SHARED DEATH EXPERIENCES

During World War I, Karl Skala, a German poet, was a soldier huddled in a foxhole with his best friend.

An artillery shell exploded, killing his friend. 

Skala was unhurt, but had an out of body experience.

It was a 'shared death experience'.

Skala felt himself being drawn up with his friend, above the battlefield. 

Then he looked up and saw a bright light and felt himself going toward it with his friend. 

Then he stopped and returned to his body.

William Peters, a hospice volunteer, had been entrusted with the care of a former merchant marine, called Ron. 

Ron was on his deathbed,  and had few family or friends who visited him. 

Peters would spend up to three hours a day keeping Ron company, reading books and talking to him.

One lunch time, while reading, Peters felt his spirit leаve his body.

He wаs floаting аbove Ron's bed.

He sаw thаt Ron wаs floating next to him аnd looking down аt the bed.

Peters sаid: “He looked аt me аnd he gаve me this hаppy, contented look аs if he wаs telling me, ‘Check this out. Here we аre.'”

Peters then returned to his body.

What about dogs?

'I raised my head up from the ground to look around, I saw my deceased dog from my childhood bounding towards me. … It was overwhelmingly wonderful. I felt completely at peace and totally happy. I was so excited to see her again, and I did not question the experience at the time. It was as if she had never died and she had always been waiting for me to wake up from my nap in the grass.

'These words, taken from case reports collected by the Near-Death Experience Research Foundation, are from a young seaman who was recalling an experience that followed a life-threatening fall from a navy pier. After losing consciousness, he found himself in “an absolutely beautiful green field of grass” with his beloved canine friend.'