FEATURE SERIES

Near-Death Experiences

Evidence for Their Reality
by Jeﬀrey Long, MD

The combination of nine lines of evidence converge on the conclusionthat near-death experiences are medically inexplicable. Any one or several of thenine lines of evidence would likely be reasonably convincing to many,
but the combination of all of the presented nine lines of evidence provides
powerful evidence that NDEs are, in a word, real.
Introduction
Near-death experiences (NDEs) are reported by about
17% of those who nearly die.1 NDEs have been reported
by children, adults, scientists, physicians, priests, ministers,
among the religious and atheists, and from countries
throughout the world.
While no two NDEs are the same, there arecharacteristic features that are commonly observed in
NDEs. These characteristics include a perception of seeing
and hearing apart from the physical body, passing into or
through a tunnel, encountering a mystical light, intense andgenerally positive emotions, a review of part or all of theirprior life experiences, encountering deceased loved ones,
and a choice to return to their earthly life.2

Methods
There is no uniformly accepted definition of neardeath experience. Definitions of NDE with some variability
have been used throughout the 35 plus years that NDE
has been the subject of scholarly investigation. For myretrospective investigations, an NDE was required to haveboth a near-death and experience component.
Individuals were considered to be “near-death” if they
were so physically compromised that if their condition
did not improve they would be expected to irreversibly
die. Near-death experiencers (NDErs) included in myJeﬀrey Long, MD, is a radiation oncologist in Houma, Louisiana and arecognized world expert on near-death experiences. Dr. Long establishedthe nonproﬁt Near Death Experience Research Foundation and a website
forum (www.nderf.org) for people to share their NDEs.
Contact:

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FEATURE SERIES
investigations were generally unconscious and may haverequired cardiopulmonary resuscitation. The “experience”
component of an NDE had to occur when they were near
death. Also, the experience had to be reasonably lucid,
which excluded fragmentary or brief disorganized memories.
For an experience to be classified as an NDE, there had tobe a score of seven or above on the NDE Scale.3 The NDE
Scale asks 16 questions about the NDE content and is themost validated scale to help distinguish NDEs from othertypes of experiences.
In 1998, a website called the Near Death Experience
Research Foundation (NDERF, nderf.org) was established
to conduct NDE research and to be a public service. It is
NDERF policy that all NDE accounts shared with NDERF
are posted on the website if the NDErs give permission
to do so. Nearly all NDErs allow their experiences to beposted on the NDERF website. Portions of the NDERF
website, including the NDE questionnaire, have been posted
in over 20 different languages. The NDERF website has
consistently been at or near the top of websites listed froma Google search for the term “near-death experiences.”
This prominence of the NDERF website provided a unique
opportunity to conduct a large-scale study of NDEs,
including NDEs from around the world. At the current
time there are over 3,700 NDEs posted on the NDERF
website, which is by far the largest collection of publicly
accessible NDE accounts in the world.
The NDERF website has a form allowing neardeath experiencers to share a detailed narrative of theirexperiences, and includes a detailed questionnaire.
Extensive prior studies found that an Internet survey has
validity that is equivalent to traditional pencil-and-paper
survey.4 All experiences shared with the NDERF website
are reviewed. Sequentially shared NDEs from the NDERF
website were studied. NDEs included for study were single
NDE accounts, shared in English, and were shared by theindividual who personally had the NDE. An investigation of
the NDEs shared with NDERF led to nine lines of evidence
suggesting the reality of NDE.

Results Suggesting the Realityof Near-Death Experiences
Line of Evidence #1
Lucid, organized experiences while unconscious,
comatose, or clinically deadNear-death experiences occur at a time when the
person is so physically compromised that they are typicallyunconscious, comatose, or clinically dead. Considering

NDEs from both a medical perspective and logically, it
should not be possible for unconscious people to often
report highly lucid experiences that are clear and logicallystructured. Most NDErs report supernormal consciousness
at the time of their NDEs.
The NDERF survey asked, “How did your highest
level of consciousness and alertness during the experience
compare to your normal, everyday consciousness andalertness?” Of 1,122 NDErs surveyed, 835 (74.4%)
indicated they had “More consciousness and alertness thannormal”; 229 (20.4%) experienced “Normal consciousness
and alertness”; and only 58 (5.2%) had “Less consciousness
and alertness than normal.”
The NDERF survey also asks, “If your highest levelof consciousness and alertness during the experience wasdifferent from your normal everyday consciousness andalertness, please explain.” In response to this question,
NDErs commonly reported that consciousness during
their experiences was “clear”, “more aware”, and often
associated with heightened awareness.
Near-death experiences often occur in association
with cardiac arrest.5 Prior studies found that 10-20
seconds following cardiac arrest, electroencephalogrammeasurements generally find no significant measureable
brain cortical electrical activity.6 A prolonged, detailed,lucid experience following cardiac arrest should not be
possible, yet this is reported in many NDEs. This isespecially notable given the prolonged period of amnesiathat typically precedes and follows recovery from cardiac
arrest.7
Line of Evidence #2
Seeing ongoing events from a location apartfrom the physical body while unconscious(out-of-body experience)
A common characteristic of near-death experiences
is an out-of-body experience. An out-of-body experience(OBE) is the apparent separation of consciousness from thebody. About 45% of near-death experiencers report OBEs
which involves them seeing and often hearing ongoingearthly events from a perspective that is apart, and usually
above, their physical bodies. Following cardiac arrest,
NDErs may see, and later accurately describe, their own
resuscitation.
The first prospective study of the accuracy of out-ofbody observations during near-death experiences was by
Dr. Michael Sabom.8 This study investigated a group ofpatients who had cardiac arrests with NDEs that included
OBEs, and compared them with a control group of patients
who experienced cardiac crises but did not have NDEs.
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FEATURE SERIES“A man should look for what is,and not what he thinks should be.”-Albert Einstein

Both groups of patients were asked to describe their own
resuscitation as best they could. Sabom found that thegroup of NDE patients were much more accurate than thecontrol group in describing their own resuscitations.
Another prospective study of out-of-body observations
during near-death experiences with similar methodology to
Sabom’s study was published by Dr. Penny Sartori.9 This
study also found that near-death experiencers were often
remarkably accurate in describing details of their own
resuscitations. The control group that did not have NDEs
was highly inaccurate and often could only guess at what
occurred during their resuscitations.
Two large retrospective studies investigated theaccuracy of out-of-body observations during near-deathexperiences. The first was by Dr. Janice Holden.10 Dr.
Holden reviewed NDEs with OBEs in all previously
published scholarly articles and books, and found 89
case reports. Of the case reports reviewed, 92% wereconsidered to be completely accurate with no inaccuracy
whatsoever when the OBE observations were later
investigated.
Another large retrospective investigation of near-deathexperiences that included out-of-body observations wasrecently published.11 This study was a review of 617 NDEs
that were sequentially shared on the NDERF website. Of
these NDEs, there were 287 NDEs that had OBEs with
sufficient information to allow objective determinationof the reality of their descriptions of their observations
during the OBEs. Review of the 287 OBEs found that 280(97.6%) of the OBE descriptions were entirely realistic andlacked any content that seemed unreal. In this group of 287
NDErs with OBEs, there were 65 (23%) who personallyinvestigated the accuracy of their own OBE observations
after recovering from their life-threatening event. Based onthese later investigations, none of these 65 OBErs found any
inaccuracy in their own OBE observations.
The high percentage of accurate out-of-bodyobservations during near-death experiences does not seem374 | 111:5 | September/October 2014 | Missouri Medicine

explainable by any possible physical brain function as it iscurrently known. This is corroborated by OBEs during
NDEs that describe accurate observations while they wereverifiably clinically comatose.12 Further corroboration
comes from the many NDEs that have been reportedwith accurate OBE observations of events occurring far
from their physical body, and beyond any possible physicalsensory awareness.13 Moreover, NDE accounts have beenreported with OBEs that accurately observed events thatwere completely unexpected by the NDErs.14 This further
argues against NDEs as being a result of illusory memories
originating from what the NDErs might have expectedduring a close brush with death.
Line of Evidence #3
Near-death experiences with visionin the blind and supernormal vision
There have been a few case reports of near-deathexperiences in the blind. The largest study of this was by
Dr. Kenneth Ring.15 This Investigation included 31 blind or
substantially visually impaired individuals who had NDEs
or out-of-body experiences. Of the 31 individuals in the
study, 10 were not facing life-threatening events at the timeof their experiences, and thus their experiences were not
NDEs. There were 14 individuals who were blind frombirth in this study, and nine of them described vision during
their experiences. This investigation presented case reportsof those born totally blind that described in NDEs that werehighly visual with content consistent with typical NDEs.
The NDERF website has received additional casereports of near-death experiences among those legally blind.
For illustration, the following NDE happened to Marta, afive-year-old blind girl who walked into a lake:“I slowly breathed in the water and became
unconscious. A beautiful lady dressed in bright white lightpulled me out. The lady looked into my eyes asked mewhat I wanted. I was unable to think of anything until it
occurred to me to travel around the lake. As I did so, I saw

FEATURE SERIES
detail that I would not have seen in “real” life. I could go
anywhere, even to the tops of trees, simply by my intending
to go there. I was legally blind. For the first time I was able
to see leaves on trees, bird’s feathers, bird’s eyes, details on
telephone poles and what was in people’s back yards. I was
seeing far better than 20/20 vision. “16
An NDERF survey question asked 1,122 near-deathexperiencers, “Did your vision differ in any way from yournormal, everyday vision (in any aspect, such as clarity, fieldof vision, colors, brightness, depth perception degree ofsolidness/transparency of objects, etc.)?” In response, 722(64.3%) answered “Yes”, 182 (16.2%) said “Uncertain”,
and 218 (19.4%) responded “No”. A review of narrative
responses to this question revealed that vision during
NDEs was often apparently supernormal. Here are someillustrative examples from NDEs:“Colors were beyond any I had ever seen.”“Everything seemed so much more colorful and brighter
than normal.”“My vision was greatly increased. I was able to see
things as close or as far as I needed. There was no
strain involved it was almost like auto zooming acamera.”“I had 360 degree vision, I could see above, below, on
my right, on my left, behind, I could see everywhere at
the same time!”
Vision in near-death experiencers that are blind,including totally blind from birth, has been describedin many case reports. This, along with the finding thatvision in NDEs is usually different from normal everyday
vision and often described as supernormal, further
suggests that NDEs cannot be explained by our current
understanding of brain function. This is also further
evidence that NDEs are not a product of what NDErs
would have expected to occur during a life-threatening
event.
Line of Evidence #4
Near-death experiences that occur
while under general anesthesia
Under adequate general anesthesia it should not
be possible to have a lucid organized memory. Prior
studies using EEG and functional imaging of the brainsof patients under general anesthesia provide substantial

evidence that the anesthetized brain should be unable toproduce lucid memories.17, 18 As previously discussed,
following cardiac arrest the EEG becomes flat in 10 to
20 seconds, and there is usually amnesia prior to andfollowing the arrest. The occurrence of a cardiac arrest
while under general anesthesia is a combination of
circumstances in which no memory from that time should
be possible. Here is an illustrative example of an NDE
that occurred under general anesthesia during surgery fora heart valve replacement:“During my surgery I felt myself lift from my body andgo above the operating table. The doctor told me laterthat they had kept my heart open and stopped for along time, and they had a great amount of difficulty
getting my heart started again. That must have been
when I left my body because I could see the doctors
nervously trying to get my heart going. It was strange
to be so detached from my physical body. I was curious
about what they were doing but not concerned. Then,as I drifted farther away, I saw my father at the headof the table. He looked up at me, which did give mea surprise because he had been dead now for almost ayear.” 19
I reviewed 613 near-death experiences shared with
NDERF, and found 23 NDEs that appeared to haveoccurred while under general anesthesia. Cardiac arrest
was the most common life-threatening event that was
described in association with the occurrence of these
NDEs. I compared the responses of these 23 NDErs to
the 590 non-anesthesia NDErs by reviewing how bothgroups responded to 33 survey questions that asked
about the content of the NDEs. Chi-square statistics wasused for this comparison. Due to the large number ofquestions asked, statistical significance was set at p=0.01.
The only statistically significant difference between thetwo groups was that the anesthesia NDEs were more likely
to describe tunnels in their experiences.
An NDERF survey question asked, “How did yourhighest level of consciousness and alertness during
the experience compare to your normal everyday
consciousness and alertness?” For the NDEs occurring
under general anesthesia, 19 (83%) of the respondents
answered, “More consciousness and alertness thannormal,” to this question, compared to 437 (74%) for allother NDEs. The responses to this question by the two
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FEATURE SERIES

Multiple lines of evidence point to the conclusionthat near-death experiences are medically inexplicableand cannot be explained by known physical brain function.
groups were not statistically significantly different. Thissuggests, remarkably, that the level of consciousness andalertness in NDEs is not modified by general anesthesia.
Other near-death experience investigators havereported NDEs occurring while under general anesthesia.
Dr. Bruce Greyson, a leading NDE researcher at the
University of Virginia, states:“In our collection of NDEs, 127 out of 578 NDE cases(22%) occurred under general anesthesia, and they
included such features as OBEs that involved experiencers’
watching medical personnel working on their bodies, anunusually bright or vivid light, meeting deceased persons,and thoughts, memories, and sensations that were clearer
than usual.”20
NDEs due to cardiac arrest while under generalanesthesia occur and are medically inexplicable.
Line of Evidence #5
Near-death experiences and life reviews
Some near-death experiences include a review of partor all of their prior lives. This NDE element is called alife review. NDErs typically describe their life review froma third-person perspective. The life review may include
awareness of what others were feeling and thinking at thetime earlier in their life when they interacted with them.
This previously unknown awareness of what other people
were feeling or thinking when they interacted with them isoften surprising and unexpected to the NDErs. Here is an
example of a life review:“I went into a dark place with nothing around me, but I
wasn’t scared. It was really peaceful there. I then began tosee my whole life unfolding before me like a film projected
on a screen, from babyhood to adult life. It was so real!
I was looking at myself, but better than a 3-D movie as
I was also capable of sensing the feelings of the persons
I had interacted with through the years. I could feel thegood and bad emotions I made them go through.”21376 | 111:5 | September/October 2014 | Missouri Medicine

In my review of 617 near-death experiences fromNDERF, a life review occurred in 88 NDEs (14%). Noneof the life reviews in these NDEs appeared to have any
unrealistic content as determined by my review or basedon comments by the NDErs about their own life reviews.
Life reviews may include long forgotten details of theirearlier life that the NDErs later confirm really happened. If
NDEs were unreal experiences, it would be expected that
there would be significant error in life reviews and possibly
hallucinatory features. The consistent accuracy of life
reviews, including the awareness of long-forgotten eventsand awareness of the thoughts and feelings of others frompast interactions, further suggests the reality of NDEs.
Line of Evidence #6
Encountering deceased loved onesin near-death experiences
Near-death experiences may describe encounterswith people that they knew during their earthly life. The
following is an example of encountering a deceased loved
ones in an NDE. This example is also notable as the NDEr
was born totally deaf:“I approached the boundary. No explanation wasnecessary for me to understand, at the age of ten, thatonce I cross[ed] the boundary, I could never come back—period. I was more than thrilled to cross. I intended tocross, but my ancestors over another boundary caught
my attention. They were talking in telepathy, whichcaught my attention. I was born profoundly deaf andhad all hearing family members, all of which knew sign
language! I could read or communicate with about twenty
ancestors of mine and others through telepathic methods.
It overwhelmed me. I could not believe how many people I
could telepathize with simultaneously.”22
When people known to the near-death experiencers areencountered in NDEs, the great majority are people whoare deceased. A study by Dr. Emily Kelly was a comparison

FEATURE SERIES
of 74 NDEs with descriptions of encountering deceased
individuals with 200 NDEs that did not describe encounterswith the deceased.23 This study found that when NDErs
encountered beings known to them from their earthly
lives in their NDEs, only 4% described meeting beings
that were alive at the time of their experiences. I reviewed
84 NDEs from NDERF that described encounters withindividual(s) that they knew in their earthly life.24 There
were only three NDEs (4%) where the encountered beings
were alive at the time of the NDEs, consistent with thefindings of the Kelly study.
In dreams or hallucinations when familiar persons
are present they are much more likely to be living
and from recent memory.25 This is in sharp contrast
to near-death experiencers where familiar persons
encountered are almost always deceased. Cases havebeen reported by NDErs of seeing a person who they
thought was living, but in fact had recently died.25, 26
These cases illustrate that NDEs cannot be explainedby the experiencer’s expectation of what would happen
during a life-threatening event. Further evidence that
NDEs are not a result of expectation comes from theaforementioned Kelly study where in one-third of thecases the encountered deceased person had a poor or
distant relationship with the NDEr, or was someone that
had died before the NDEr was born.23
Line of Evidence #7
Near-death experiences of young children
Investigation of near-death experiences in very young
children is important because at an early age they areless likely to have established religious beliefs, cultural
understandings about death, or even an awareness of what
death is. Very young children would be very unlikely tohave heard about near-death experiences or understandthem. I investigated the NDEs in children age five andyounger in the same group of 613 NDErs previously
discussed in the section on NDEs while under generalanesthesia. Two NDEs were excluded as they did notprovide their age in the survey. The study groups included
26 NDErs that were age 5 and younger (average 3.6 years
old) and 585 NDErs age 6 and older at the time of their
NDEs. The NDERF survey included 33 questions about
the content of their NDEs. Chi-square statistics was used
to compare the responses to these 33 questions between
the two groups.27 There was no statistically significant
difference to the responses between the two groups toany of the 33 questions. The NDERF study found thatthe content of NDEs in children age five and younger
appeared to be the same as the content of NDEs in older
children and adults. The finding of the NDERF study arecorroborated by the investigation of Dr. Cherie Sutherland
who reviewed thirty years of scholarly literature regarding
the NDEs of children and concluded:“It has often been supposed that the NDEs of very
young children will have a content limited to their
vocabulary. However, it is now clear that the age ofchildren at the time of their NDE does not in any way
determine its complexity. Even prelinguistic children
have later reported quite complex experiences…. Agedoes not seem in any way to affect the content of the
NDE.”28
Very young children have near-death experience
content that is strikingly similar to older children andadults. This is further evidence that NDEs are occurring
independently of preexisting cultural beliefs, religious
training, or awareness of the existence of NDE.
Line of Evidence #8
Cross-cultural study of near-death experiences
Portions of the NDERF website, including thequestionnaire, have been translated into 23 different
languages. Over 500 near-death experiences in nonEnglish languages have been shared with NDERF over theyears. Dozens of volunteers have translated the nonEnglish NDEs into English. Both the non-English andEnglish translated versions of the NDEs are posted on the
NDERF website. Over 60,000 people currently visit the
NDERF website each month. Many website visitors arebilingual and this help assure that the NDEs are accuratelytranslated.
My investigation of NDEs from around the worldthat have been translated into English shows that theircontent is strikingly similar.29 If near-death experienceswere considerably influenced by pre-existing religious andcultural beliefs, it would be expected that there would
be significant differences in the content of NDEs fromdifferent cultures around the world. However, in myreview of over 500 NDEs from dozens of countries aroundthe world I found impressive similarities in the content ofthese NDEs.
I investigated 19 non-Western NDEs, where a “nonWestern country” was defined as areas of the world thatare predominantly not of Jewish or Christian heritage.30
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FEATURE SERIES
These 19 non-Western NDEs were compared to a groupof NDEs shared in English from Western countries thatwere predominantly English speaking. This investigation
concluded:“All near-death experience elements appearing inWestern NDEs are present in non-Western NDEs.
There are many non-Western NDEs with narratives thatare strikingly similar to the narratives of typical Western
NDEs. At a minimum, it may be concluded that nonWestern NDEs are much more similar to Western NDEs
than dissimilar.”31
Two recent investigations of Muslim near-deathexperiences in non-Western countries have been reported.
An investigation of 19 Iranian Muslim NDEs concluded:“Our results suggest that Muslim NDEs may actually
be quite common, as they are in the West, and may
not be especially different in their key features from
Western NDEs and therefore not heavily influenced bycultural variations, including prior religious or spiritualbeliefs.”32
Another study of eight Muslim NDEs found:“Although the documentation standard of the available
cases is generally low, these accounts indicate thatstructure and contents of NDEs from many non-Western
Muslim communities are largely similar to those reported
in the Western NDE literature.”33
The lack of significant differences in the content ofnear-death experiences around the world, including NDEs
from non-Western countries, suggests that NDE content
is not substantially modified by preexisting cultural
influences. This finding is consistent with the previously
discussed finding that children age five and under, whohave received far less cultural influence than adults
during their brief lives, have NDEs with content that isessentially the same as older children and adults. Other
common forms of altered consciousness, such as dreams
or hallucinations, are much more likely to be significantly
influenced by prior cultural beliefs and life experiences.
The lack of significant differences in the content of NDEs
around the world is consistent with the concept that
NDEs occur independently from physical brain function
as currently understood.
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Line of Evidence #9
Near-death experience aftereﬀects
Following near-death experiences significant changes
in the lives of NDErs are commonly observed. The mostrecent version of the NDERF survey asked NDErs, “Myexperience directly resulted in...:”The responses of 278 NDErs to the question were:Large changes in my life
Moderate changes in my life
Slight changes in my life
No changes in my life
Unknown

152
68
28
14
16

54.7 %
24.5 %
10.1 %
5.0 %5.8 %Changes in beliefs and values following near-deathexperiences are often called aftereffects. Given that alife-threatening event without an NDE might result inlife changes, some of the best evidence for NDE-specificaftereffects came from the largest prospective NDE
study ever reported. This study, conducted by Pim van
Lommel, MD, divided survivors of cardiac arrest into agroup that had NDEs, and a group that did not.12 The
aftereffects of both groups were assessed two and eight
years after the cardiac arrests. The group of cardiac arrest
survivors with NDEs were statistically more likely have a
reduced fear of death, increased belief in life after death,interest in the meaning of life, acceptance of others,
and were more loving and empathic. It may take years
after NDEs for the aftereffects to become fully manifest.
The aftereffects may be so substantial that NDErs may
seem to be very different people to their loved ones andfamily. The consistency, intensity, and durability of NDE
aftereffects is consistent with the NDErs’ typical personalassessments that their experiences were very meaningful
and significant. It is remarkable that NDEs often occur
during only minutes of unconsciousness, yet commonly
result in substantial and life-long transformations ofbeliefs and values.

Conclusion of Study
Multiple lines of evidence point to the conclusionthat near-death experiences are medically inexplicable andcannot be explained by known physical brain function.
Many of the preceding lines of evidence would beremarkable if they were reported by a group of individuals
during conscious experiences. However, NDErs are
generally unconscious or clinically dead at the time of
their experiences and should not have any lucid organizedmemories from their time of unconsciousness.

FEATURE SERIESIt is informative to consider how near-deathexperiencers themselves view the reality of theirexperiences. An NDERF survey of 1122 NDErs
asked “How do you currently view the reality of yourexperience?”, and received the following responses:
Experience was definitely real
962
Experience was probably real
40
Experience was probably not real 3
Experience was definitely not real 1

95.6 %
4.0 %
0.3 %
0.1 %

The great majority of more than 1,000 near-deathexperiencers believed that their experiences were
definitely real. The 1,122 NDErs surveyed included
many physicians, scientists, attorneys, and nurses.
These findings suggest that, for the majority of us who
have not personally experienced an NDE, we should bevery cautious about labelling NDEs as “unreal.” Given
that such a high percentage of NDErs consider theirexperiences to be “definitely real,” it would be reasonable
to accept their assessment of the reality of their personal
experience unless there is good evidence that theirexperiences were not real.
After over 35 years of scholarly investigation ofnear-death experience, the totality of what is observed
in NDEs has not been adequately explained based on
physical brain function. It is beyond the scope of thisarticle to review the many proposed “explanations” ofnear-death experience. Over the years, there have beenover 20 different “explanations” of NDE suggested
that cover the gamut of physiological, psychological,
and cultural causes. If any one or several of these“explanations” were widely accepted as plausible,
then there would be no need for so many different“explanations” of NDE. Among those who believethat physical brain function must explain everythingthat is experienced in all NDEs, there is no consensus
whatsoever about how physical brain function produces
NDEs.

Conclusion
The combination of the preceding nine lines ofevidence converges on the conclusion that near-deathexperiences are medically inexplicable. Any one orseveral of the nine lines of evidence would likely bereasonably convincing to many, but the combination of allof the presented nine lines of evidence provides powerfulevidence that NDEs are, in a word, real.

References

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B, James D, editors. The Handbook of Near-Death Experiences: Thirty Yearsof Investigation. Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger/ABC-CLIO 2009: 17-40.
2. Moody, RA. Life After Life. Covington, GA: Mockingbird Books; 1975.
3. Greyson, B. The Near-death experience scale: Construction, reliability
and validity. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease 2003;171:369–375.
4. Many previously published studies directly compared the reliability ofInternet surveys with traditional “pencil-and paper” surveys. The generalconsensus of multiple studies suggests that Internet surveys are as reliable
as “pencil-and-paper” surveys. Further discussion and illustrative references
are here: http://www.nderf.org/NDERF/EvidenceAfterlife/Survey_Internet_
Pencil_Paper.htm.
5. Near-death experiences associated with cardiac arrest have been reported
in dozens of previously published studies. Over one hundred NDEs occurring
during cardiac arrest have been reported in these five studies alone: Sabom
M. Recollections of Death: A Medical Investigation. New York: Simon &Schuster; 1982, van Lommel P, van Wees R, Meyers V, Elfferich I. Neardeath experience in survivors of cardiac arrest: A prospective study in the
Netherlands. Lancet 2001;358:2039–45, Parnia S, Waller DG, Yeates R,
Fenwick P. A qualitative and quantitative study of the incidence, features andaetiology of near death experiences in cardiac arrest survivors. Resuscitation
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7. Cardiac arrest patients are typically amnesic or confused regarding events
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ventricular arrhythmias. Annals of Internal Medicine 1988;108:791–796,
van Lommel P, van Wees R, Meyers V, Elfferich I. Near-death experiencein survivors of cardiac arrest: A prospective study in the Netherlands.
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consciousness. Resuscitation 2002;52, no. 1:5–11.
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Simon & Schuster; 1982.
9. Sartori P. The Near-Death Experiences of Hospitalized Intensive Care
Patients: A Five Year Clinical Study. Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press; 2008.
10. Holden JM. Veridical perception in near-death experiences. In: Holden
JM, Greyson B, James D, editors. The Handbook of Near-Death Experiences:
Thirty Years of Investigation. Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger/ABC-CLIO 2009:185-211.
11. Long J, Perry P. Evidence of the Afterlife: The Science of Near-Death
Experiences. New York, NY: HarperCollins; 2010: 74-78.
12. van Lommel P, van Wees R, Meyers V, Elfferich I. Near-death experiencein survivors of cardiac arrest: A prospective study in the Netherlands. Lancet
2001; 358:2039–2045.
13. There are multiple reports of NDErs observing earthly events far fromtheir bodies and beyond possible physical sensory awareness. Here are twostudies containing fifteen NDEs with corroboration of the NDErs’ remoteobservations by others: Cook EW, Greyson B, and Stevenson I. Do any neardeath experiences provide evidence for the survival of human personality
after death? Relevant features and illustrative case reports. Journal of
Scientific Exploration 1998;12:377–406, Kelly EW, Greyson B, andStevenson I. Can experiences near death furnish evidence of life after death?
Omega 1999-2000;40, no. 4: 513–519.
14. NDERF has received scores of NDEs with OBE observations during
NDEs containing highly unexpected observations that were later confirmed

Missouri Medicine | September/October 2014 | 111:5 | 379

FEATURE SERIES

Evidence of the Afterlife:
The Science of the
Near-Death Experience

BOOK REVIEW

by Jeﬀrey Long, MD, with Paul Perry

Source: Bookjacket/ Paperback: 224 pages
Publisher: HarperOne; Reprint edition (January 4, 2011)
ISBN-10: 0061452572 / ISBN-13: 978-0061452574

The most compelling scientiﬁc evidence for life beyond death evercompiled, Evidence of the Afterlife shares the ﬁrsthand accounts ofpeople who have died and lived to tell about it. Through their work at
the Near Death Experience Research Foundation, radiation oncologist
Jeﬀrey Long and his wife, Jody, have gathered thousands of accountsof near-death experiences (NDEs) from all over the world. In addition
to sharing the personal narrative of their experiences, visitors to
the website are asked to ﬁll out a one hundred–item questionnaire
designed to isolate speciﬁc elements of the experience and to ﬂag
counterfeit accounts. The website has become the largest NDE
research database in the world, containing over 3,800 NDE accounts.
The people whose stories are captured in the database span all age
groups, races, and religious aﬃliations and come from all over theworld, yet the similarities in their stories are as awe-inspiring as they
are revealing. Using this treasure trove of data, Dr. Long explains how
medical evidence fails to explain these reports and why there is only
one plausible explanation—that people have survived death andtraveled to another dimension.

as factual. An illustrative example was an NDE with an OBE in which thepatient described the cardiac surgeon “flapping his arms as if trying to fly.”
The surgeon later verified this, stating that after scrubbing in he flattened
his hands on his chest and was rapidly pointing with his elbows to give
instructions. See: Cook EW, Greyson B, and Stevenson I. Do any near-deathexperiences provide evidence for the survival of human personality after
death? Relevant features and illustrative case reports. Journal of Scientific
Exploration 1998;12:399–400.
15. Ring K, Cooper S. Mindsight: Near-Death and Out-of-Body Experiencesin the Blind. Palo Alto, CA: William James Center for Consciousness Studies,
Institute of Transpersonal Psychology; 1999.
16. Paraphrased. Full text of original account is at: www.nderf.org/NDERF/
NDE_Experiences/marta_g_nde.htm.
17. John ER, Prichep LS, Kox W, Valdes-Sosa P, Bosch-Bayard J, Aubert
E, Tom M, diMichele F, Gugino LD. Invariant reversible QEEG effects ofanesthetics. Consciousness & Cognition 2001;10:165-183.
18. White NS, Alkire MT. Impaired thalamocortical connectivity inhumans during general-anesthetic-induced unconsciousness. NeuroImage
2003;19:402-411.
19. Long J, Perry P. Evidence of the Afterlife: The Science of Near-Death
Experiences. New York, NY: HarperCollins; 2010: 98.
20. Greyson B, Kelly EW, Kelly EF. Explanatory models for near-deathexperiences. In: Holden JM, Greyson B, James D, editors. The Handbook of
Near-Death Experiences: Thirty Years of Investigation. Santa Barbara, CA:
Praeger/ABC-CLIO 2009: 226.
21. Long J, Perry P. Evidence of the Afterlife: The Science of Near-Death
Experiences. New York, NY: HarperCollins; 2010: 111.
22. Long J, Perry P. Evidence of the Afterlife: The Science of Near-Death
Experiences. New York, NY: HarperCollins; 2010: 125.
23. Kelly EW. Near-death experiences with reports of meeting deceased
people. Death Studies 2001;25:229-249.
24. Long J, Perry P. Evidence of the Afterlife: The Science of Near-Death

380 | 111:5 | September/October 2014 | Missouri Medicine

Experiences. New York, NY: HarperCollins; 2010: 123-124.
25. Osis K, Haraldsson E. At the Hour of Death (3rd ed.). New York: Avon;
1977.
26. Greyson B. Seeing deceased persons not known to have died: “Peak in
Darien” experiences. Anthropology & Humanism 2010;35:159-171.
27. Long J, Perry P. Evidence of the Afterlife: The Science of Near-Death
Experiences. New York, NY: HarperCollins; 2010: 137-139.
28. Sutherland C. Trailing clouds of glory: The near- death experiences ofwestern children and teens. In: Holden JM, Greyson B, James D, editors.
The Handbook of Near-Death Experiences: Thirty Years of Investigation.
Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger/ABC-CLIO 2009: 93.
29. Long J, Perry P. Evidence of the Afterlife: The Science of Near-Death
Experiences. New York, NY: HarperCollins; 2010: 151-159.
30. Holden J, Long J, MacLurg J. Characteristics of Western near-deathexperiencers. In: Holden JM, Greyson B, James D, editors. The Handbookof Near-Death Experiences: Thirty Years of Investigation. Santa Barbara, CA:
Praeger/ABC-CLIO 2009: 110.
31. Long J, Perry P. Evidence of the Afterlife: The Science of Near-Death
Experiences. New York, NY: HarperCollins; 2010: 166. The NDERF website
has a compilation of non-Western NDEs shared with NDERF at: http://www.
nderf.org/NDERF/Research/non_western_ndes.htm.
32. Fracasso C, Aleyasin S, Friedman H, Young M. Near-death experiencesamong a sample of Iranian Muslims. Journal of Near-Death Studies
2010;29:271.
33. Nahm M, Nicolay J. Essential features of eight published Muslim
near-death experiences: An addendum to Joel Ibrahim Kreps’s “Thesearch for Muslim near-death experiences”. Journal of Near-Death Studies
2010;29:255.

Disclosure
None reported.

MM