Robert Caplan: Life After Breath
What Researchers Found
The Story
Robert Kaplan was a plane captain on the USS Forestall in 1957. He suffered a near-death experience when he was pulled into a jet engine intake during a high-power turn-up and crashed into the turbine. He had no life signs and received last rites. During the NDE, Kaplan first became aware outside his body, watching a Catholic chaplain give him last rites despite his Jewish faith. He sensed the chaplain's conflict and re-entered his body to speak, saying, 'Father, you're not a rabbi. It's okay, Father. You'll do.' He felt no pain and like he was the Light shining down. In sickbay, he observed medical efforts on his body without attachment and gained a life summary realizing, 'I am the love I seek.' After the NDE, Kaplan survived as the first in such an accident. He pursued studies in psychotherapy and pastoral counseling, taught at various levels, worked as a chaplain, and integrated the insight into his life, viewing reality as non-linear and the experience always present.
“love is patient love is kind love is not it does not insist on its own way it is”
The account features a severe medical crisis with no life signs and an OBE from an impossible vantage point, including specific visual details and exceptional knowledge of the chaplain's internal conflict, verified immediately through direct communication that stunned the chaplain and prompted resuscitation. Evidential strength is limited by absence of independent corroboration for visual perceptions like the lavender ribbon and lack of documented pre-verification reporting.
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 account features a severe medical crisis with no life signs and an OBE from an impossible vantage point, including specific visual details and exceptional knowledge of the chaplain's internal conflict, verified immediately through direct communication that stunned the chaplain and prompted resuscitation. Evidential strength is limited by absence of independent corroboration for visual perceptions like the lavender ribbon and lack of documented pre-verification reporting.
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.