Steve H NDE

Experience Description

At the time of the incident, I was racing in the NASCAR weekly racing series at the Stockton 99 Speedway, in Stockton California. I was watching the race from the pit observation area. I was standing near the fence, just a few feet from the track wall in turns 3 and 4. I watched the leaders cross the finish line. Then, I turned and went to get my car ready to move onto the track.

The next thing I remember was everything went white, like a thick fog during the day. I remember looking down from on top of the scoreboard, near where I was standing. I could see everything. I saw where the car came off the track and hit the fence. The car continued to run along the fence, knocking over the fence post and the unfortunate people standing near the fence. The car eventually came to a rest on its roof, at the beginning of the front stretch. The car struck me, throwing me about fifty feet, according to my ex-wife who was walking towards me when I was hit.

Fifty people were injured and one died at the scene, so it was chaos for those trying to help the injured. I landed in front of a team's pit. They started CPR but I was still not responding, so they stopped working on me so they could help others. A friend of told me he saw me lying there and went to my side. He was smacking me and calling my name.

After my OBE, it was like a normal Sunday morning after a Saturday night of racing. I was home in bed. My children jumped into bed with my wife and I. We were laughing and having a good time. Then I start to hear my friend calling my name. I looked at my wife and said, 'I wonder what Bob is doing here.' She said, 'You should probably go see what he wants.' I got out of bed, standing there looking at my family. I said, 'No! I don’t want to leave you guys.' She said, 'You have to go. You need to hurry back!' I turned to go and our bedroom had a long hallway to the bedroom door. The hallway was super-bright, like the sun shining so bright it was almost blinding. Again, I looked back and said, 'I don’t want to go.' I felt like a child was holding my hand and almost pulling me down the hallway. When I got to the door, it was complete darkness on the other side of the door. I stood there and remembered not wanting to go into the darkness. Whatever was with me helped me go through. I remember gasping for air and my friend Bob sitting next to me saying, 'I thought you were dead.'

I was one of the last of the injured to leave the scene that night because they didn’t think that I would make it to the hospital. They even had a Medi-flight helicopter come and it didn’t take me. That night, I had several internal injuries and the doctors told my wife that I had about a ten percent chance of surviving surgery. If I made it out of surgery, I had an even less chance of making it until morning.

I was in the hospital for several weeks. I began having strange nightmares for several weeks almost every night.

A few years before this experience happened to me, I lost a friend to an accident that happened at work. My nightmares started with my friend, Ed, who recently passed . He started coming to me in my dreams, telling me that I was supposed to be with him because I wasn’t supposed to live from the accident. It would get intense and end up with Ed chasing me. Eventually, it stopped being Ed and it was a dark figure with no features that would chase me. This went on for a while. I honestly thought I was going crazy.

That’s my story. I re-live it every September 18th.

Background Information:

Gender: Male

Date NDE Occurred: 9/18/1993

NDE Elements:

At the time of your experience, was there an associated life-threatening event? Yes Accident. CPR given. Direct head injury. Clinical death (cessation of breathing or heart function). I was struck by a race car that went over the wall and into the pits

How do you consider the content of your experience? Both pleasant AND distressing

Did you feel separated from your body? Yes. 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. It was normal

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

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. Normal

Please compare your hearing during the experience to your everyday hearing that you had immediately prior to the time of the experience. Normal

Did you seem to be aware of things going on elsewhere, as if by ESP? No

Did you pass into or through a tunnel? Yes While walking to my bedroom door, it turned into a long tunnel

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? Uncertain When I was walking to my bedroom door. It felt like it was longer than normal and extremely bright on the side I was in, and dark on the other side.

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

What emotions did you feel during the experience? Calmness, peaceful

Did you have a feeling of peace or pleasantness? Relief or calmness

Did you have a feeling of joy? Happiness

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? I came to a definite conscious decision to return to life. At the end of the hallway whatever was with me was guiding me to step through the threshold. It was not letting me go back.

God, Spiritual and Religion:

What was your religion prior to your experience? Christian- Catholic

Have your religious practices changed since your experience? No

What is your religion now? Christian- Catholic

Did your experience include features consistent with your earthly beliefs? Content that was entirely consistent with the beliefs you had at the time of your experience. I don’t understand the question

Did you have a change in your values and beliefs because of your experience? Yes. Unknown

Did you seem to encounter a mystical being or presence, or hear an unidentifiable voice? I encountered a definite being, or a voice clearly of mystical or unearthly origin. I felt like a child was guiding me

Did you see deceased or religious spirits? 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

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? No

During your experience, did you gain information about an afterlife? I am uncertain if an afterlife exists

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

What life changes occurred in your life after your experience? Large changes in my life

Have your relationships changed specifically because of your experience? Yes I am more closed off and I keep to myself more.

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 as accurately as other life events that occurred around the time of the experience. I can remember my experience vividly

Do you have any psychic, non-ordinary or other special gifts after your experience that you did not have before the experience? Yes I would see people that others could not see

Are there one or several parts of your experience that are especially meaningful or significant to you? No

Have you ever shared this experience with others? Yes. I shared it with my wife when I came home from the hospital. She was shocked. She said that I described the scene of the accident exactly how it was and there was no way I could have seen it from where I was lying on the ground.

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 probably not real. I didn’t believe it at first. Days afterwards, I returned home. Friends from the track would stop by and tell me that I was dead. They agreed that the things I described to them, there was no way I could have seen that.

What do you believe about the reality of your experience now? Experience was definitely real. Same as above, I still believe it is real.

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? Some of the questions repeated themselves