Ginny S NDE

At approximately 2:30am on June 16, 2001, I was riding back to my campsite during Biker's Week. I was a passenger on my boyfriend's Harley. Besides my boyfriend, three other friends were with me. We rode around a corner, where a huge Dodge 4x4 with a King Cab was making a U-turn. The truck took up both lanes of the rode. We had nowhere to go and we couldn't stop. We were traveling approximately 40mph, and we locked up our brakes when we saw the truck. My boyfriend and I broadsided the truck.

I was catapulted into the air about 30ft high, and landed about 50ft away from the bike. I wasn't wearing a helmet and I landed on my head. In the accident, I fractured my skull and lost all vital signs. Most of what happened from then on, I can't remember clearly. What I am told is that one of the two bikes riding with us also hit the truck. The bike that didn't hit had two close friends on it. They ran down the road and stopped traffic. If they weren't there, we would have probably been run over by the next car to come around the corner.

The first car to come stopped and helped us. In it were two off-duty police officers. Ironically, one of them used to be a paramedic. She resuscitated me and saved my life. She pounded on my chest so hard she fractured one of my ribs. We were all transported to the hospital. After being resuscitated, I was awake and began talking. Even at the hospital I was awake for most of the time. I don't remember gaining consciousness until hours after I had been in the hospital though.

What I remember are flashing colored lights, probably those of the rescue and police cars. I remember seeing a girl being put on a stretcher from an 'rial view. It was probably me seeing myself since I was the only female in the accident. Strangely, I also faintly remember my neck being adjusted when I was being put on the stretcher, which took about three seconds.

The first time I remember being awake in the hospital, I asked the nurse why I was there. She explained to me that I had just been in an accident and all of a sudden I thought, “Oh yeah!” and remembered all the details of the accident that I remember now. What makes this so strange for me is that I know, by hearing through others that were there, that I had been awake at the scene of the accident and also for an hour while I was getting tested at the hospital. But, when I regained consciousness, I felt like I had just woken up from a sleep that was so deep and comfortable, that it was eerie and frightening.

Background Information:

Gender: Female

Date NDE Occurred: 6/16/2001

NDE Elements:

At the time of your experience, was there an associated life-threatening event? Accident Clinical death

How do you consider the content of your experience? Mixed

The experience included: Out of body experience

Did you feel separated from your body? Yes I was awake but I don't remember being awake. During the time when people told me I was awake and talking, I remember completely other things.

At what time during the experience were you at your highest level of consciousness and alertness? I ranged from clinically dead and unconscious, to falling in and out of consciousness, to being conscious. I don't think I was ever really alert though. I had a serious concussion, so I didn't feel alert for months.

Did time seem to speed up or slow down? Everything seemed to be happening at once; or time stopped or lost all meaning When I was experiencing what I think was an out of body experience, I lost time. I lost the entire amount of time from being at the scene of the accident about to get in the ambulance, up until waking up (hours after arriving at the hospital).

Did your hearing differ in any way from normal? Things were being said around me and I was somewhat aware that there was background noise yet I didn't hear it. It was like it was there but it was distant and so muffled at the time I wasn't aware of it.

Did you pass into or through a tunnel? No

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

The experience included: Void

The experience included: Darkness

The experience included: Light

Did you see an unearthly light? Yes I saw bright flashes of light both white and colored. Now, when I see many flashes of light from ambulances, fire trucks and police, I get a very unsettled feeling.

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

The experience included: Strong emotional tone

What emotions did you feel during the experience? Terrified, tired, calm, confused, relaxed, worried.

Did you suddenly seem to understand everything? Everything about the universe I felt like there was a presence with me, keeping me calm and reassuring me things were going to be okay. But, I never saw anything or anyone and I never talked to anything or anyone. I just didn't feel alone. It's difficult to describe. I didn't feel like anything or anyone was there; I just didn't feel as if I was isolated, going through everything by myself.

Did scenes from your past come back to you? My past flashed before me, out of my control

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 was your religion prior to your experience? Conservative/fundamentalist Practicing Catholic

What is your religion now? Moderate I don't practice my faith as faithfully as I used to

Did you have a change in your values and beliefs because of your experience? Yes My attitude about life is significantly different. I am overwhelmingly aware of my own mortality. I wonder all the time about questions like; ‘Why are we here on earth? Is there something more?’. I believe more in spirits and wonder if I can ever learn how to channel my energy to communicate with them.

After the NDE:

Was the experience difficult to express in words? Yes The intense, bone-chilling fear, the incredible yet eerie sleep I awoke from, and the fragmented images I remember.

Do you have any psychic, non-ordinary or other special gifts after your experience that you did not have before the experience? No

Are there one or several parts of your experience that are especially meaningful or significant to you? The worst part of this experience was my extreme fear of death that I felt afterward. At first, I wished I had died in the accident because I felt that I would have never known and it wasn't that bad. I felt it was already over with, now I have to relive it again. I imagined dying in every way imaginable. It was very disturbing to watch people in movies die because I would picture dying the way they were in the movie. The best thing that resulted from this accident is my own self-awareness. I am refocused and motivated. I see life for things I never would have before. This accident has also sparked my imagination and curiosity.

Have you ever shared this experience with others? Yes I didn't share my experience with very many people. I feel that most of the time if I do, people don't quite understand. It's not that they don't want to believe me, it’s that they are skeptical about the subject to begin with. The only people I think I would enjoy talking to about it would probably be someone who could relate to it.

At any time in your life, has anything ever reproduced any part of the experience? Yes Viewing certain movies where people died or got hurt in a similar fashion can reactivate the whole experience for me. I also have dreams relating to the accident. The lights on rescue vehicles can stir up emotions from the accident.

Are there any other questions that we could ask to help you communicate your experience? I wonder sometimes if others experience that deep sleep that was so comfortable it was scary.