The possibility of you going, “Oh! But I think I experienced the afterlife for a hot minute there. It’s like how they portray it in movies, you know.” Let’s be real, the chances of people who died and came back to life are pretty rare.
But while you and I have not experienced such a fate, it is safe to say that there are real encounters depicting situations in which it has happened. Most of them have returned with vivid memories, emotional transformations, and accounts of what they encountered “on the other side.”
Here are fifteen extraordinary, true stories of people who were pronounced dead and yet came back, often forever changed.
`1. Deborah Prum – “I felt like I’d melted into pure peace”
When author Deborah Prum almost died during childbirth, she remembers floating above her hospital bed, watching doctors rush around but feeling no fear at all. “I didn’t care what happened next,” she said later. “It was pure calm, like every worry had evaporated.” She re-experienced the same fate years later after a car crash.
2. Denny Mac – “Time didn’t exist anymore”
When Denny Mac’s heart stopped, he didn’t see lights or angels; he saw nothing, and everything, at once. “There was no time,” he wrote. “No before or after. Just existence.” It wasn’t scary but beautifully still. He also said he watched his own body from above, realizing he wasn’t gone.
3. Jane Seymour – “I watched them try to bring me back”
Actress Jane Seymour nearly died after an allergic reaction to antibiotics. One moment, she was in agony; the next, she was outside her body, watching doctors panic as they tried to restart her heart. She said it felt like “being wrapped in love.” But before she could surrender, she felt herself pulled back.
4. Patsy Colter’s Mother – “An angel walked beside me”
When Patsy Colter’s mother fell gravely ill, doctors weren’t sure she’d make it. But as her family waited, she later revealed something astonishing: she’d walked up a golden hill beside an angel. She wanted to enter, but the angel stopped her. “Not yet,” it said. This encounter was collected from Glimpses of Heaven by Trudy Harris.
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5. Tessa Romero – “I floated above my body, watching it all happen”
Spanish journalist Tessa Romero was clinically dead for 24 minutes. During that time, she says, she floated above the hospital bed, watching doctors perform CPR. There was no pain but peace. “I didn’t feel like Tessa anymore,” she said later. “Just awareness, light, calm.”
6. Lynda Smith – “It felt like riding a glowing escalator”
Another Quora conversation highlighting a near-death experience (NDE) was that of Lynda Smith. She described her death as a kind of journey where she was just gliding forward, “like on a moving walkway.” “I knew it wasn’t my time,” she said, “because something was pulling me backward.” Sure does give you chills when you wake up with a gasp after such an experience, right?
7. William Peters – “I shared a death with my patient”
This is probably one of the most unique NDE encounters. Grief counselor William Peters was comforting a dying man named Ron when something impossible happened: his own consciousness seemed to drift out of his body. He found himself hovering above, next to Ron’s spirit. “It was peaceful,” he said, “and we were just… there, together.” He snapped back a few moments later.
8. Anita Moorjani – “I saw the truth of who I really am”
Anita Moorjani was dying from cancer, her body shutting down. But in the coma, she found herself in an infinite expanse of light and love. She saw her late father, heard his voice, and understood she could choose to stay or return. “I realized that my fear was killing me,” she said. So, she chose life and left the doctors stunned after she woke up.
9. Redditor “bhappyy” – “It felt like going home”
On Reddit, a user named bhappyy described death as “coming home after a long trip.” They saw their body from above, but it didn’t matter because they were filled with peace, warmth, and love so vast it swallowed every worry. “It wasn’t strange,” they wrote. “It was familiar.” After returning, though, they cried, not from fear but from the emptiness of missing that place.
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10. Dr. Mary Neal – “I learned that science and spirit are the same”
Orthopedic surgeon Dr. Mary Neal drowned while kayaking in Chile. Under the water, she felt her soul lift from her body and saw radiant beings waiting. She says they told her it wasn’t time yet because her children needed her. “Science and spirit don’t contradict each other,” she said. “They describe the same reality in different languages.”
11. Tony Kofi – “I saw flashes of my future life”
Before Tony Kofi became an award-winning jazz musician, he was a teenager falling from a three-story building. As he plummeted, he saw images flash before his eyes, some depicting places he’d never been, people he didn’t know, and himself holding a saxophone. The vision stuck with him, which he described as the “roadmap” to his life.
12. Lindsay Donovan – “I met a friend who had already crossed over”
After an overdose, Lindsay Donovan woke up in a bright white room, silent, endless, weightless. Across from her stood a dear friend who had died years before. “He looked happy, peaceful,” she said. Then, he smiled and told her it wasn’t her time. Truly feels like a moment out of a movie, doesn’t it?
13. Vincent Tolman – “They zipped me in a body bag—and I woke up”
Vincent Tolman was found lifeless in a bathroom after taking a supplement gone wrong. Paramedics declared him dead and zipped him into a body bag. Fifteen minutes later, someone felt a faint pulse. “The world didn’t have walls or ceilings,” he said. “It was infinite.”
14. Redditor “Dmenzie” – “It was like a scene change—then I woke up”
For Dmenzie, there were no lights, angels, or tunnels, but a sudden blackout after a bad fall, and then… the hospital. “It was like a scene change on TV,” they wrote. “One second here, next second somewhere else.” Sometimes, what you don’t see in death says just as much as what others do.
15. Velma Thomas – “After 17 hours, I came back”
In 2008, Velma Thomas’ heart stopped multiple times. Doctors declared her brain-dead for 17 hours. Her family was prepared to say goodbye. Then, her heart started beating again. When she finally woke up, she said she felt completely at peace. “I know God has something planned for me,” she said.
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Final Words
How do you explain an experience as unique as these? To have almost crossed the “bridge” and then been pulled back sounds like a surreal experience. Fifteen stories. Fifteen glimpses beyond the veil and how their lives transformed.
