Dave B FDE

Experience Description

My wife and I, married less than six months at this point, had moved into one of the ground floor apartments. The building was a 4-plex consisting of two lower and two upper apartments. My wife's parents owned the building. The arrangement was that, in exchange for a lower rent, I helped out with various repair and maintenance duties as needed. One day, I was preparing to replace the gas-fired water heater. This was located in the adjacent ground level apartment, with which we shared a common wall. I shut off the gas valve at the water heater and started to disconnect the water pipes and flue. I had not disconnected the flexible gas line yet, intending to do that last to minimize the possibility of a gas leak.

I was not aware that the gas line supplying the water heater also fed the stove in the kitchen located around the corner from the water heater closet. I was also unaware that the gas line was loose within the wall cavity and was jostling around as I worked. This movement had created a leak in the flexible gas line that was feeding the stove. After a little while, I started to smell the pungent odor of gas. I double checked that I had indeed turned off the gas valve feeding the water heater. I then went to check the kitchen stove and found the odor was much stronger there. Thinking that perhaps a pilot light had been extinguished, I turned on one of the cook top burners to see if it would ignite. Did it ever!

Suddenly, a roaring column of flame appeared behind the stove. It immediately started to burn the bottom of the cabinet located above the stove. I panicked and blew as hard as I could on the flame, trying to extinguish it. In doing that, it forced the flame into the wall cavity where, unknown to me, gas had been accumulating for several minutes. Suddenly, the world exploded in flame in front of me and a strangely muffled boom pressed into my ears.

I remember experiencing the most extreme fear that I had ever felt, then or since. It was a primal fear where I knew that I was absolutely not in control of the situation and was going to die. Suddenly, I was watching my body from the perspective of my right side, about 5 feet away and just below normal viewing height. I saw my body enveloped by the flames and being thrown back from the pressure wave. Almost as suddenly, I was back in my body. The experience seemed like it only lasted a moment, but that moment is unmistakable and permanently embedded in my memory. There was no feeling of elation or love, nothing like that. If anything, the extreme fear I had momentarily before the explosion was gone, although it returned somewhat diminished after I popped back into my body.

The lady, who was standing behind me watching, was thrown through a plate glass window. The two apartments upstairs were heavily damaged and the roof was partially blown off the building. Fortunately the only injury the woman suffered was a lacerated forearm from the broken glass. The people upstairs were still asleep so they were not injured, only rudely awakened. I sustained burns that took many months to recover from.


Background Information:

Gender: Male

Date NDE Occurred: 1976

NDE Elements:

At the time of your experience, was there an associated life-threatening event? Yes Natural Gas Explosion. I was at the center of a natural gas explosion.

Did you feel separated from your body? Yes I saw my body enveloped by the flames of the explosion.

At what time during the experience were you at your highest level of consciousness and alertness? normal

Did time seem to speed up or slow down? Everything seemed to be happening at once; or time stopped or lost all meaning. I cannot be certain if the experience lasted a nanosecond or much longer. Time lost its meaning, I think.

Please compare your hearing during the experience to your everyday hearing that you had immediately prior to the time of the experience. no

Did you pass into or through a tunnel? No

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

Did you see an unearthly light? No

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

What emotions did you feel during the experience? None

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

God, Spiritual and Religion:

What was your religion prior to your experience? Liberal. Raised Catholic but only because I attended a Catholic school. My parents were not practicing Catholics, except maybe at Easter and Christmas. At the time of the OBE, I was Christian-ish.

Did you have a change in your values and beliefs because of your experience? Yes I know that we are not our bodies. I've no doubt of that.

Concerning our Earthly lives other than Religion:

What life changes occurred in your life after your experience? Uncertain

After the NDE:

Was the experience difficult to express in words? No

Do you have any psychic, non-ordinary or other special gifts after your experience that you did not have before the experience? Yes I've had a few instances of being able to foresee events. I am much more aware of energies, and how everything and everyone is connected to everything.

Are there one or several parts of your experience that are especially meaningful or significant to you? I suppose the worst part was the brevity. I wish it had lasted longer and perhaps developed into something like some of the experiences I've read of on this site. The best part was, as written above, knowing without a doubt that it really happened.

Have you ever shared this experience with others? Yes Interest and some questions. Particularly from my wife, who had her own OBE experience in a car accident.

At any time in your life, has anything ever reproduced any part of the experience? No

Is there anything else that you would like to add about your experience? no

Are there any other questions that we could ask to help you communicate your experience? No, I can't think of any.