? An afterlife definitely exists No

Did you fear death prior to your experience? Unknown

Do you fear death after your experience? I do not fear death

Were you fearful living your life prior to your experience? Unknown

Were you fearful living your life after your experience? Not fearful in living my earthly life

Did you believe that our earthly lives are meaningful and significant prior to your experience? Unknown

Did you believe that our earthly lives are meaningful and significant after your experience? Are meaningful and significant

Did you gain information about how to live our lives? No

During your experience, did you gain information about life's difficulties, challenges and hardships? No

Were you compassionate prior to your experience? Unknown

During your experience, did you gain information about love? No

Were you compassionate after your experience? Greatly compassionate toward others

What life changes occurred in your life after your experience? Unknown I remember the experience more accurately than other life events that occurred around the time of the experience. The experience that I have described is my first ever memory of my childhood, and I believe that it will be with me forever. I don't even remember going to the hospital afterwards.

Have your relationships changed specifically because of your experience? No No

After the NDE:

Was the experience difficult to express in words? No However, it did take me fifty-plus years to open up and recount my experience to a select few.

How accurately do you remember the experience in comparison to other life events that occurred around the time of the experience? I remember the experience more accurately than other life events that occurred around the time of the experience The experience that I have described is my first ever memory of my childhood, I believe that it will be with me forever. I don't even remember going to the hospital afterwards.

Do you have any psychic, non-ordinary or other special gifts after your experience that you did not have before the experience? Uncertain I have had ‘special’ dreams that have come true years after the initial dream. I have made lights go out just by thinking about it. On one strange occasion I actually made a television set lose its picture four times in a row within a certain time frame. I witnessed an apparition in a spiritual center hall (three out of twenty-five people witnessed the same apparition.) And, the one with the biggest ‘wow’ factor, twice in my life for the briefest of times (a few seconds) I have known everything there is to know about everything, and this happened whilst my mind was still and content.

Are there one or several parts of your experience that are especially meaningful or significant to you? The lack of color and also the lack of sound. But the biggest one of all is how can it be that I was able to observe my mother, brother and sister and the shop worker but none of them could see me standing there?! These questions have taken up most of my free thinking time. These questions are what caused me to dive into the Quantum world, as I do not like unanswered questions.

Did you have any knowledge of near death experience (NDE) prior to your experience? No

What did you believe about the reality of your experience shortly (days to weeks) after it happened? Experience was definitely real Even though I was very young at the time, the whole experience has never left me.

What do you believe about the reality of your experience now? Experience was definitely real It definitely happened, no question. It has never changed in my mind and it never will. Dreams come and go, but my experience is there for life. It's almost like a reminder. But the beauty for me is that I cannot explain it and if I could, then I wouldn't be here now, typing up my account of it. But I do enjoy trying to figure it all out.

At any time in your life, has anything ever reproduced any part of the experience? Yes One night whilst in the middle of a dream, I was aware that I was hovering up in the sky speaking with some friends who were on the ground, and, once again, there was no color—only a shade of silvery-gray everywhere. After a short while, I turned around and observed that there was some sort of ‘shiny rope’ coming out of my back stretching all the way to the horizon. On observing this ‘shiny rope,’ I said to my friends that I had to go back now and immediately woke up. I now know this to be an out-of-body experience. That is the closest that I have come to my experience.

Is there anything else that you would like to add about your experience? The facts as I understand them as are follows: it all started with a crushing blow to my head. I was outside of my body before I even hit the ground. I observed no colors and heard no sounds. Even though my family members were in a state of panic and were probably shouting. I saw them but they could not see me standing there. None of the above belongs in my everyday reality, but it definitely happened. But for me now it is a wondrous memory.

Are there any other questions that we could ask to help you communicate your experience? How about asking a question such as: What do you think may have caused this experience? A question like that may prompt people to think deeper.