NDErs as Heroes
What Researchers Found
The Story
Lee Whitting was a seven-year-old boy in 1949 when he experienced a near-death event. He waded too far into a small New Jersey lake without knowing how to swim, slipped into deep water, screamed once, and sank to the bottom as his lungs filled with water. His consciousness left his body and rose to a nearby birch tree. From there, he watched his mother in a red dress run from the cottage, dive in, pull his body out, and perform resuscitation by pushing on his back over a log. He saw a light he could enter but felt overwhelmed by his mother's love and God's love surrounding him. He realized his childish jealousies were foolish and chose to return to his body. After the NDE, Lee kept the experience secret for decades to spare his mother pain. It removed his fears of abandonment, sparked deep curiosity about life and the universe, and led him to pursue astronomy, unconventional careers, EMT work, chaplaincy, seminary studies, and hosting NDE Radio to share stories for healing and hope.
“how much my mother really did love me and even more than that how she actually”
The NDE includes specific details of the resuscitation from an out-of-body vantage point impossible for normal perception, such as the mother's red dress and use of a log for chest compressions. However, the evidential strength is limited by the complete absence of any verification attempts, as the experiencer deliberately chose not to disclose or confirm the observations with his mother or others for decades.
Score reflects verifiable perceptions reported. A low score indicates the experience was primarily spiritual or subjective, not that it didn't occur.
Score reflects transformation as described. Domains scored 0 indicate the topic was not discussed, not that no change occurred.
Are you here because someone you love has died?
These accounts were gathered because death may not be the end. Thousands of people have experienced something beyond — and come back to tell us about it.
What Researchers Found
The NDE includes specific details of the resuscitation from an out-of-body vantage point impossible for normal perception, such as the mother's red dress and use of a log for chest compressions. However, the evidential strength is limited by the complete absence of any verification attempts, as the experiencer deliberately chose not to disclose or confirm the observations with his mother or others for decades.
Score reflects verifiable perceptions reported. A low score indicates the experience was primarily spiritual or subjective, not that it didn't occur.
Score reflects transformation as described. Domains scored 0 indicate the topic was not discussed, not that no change occurred.