After Rescued by Beings in a Drowning NDE, She is Given a Purpose!
What Researchers Found
The Story
Mary Joe was a five-year-old girl in 1976 when she had a near-death experience. She snuck out of her apartment and fell into the deep end of an apartment pool, where she drowned. She sank to the bottom of the 9-foot-deep pool and felt intense pain from needing air. She accepted her death. Then a powerful presence, which she believes was God, took over her mind and body. It created a warm bubble around her, easing the pain. A male voice called her by name and instructed her to jump. A woman's voice joined to calm her. As she jumped underwater, the presence guided her toward the shallow end. She understood it was not her time to die, as her mother would have drowned trying to save her, leaving her baby brother alone. Near the shallow end, the pain returned, but she kept jumping and got brief breaths each time her head surfaced. At the pool stairs, the voice sternly told her to go home and not repeat the mistake. After the experience, Mary Joe kept it secret for decades, feeling like a loner who did not belong. She shared it with her mother before her stroke, and her mother believed her. In 2019, she began sharing publicly online and found supportive communities. She faced judgment at church but now sees her purpose as spreading the message that God is real and there is life after death. She has no fear of dying and feels grateful for the divine intervention.
“me and I kind of felt like it was God in approach this you know who does that who”
This NDE features no veridical perceptions of external events inaccessible to ordinary senses; all described observations (e.g., pool drain, walls) were possible from her underwater position. Internal experiences like voices and 'downloads' lack specificity, verification, or unpredictability, with only vague post-hoc confirmation of wet clothes.
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 NDE features no veridical perceptions of external events inaccessible to ordinary senses; all described observations (e.g., pool drain, walls) were possible from her underwater position. Internal experiences like voices and 'downloads' lack specificity, verification, or unpredictability, with only vague post-hoc confirmation of wet clothes.
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.