Gail C NDE

Experience Description

The first NDE I had was in 1959. I was 7 years old. It was a beautiful October afternoon and my friend and I were running down the sidewalk. Our feet tangled and I fell. When I got up, my right arm had an extra bend about 6 inches above the wrist. I showed my mom and she improvised a splint out of a big old Life magazine and masking tape and took me to the hospital. At the hospital I remember seeing the black anesthesia mask and then the next thing I knew I was effortlessly hovering in a huge, huge dark black area. This was not scary or anything like that, it felt calm and not any real emotional tone to it, comfortable. Then I noticed toward my lower right area a swirling light, like a whirlpool of light, far away. I thought it was interesting and decided to go look at it and started moving that way. Then a voice came, an adult male voice who seemed to be in his mid 30s probably, he was speaking in my usual accent, and he said “No, no, go back, you still have lots to do.” I just said “Oh, OK” and that was the end of it, I woke up and they were finishing my cast. The voice seemed to come from behind and above my left shoulder.

The second NDE was in 1988, again a gorgeous October afternoon, you couldn’t ask for a prettier day. A friend and I had decided to go horseback riding in the field behind my house. I was not an experienced rider by any means, but I had heard that you are supposed to wear boots to prevent your foot from being caught in the stirrup if you fall. Well, that is NO GUARANTEE!. The horse bucked me off and my left foot stayed in the stirrup and I was dragged and kicked for a while, I am not sure how long but probably not over a minute.

As soon as my shoulder and upper back area hit the ground, my sense of time expanded and it seemed like I had all the time in the world to think this over. The physical sensations of being kicked were much like being in a cardboard box that someone is tapping with a stick, I felt and heard the impacts but they were distant and not painful. I was aware that physical damage was happening and that this couldn’t go on for too long. Later I counted over 30 hoof prints in my legs. Mentally my mind somehow analyzed my physical situation very logically and looked for possible actions I could take to save myself, but there was nothing I could do except wait this out and see how it goes. At this time a neat visual thing started happening, like a kaleidoscope of moving colors, pure glowing colors that were very beautiful and interesting to watch. This was the most pleasant (and actually the only) option of any available activities for me and so I chose to watch and was very intrigued by this, all the while noting the impacts of the kicks to my body. I was watching my lightshow and then the same voice as before spoke to me again from over my left shoulder. He said to me “Remember last time?”.

I was kind of busy (a bad attitude I know!) and said “Yes, of course I remember”. He said “Well this time is different.” I was waiting for him to continue this thought but he didn’t, so I asked “How so? How is it different?”. He said “This time it can go either way”. I already knew that. So I watched the lights and waited to see if he was going to say anything more. It was indicated to me somehow that to move to my lower left would be to die now, and that dying “would not be held against me”, which seemed a little odd, like is dying sometimes held against us? But, whatever. Then to move to the upper right would be to continue this life, like finishing a project of some sort. Then the emotional tone of blocks of years in this life’s future was indicated and I felt confident that these projections were factual. This would be some change in what my life had been up to that point, and kind of better. No details were shown, just the feeling of it. Now remember, there is nothing I can do here to physically change my outcome, being dragged by the foot by a big strong animal. So this is interesting information but not really applicable. I continued watching the lights and waiting. Then he said “You have to choose!” kind of empatically. I thought, "OK, if it makes you happy. I chose on the basis of, if I die now I can’t change my mind, but if I choose to live this life I can always die later." So I indicated that I would choose to live. (Worth noting here is that at this time I did not have any children and so less incentive to survive to take care of someone else). Nothing changed at that point, still watching lights, still being dragged and kicked. Then he said “You need to ASK!” more urgently this time. I then started to think the word “please” and about halfway through that thought my foot came out of the boot and the accident was over.

Time returned to its normal flow. My first thought then was that I had better find out if I could get up and I was able to do that.

The changes in my life that had been indicated did indeed come to pass, this covered the next 15 years or so. There weren’t any specific details but the emotional climate change was pretty significant and I don’t believe I personally orchestrated this but how would you know for sure. I have since also had several precognitive dreams involving deaths of loved ones, it seems I usually have about a week’s notice for deaths happening.

At no point in either experience did I feel any love at all, much less “unconditional” love. Nor did I feel any fear or unpleasantness, these were pretty matter of fact events. The voice I heard did not claim to be Jesus or anybody but he did seem to have more knowledge than what was available to me. The feeling I got from him was pretty much like someone just doing their job and he found me to be a little slow and stubborn, not impressed with me.

Very interesting is the timing of the word “please” and my foot coming out of the boot simultaneous with that.

Background Information:

Gender: Female

Date NDE Occurred: 1959 & 1988

NDE Elements:

At the time of your experience, was there an associated life-threatening event? Yes Accident While under general anesthesia. Other: Possible anesthesia overdose and serious accident. Yes, both times

How do you consider the content of your experience? Entirely pleasant

Did you feel separated from your body? No 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? Normal consciousness and alertness Same as usual.

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

Were your thoughts speeded up? Incredibly fast

Did time seem to speed up or slow down? Time seemed to go faster or slower than usual. Time moved very slowly. It slowed way down.

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. I was seeing different things but seemed the same as usual.

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

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

Did you see, or feel surrounded by, a brilliant light? An unusually bright light

Did you see an unearthly light? Yes First time a distant swirling light; second time glowing moving colors.

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

What emotions did you feel during the experience? Peaceful, calm.

Did you have a feeling of peace or pleasantness? Incredible peace or pleasantness

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? Scenes from my personal future Yes but no specifics. I was shown changes in the emotional tone of my future, not in detail. I felt confident that these were true and they did come to pass.

Did you come to a border or point of no return? I came to a definite conscious decision to return to life. I believe I actually was clinically depressed at that time and so wasn’t very concerned about continuing to live. I chose to continue living since that was the only option that allowed me to change my mind, and also if the changes I had been shown were true then my life would be better.

God, Spiritual and Religion:

What was your religion prior to your experience? Christian- Protestant First experience I had been brought up Methodist but was not a true believer

Have your religious practices changed since your experience? No

What is your religion now? Unaffiliated- Agnostic Second experience I was agnostic/atheist

Did your experience include features consistent with your earthly beliefs? Content that was entirely not consistent with the beliefs you had at the time of your experience I was a little disappointed at the lack of “unconditional” love, seems like other people get that a lot.

Did you have a change in your values and beliefs because of your experience? No

Did you seem to encounter a mystical being or presence, or hear an unidentifiable voice? I heard a voice I could not identify. An adult male voice.

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. The one who spoke to me might have been Jesus, but I didn’t think to ask and he didn’t say he was.

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

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

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

Concerning our Earthly lives other than Religion:

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

During your experience, did you gain information about the meaning of life? Uncertain Not specifically but I got the impression that to finish this life was on a par with completing a jigsaw puzzle or building a bird house; a little important but not that much.

During your experience, did you gain information about an afterlife? No However, the experience does seem to indicate that the future is knowable and somewhat predictable. The precognitive dreams I have had fit in with that. I don’t know what that really means though.

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

During your experience, did you gain information about love? No Love did not factor into anything at all.

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

Have your relationships changed specifically because of your experience? No

After the NDE:

Was the experience difficult to express in words? No

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. A little more memorable than the day to day life surrounding these times.

What occurred during your experience included: Content that was entirely not consistent with the beliefs you had at the time of your experience I was a little disappointed at the lack of “unconditional” love, seems like other people get that a lot. It seemed as though the voice speaking to me actually did not like me that much, but his information was solid and he seemed to have some influence in what happened.

Do you have any psychic, non-ordinary or other special gifts after your experience that you did not have before the experience? Yes Several precognitive dreams that have come true. It has happened enough that now I accept this type of dream as being pretty reliable forecasts.

Are there one or several parts of your experience that are especially meaningful or significant to you? The future telling coming true, that is hard to explain. It opens a whole area of questioning “free will”.

Have you ever shared this experience with others? Yes Over the years. People seem actually not even interested, which to me is weird.

Did you have any knowledge of near death experience (NDE) prior to your experience? Yes I had read Raymond Moody’s book. I don’t think that affected my experience at all.

What did you believe about the reality of your experience shortly (days to weeks) after it happened? Experience was definitely real. The experiences were and are real to me.

What do you believe about the reality of your experience now? Experience was definitely real Experiences are real to me.

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? Covered it very well.