Dr. Julio Zavala, Did he have an NDE?
What Researchers Found
The Story
A pediatrician living in upstate New York with his wife and three daughters had a near-death experience in the mid-1970s. It happened spontaneously in the middle of the night after a busy workday at his office and the emergency room, while he was in good health and sleeping. He awoke and felt himself moving away from his bed. He rose high above the house to the level of the maple trees. He saw his wife sleeping in their bedroom, his daughters in their rooms, and the swimming pool nearby. He felt very happy, peaceful, and free from the day's stresses. He wanted to go higher but felt conflicted upon seeing his family. Then he returned to his body and woke up next to his wife. After the experience, he changed his views on life after death. He realized he did not know everything and moved away from black-and-white thinking. It made him question what he had been taught and opened him to the idea of an afterlife.
“that I knew everything. When you're young, you know everything everything is black and white. There's no gray in between. After this experience my views changed a”
This account lacks any medical crisis or compromised brain function, features only familiar and expected details of the experiencer's own home with no specific or verifiable new perceptions, and includes no attempts at verification or timely reporting to others.
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
This account lacks any medical crisis or compromised brain function, features only familiar and expected details of the experiencer's own home with no specific or verifiable new perceptions, and includes no attempts at verification or timely reporting to others.
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.