Tim B NDE

Experience Description

I was pushing on the crossbeam under the truck trying to get it off my chest. Then I was looking down on the truck. I could tell I was floating above the shop light in the garage. I could see the hood and roof of the truck. Then I was somewhere else. It was all brown. I heard a voice say, 'Your kids can't lose their dog and their dad in the same week.' A car on the highway had hit my dog four days earlier. The next thing I knew, I was looking up at the underside of the truck. The cross piece was lifted off my chest and the truck rolled further down, pinning me on my thigh. I was stuck that way for what I think was 45 minutes.

Background Information:

Gender: Male

Date NDE Occurred: 10/10/1997

NDE Elements:

At the time of your experience, was there an associated life-threatening event? Yes Accident. Life threatening event, but not clinical death Truck I was working on rolled down the ramps it was on and landed on my chest. I was working on my 1979 ford pickup truck. It was up on ramps with a board chocking the back-wheels. I was trying to reattach the shifter arm to the transmission. I heard a metal crashing noise and the truck began to drop down the ramp. It hit my head on the forehead then dragged across my nose, breaking my glasses. It landed on my chest. I couldn't breathe. I tried to push it off me and I couldn't move. Then things went black. When I came to, the cross piece on the truck felt like it was lifted off my chest and the truck rolled down to where it pinned me on the thigh. I was stuck that way for 45 minutes until I could kick the wheel off the creeper I was lying on until it broke and dropped. I rolled out of from under the truck. It continued to roll and landed another foot and a half back. The next day it was still in park and couldn't be moved by pushing. I had a bruise that went all the way around my chest and back but no other damage.

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

The experience included: Out of body experience

Did you feel separated from your body? Yes I could see down to my truck as if I was floating facing downward from the ceiling 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? More consciousness and alertness than normal I could sense everything. I don't know how to say that better.

At what time during the experience were you at your highest level of consciousness and alertness? I think when I was in the brown space and the voice was speaking to me.

Were your thoughts speeded up? Faster than usual

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. It seemed the same.

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

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

The experience included: Darkness

Did you see, or feel surrounded by, a brilliant light? No

Did you see an unearthly light? No

Did you seem to enter some other, unearthly world? A clearly mystical or unearthly realm It was a brown colored space. Some light registered but it was uniformly brown.

The experience included: Strong emotional tone

What emotions did you feel during the experience? I'd have to say peace, or maybe a lack of fear.

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? I felt no longer in conflict with nature

The experience included: Special knowledge or purpose

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? No

God, Spiritual and Religion:

What importance did you place on your religious/spiritual life prior to your experience? Moderately important to me

What was your religion prior to your experience? Christian- Protestant Grew up with my dad going through Lutheran seminary and becoming a pastor.

Have your religious practices changed since your experience? Yes Church is meaningless. I participate in daily prayer with the spirits that have made themselves known to me. I talk to them in dreams and get messages other ways, too.

What importance do you place on your religious/spiritual life after your experience? Greatly important to me

What is your religion now? Native American religion I'm trying to learn from the elders around me.

Did your experience include features consistent with your earthly beliefs? Content that was both consistent and not consistent with the beliefs you had at the time of your experience The voice that saved me did not seem angelic. It seemed of earth...

Did you have a change in your values and beliefs because of your experience? Yes I became aware of the need to explore Native American spirituality. I believe I found that the voice I heard was the voice of an Ojibwa medicine man that had passed in 1992.

Did you seem to encounter a mystical being or presence, or hear an unidentifiable voice? I heard a voice I could not identify I was floating in a brown space and I heard a man say, 'Your kids can't lose their dog and their dad in the same week.' Then I was back in my body and the truck was rolling off my chest.

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

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

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

Did you believe in the existence of God prior to your experience? God definitely exists

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

Do you believe in the existence of God after your experience? God definitely exists

Concerning our Earthly lives other than Religion:

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

Did you believe that our earthly lives are meaningful and significant prior to your experience? Are possibly meaningful and significant

During your experience, did you gain information about the meaning of life? No

Did you believe in an afterlife prior to your experience? An afterlife definitely exists

Do you believe in an afterlife after your experience? An afterlife definitely exists Yes The voice that helped me.

Did you fear death prior to your experience? I greatly feared death

Do you fear death after your experience? I moderately fear death

Were you fearful living your life prior to your experience? Greatly fearful in living my earthly life

Were you fearful living your life after your experience? Moderately fearful in living my earthly life

Did you believe that our earthly lives are meaningful and significant prior to your experience? Are possibly meaningful and significant

Did you believe that our earthly lives are meaningful and significant after your experience? Are probably meaningful and significant

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

Were you compassionate prior to your experience? Slightly compassionate toward others

During your experience, did you gain information about love? No

Were you compassionate after your experience? Moderately compassionate toward others

Have your relationships changed specifically because of your experience? Yes I am more assertive and take care of myself better.

After the NDE:

Was the experience difficult to express in words? Yes I still don't know how to describe the brown space. It's inadequate. I don't know how to say what I remember.

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. It was a pivotal moment in my life- I started caring about things, whereas before I was disconnected.

Do you have any psychic, non-ordinary or other special gifts after your experience that you did not have before the experience? Uncertain I'm aware of my empathic and intuitive gifts now. I don't know that I ever identified them in the past.

Are there one or several parts of your experience that are especially meaningful or significant to you? I became real to myself. I had always had in the back of my head that I wasn't really here, that I wasn't really part of life.

Have you ever shared this experience with others? Yes 16 years. They were shocked. Most are skeptical. I limit whom I tell it to now.

Did you have any knowledge of near death experience (NDE) prior to your experience? Yes I had seen it on paranormal shows.

What did you believe about the reality of your experience shortly (days to weeks) after it happened? Experience was definitely real I never doubted that it really happened. It just seemed real and true.

What do you believe about the reality of your experience now? Experience was definitely real Same as before. The reality of it never went away.

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