Table of Contents
The Fear We All Carry
We’ve all felt it—that quiet dread when death gets mentioned. Losing someone we love, or thinking about our own end. It’s a shadow that follows us, heavy and cold.
I’m in my late fifties now, and I’ve been to more funerals than parties lately. It’s got me thinking about something big: what if there’s more to it than we know? Not just what preachers promise or what skeptics dismiss, but what thousands of regular people have been experiencing for hundreds of years.
I’m talking about Near-Death Experiences (NDEs) and Out-of-Body Experiences (OBEs)—people who’ve died, actually died, and come back with stories about leaving their bodies and seeing what’s on the other side.
Maybe we don’t need to be as scared as we are.
What do you actually think happens when we die?
People Have Been Having NDEs Forever
Ever wonder what’s really out there when the lights go out?
These near-death experiences aren’t some new trend.. People have been having them forever. Imagine a farmer in the 1600s, lying on a haystack, heart stopped, suddenly floating above his own body (that’s an OBE—out-of-body experience), watching his wife cry. Then bam—back alive, telling everyone what he saw.
Or a soldier in World War I, blown out of his trench, having an NDE where he’s floating over the battlefield, seeing light, feeling peaceful—then waking up to tell the story.
Jump to today—hospitals, operating rooms, doctors taking notes—thousands of people saying the same thing: they left their bodies and found something waiting. It’s not just their brains messing with them—too many people from too many places, all saying basically the same thing.
Have you ever heard someone’s story about almost dying that stuck with you?
What People Say Happens During NDEs
Here’s what gets interesting. The NDE stories match up.
Back in 1975, a doctor named Raymond Moody wrote “Life After Life” after talking to people who’d had near-death experiences. He found patterns. Bright lights. Tunnels. Dead relatives waiting with open arms. Sounds made-up, right? Except these stories come from everywhere—different countries, different religions, kids too young to make this stuff up.
There’s even a group (IANDS.org—International Association for Near-Death Studies) that’s collected thousands of these experiences. Doctors, children, people who don’t believe in anything, people who believe in everything—all describing the same basic thing: floating up (the OBE part), looking down at their own body, feeling calm instead of scared.
A 5-year-old gets hit by a car, sees her grandmother who died ten years ago, comes back weirdly peaceful. A surgeon has a heart attack during his own operation, watches the whole thing from the ceiling, and after recovery, he’s not scared of dying anymore.
These aren’t fairy tales. These are regular people who went through something they just can’t explain.
What would it take for you to believe these stories?
Modern NDE Stories You Can Actually Look Up
You can find tons of these near-death experience stories online if you’re curious.
Take Eben Alexander—a brain surgeon who knows exactly how the brain works. In 2008, he got crazy sick with meningitis, his brain shut down, but he had an NDE where he says he went somewhere. Vivid, real, peaceful. He wrote about it in “Proof of Heaven.” Skeptics rolled their eyes, but here’s a brain doctor saying his brain was basically off, and he was still somewhere, seeing things.
Or Anita Moorjani. Cancer nearly killed her. She had an NDE where she left her body, saw her dead father, came back, and her cancer disappeared in ways that confused her doctors. She wrote about it in “Dying to Be Me.”
These aren’t just two people. There are thousands of stories like this—truck drivers, teachers, grandmas, veterans. All saying they experienced something when they were supposed to be dead.
If this happened to someone you trusted, would you believe them?
Why This Actually Matters
This isn’t just about proving heaven exists (though a lot of people describe exactly that). It’s about not being so scared.
When someone you love dies, where did they go? That question haunts us. These stories suggest maybe they’re okay. Maybe they’re whole, just somewhere else.
I read about a woman from the 1700s who wrote in her diary about seeing her dead brother—happy, at peace. It helped her not be so scared when her time came.
Dr. Bruce Greyson wrote a book called ‘After’ packed with stories about people meeting their dead relatives during these experiences. One guy saw his dead wife during his own near-death thing, and it completely erased his fear of dying.
We all feel that emptiness when someone dies. Maybe these experiences are pointing to something real.
Does thinking death might not be the end make you less scared?
What Skeptics Say (And Why They Might Be Wrong)
Look, skeptics have explanations. Hallucinations. Brain running out of oxygen. Chemical reactions. Fair enough—there’s no way to photograph what’s happening.
But here’s the weird part: why do all these people describe the same thing? A study from University of Virginia in 2021 found that people who’ve had these experiences remember them clearer than dreams—way clearer. Not fuzzy like hallucinations usually are.
Little kids too young to make stuff up. People whose hearts stopped for minutes. All describing the same light, the same peace. Some say they saw God.
Dr. Sam Parnia has written about people describing things from their surgery that they had no way of seeing—like they were watching from the ceiling. Doctors can’t just wave that away.
It’s not proof. But it makes you think.
What would actually convince you there’s something after death?
This Isn’t Just Modern Stuff
This has been happening forever. Plato wrote about a soldier’s near-death experience around 400 BC—light, judgment, coming back to life. The Bible talks about life after death. The Tibetan Book of the Dead talks about what happens to the soul in ways that match what people say today.
Medieval monks, shamans, regular people throughout history—all describing leaving their bodies, moving toward light, realizing life continues.
Today’s stories—grandmas meeting their mothers again, veterans reuniting with fallen friends—sound just like these old stories.
Thousands and thousands of stories people have written down. Maybe the fact that this keeps happening throughout all of history means something.
Why do you think people across all of history describe similar experiences?
Maybe We Don’t Need To Be So Scared
If even half of these stories point to something real, then maybe death isn’t a wall. Maybe it’s a door.
We’ll still hurt when we lose people—that’s just love with nowhere to go. But what if they’re not gone, just… somewhere else?
The farmer, the kid, the surgeon—none of them came back terrified. They came back peaceful.
I’m not claiming to know what happens. I’m just an older guy thinking about what’s ahead. But I’ve read enough of these stories to wonder: what if death isn’t the end we think it is?
What helps you feel less scared about death?
Your Thoughts About NDEs and OBEs?
We all carry this shadow—death, loss, not knowing what’s next. Have you looked into any of these near-death experience stories? Has one ever stuck with you?
Maybe you’ve had your own close call. Maybe someone you know has. Or maybe you think it’s all just the brain shutting down and there’s nothing after.
What do you actually think happens when we die? Have any of these stories ever made you feel less afraid?
Share your thoughts below. I respond to every comment, and your experience often helps others more than mine does.
