Get Premium
Dark mode theme is available exclusively for premium users. Learn more about the benefits of subscribing.
No fees, cancel anytime.
Dark Mode 
No fees, cancel anytime 
People Who Flatlined And Were Revived Open Up About The Experience They Had (75 Stories)
Death is one of the ultimate mysteries of life that we’d probably never be able to fully understand, mainly because we can’t ask the folks who’ve passed what their experience has been like. That’s why we have to rely on the real-life anecdotes of people who’ve experienced being dead, even if it was just for a short time.
That’s what all the stories on this list are about, and they reveal how folks ended up losing their lives, what they saw when they crossed over, and how they were brought back. Even though it can be a scary subject to talk about, these experiences might just change your perspective.
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
Cardiac arrest at age 23. I did not realize what was happening but began to feel lightheaded and sat down, and then remember feeling an incredibly brief overwhelming peace and comfort, followed by absolute nothingness. My heart was kept going by CPR until paramedics came with a defibrillator. Becoming alert again at hospital was painful and brutal, which I think was mostly because CPR when done correctly is gnarly.
RELATED:
#2
Excessive insulin. I was gone twice in my partner's arms. It felt like going to sleep, as essentially it was. I remember being in a dream state as I stopped breathing, I felt at peace. My heart stopped for little over a minute each time. No tunnel of light or choir of angels, just a world fading to black and a deep sense of serenity.
#3
Feels peaceful as stated by others. Complete "blackness" because you no longer have any senses, but somehow I was aware of the nothingness and somehow I could feel "peaceful", which I think is because everything else like anxiety, sadness, fear, etc, is gone. I think "peaceful" is just the state of being "nothing" when you are gone. It's our natural state to be in so therefore we are "OK".
I guess if doctors could poke the brain and turn off all senses, that will be as close as you'll get to understanding how it "feels". And then turn them back on when they stop poking it of course.
When people pass away, you don’t expect them to just come back to life, but the truth is that it can sometimes happen even if they are clinically dead. That’s mainly because of medical technologies designed to prolong human life, which can bring a person back even if their pulse cannot be felt or they’re unresponsive.
According to Walsh Medical Media, when a person’s heart doesn’t beat and their breathing stops, they’re considered deceased, but with the help of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), defibrillation, and epinephrine injections, they can be temporarily revived.
#4
I was white white rafting and upon a class 4 rapid the river splits, the guide said if you fall out STAY LEFT DO NOT GO RIGHT, there is an undercurrent if you go right. I fell out and forgot what direction I was supposed to stay and went right. I was sucked under the water behind a giant Boulder and held about 6 or 8 feet below the surface. I could see the light and surface so clearly the whole time. No matter how much a struggled, I could not get free, even wearing a life jacket I was no match for the powerful force of the River. After a minute or 2, It became clear to me I was going to drown. All fear left my body and a strange serenity came over me. I stopped struggling and curled up like a fetus and BOOM!!! I Just shot out of the undercurrent like a bowling ball out of the return thing. And straight to the surface.
#5
My mom had surgery and after they finished they wanted to give her some pain medication to wake up on.
They accidentally gave her something paralyzing, which closes down every muscle - also the heart. She knew she was going, buy couldn’t say anything as you also loose your ability to speak.
She was gone, but they noticed last minute and revived her, but she was gone for a couple minutes. She says she saw the white tunnel light and then saw herself from above the corner of the room laying there lifeless. She says it was very peaceful and not frightening at all. Almost like coming home.
My mom does not believe in life after d***h or anything that could be a bit supernatural, so I believe her. I’ve heard many stories like it afterwards.
#6
Like going to sleep. It was warm, silent blackness. I took 380+ pills, including muscle relaxants, pain meds, and the like. My heart stopped before the ambulance arrived at the hospital and I swear I remember hearing a flatline.
There was nothing after you're gone. In a way, it's comforting, if not a little heartbreaking.
Dying and coming back to life certainly sounds like something straight out of a movie, and the Cleveland Clinic calls it the Lazarus phenomenon. This effect gets its name from the story of Jesus bringing a man named Lazarus back to life, but don’t let that fool you into thinking everyone on this list has been resurrected.
In reality, when a person is declared dead from cardiac arrest and suddenly shows signs of life, it could be because their heart and circulation had not permanently stopped. This is called delayed return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC), and medical literature has reported 76 cases of it in the last 40 years.
#7
When I was younger I drowned in a lake. It was scary at first but when the sun broke through the clouds all of a sudden the cove I was in was glowing this green gold and I felt incredibly peaceful. After the first breath of water, the world got quiet and I drifted.
My experience of being gone was strange. I was conscious and I was me. It was dark but not because there was no light, but rather no sight.
I was a drop of water in a puddle in an ocean. I could feel all consciousnesses surrounding me while still autonomous. It was wonderful but they sent me back because I was back too soon.
I also had a similar experience in another asphyxiation situation so that really reinforced my lack of fear surrounding d***h. I look forward to it and will continue to push myself to enjoy this version of reality before I go. .
#8
I was crushed under a group of people. I couldn’t move at all and my hands were on my chest. Couldn’t scream because of the pressure on my body. I freaked out at first. And when air started to run out I made peace with the fact that air wasn’t going to get out of that and suddenly this joy overwhelmed me. I started to blackout and I think I was smiling. Passed out and next thing I remember is being carried out by two people. I woke up and had an anxiety attack. Did a LOT of thinking after that.
#9
Drowned(almost). Hurt like hell, then everything went still.
Then hurt like hell when being resuscitated.
DennyS (denzoren) 1 hour ago
I've always heard that burning and drowning are the two most painful ways to go (apart from t*****e etc).
Even though we can’t possibly know what things look like beyond this existence, surveys have found that nearly 55% of people are certain there is an afterlife, 37% are unsure about it, and 8% believe there’s nothing beyond this realm.
The thing is that folks who have had a near-death experience have a unique insight that we don’t have into what exists beyond this physical world. Some of them report bright lights, others mention feeling really calm, and a select few report absolutely nothing existing when they died. I guess it’s up to you to figure out whose account seems the most believable.
#10
I have cardiac arrhythmias. It came on suddenly one time while I was in the shower and I collapsed. I recall looking up as if I were in the bottom of a tunnel with a white light in the distance. I heard voices talking & one said, “what happened ?” & another responded by saying “but it’s not her time yet”. In that moment I realized that these entities were going to take me away and wherever it was …it was a place that I would NEVER return from. I felt sheer panic & then I felt like someone had punched me in the chest and I took the biggest breath in and opened my eyes.
I had an ablation soon thereafter and the arrhythmia was terminated, but since that event I’ve had random dreams that will later happen in real life & I see spirits quite a lot. It frightened me for a while but I’ve made peace with it.
#11
It was great and while I intend to enjoy every day I have in this body, I am looking forward to not being in it anymore.
Neutropenic episode during chemo. My immune system crashed completely and 3 separate infections took hold immediately. I had an obe nde that night and when I woke up in the morning I "knew " I was about to just d*e. Within about an hour my temperature went from normal to at least 105 (as high as the oncology centers thermometer went) and I was wisked away for antibiotic infusions in a special isolation ICU for about 3 weeks.
Oddly I had a massive pulmonary embolism with congestive heart failure a few years ago and nothing. I was fully concious the entire time and kept thinking "I'm hurting I can't breathe... w*f am I still awake? When am I going to pass out already? " Nothing.. just had to deal with all of it. I guess deep down I knew if I went unconscious I wouldn't wake up.
#12
It was the most incredible moment of my life! Suddenly I found myself floating in space, but it wasn’t cold or uncomfortable at all. I was enveloped by a feeling of complete serenity and joy, mixed with an almost hilarious sense that I had just gotten the punchline of the funniest joke I had ever heard. I had this strong sense of homecoming, almost like a “remembering” of who I really was and where I really came from. I was surrounded by beings made entirely of light and energy. Nothing I had ever worried about in my “life incarnate” as who I am now remained at all; everything was exactly how it should be, the universe was a perfectly balanced system, and time itself returned to being what it is: an artifact of the incarnate “matter” phase of the human experience.
Suddenly, it was as though a universe-worth of information came rushing back into me, like a rapid download and I could see other perfect clarity the whole meaning of absolutely everything. Then, a bright light started to grow and grow in front of me and I felt gently pushed toward it until I was in a hospital bed again. I don’t know how I was aware of my surroundings then, but I woke up in a sunny room and my Mom was sitting nearby.
Again, no awareness of any time having passed at that moment came to me, but my Mom told me that I had been fighting to stay alive for 4-5 weeks in the ICU after my surgery (I received a double lung transplant) went very wrong.
The hardest part has been existing here while knowing all that I now know!
All these experiences people have when they pass away could just be dismissed as the ramblings of a person going through something traumatic. Author and professor Sam Parnia challenges that, stating that when a person is dying, MRI and EEG machines show an explosion of brain activity, especially in areas associated with dreaming and altered states of consciousness.
This could corroborate testimonies of people having very lucid visions and experiences, as the brain’s high-frequency electrical activity shows up briefly and then vanishes. What this means for people nearing death is hard for us to understand, but it certainly adds an element of truth to the stories on this list.
#13
I’d rather not get into the how part because it’s too traumatic, but I was floating peacefully on my back through the darkness, but it wasn’t scary at all. It’s the most peaceful I’ve ever felt. I was both inside and outside of my body simultaneously, and while no one spoke this to me, I was given the explicit message that the universe is you, and you are the universe. There’s no division. I didn’t want to leave, but it’s like I felt a group of people pluck me out of space. I soon woke up in a hospital bed, and I felt like I just had a glimpse of home.
While I’m in no hurry to d*e, I’m not worried about it like I used to be. And I sort of don’t grieve quite as much when loved ones d*e because, even if it’s just a chemical reaction, it’s a good one! Living is much scarier.
#14
A guy I used to work with did a lot of sailing and actually drowned once before being resuscitated. He said that the last thing he remembered before going out was this feeling of absolutely peaceful serenity.
#15
I was near d***h after two perforated ulcers caused me to bleed out one night. I had vomited a lot of blood and was basically going into shock. I was in the ambulance and decided that I just wanted to go. I was having trouble breathing so I decided to just stop breathing and I closed my eyes and it was like falling asleep. Until I felt like someone punched me in my chest and I gasped back to consciousness.
Almost losing one’s life and then getting it back can be a very difficult experience to recover from, which is why scientists questioned adults who’ve been through this to understand what they learned from it.
Of the 17 people they spoke to, most said they became clearer about their priorities and felt that their daily frustrations no longer mattered. Instead, they realized how important it was to savor the good moments and never take the gift of being alive for granted.
#16
I drove off a cliff on my 19th birthday (accidentally, no d***s involved) I don't remember anything but the feeling. I was happier than I've ever been, and I felt safe and loved. And then I was pulled back, and it was agonizing. I was pretty s******l for several months because I wanted to go back.
#17
My ex friend told me when he was little he was swimming in a river with his siblings and family and his older sister was roughhousing him and held him under water to long, he said he lost consciousness and his exact words “it felt like my entire body having an orgasm”.
#18
I was ran over when I was very young, I have a memory of floating over white buildings with people waving out of the windows. I d**d 4 times on the operating table trying to remove a blood clot on the brain.
No idea if this was a dream or something real.
It might seem like individuals who’ve been revived from death should have a brand-new perspective on life, but Jeffrey Long points out that many of the folks still struggle with the opinions of others. Rather than not caring what people in their lives thought of them, this concern still seems to take up a major chunk of their headspace.
This could be because people who felt their life was lost have a deeper appreciation for their family and friends and therefore worry about what their loved ones think. Therefore, it might not be possible to eliminate the fear of others’ opinions, but over time, those concerns could lessen.
#19
I broke my femur when I was 22 and I was in the hospital for a few weeks. I was in so much pain that after the first few days they decided I needed to sleep, and they turned up the m******e drip.
I coded in the middle of the night and then they resuscitated me with an adrenaline shot (this was in the 1990’s). Apparently I was clinically d**d for almost one minute. Maybe that’s not very long to be d**d, or whatever, but there was nothing to it. Nothing. No tunnel of light, no hugs from deceased relatives.
Nothing.
#20
I got hit by a car at 11. Cracked my skull. Internal hemorrhage in my brain etc. I woke up a week later in the hospital. I was gone for a for a few moments there.
I don't remember the event but I remember waking up. It felt like waking from a deep dreamless dream. Since then I've always felt like I'm on borrowed time. But if I think about the time In-between getting hit and waking up all I feel is a kind of "it's okay, nothing to be scared of".
#21
I was a welder on a job in Indiana. I was shocked with 480 volt and s**t my pants and died. By dying though it made me fall which releases my grip and I landed sitting up. Hitting the ground jumped started my heart and brought me back.
I don’t remember being d**d because it was just nothingness, but the life rushing back in was a really strange feeling.
These near-death experiences definitely lend themselves to fascinating stories, but they can be incredibly traumatic for the individuals going through them. Research from UVA Health has found that such folks might struggle to make sense of reality after coming back to life, and may even feel distressed and overwhelmed.
This is especially true if their experience conflicts with their religious, spiritual, or existential beliefs and values. That’s exactly why these individuals might need extra mental health and emotional support from their loved ones after going through a challenging situation like this.
#22
D**d slowly over the course of an evening from septic shock. Not sure what part of the story you want to hear so I'll skip to the very end. Basically, it shut down one part of my body at a time, starting with my legs and ending with my head. The last thing was able to do was rock my head to one side (I was lying on my back) before I was totally paralyzed. My sight went away and the last sense I had left was my hearing. I lay there listening to a movie I'd never seen before (I happened to watch the movie years later and it sent me into a panic attack when I recognized the dialogue. It was The Sunset Limited). I was absolutely fighting, kicking, SCREAMING in my head for somebody to please find me, please help me, please save me, I can't d*e yet. This can't be it (I was 23). All that came out my mouth was this croaky "hellllll" and then i couldn't make sounds anymore. When i realized nobody was coming I just lay on darkness and thought "ok. This is it. Maybe it won't be so bad. Maybe now I get to see Dad again." I stopped fighting. And then I felt warm all over. This unreal, weightless, overwhelming peace replaced the panic once I let go. And that was it. Warm, black, nothing. No bright lights. No heaven. No Hell. No anything. ETA: I know this was long but I feel like it's important to stress that your hearing is the last sense you lose when you're dying. If you're with someone in their last moments, please talk to them. Let them know you're with them. That they're not alone. Tell them they don't have to be afraid. They'll hear you.
#23
Died at age 6, climbed a tree with a bicycle helmet on, jumped from the tree, helmet got stuck between two branches, hung there until I passed out, woke up with the EMT reviving me, I remember seeing white so white it was almost blue, soft and comfortable, like being home, told them I had spoken to god and that I wanted to stay but I wasn’t allowed, I had to come back to take care of my mother, and that it wasn’t my time yet. Ever since then I have struggled with my relationship with religion, life is amazing and strange and unique, but I will say this, being born twice is no more strange then being born once.
#24
I had an allergic reaction to medication in the hospital and vividly remember being above the bed watching them wheel me down the hall. I could tell you which doctors and nurses were in what position around the bed, they turned left out of the room, down the hall...no fear, just calm observation watching the chaos.
The best way to deal with a revival experience after it happens is to talk about it to people you trust, says The International Association for Near-Death Studies. They found that folks who go through this are less likely to seek support because they fear being misunderstood or judged, which can lead to a lot of stress and tension building up.
That’s why they should get professional mental health support and also lean on their loved ones for a while after the experience. This could help them make sense of their feelings and come to terms with the shift in perspective they may have undergone.
#25
Anaphylaxis. Like the others, I felt sleepy. It was peaceful, I kinda liked it and now I am not afraid to d*e.
#26
Didn’t know this at the time: something (septic /Infection in my colon probably from a carrot virus) caused my body to go into fever/shock, ambulance and then hospitalized. Minutes after being hooked up to everything I lost all vitals, flat line, s**t my pants, and then nurses performed CPR in front of my ex-fiancé. I came back and she was crying and I was like did I faint and s**t my pants? No, for a minute you d**d. I still have the pajamas I left the hospital in. Fainting and anesthesia felt the same in terms of memory. I wonder if it’s hurt my heart more than my brain.
#27
Motorcycle accident when I was 13. Clinically d**d for a minute and a half. Don’t remember anything from earlier that day till I woke in the hospital a few days later.
It’s clearly not all fun and games to be a dead person and then be brought back to life, apart from the incredible story you might be able to share at parties. The problem with near-death experiences is that they can completely change how a person views life, their values, and their way of thinking, which can be overwhelming.
That’s why you’ve got to give it up for the incredible folks on this list who went through something incredibly traumatic and still shared their experiences with us. We’d love to know if you’ve ever faced something like this, or even if you know someone who crossed over to the other side briefly.
#28
I drowned when I was 7. I died. They called the coroner, loaded me into the bag and I came back. (I remember nothing from being d**d, no white light, no family members...nothing.)
It was painful. I remember my lungs spasming and burning.
Then I looked up and...oh my god, the color bursts were beautiful. Absolutely stunning.
I would love for everyone to see those color bursts but, you know, without the dying.
And yes, there were/are lingering brain effects from oxygen deprivation.
#29
I was on my way out, not d**d, but I also experienced that level of peace. I was on the operating table for a c-section when I lost the ability to breathe. They bagged me for as long as they could and the anesthesiologist told the doctor he couldn’t do it for much longer and to hurry up. I lost a lot of blood and as soon as they pulled my son out they intubated me. It was obviously a traumatic experience, but aside from being disappointed that this is how it was gonna end I felt a great sense of calm. I hope it’s that calm when I actually do go.
#30
I bled out about 16 hours after childbirth. I lost 4 pints of blood. I remember feeling very thirsty and thinking “that’s not good.” The bright light is real, it came at me like a train. I knew I was dying and I felt bad leaving everyone I loved behind but after a millisecond I felt extreme peace.
When I woke back up I was vomiting what I can only describe as cat throw up. I was panicking and asking everyone if I was okay. I received 3 blood transfusions but was able to keep my uterus (woohoo).
Pretty wild experience, honestly. I originally wanted to have a home birth and there is no doubt I would be d**d right now had I gone that route. I wouldn’t say I was afraid of d***h before this, but I definitely am not afraid of it now.
Overall I’d give it a 6/10. Glad I was in a hospital.
#31
My brother died the first time...I wanna say aroind 2014? He had had intestinal surgery for his Crohn's disease, so he was still in the hospital, strained too hard, and his heart stopped. The doctors/nurses brought him back and he said everything kinda faded to black, like tunnel vision. Closed his eyes, then woke back up when they got his heart going correctly again. I don't remember exactly how long he was d**d for--maybe a minute or a bit less?
Then he died for real the second time a few years ago, so I can't ask him about it. I like to imagine it was more of the same though.
#32
My father had a heart attack was life flighted he coded 2 times. He said it was the most peaceful deepest sleep he’s ever had in his life and he was b******g at the doctors for waking him up. He has then since passed from a heart attack. We had to take him off life support. I like to think he was just like that in peace in a nice deep sleep.
#33
My aunt had a massive heart attack and was d**d. She was an alcoholic and didn't believe in anything. She said she found herself going through this soft white cloud (hard to explain she says). She also said she felt a peace that is impossible to put in to words. All the negative things on earth you feel and experience are just gone. Nothing mattered, not even her family. This peace just completely consumed her.
She is now a believer in a higher power.
#34
One time my husband and I tried a new brunch place and I had some bougie toast with bee pollen sprinkled on top. 45 minutes after, I began feeling really horrible stomach cramps and dizzy. We stopped at a White Castle for me to go to the bathroom and I remember feeling like I wanted to fall asleep while I was on the toilet.
Apparently I was in anaphylactic shock and I realized in the moment I was probably dying in this White Castle bathroom. The idea startled me awake and I went to the car and used my epi-pen. It was the first time I’d ever experienced it.
The scary thing to me is how nice it felt. Like the coziest sleepiest feeling I’d ever had. Like “this isn’t so bad.”.
#35
Drowned as a kid (suffocated technically since divers reflex no water inhalation).
Was feeding ducks in winter time, bully pushed me in, heavy winter clothes made it impossible to swim, after many jumps from lake bottom failing to breach surface and catch a breath, i went from feeling absolute panic and cold to feeling warm, bright and safe, and stopped struggling.
Some ladies walking their dog pulled me out and revived me shortly after.
#36
My sister died in the emergency room after being in a car accident. She was able to recount in detail all of the activity that occurred as they attempted to bring her back alive, from a perspective she shouldn't have been able to see. According to her, she was floating above her body up towards the ceiling. The doctor and nurses were pretty amazed by how accurate she was. She said returning to her body was extremely painful.
#37
I had a pretty bad streptococcal infection a couple of years ago which put me into organ and heart failure that required resuscitation twice in a short period. Dying was the most peaceful and love filled thing I have ever experienced, no pain, no fear, just beauty. I remember being so mad each time I was pulled back, how much defibrillation hurts. I was incredibly angry for months and still have periods of the anger for being saved.
#38
After an operation last year, bleed and d**d for 6 minutes. It was peaceful, not afraid and a friend met who died in the same year in spring. It was only a few minutes but the conversation with him felt very long, and when I asked him what was coming now he laughed and said that my time hadn't come yet. He then went with a smile from this room that looked like a doctor's office and around me everything got dark. Afterwards 2 days of artificial coma, an apologizing doctor and wonderful staff who had taken care of me was reasonably fit again.
After this experience, I no longer try to take everything so seriously and my attitude to life has changed for the positive. Open other people towards, I am now making things that have seen earlier than useless and try to make the best from life. You only have one and that should be the best for everyone.
#39
Had a brain tumor removed and ‘died’ during the procedure. I walked around the operating room for a while, checking out the equipment and watching the surgeons. Soon after I decided to ‘fly’ up into the cosmos and traveled space for a little while. My main concern was leaving my fiancé and daughter behind. Otherwise I was pretty indifferent to the whole situation.
#40
Both of my in-laws have at one point died and come back, though my MIL is now officially gone.
My MIL said that she felt absolute happiness and had the best dream. She was only back for a short while before completing her transition and passing away. She was an incredible lady. Very caring and loving to everyone around her. She is missed.
My FIL reported feeling incredibly scared and dark. He has not been a nice man and has committed many evils during his life, especially against his family.
Now, I don’t know if there is a heaven or hell, but these have been their experiences. We do joke that he came back because he is so worried about what awaits him.
#41
When I was three I was at a lake with my Mom and brother. We had been swimming and my Mom started packing up and said it was time to go. I said I didn't want to go and went running down the shore. I ran up on this big rock . Words were written on it, and I stopped to peer down at the letters, but I couldn't read. I looked up and saw my Mom catching up to me so I dove in. The words on the rock said , DO NOT DIVE. I remember the water was a dark amber color, it reminded me of the milk bottles that were delivered to our house.. There were tree branches in the water and I wondered why.
Next thing I remember I was above the lake watching my Mom screaming. She couldn't swim. I was above a tree where a young couple were sitting on a blanket. The man was laughing , he thought it was funny that I read the rock and dove in. His girlfriend was punching his arm and telling him to go help. I don't remember being pulled out of the water , the next thing I remember was being rolled over a barrel type thing and puking up lake water. That was the only discomfort I remember from the whole experience. Very calm and peaceful under the water. My mother confirmed all the details later, and my memory was very clear. It has left me with no fear of d***h at all.
#42
Motorcycle accident in 94', dog ran out and I went airborne 45 ft. Landed on my head. Before going airborne I crossed my arms and kissed my a*s goodbye. I went to a place of total peace and tranquility until the voice came to me to get up and walk. The flash of returning and pain. Broke my back in two places, half my ribs were broke, shoulder, leg and facial damage. With blood in my eyes I got up and walked home (1mile) where my family did not know who I was. A long road to recovery but aways know that when things get bad, get up and walk.
#43
23 days since my grand mal seizure, I was a goner until the CPR and then regained consciousness about 30 minutes later in the hospital bed - For me, it was just a completely lapse in existence. I don't remember the seizure, I don't remember falling, I don't remember the ambulance. Just pure nothingness. The experience has been almost more scary that a grand psychedelic "light at the end of the tunnel" situation, but the mental and spiritual growth that it's thrusted me into has been incredible. I often have thoughts that my life before was just a dream that I've woken up from. Super weird.
Sidenote - the physical pain from some proper CPR is gnarly. I recommend never doing anything that might end with compressions being required, in case you haven't been reminded recently.
#44
I got Covid on December 2020. Got really bad real quick. A week later I was in the icu intubated. I coded during one night. I remember feeling like I was floating upwards and a sense of warmness and peace and calm. I had the feeling someone was calling me. I woke up a couple of weeks later.
#45
I was t'd going home after class from college by a drunk driver. Everything seems intense, the air you breathe, the muscles, everything feels like heavy weight and the seconds seem longer. Like the lights get brighter, the dark gets darker. Fear, pain and then black. No thinking, no breathing, no pain. It felt like a fragment in a sentence. But my sister says that I kept asking for a person named Paul. I do not know who Paul is. I never knew a Paul or have known a Paul. We ended up getting a family cat and named him Paul after that incident.
#46
I was having a Widowmaker and when they finally got me in a wheelchair and took me back, I remember thinking that they would take care of me and I could finally relax a bit. My heart stopped twice, which I didn't know until much later. I just remember essentially going to sleep and just darkness. The first dream I had was in shades of greys and blacks and I felt like I was hiding from something. Eventually they turned into dreams of my past, with some of my present mixed in.
To this day though, I feel a sense of being incomplete, like I am missing a part of myself.
#47
When I was 5 years old, i had to have an operation to fix a botched circumcision. The doctors put me under with anesthesia. My heart stopped on the table. (I have since learned that I am hyper sensitive to all sedatives)
Here's where it gets weird. My heart had stopped for approximately 5 minutes before they were able to resuscitate me. I can VIVIDLY remember looking down on a waiting room looking at my mother and father. I can remember a man with gray hair coming in and talking with my parents. I couldn't hear them, but I could see the Dr. say something to them and them holding each other and crying. That's when everything went black. The next thing I knew, I woke up in a hospital bed.
I described this scene to my parents down to the color of the plastic chairs they were sitting in, what the Dr was wearing, and their reaction to the news. They said my description was exactly like what happened.
I don't believe in God or the afterlife, but it's an eerie situation, and I have no answers for what happened.
#48
My heart stopped for quite a bit… found out later it’s a genetic condition and now have a pacemaker but it was the most peaceful and calm feeling. Until I woke up in the ER with a bunch of people around me telling me to relax because my heart is not recovering… That part was horrible, but the d**d part was the most peace I’ve ever felt.
#49
Like watching a wisp of smoke float away in the final moments.
My field of vision narrowed to a pinpoint and blinked out. The last sense to leave was sound. Both from my injuries and trying to breathe through blood and the world around me.
I didn't feel any pain, and I absolutely should have considering the enormity of whole body fractures and trauma. Was ejected from a vehicle and hit the pavement at over 100 miles per hour.
Would agree to a sense of peace, ultimately, in those final moments.
#50
S*****e via my insulin. I felt so at peace, everything felt right, I just experienced the most incredible feeling of comfort for the first time in my life. Woke up in the most excruciating pain in the hospital and had an absolutely miserable time in the psych ward afterwards.
#51
I had a little accident where i downed 27 sleeping pills. Last thing i remember before passing out was : It's finaly over thank God. There was no pain, no thoughts really. It was peacefull and warm and well I just went to sleep. Apparently an ambulance was called by someone cause when i woke up it was 2 days later in a hospital. I thought I landed somewhere between heaven and hell. I was not sad, I was not paniqued but i was def still under the sleeping pills because i was brought back into my room after I was found trying to get out in sock, a gown and my teddy 3 times.
I never told anyone but i genuinely feel like the old me had died and that i was given a chance to start on my own grounds and my own rules.
The last image I have from the old me is my mom's face crying and saying what did you do, what did you do. Funny when you think about the fact that the first thing you see when you come into this world is your mother's face.
I took therapy from 2016 to 2022 and only found out in 2023 that i was actually autistic and adhd and not bordeline or bipolar.
I'm happy i've "failed", i would not had lived to see me happy, loved and planing my future coffee shop.
#52
I nearly drowned when I was 8 years old in a pool during summer camp. I just remember seeing a light that wasnt like sunlight or light from a lamp. At some point things around me seemed to go nice and quiet and dark, but I still remember that light! And funnily enough, I was afraid of the dark as a kid, but that darkness didn't seem so bad. As for the light, it was very pretty, and I guess I wanted to go to it because it seemed so nice.
I don't remember much afterwards, the next thing I saw was the lifeguard after he finished giving me cpr as well as the camp counselors around me. I did have a strange feeling of "going back in" if that makes any sense. Ive never felt it since.
#53
Died due to a van accident as a child. Head on collision, I was dragged under the van for 3 blocks. Was rushed to the hospital but "died" in transit. They were able to resuscitate me. I have no recollection of any of it. I don't know what happened to me during that time, but since that day, I've never felt like I've belonged anywhere. I have no concept of "home." I want to go back, but I have no concept of where I want to go back to.
#54
This happened back in 2018 when an undiagnosed SLE was kicking my a*s (and brain). The doctors taking care of my in the ER found I had Atrial Fibrillation as well, and the way they wanted to confirm it was to stop my heart and restart it to figure which chamber was being affected. So with my family around the bed they picked up my left arm and put a new IV in. I felt this warm liquid go straight down and into my chest and I couldn’t breathe but then it stopped so they doubled up. The first thing I noticed was the slowing of time as my heart slowed. After that the color drained from my vision and sound got really muffled for the remainder. I could still hear and see people’s as they called my name but I wasn’t fully there/paying attention. The final and most surreal thing was it felt like I got pulled out of myself and could see the entire hospital room from above and was getting farther from myself. Then as if nothing happened I was back to reality with p**s all over myself.
#55
It was the time of my life. I've died a few times. I enjoyed each one differently. I was presented with an afterlife but chose to stay on earth and keep fighting. Dying is much kinder than t*****e or undue suffering. I returned with the mission to make the world better so nobody has to go through what I went through ever again.
#56
I died in an ambulance after a motorcycle accident.
It felt like a large weight was on my chest, every breath got a little bit harder, until it was a massive struggle just to take any air in.
At the end, I decided to not try to breathe anymore and a wave of acceptance and peace washed over me as I slipped away.
I woke up 48hours later in an ICU.
#57
It felt like I was stuck in the corner of the ceiling and I saw myself lying on the hospital bed while the doctor and the nurse were putting an IV fluid in and after which lifted my unresponsive body by my legs and shook me furiously to allow blood to circulate. I saw my parents huddled in the corner of the room crying. The next thing I remembered was waking up at home in my own bed. I was 9 at that time.
#58
This was in 2009. I was 3 months pregnant and going through a miscarriage. By the time I had made to the er I was already hemorrhaging. A miscarriage is like active labor so I was in alot of pain. The nurse advised me that I could not have anything for my pain as it would lower my blood pressure. A few minutes later she came in with m******e and administered in my IV. I knew at that point I was on my way out. My pain pain went away, I started fading out. In those few moments I felt the most peaceful I have ever felt. And then there was nothing. I woke up the next day but it only felt like a second. All I know is my blood pressure bottomed out and I lost too much blood. I don't remember but they had to rush me out and do a blood transfusion and I'm not sure what else. I no longer fear d***h after that experience.
#59
Dropped d**d from a heart attack while on the two mile run for the army physical fitness test. Don’t remember hitting the ground but hearing voices and it was a fuzzy feeling. There wasn’t really any light and it wasn’t like Fred Stanford yelling it’s the big one.
Came to after 20 seconds. My NCOs, who were all medics” came running over about the time I came too. Got up and walked across the finish line. Passed the test but career was over. Doctors think I stunned myself awake after hitting the ground. I had bitten my tongue and bruised my knees.
#60
Not really dying though I do have epilepsy and my brain can kind of reset like it does just before/when you d*e. I had only one major crisis.
It's just like being very sleepy, and then you get the best sleep ever. No dreams, nothing. I then woke up very sluggish and it took a while to get back to being awake-awake. My whole body was sore afterwards.
While I didn't think it was that bad, my partner freaked out when it happened. He said I was convulsing and making breathing sounds like a ghost would (think d***h rattle?). I was just having the best sleep of my life, honestly. Couldn't remember a thing and got annoyed when I woke up to him desperately screaming my name.
Having the experience and reading about it made me realize that d***h itself might be more peaceful than we give it credit for. It looks awful, I mean, my husband had a very hard time, but I didn't see or feel a thing. He ended up being more traumatized by the situation than I was.
#61
Weird to say...but the "peace" thing is absolutely true, you'd think dying would be this horrifying experience, but it's the greatest peace you will ever experience. I almost died from Covid, it caused me to have Double Pneumonia. I was placed on a ventilator at 100%, meaning my lungs had shut down, they did not think I would survive. In a sense, I had passed away due to organ failure, if it weren't for the breathing machine, I would be d**d. Yes, the overwhelming peace is a real thing.
#62
My grandfather has had 5 heart attacks, has a pace maker and died once on the operating table. Straight flatlined. He remembers floating above his body as the docs attempt to bring him back. He remembers what they said and what they did, he tells it that he felt immensely peaceful and heard a booming peaceful voice be like “it is not your time” and then was brought back. Since then he has absolutely no fear of d***h.
#63
I had a severe hemorrhage after my first child. I felt tired, then lightheaded and nauseated, then an overwhelmingly peaceful feeling. So at ease. So mellow. Like a warm summer day laying down l in a meadow.
I could hear everything the doctors and nurses were saying. Auditory nerves are the last thing to go- I could hear the emergency. But I was at serious peace. I was feeling okay to go. My eyes were closed, but a bright and warm color is what I was seeing under my eyelids.
#64
Cardiac arrest at 39. My heart stopped after I fell asleep. My wife said I sounded like I was having a night terror, she went to wake me up and I fell out of bed and seized up. She did CPR until the paramedics arrived, they stabilised me and brought me to the hospital. Heart stopped for 5 minutes and I was in a medically induced coma for 4 days. I just have a void in my memory.
#65
Also out of hospital cardiac arrest at age 32. I had no prior signals and didn’t ‚feel‘ anything, maybe I also just don’t remember. Looking back it actually felt like falling asleep, you don’t know when you do. I was also in a coma for like 30 hours, when waking up I had no idea what had happened and how long I have been in a coma.
#66
Severe hemorrhaging after a lost pregnancy with twins. It was a lot of pain then calm. Like just slowly falling asleep. Then I saw this light way at the end of this black tunnel and I felt someone ask me telepathically what I would do if I could do it all again. Once I told them my answer they told me it wasn’t my time. Next thing I woke up in a hospital room recuperating.
#67
A friend nearly died in an accident from severe internal bleeding. She says that it felt like she was in a land slide and she fought so hard to stay on top. Later during artificial sedation she apparently imagined she was an angel in a fresco in an Italian church we visited a few month before and she said it felt super warm and she really didn't wanted to leave when they woke her up in the hospital.
Totally different topic but it's crazy what people feel while under artificial sedation. My friend has like memories of things which never happened and she knows that it didn't happened but the memory feels as real as things she experienced in her life.
#68
I drowned when I was about 15. I can remember the initial t***or but as soon as I accepted my fate I was overcome with an incredible sense of calm. It was a valuable lesson in accepting things as they are although it was many years later when I made that connection. I don’t fear drowning.
#69
I can answer this one! i died last year for 10 seconds from bleeding out slowly.
i was coming in and out of consciousness and at some point it was so revolting that i let go. there was nothing after that. no light, just sleep.
(its way more dramatic and emotional than that ofc).
#70
I remember absolutely nothing. No thoughts. Saw nothing. Just peace and calm and darkness. Blank. Best nap of my life.
I stopped breathing first. Then my heart stopped. (According to doctor) This was during an otherwise simple, routine, outpatient, sedated procedure in hospital. Highly suspicious of a fentanyl o******e. I wasn’t d**d for long though. 2 rounds of CPR and I came back.
#71
The pain stopped and I was suddenly in A Gray Place, a place of absolute neutrality. I remember being in wonder that I felt no sense of gravity or of floating, no temperature, nothing. I felt nothing, and saw only gray.
When I compared it in my mind to being a kid by the ocean on a gray day, I became able to almost see a dark of land out far enough to be blurred, and the motion of water below me (as if i was maybe 3-4 feet above the surface.
I couldn't feel any bodily orientation either.
I remember sort of wondering if I could get closer and I could, but couldn't feel movement. I realized in that moment "oh, I'm d**d. And that's ok."
And then, I thought about my partner, and how alone they would be, and I didn't want to leave them behind, so I came back. And oh f*****g f**k did that ever hurt. I woke up to being resuscitated and then I was shuffled out of the hospital and dumped onto the sidewalk. I had died in a back room where they left me "to detox" from d***s that I was never on, while I was suffering pregnancy complications and kidney stones. They kicked me out because they realized it would look bad for them, and deleted my data from their computer network - but I still had some of my papers in hand to prove it.
No money for a lawyer tho. f**k america.
#73
Don’t think I “died” but still an experience worth sharing.
When I was 6ish riding bicycles with the neighborhood kids I went down a large grassy hill and crashed hard concussing myself bad. Funny part is I was the only kid in the neighborhood with parents that made me wear a helmet.
I didn’t recall anything immediately after the crash. Just nothing, like a lapse in time. We apparently went to the hospital and got scans, etc. No recollection of any of this.
The only memory I had was very vivid. I was in a wheelchair going down an empty hospital hallway. No one pushing me, just kind of going toward these swinging double doors. When I got to the double doors they opened and there was an intense bright light coming on the other side that just washed over me. Very overwhelming.
In that moment as soon as the light hit me, I woke up on the couch the next day just as normal as can be. I remember waking up and asking my mom if she still had the movie Scream we had rented and asking if I could watch it.
Really wild experience.
#74
Like going down a deep set of stairs that never ended then floating down into water. I swear I saw 2 of my friends who had passed recently telling me to swim up to keep going up and back.
#75
My grandmother died and was resuscitated. She said it was so beautiful and so amazing. She said she was like floating on a giant grey cloud being rocked in the arms of God.
What do you think ?
Related on Bored Panda
