What happens after we die? Physically we are exhumed or buried, some even turn into trees if given a green burial. But where does our soul go? These are questions which a lot of us might think about, every now and then. Popular literature and visual depictions at religious shrines around the world have often spoken of hell and heaven. While some might believe in their existence and the fact that we get to go to one of these, others might feel they¡¯re largely fantasies woven in folklore that remain unsubstantiated by science. One might argue that there is no solid evidence to support the existence of these two worlds.?
However, like every unexplained phenomena in our world of chaos, there are many people who claim to have visited afterlife. Most of these stories come from people who were patients of a serious injury or were being resuscitated by medical professionals. Several stories after having being investigated have been proven false too, but our curious minds still enjoy them.
Skeptics?have often said that the reason many people witness such ¡®hallucinations¡¯ is that we have been fed these visuals since time immemorial. Also, speaking biologically, our brain is working at its highest when met with a near death experience which in turn could put the individual into a state of lucid dreaming, which feels all the more real.?
I scoured the internet to find a few tales of people returning from the afterlife and I¡¯d advise you to read them with a pinch of salt, because they¡¯re not proven. There¡¯s no way to prove any of it, just yet.?
This darkness took the shape of a tunnel. It was very vast, as opposed to small and confining, and was anywhere from a thousand feet to a thousand miles wide. I was very comfortable and inquisitive. It was cylindrical. If you took a tornado and stretched it out straight, it would be similar to that - Tom Sawyer in 1978, an excerpt from his book, What Tom Sawyer Learned From Dying.¡¯
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Racing toward me is a dog I once had, a black poodle named Pepe. He jumps into my arms, licking my face... I can smell him, feel him, hear his breathing and sense his great joy at being with me again - Bryce Bond.
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I don't know if it was reality or projection but I would know my grandmother, the sound of her, anytime, anywhere. Everyone I saw, looking back on it, fit perfectly into my understanding of what that person looked like at their best during their lives - Pam Reynolds, clinically dead for one hour.
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Through open doors I glimpsed at enormous rooms filled with complex equipment. In several of the rooms, hooded figures bent over intricate charts and diagrams, or sat at the controls of elaborate consoles flickering with lights...I gazed into rooms lined floor to ceiling with documents on parchment, clay, leather, metal and paper. 'Here,' the thought occurred to me, 'are assembled the important books of the universe'. - Dr. George Ritchie
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The figure in the light told me through what I now know to be mental telepathy that I must go back, that it was not time for me to come here. I wanted to stay because I felt so full of joy and so peaceful. The voice repeated that it wasn't my time. I had a purpose to fulfill and I could come back after I completed it. - Robin Michelle Halberdier
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I was in hell. There was a low murmuring all around me, as if I were in the midst of a huge group of grumbling people. Before me, suddenly, stood a huge black door. The air began to glow and shimmer with oppressive heat. I watched as the door opened upon a vast, flaming oven. I felt myself drawn like a magnet into the center of the flames¡ªalthough I was terrified to go in. There were hundreds of others already there, roasting to death, but not dead. Once I was inside, the door slammed shut behind me. - Don Brubaker
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Soon after leaving my body, I was greeted by a group of beings who were simultaneously familiar and unfamiliar. This may sound strange, but I felt nothing but peace and happiness in their company. When I was separated from my physical body, I was simultaneously aware of what was happening in heaven and what was unfolding on the riverbank where I had drowned. I thought about my husband and my children, my parents and siblings (and not at all about my work or other earthly worries) - Mary C. Neal.
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Looking around me, I could see a room that appeared to be formed from pure white clouds, yet wasn¡¯t solid. In the room were three beings, made of shimmering crystal. Light shone through them like a glass prism, forming a rainbow. One was larger than the other two, but all of them spoke to me. I was afraid of them, and they seemed to realize this. Instantly, they transformed into what I recognized as angels. They didn¡¯t have bird wings, they had fibers like fiber optic cables that were shaped like wings and pure light shone through the fibers, forming colours in all shades. When they spoke, their messages were sent telepathically ?- Laurie
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My mother and I were in a very bad car crash. She went into cardiac arrest and was resuscitated with the paddles. She told me that she was floating above her own body, and then abruptly ended up in a tunnel. Suddenly she heard my deceased uncle tell her that she had to go back and that it wasn't her time yet. She said that after he said so, the tunnel closed and she ended up back in her body- Gina
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My dad had open-heart surgery in July and died briefly on the operating table before they restarted his heart. He said he went to Hell during the time he was dead. It apparently consisted of lots of geometric shapes and mirrors. It was one of those things where he just kind of knew. It hit him and there was no doubt that's what it was. He said it was the worst thing he could imagine. He was laying on a hospital bed with the worst pain, not able to move, locked in this geometric eternity."- Dani
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Black with still quite a lot of sensation and brief flashes of hospital emergency room. No white light, no singing, no harps or hell fires, no relatives waiting to greet me. Black. - Shivi
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So, you see, there are many different versions of near death experiences (NDE) felt by people. Human brain is an entity that is still being studied and it is an extremely powerful being in itself. The subconscious mind that resides in it has means of creating beautiful imagery for someone who is in terrible pain. Especially in situations where people have reported seeing loved ones, it is the brain¡¯s way of comforting the injured. We humans have a tendency to explain everything with logic and this is one scenario where we are short of explanations until comes a day where we have a solid reasoning for the two worlds whose doors are shut for the time being.?