
People Who Have Clinically Died And Come Back To Life Reveal What It Was Like
[rebelmouse-image 18349608 is_animated_gif=It's the only threshold many humans would never willingly cross. Death carries a finality that nearly all other human experiences could not bear to carry. Our only hope before hopping on that one-time ride is to make sure we've done as much as we can in our lives before the final threshold is before us.
But, not everyone greets death once, as evidenced by these answers to Reddit user, r/wookieoncrack, who asked:
[Serious] Redditors who have been clinically dead and then revived/resuscitated: What did dying feel like? Did you see anything whilst passed on?
You'll See A Far Off Dream
[rebelmouse-image 18357947 is_animated_gif=My heart stopped in a hospital. It was rather unexpected. I was watching the monitor hit 41 bpm then 0 and all the lines were flat. I had just enough time to say "huh?" before losing consciousness.
I had a dream that was very short and more disconnected than most dreams. I say confusing but others may say profound. The content was more or less about what was on my mind at the time and some of my interests. Mostly very familiar stuff. There is nothing after really. I can see how people could see their life flash before their eyes or see god if that is what was important to them.
You Might Really Crave Some Ground Beef
[rebelmouse-image 18357948 is_animated_gif=Drowned at a public pool when I was 7, woke up a week later @ children's hospital.
Apparently the first word out of my mouth was hamburger. I don't remember anything on how it happened. Sometimes I think I may still be dreaming and never know. Also had to go through some walking therapy, laying in bed for 7 days straight does a number on your muscles.
Sometimes, Nothing
[rebelmouse-image 18357949 is_animated_gif=I was really young at the time, I believe six. I didn't see anything but I woke up really confused why I was in a hospital and surrounded by a lot of my family. It honestly felt like I was just sleeping normally I guess. Felt well rested though, which was nice.
I didn't know I had died until I was told and an officer preformed CPR on me for about 15 minutes until I was revived by the doctors. Fantastic man and I wish I remembered meeting him.
Twice...?
[rebelmouse-image 18357950 is_animated_gif=I died at age 5, twice within just an hour or so. From what I was told I think I was gone for a total of about 5 minutes. The second time I was flatlining they kept trying to revive me for longer then they normally would have. (There's a time limit where they're recommending to stop because the risk of brain damage is too high.) I remember nothing but blackness. I did lose some short term memory due to the experience.
I had gone in early morning to get my tonsils removed.
When I woke up in the mid-afternoon I had absolutely no idea why I was there. Lost several days worth of memories.
"I'm Sorry"
[rebelmouse-image 18357952 is_animated_gif=Got hit by a car on my 5th birthday. I remember what happened before the accident and then I remember waking briefly in the hospital and then blacking out for like two weeks. The before "waking briefly" part was me being lifeless while the doctors were trying to resuscitate me.
There was nothing. No feelings, no senses, just simply nothing. One second I'm waiting to cross the street, the next second I get woken up by an unfamiliar voice repeating "I'm so sorry" over and over again. That's when I tried opening the eyes for the first time. Everything was so white and I couldn't focus anything or even distinguish objects. There was just this shadow of a man standing almost over me and continuously apologizing. I remember saying "I forgive you" and then blacking out again.
There really is nothing and I'm not sure if that's comforting or scary.
A Lucid Darkness
[rebelmouse-image 18357352 is_animated_gif=I used to be heavy in to drugs. One wild night when I definitely should have died 10 times over, I sat on a chair excepting death. Like everyone else says, complete blackness, yet a lucid blackness until E.M.T's faces came in to focus.
Until I fully came back 17 hours later, The only thing I could see was a tiny light that very slowly grew in to consciousness. I think it's your eyes dilating that causes the "light at the end of the tunnel"
A Car Crash With Zero Drama
[rebelmouse-image 18357953 is_animated_gif="Died" in a car crash when I was like 22. Was like I blinked and woke up a while later.
Wish there was more drama and deep meaning but there just wasn't. Didn't even know what had happened.
A Slow Moving Helicopter
[rebelmouse-image 18345099 is_animated_gif=Severe car accident that killed 3 of my co workers, we fell off a 200ft mountain side(was working for a surveying company) I was thrown out the truck and rolled all the way down and only I lived. I was able to call for help on my radio, long story short, I remember seeing the helicopter and air lifting me away and hearing the paramedic say "stay with me, Christian, stay with me." I died and it felt like a dream or I dont even know how to explain it but I remember seeing the helicopter from above but spinning slowly, and I heard a voice say my name.
I saw everything l, past present and future but before I learned anymore I was pulled back to my body and saw the paramedic again saying "I got a pulse" passed out again and woke up in the hospital....
Everything Laid Out Before You
[rebelmouse-image 18357954 is_animated_gif=My grandfather was stationed in the South Pacific in WWII. He was cleaning his rifle in a shed which was struck by lightening. He and several others, including his best friend, were taken to the hospital. The MDs pronounced him dead, no pulse, no respiration, etc. His friend was next to him and insisted they work on my grandfather.
He was brought back to life but described the events to my family. He said everything he did in life was played before him and there was a subtle change of color from light/dark depending on what he did. He was a devout Irish Catholic. I find it more interesting that they had already started sending the letter of to his mother and she received one saying he was dead.
My grandfather had 2 brother who she had also received letters saying they were dead. Neither of his brothers actually ended up being dead!
When Jet-Skis Make You Question Everything
[rebelmouse-image 18357955 is_animated_gif=When I was 12 I got in a jet ski accident. I was unconscious and not responsive for about 30 minutes. The only thing I remember after the accident was waking up in the ambulance with paramedics hovering over me. I don't remember seeing anything in the 30 minutes I was out. Ended up with about 120 stitches in my neck.
My sister told me after they had pulled me out of the water onto a boat. I don't remember that. I don't remember the boat trip to shore and I don't remember being loaded into an ambulance. After the whole thing was over I question an afterlife for the first time in my life. I was raised in a Christian family.
Looking Down On Your Body
[rebelmouse-image 18357956 is_animated_gif=I overdosed due to a suicide attempt (this was decades ago and I'm great now) in the ER my heart stopped and I had to be resuscitated. I recall vividly watching the whole thing from above my bed looking down. and even though I was unconscious, I accurately described events and conversations I saw and heard. I'm not religious by any stretch, but something exists beyond this life and I believe that as a fact.
During the events there was no fear, no pain, I just "was" HOWEVER at the very end I remember a thought of "how will I get back in my body" then I closed my eyes and when I opened them, I was lying on the bed, back in my body looking up.
Nearly The Longest Nap Of Your Life
[rebelmouse-image 18357957 is_animated_gif=I didn't even know til I was told. It was as simple as taking a nap.
At one point I wasn't awake, and then I was. At least that's all I comprehended.
[\_celli]1_
Dying Makes Me Mad!
[rebelmouse-image 18357958 is_animated_gif=Donated blood for lupus research since I wanted to contribute to finding out more about my disease. Went to whole foods with my bf suddenly felt ill and faintish, all I remember was my vision going dark, feeling so at peace and then nothing. Woke up to like 5-6 firemen and an AED. when they took my blood pressure and pulse it was 40/60 and my pulse was a 30. I was in and out the entire ride, had the guys in the ambulance pushing fluids through two IVs and one slapping me to keep me awake. Boyfriend is a nurse so he was trying to keep it together the entire time while calling 911 and starting compressions. He said he was terrified, couldn't find a pulse and I had no chest rising.
When I woke up I just remember being really pissed off. Went from a peaceful nothingness to what felt like a punch in my chest. I miss the peaceful nothingness but am grateful he saved my life. That nothingness still f-cks me up though, it was just nice.
A Change Of Life Experience
[rebelmouse-image 18357960 is_animated_gif=My brother had to be revived due to a drug overdose. His heart had stopped and (according to the EMTs) he was dead. He likes to joke around but if you talk about this with him, he is very serious and says he watched them revive him. He's not religious and doesn't have any thoughts about the afterlife but he said he was able to describe the scene to the EMTs after the fact, even though they said he was gone at that point. I assume it's just his brain creating memories but he's confident he saw it.
Painless Is All You Can Hope For
[rebelmouse-image 18357961 is_animated_gif=When I 'died' it was rather instant. Pulled from an American quarterhorse at full speed, landed on my head. Reportedly, I had grass and dirt crammed down into me throat with no heartbeat and my eyes were going in opposite directions "like a lizard." The last image I saw is burned into my memory. Probably be one of those things I'll remember into senility.
It was utterly painless. I was resuscitated minutes afterwards but I have zero recollection from the moment of impact to 2-3 days later when I was trying to write and found it difficult. My handwriting is still terrible.
I do believe there is something on the other side. I just don't think we teeter on the border of that next place. IMO we don't breathe our last breath here to instantly fill lungs in the next place. Likely just for events like this lol.
Two Tales
[rebelmouse-image 18357962 is_animated_gif=It's hard to say. When I was revived after a collapsed lung, I personally don't remember anything except that weird feeling of knowing I had a dream but can't remember any of it. As soon as I woke up I had that feeling. I remembered everything fuzzing out to black as I was being taken to the ER, then was suddenly in a hospital room.
On the opposite side of the spectrum, my girlfriend who was revived after she stopped breathing and flatlined described tons of dreamy type experiences. One where she was lost in a field of flowers, which transitioned into speaking nonsense to me and family before falling into nothing and suddenly being in the hospital room. Despite only being a very short time, she remembered what seemed like dozens of dream-like memories and wrote down several of the clearer ones in her diary.
Either way from what we experienced, it's not really scary, there's no walk through memory lane. It's just knowing you aren't breathing, and waiting for the black borders to close in. I doubt many people have tried, but if you've ever tried holding your breath until you pass out, it's that. Of course take this as just our experience with stopping breathing which lead to death. I can't say if any other type of death experience is the same.
[Cynister\]1_
Boats On A River
[rebelmouse-image 18357963 is_animated_gif=Had a gentlemen come in my class talking about cardiac arrest and CPR. We know that religion is touchy in colleges so I sucked it up and asked did you see a light. He said no but he talked about a friend who was watering plants then bam on the ground and woke up in a hospital. The guy said he saw a dock with boats and people in a line. You would step on the boat and it would take you into this bright light. He cut the line and tried to get in the boat but a man held him back saying sorry it's not your turn. He said no that's my boat as a person stepped on that boat and went into the light. He tried to get in the next boat where the man held him back saying no this is not your time, your time will come. Then he woke up.
Being from Minnesota this has to be the most Minnesotan way of seeing the light, boats on a river.
The Mandalas Tell You To Return
[rebelmouse-image 18357964 is_animated_gif=Saw a huge burst of mandalas as I was slipping away, but it went to black like everybody is saying.
I heard a voice saying to let go but maybe it was me telling myself that. Then I thought of my parents and pulled myself back. This was during brain surgery
Time Loses Meaning
[rebelmouse-image 18346083 is_animated_gif=I went to sleep. Black. Then I feel the most peaceful, joyful I've ever felt in my life. Then everything gets really bright. Then I open my eyes. It's the lights from the hospital. I am wearing a hospital gown, in a bed. The nurse says good morning. She tells me Ive been conscious for 2 days, this is the first time I remember waking up, it felt like I'd been gone for a couple of seconds. She tells me I've been there 14 days. The next three days I had three of the weirdest, most vivid dreams I've ever had, my head hurt throughout the day (because I chugged a bunch of pills that mess with your brain)
I remember a little bit how I felt, when it was dark, it felt so good. Unexplainably good. Like everything was absolutely in order, everything is perfectly fine.
And Sometimes, There's No Answers
[rebelmouse-image 18357965 is_animated_gif=There was nothing. Not a blackness, I mean literally nothing.
It was like I blinked. One moment I was struggling for air, the next moment I was in a hospital bed.
H/T: Reddit
The Mandela effect is when multiple people share the same, incorrect memory.
Its name stems from when paranormal researcher Fiona Broome falsely believed that the future president of South Africa, Nelson Mandela, died in prison in the 1980s.
A false memory she shared with a number of others.
Our memories have been known to deceive us, as we might frequently forget someone's name or one of our numerous online passwords.
But when we share a memory that turns out to be false with many others, convincing ourselves it wasn't the truth can be a very difficult ordeal indeed.
Redditor Mysterious_Boat_1701 was curious to hear people's most unsettling experiences with the Mandela Effect, leading them to ask:
"Which Mandela effect freaks you out the most and why?"
A mysterious gym
"Just had one personally."
"Went to a mall where there was supposedly a gym, asked around and nobody that worked at the mall knew what I was talking about."
"Looked around and couldn't find it."
"Come back a few months later and it’s right there in front of my face, you'd have to be strung out to not notice it."
"idk how or when it just appeared but it freaked me out."- prex320278
A "fruit"ful logo.
"That the fruit of the loom logo never had a cornucopia."
"What’s crazy about that one is that someone emailed the creator of the logo about it and he said even he remembers it having one."- mrcock2·
Less well intentioned than they thought.
"I Mandela effected my whole family once."
"Years ago there was a football player on a rival team that always did a dumb celebration after he got a sack and my family and I always hated it."
"One night after he did it my family started trashing the celebration and I said as a joke 'we are all going to feel terrible when we find out he is doing that celebration as a request from a make-a-wish kid'."
"Fast forward to years later and our team is playing that team again."
"The player got a sack and did the celebration."
"I rolled my eyes and said 'I hate that celebration so much' my mom instantly turned and said 'don't say that, he is doing it for a sick kid'."
"'I actually like it."
"So I was like 'what?'"
"'No there is no sick kid', my whole family then proceeded to argue with me'."
"They all vividly remembered reading articles about it, seeing special report segments before games about it, and other information."
"Some of them even thought they knew the disease the kid had and even extra details about why the kid chose that specific celebration."
"They all had these shared memories that they were sure were true."
"I was floored by all this and insisted none of that was true."
"So we looked it up.'
"Not true."
'No kid like that ever existed.'
"They still have trouble wrapping their heads around this one."
"Turned out human memory is not near as reliable as we think"
"It was American Football and the player was Jared Allen of the Minnesota Vikings and his cattle roping sack celebration."
"This was maybe 10 years ago."- AUSpartan37
His eyesight was better than we thought.
"Mr. Monopoly's monocle."- Additional_Day9903
It's not easy being green.
"I have a personal one that to this day a decade later still destroys my mind."
"I had an old(ish) 2001 dodge neon."
"With BLACK SEATS.'
"I drove this car for years and years, like 80,000 miles.'
'All through college."
"I took work breaks in my car, commuted hours every day total, to college and then the opposite direction to work and back."
"I even lived out of this thing on several occasions.'
'The day I go and trade it in, I'm pulling misc things out of the car at the dealer."
'And the seats are GREEN."
"Not even a little."
'Like very unmistakably GREEN."
"In my black Neon, with black interior, that ALWAYS HAD BLACK SEATS."
"My girlfriend then, wife now, goes oh they've always been green."
"EXCEPT THEY F*CKING WEREN'T DON'T LIE TO ME."
"This is still upsetting to this day..... life is a lie and nothing is real."- ZakuLegion
An urban legend was born.
"Not a global one, just a family thing."
"Back in 2002 my grandma had her 60th birthday, my father took us home at 10.00pm, ready for bed."
"We, me and brother, were 12 and 14 at this time."
'All went well."
"Over the years, a story was made up that we went missing after visiting the local playground after dinner at said grandma's birthday party."
"Some neighbors help to search us, the whole train of 'missing children in a smal village'-thing."
"Fun fact: we never went missing."
"Dad brought us home, put on 'Toy Story' on tv and left."
"My brother and I heard first about this in 2015.'
"From different people on different occasions."
"'Ah your one of the missing boys'."
"I first thought they were mocking me for a different event.'
"I got lost, but it was 2013, alcohol inflicted, different story."
"But then they ALL tell us the same story about us going missing."
'And the stories are damn close to 'true' in every story my mum is driving around the same neighbors to different locations to search, old wine yard, old mill etc."
"Sometimes I think I got lost on the most brutal way."
"I was lost and changed this plane of existence with another one."
"It sometimes made me think about my whole life."- tjorben123
Memories are a fascinating thing.
They can be changed or altered with even the tiniest suggestion.
And making the truth seem less believable than lies.
One last time. One last meal.
How do you chose a last meal?
Let's hope we never have to find out.
People on death row get that option.
Do they deserve it?
Whose to say?
But they have it.
A steak. A pizza... Burger King.
The food world is their oyster.
Oyster. Also an option.
The menu is endless...
Redditor No-Caterpillar4212 wanted to know what our menu choices would be if we faced the end. They asked:
"You're on a death row, you have one hour left, they ask for your final meal - what is it?"
I'd want 2 hours in a Golden Coral with a bar. Covers it all.
Years
"I want a nice filet mignon, medium rare, a baked potato with everything on it, and a nice Cabernet from a good year - I'm thinking 2135."
cleon42
"'Sorry, we couldn't get the Cabernet from 2135. So instead of what could have been a great wine request from a more plausible period of time, you get this crappy stuff we sourced from Wal-Mart. Enjoy your meal, I hope that maintaining your sense of humor was worth it."'
Until_Morning
Take Me
"Something badly cooked so I will be sick and want to die sooner and have diarrhea so bad it will be a last revenge!"
ratchet0101
"Taco bell it is!"
No-Caterpillar4212
"If Taco Bell makes you poop a lot, it's a sign that you probably need more fiber in your diet."
RDAwesome
The Yuck Factor
"A huge bowl of baked beans, a bowl of shredded wheat, a six egg omelette, and a gallon of apple cider. I'm gonna make it awful for everyone."
"Save yourself the hassle of eating all that, just ask for one pack of sugar free Haribo gummy bears. Should make for an interesting time for the folks watching you die."
MamaSweeney24
"You void your bowels when you die too so that should be lovely."
IDontControlTheFood
Perfect
"Fried chicken with some Fanta."
Aggravating-Year-776
Fried chicken is on the top of everyone's list!
Details
"150mg of MDMA. I’m dying happy."
W0nderfu1W0nder
"This should absolutely be allowed. If our leaders insist on the practice of capital punishment then the condemned should be able to ingest any substance they damn please."
forewontoi
Broken
"McFlurry. Those machine are always broken. I just bought myself some time."
Curiousuk_South9566
"Is this like an American thing? I worked at a McDonald's in Denmark once and our machine was never once broken when i was there."
oliv111
"I saw a video about this once. I'm a little fuzzy on the details but I think it has something to do with the contract that was signed in America. Only one company is allowed to do maintenance on the machines and they basically lock out if it's cleaned incorrectly. It's a crap system."
grilled-pbj
Sorry
"Cabbage!! Add some cabbage. I don’t know if an hour if enough to take effect but there was an old coworker on a cabbage diet. Omg she smelled, like it was coming out of her pores. She knew she smelled and kept apologizing and reminding us of the diet."
ImStillaPrick
The OG Always
"Olive Garden. Unlimited soup and breadsticks."
thegodfaubel
"I saw a sketch once, can't remember who it 2qs from. But a an inmate ordered the all you can eat buffet and had been eating for like 8 years. He's constantly on the toilet and takes micro-naps between bites."
KingOfTheGoobers
"Unlimited for 1 hour. Cool."
anticlockclock
How Golden
"If my grandma is still alive her potato soup and cheesecake. Hopefully I'd be able to cook said meal with her one last time."
ATLAS_IS_LOST
Let's hope none of us has to make this decision.
Most people have friends they've been close to for most of their lives.
But at the same time, friends evolve, and everyone finds themselves losing touch with any number of people they at one point considered their friends over time.
Most of the time, this isn't intentional, but just simply happens.
On rare occasions though, people might realize that their friends were not exactly who they thought they were, and didn't like who they revealed themselves to be.
Redditor One-Refrigerator69 was curious to hear stories of people who realized their friends were not exactly the nicest people to be around, leading them to ask:
"When was the moment you realized that your friends are assholes?"
Compared to others...
"When I started hanging out with better people."- Darklink326
All it took was getting my life together
"When I quit drinking ‘cos it was killing me."
"There were people I literally saw every single day who just disappeared as if by magic."
"12 years ago this week, as it happens."
"I’m not anti-drink, far from it."
"Some people, me included, just can’t enjoy it without it becoming a problem."
"Everyone is different."- bigdaftgeordie
A little perspective goes a long way.
"After I realized that other people don't sh*t on each other on every possible occasion in their circle."
"And that it isn't right when a 'friend' uses every known insecurity as an argument against you when you do not behave the way he/she would want you to."- ViscousPlateman
Lack of respect for other people's things
"I let my friend borrow my ps2 when I went to boot camp."
"When I came back, he said he sold it and gave me $50 I think?"
"This was in 2006."- madmike-86
Lack of mutual respect
"When he does sh*t to me and acts like it’s no big deal, then I do the same back and he gets offended."- Primary-Maybe-2749·
Constantly being taken advantage of.
"They only bothered with me when it suited them."
"I'd rather have nobody than have to deal with that."- zombi33mj
When they literally revealed themselves to be criminals
"When they robbed me at gunpoint."- Ok_Student8032
When they stopped liking them after a change of situation
"Fourth grade, when my parents economical situation went downhill and suddenly no one invited me to their birthday party."
"Until Seven years later no one had never invited me to their birthday, or to anything at all actually."- Justalittletoserious
Not being able to get a word in...
"When they tell me to shut up when I say anything."- the_golden_cheese
Violently playing with emotions
"She got a boyfriend and would let him listen to our phone calls and not tell me, even if I was crying about personal stuff that I would only ever tell her."
"Then they both started lying to me about my crush liking me back, forcing both him and me into awkward positions, telling everyone we liked each other so they'd play along, swapping places constantly to make us sit next to each other, pressuring him into giving me a lap dance, making him kiss the prettiest girl in the room, etc, and encouraged me to shoot my shot more and more."
"All the while they knew he didn't like me, he had told them both directly."
"One night I was crying on the phone cause I was so confused why my advances weren't working, and they just kept explaining it away, blaming some other bullsh*t reason and telling me to try again."
"The next day they told me they were laughing throughout the whole call, because I didn't get it and I was so upset."
"I should add I had no dating experience at all and nobody had ever liked me at this point."- Juliemj
It's always sad when our friends disappoint us.
But when our friends proved to be completely different people than we thought they were, it can be devastating.
As the saying goes, one never truly knows who their friends are.
When visiting any foreign country, one should always be familiar with the laws and customs of the land.
After all, what might be generally accepted on your home turf, might be frowned upon, if not illegal, elsewhere.
For that matter, even locals might need a refresher course on what they can and can't do while at home.
A recent Redditor was curious to hear what tourists and locals alike should avoid doing in the USA, leading them to ask:
"In the United States, what should you never do?"
Stay out of the skies!
"Don't fly a drone in Washington, DC."
"The whole D.C. Area is a no fly zone."
"It's a federal offense."
"Just don't do it."- PeytonCarrK
Cops can't be bribed.
"Don't try to bribe cops when you get pulled over."
"I had some Argentinian friends immediately pull out their wallets and start pooling their cash when they got pulled over once.'
"Fortunately someone in the car noticed and told them to put it away immediately."- PeytonCarrK
"Don't pay off the police."
"My dad has friends from several third-world nations where it is common practice to give the police some cash when you are pulled over."
"However, if you try to bribe a police officer here, you'll get into a lot of trouble."- JohnASmiley
Know your rights.
"Everyone, including foreigners, has the right to be silent and have a lawyer when being questioned."
"Don’t say anything."
"Also, even if you speak English fairly well, ask for an interpreter."- WickedLilThing
Enjoy all that nature has to offer... carefully!
"Don't wander off in the national parks."
"It's very real wilderness and you can get lost and die out there."
"This includes going over railings you aren't supposed to, or off trails."
"People have died accidentally falling into a steam geyser that looked like normal water, mauled by animals or left to the elements."- AlphaOhmega
Allow plenty of time!
"Expect consistency at TSA in airports."- WickedLilThing
Some terminology doesn't translate...
"If you’re from England, they’re called cigarettes here."- Yung_Onions
Make sure your license is up to date.
"If you come from a walkable country don’t come here expecting the same."
"There are some areas with good public transportation and bicycle/pedestrian friendly streets but for the most part, especially outside of cities, the areas are designed to accommodate cars more than anything else."
"The reason a lot of Americans drive everywhere is because, depending on where you live, we have no choice."- The_Cars93
Wait for instructions.
"Get out of your car and approach the cop when being stopped by a cop unless told to."- hildrash
Whether your'e waling down a street in a foreign country, or the street you've lived on for your entire life, it's always wise to be on guard and aware of your surroundings.
Not to mention, obey the law.