Hospital Chaplain Opens Up About Religion | The Near-Death Experience of Zackary Price | NDE
What Researchers Found
The Story
Zach was a 12-year-old boy when a car accident caused his near-death experience. His mother lost control of the car while turning back for forgotten Valentine's cards and homework, and it flipped. He suffered a lacerated liver, lacerated colon, collapsed lungs, fractured vertebra, and brain contusion, leading to a month-long coma. During the NDE at the start of the coma, Zach experienced timeless beauty without form or separation between himself and his perceptions. He felt pure wholeness, knowing, and unity with all beings, like glimpsing God's face that was himself, with a huge download of information. No tunnel, light, or beings appeared. After waking, his grandmother adopted him, and he spent three months in the hospital. He sought answers in churches but found resonance in Eastern philosophies like the Bhagavad Gita. He now works as a clinical chaplain, helping people find meaning in suffering, and has no fear of death, viewing life as eternal wholeness.
“everything to do with God but God has nothing to do with religion and part of”
This NDE features no veridical perception claims whatsoever, consisting solely of an abstract, non-dual mystical experience of formless beauty and wholeness. Despite a severe medical crisis qualifying for maximum score on C1, the complete absence of any specific, verifiable physical-world perceptions limits evidential strength across all other criteria.
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.
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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 NDE features no veridical perception claims whatsoever, consisting solely of an abstract, non-dual mystical experience of formless beauty and wholeness. Despite a severe medical crisis qualifying for maximum score on C1, the complete absence of any specific, verifiable physical-world perceptions limits evidential strength across all other criteria.
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.