Oakland NDE

Experience Description

When I was six years old, I was hit by a streetcar while crossing the street. After I was hit, I felt very warm all over. I remember that it felt good, and I even wanted to stay cuddled up to the streetcar! Then I was standing off to the side and I saw the streetcar driver looking out of his window down at a clump of clothes. I did not realize that it was my body. I saw many people running over to the clump of clothes. A man in the crowd picked it up, and they all ran toward the school. Someone told me I should go with them. (I believe God or my guardian angel told me.) Then I was right next to the man carrying the clump of clothes. I didn't know how I got to where the man was—I was suddenly just there, next to him. The next thing I remember, the first grade nun had her arms around me and I was crying into her dress. She was telling me that I was all right.

Background Information:

Gender: Female

Date NDE Occurred: don't remember

NDE Elements:

At the time of your experience, was there an associated life-threatening event? Uncertain Accident. Life threatening event, but not clinical death. I was hit by a streetcar while crossing the street, but I only had minor injuries.

How do you consider the content of your experience? Positive

The experience included: Out of body experience

Did you feel separated from your body? No I did not feel separated, I thought I really was standing there.

Did time seem to speed up or slow down? No

Please compare your hearing during the experience to your everyday hearing that you had immediately prior to the time of the experience. Just the voice that told me to go along with everyone else. I did not hear any crowd noises.

Did you pass into or through a tunnel? No I was on Earth, standing in the street.

Did you encounter or become aware of any deceased (or alive) beings? Yes I saw the streetcar driver, and the crowd of people. I did not communicate with them. I did not see any other ‘beings.’

Did you see an unearthly light? No

What emotions did you feel during the experience? Somewhat confused.

Did you suddenly seem to understand everything? No

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 I was there with the crowd looking up at the man who was carrying my body, although I didn't know it was my body. Then I was crying into the dress of the nun. I was not aware of ever being separated from or rejoining my body. I always thought it was me (inside my body) standing there, not that I was what was being carried.

God, Spiritual and Religion:

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

After the NDE:

Was the experience difficult to express in words? Uncertain At the time, I was six years old and did not understand what happened. For many years, I never thought about it. Then when I did read about out-of-body experiences, they were all floating above. But I was standing to the side, watching what everyone was doing, so I dismissed the thought.

Do you have any psychic, non-ordinary or other special gifts after your experience that you did not have before the experience? No Although I sometimes have dreams that come true, I don't think that has anything to do with the experience.

Are there one or several parts of your experience that are especially meaningful or significant to you? I always believed in an afterlife and that there was a soul/spirit that occupied the body and that the spirit would someday (with death) leave the body and go to heaven. Having the out-of-body experience confirmed this belief. However, I now think the spirit can also leave the body when there is physical pain of some sort.

Have you ever shared this experience with others? Yes One person I told said she also had an out-of-body experience. She said that she had been in the hospital and floated above, and that she had known that it was her body lying there below her. So she didn't have a reaction of any special sort when she heard about my experience, since the same thing had happened to her.

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