The most recent version of the NDERF survey (nderf.org) was open for accrual from November 11, 2011 to April 8, 2021. During this time NDERF received 834 sequentially shared NDEs that met all of the following criteria:

Experiences were scored as NDEs if they met all of the following:

1. A lucid, organized experience occurring at the time of a life-threatening event so severe that there is unconsciousness or clinically apparent death with an absent heartbeat.

2. An NDE Scale score of 7 or higher.

3. Shared by the individual who personally had the NDE.

4. Shared in English via the completed survey form on nderf.org.

All experiences were scored as NDEs if they met the above criteria and regardless of experience content to avoid bias in studying the content of the NDEs.

About 98% of all near-death experiencers (NDErs) allowed their NDEs to be posted on NDERF anonymously. Thus the NDEs posted on NDERF accurately reflect all NDEs shared with NDERF whether they are posted on NDERF or not. If the NDErs are personally identifiable on NDERF, they gave us explicit advance permission to be identified. In completing the NDERF survey form, NDErs give us permission to use what they shared in studies. For the NDERF studies, all NDEs are included for statistical analysis regardless of whether they gave permission to post their NDEs.

The NDEs posted on the NDERF website are edited only to correct obvious spelling and grammar errors. As remarkable as the NDEs are in this list, please remember that they accurately represent the real experiences of near-death experiencers (NDErs) from all walks of life and around the world.

Substantial efforts are made to minimize the risk of posting fraudulent NDE accounts on nderf.org:

NDERF Survey Methodology Minimizing the Risk of Falsified Accounts.

1. The NDERF survey is very long with over 100 questions that require a response before the survey can be submitted. The survey length is a substantial disincentive to filling it out falsely as a ‘joke’.

2. There are several questions asked on the NDERF survey regarding similar topics but worded slightly differently in different parts of the survey. This is the classic scientifically sound method to help distinguish valid from invalid survey responses.

3. Those who take the NDERF survey receive no payment of any kind

4. Experiences are posted anonymously. There is no personal recognition to incentivize sharing false accounts.

5. In the over 20 year history of NDERF, we have had exactly one person contact us to let us know that they shared a falsified account, and that we posted it.

6. The fact that the NDERF website has about 50,000 unique visitors a month from all around the world greatly reduces the risk that any accounts posted are plagiarized. With so many readers, any plagiarized account would likely be recognized by NDERF readers and we would be notified. This happened once in the history of NDERF. The plagiarized NDE was not shared on the NDERF survey but by an interview (which we no longer do).

7. My background as a physician helps me to identify NDEs that describe medical events that seem implausible.

8. It is rare that experiences are submitted as a ‘joke’ on the NDERF survey, and they can be easily identified. Years ago there were two NDEs shared sequentially that described, among other fanciful things, encountering Pamela Anderson in their “experiences”. These are recognized as ‘joke’ accounts when submitted to NDERF as quickly as they would be recognized as ‘joke’ accounts that are shared personally. Such “joke” submissions to NDERF average about one every few years.

9. My experience in reviewing over 3500 NDEs and about 10,000 experiences of all types helps me to recognize which experiences may be falsified. In my experience, the experiences at higher risk of being falsified are those where the contributors have a financial incentive in their experience.

Finally, a rare falsified NDE that slips through the filters does no real harm unless it changes our understanding of NDEs as a whole. It is almost inconceivable that enough falsified NDEs would be shared that we end up with a false understanding about NDE. After all, what is real is consistently observed.