People Who Clinically Died And Came Back To Life Share Their Experiences

We've all heard the questions about what happens when we die, whether there is life after death, and whether we really will walk through a tunnel of white light or not to get there.

But people who have had a near-death experience, in that they were declared clinically dead and were then resuscitated, might have the answers we're looking for, and their answers are quite peaceful.

Curious, Redditor Saul_goodmannnnn asked:

"Those who have been clinically dead and came back, what did you see?"

All-Consuming Peace

"Blackness with maybe a growing white haze in one corner of the blackness. It's not really what I saw but what I felt. The most intense feeling of peace you could imagine."

- redditoregonuser2254

"That last sentence really resonates with my experience. I saw nothing, but my last breath felt like the deepest exhale, and then all my pain went away."

- alyssimoo

Peace To Look Forward To

"Accidental overdose as a kid. (Keep your prescriptions locked up away from kids.) My heart stopped."

"I remember just darkness. But I don't remember being afraid or anything, just peaceful and warm."

"It was the most peaceful thing I have ever experienced. I don't know if anything exists beyond that peaceful darkness because the doctors resuscitated me."

"But if that's all there is after the meatsuit shuts down, I'm okay with it."

- ExplorerEducational4

"This is very similar to my experience (not an overdose, I coded after waking up from surgery). I had a sense I was with someone else but also not physically, just like energetically? The other person was an older woman, maybe a teacher."

"Otherwise, my experience was exactly the same. Just darkness and peace and warmth. Like you know when you’re having the perfect nap and you’re soooo comfy and peaceful? Like that."

"I was really mad when I woke up, actually. Being awake and in my body was way less pleasant. I also couldn’t remember who I was or why I was there for like 30 seconds, which was strange. They made me get a CT to make sure I hadn’t had a stroke (I didn’t)."

"Glad to be here now, though."

- awholed**ngarden

No Sense Of Time

"Briefly been dead on two occasions, both times at the hospital. Saw nothing. The only notable difference between being just regular unconscious and 'dead' was the complete lack of continuity."

"After waking up, I had no sense of time passed, despite still being in the same room, surrounded by the same people. If you told me I had been gone for 5 hours, days, months, or years, I would have believed you in those very first seconds."

"Went back to normal rather quickly, though."

- DescendantofDodos

Anxiety Fading Away

"I was bleeding to death from an upper GI bleed. I felt like I was slowly shedding my ego, and the anxiety that I held constantly was going away, like I remember thinking that nothing on earth was my problem anymore. I was becoming part of the universe in a million different ways, and it was beautiful."

"Meanwhile an EMT was screwing something into my humerus to give me blood and fluids, which is supposed to be very painful because it pushes stuff out of the way inside the bone (Intraosseus access). I didn’t feel it at all, or the pain and sickness. I was above it all, aware but not watching."

"I am glad, though, that I was resuscitated because life is good now. Thank you to EMTs and people who give blood."

- Pooncahantits_

A Walk On The Beach

"Was declared medically dead for three minutes and 11 seconds as a 15-year-old who ended up getting Meningococcal years ago at a house party."

"I remember being on a Beach, sitting on a wharf with my feet in the water chatting to my older brother who was alive and well. I was big into Final Fantasy X back then, and it almost felt like my interpretation of Besaid Beach. Felt like forever we were doing this."

"Then I felt actual water on my feet, and I woke from a long coma because somebody was in my hospital room and had spilt water over me. I just remember how sh*t and foul my mouth felt and tasted as I started regaining my senses."

- SlurpTheBurp

"Meningococcal meningitis is no joke. I had it when I was 16. 'Fell asleep' on my couch and woke up three days later in the hospital. My mom said she found me on the floor seizing only because the dog was standing over me barking. I thank that dog every day day for the last 28 years for saving my life."

"I don’t remember anything. It felt like a long nap, where I woke up in a different place with a bunch of stuff attached to me that I didn’t have when I was conscious. I had an NG tube, catheter, IV, and was hooked up to a monitor."

- That-Guy2021

A Call In The Distance

"This was in 2021. I caught virus a second time, and I recovered initially. Ten days later I could barely breathe and wound up in the ICU. I don't remember much, but I remember people in those CDC suits scrambling around me and a doctor telling me they were going to give me some experimental drug, and the next thing I know, everything is black, and I'm falling."

"And it was warm and comfortable. Like when I was a kid watching a movie right before I fell asleep on the couch. I felt safe, I felt relaxed, and for the first time in years, I felt at peace and just knew that I was dying and this was it, and it was OK."

"And then I heard my son calling for me. I remember this white-hot rage just starting to burn in my chest, painful but focused. I started fighting that feeling and felt myself stop falling down and slowly start falling upwards. Then I'm blinking and there's that doctor telling me how happy he was to see me awake, and the staff looked happy as well."

"I don't remember leaving the hospital or how long I was there, but waking up at home. This still keeps me up at night."

- AScruffyHamster

A Comforting Presence

"Was in status elipticus and alone in my apartment. Should have died then."

"Everything was peaceful, like you don't have a body, but you know everything about the space around you. There is no uncertainty. There is a presence everywhere, and you are part of it."

"One thing I found strange is that it doesn't matter if it's light or dark. It's the presence that matters, and death is nothing more than a gateway or guide to something beyond, but you must wait for your time."

"Woke up afterwards, with that experience still burned into my subconscious, while my brain was still rebooting, trying to get my memories back."

- Vulcan_Fox_2834

Just Nothing

"Not me, but my dad, who grew up a strict (then lapsed) Catholic, but still believes there is 'something,' told me rather candidly, 'I saw nothing. Just black.'"

"That was during the nine minutes my mother, a former St John Ambulance officer, pounded his chest to get his heart restarted. That was 13 years ago. Dad turned 93 in February."

- dug99

For Another Dad, Nothing Compares

"My dad experienced this 12 years ago during cardiac arrest."

"He said there are no words to describe it, and 'beautiful' doesn't come close. He won't quite say it, but I think he wishes he didn't come back, solely due to how great it was."

"He said when his real time comes, he will have no regrets, and he knows he's going to 100% be at peace. He has talked about it a few times and makes it sound downright exciting."

- alliownisbroken

Coming Home To Yourself

"It’s possible I nearly died during surgery a few years ago, from what I was told, I came super close to doing so."

"Anyway, I just recall standing in a white void, being able to see my own feet planted firmly on the 'floor' and having this overwhelming feeling of warmth, comfort, and peacefulness. I also recall still feeling like 'myself' and I had the ability to remember some memories but only a limited amount of them."

"It was such an odd and unforgettable experience."

- ElGatoGuerrero72

Nothing Else Matters

"Don’t know if I was clinically dead, but I was close to it. 74/40 blood pressure plummet due to dehydration during cancer treatment. And that value is after I woke up and was already on fluids."

"In short, when I went under, we were on our way to an infusion clinic. Felt nauseous, heaved, and then lost consciousness. Saw a light brown color (the sun diffusing through my eyelids). Felt like I was suspended in fluid and totally disconnected from my body (no actual input from the rest of my body)."

"The defining component was an overwhelming feeling of peace. Like nothing else mattered and this was my reward for suffering for several months straight. I was ready, and I was completely okay if this was it, despite my two-year-old daughter, my wife, and everything else I was leaving behind."

"I’m ashamed of that feeling somewhat because it’s not who I am… but in that moment, apparently, that is what I needed to feel."

"Short answer is that it was the highest on life I’ve ever been; while dying. I had such an aura of effect on me that it completely resolved my lifelong anxiety for almost seven to eight years. 10/10 would have a near-death experience again."

- tr042

A Visceral Awakening

"My mom had a near-death experience. She OD’d on pain medication she received for her c-section (having a baby). She was a teen mom and just found out my dad was cheating on her, so she tried to end everything."

"She remembers being slapped a bit to stay awake while her mom drove her to the hospital, and then part way through the drive, she was out."

"The next thing she remembers, she’s looking down at her body and she feels peace, she said it was like a bird’s eye view of the room, she was floating above it. She’s just watching the doctors put a black chalk into a tube in her mouth. Then she moved into the hallway and saw her mom asking people for quarters (to use a pay phone to call family to pray) and yelling at my dad."

"She said there was a warm light behind her and she said she knew there was more to be experienced over there. She then saw the doctors bring out the paddles of life."

"The next thing she knows, she’s waking up the next morning and a doctor is looking over her chart and says, 'Wow, did you know your heart stopped for 3 minutes?' And then later, my mom talked about it with my granny (her mom), and my granny confirmed that’s exactly what was happening in the hallway."

"I’ve heard all three of them talk about it, and my dad and granny have confirmed it. So wild. She was 16. Now she’s 51."

- Bean042495

Never Seen Before Colors

"Not myself, but what my grandma told me: she was walking through a tunnel, full of colors that didn't exist and whispering voices all around her."

- disheartening

"I've heard other never-death experience stories that say they saw colors that they never seen before, I've always find that most interesting since humans only have three color cones in our eyes, and there are definitely color waves we can't see in these human bodies."

"On the other end of the spectrum Mantis shrimp have 12 color cones in their eyes, so that gives an idea of how many more colors exist that we aren't aware of."

"It gives some credibility to their stories, it's as if they are seeing with something other than their human eyes."

- ShamelessIgnoramus

The Pain Was Gone

"My mom was allergic to bees. She got stung several times while working outside. It took a few minutes for them to bring her back."

"She said it was nothing. No pain, no fear, no sadness or regret. She didn't feel her body or see anything, not even darkness. Just nothing."

"She was a religious person, and I really hope she got to go to whatever she thought the afterlife is. Maybe the nothing place was just like a waiting room."

- BerriestLafontaine

Everything Will Be Okay

"Not me, but my grandfather. He had a heart attack. He said he felt like he fainted, and then he was all warm and happy like everything was gonna be okay."

"Everything was black, but he saw a faint light far away. He said that it felt like either he floated towards it or it floated to him (he doesn’t know), and the light turned into a porch from his childhood home where his mum was sitting in a rocking chair. She had been dead for 10+ years at that time. He was so happy to see her."

"She looked at him and smiled and said, 'Not right now, love,' and then he woke up in the ambulance."

- greutskolet

From everything feeling warm and calm to anxiety fading away to seeing past loved ones again, it's a relief to hear that such a frightening moment in these people's lives was actually peaceful instead.

While it isn't something we should seek out, it's nice to remember that situations will not always turn out the way we expected them to.