10 Real Life Near-Death Experiences in the Press & Media: Global Evidence of the Near-Death (5 page)

‘That's what heaven is.  You get to make sense of your yesterdays.’
- Mitch Albom -
The Five People You Meet in Heaven

Vicki Noratuk has a remarkable story to tell in that she has been blind since birth but found that during her own near-death experience she could see for the first time in her life.

Vicki was a guest, together with Dr Jeffrey Long, a leading researcher into near-death experiences, on the American Coast to Coast programme in September 2004.  She was also part of the BBC’s documentary
The Day I Died
which was initially aired in 2002.  Thereafter her story soon populated the Net, particularly on social media sites, including YouTube. 

Vicki was prematurely born in December 1950 at St Lukes Hospital in Pasadena, California.  As her birth weight was only 3 pounds she was placed in an air lock incubator.  It was a newly developed machine but it had a devastating effect on Vicki, and indeed many other babies who also used these incubators around that time, as she became totally blind – her optic nerves having been decimated by an excess of oxygen.

Vicki has never been able to see anything.  She cannot see colour, she cannot even see black.  She can see no light, no shadows, in fact, not a thing.  Even in her dreams Vicki has said she doesn’t have any visual impressions – only the general ones you would associate with a blind person - taste, touch, sound and smell.  But when she nearly died, and had her near-death experience, she could actually visually see for the first time!  What a revelation that must have been!

It was during the early hours of 2 February 1973 in Seattle when Vicki accepted a lift home from a couple of overly merry diners at a restaurant where she was working as a singer and pianist. The last thing she remembered is when she screamed as the vehicle spun out of control.  The vehicle in which she was travelling crashed and she was taken to the local hospital. 

Vicki said that she felt herself leave her body through her mouth and she found that she was looking down at herself from the ceiling of the emergency room.  That is, she assumed the body belonged to her, as she recognized certain features, like the hair length, the thinness and tallness of the still form.  She has said that she found the process of suddenly and unexpectedly seeing things quite difficult to cope with.  Indeed, as has been well documented, something as dramatic as being able to see for the first time when you have been blind all your life can be disorientating and, in fact, quite disturbing, as Vicki discovered.  It was all so new.

The medical team worked hard to bring Vicki back and she watched as the crash cart was brought in to try and save her.  She remembered hearing various conversations concerning her prognosis, including the possibility that because she had blood on her ear drum that should she live she could be deaf ….. and of course with the injuries that she presented with, there was always the possibility of brain damage.  She tried to communicate verbally with them but to no avail! 

At this point Vicki had a strong desire to leave the room and to her amazement she found herself going up through the hospital’s ceilings until she was above the hospital roof.  She has spoken of hearing the most beautiful blend of musical notes, which sounded like they came from a wind chime, although some of the tones were like none that she had ever heard before.

Vicki has said that she was then sucked into a dark wide tunnel going towards a light which became brighter the nearer she got to the end.  She felt jubilant, particularly as she could hear people singing joyful hymns in perfect harmony all around. 

After she left the tube she rolled out onto grass and saw many varieties of flowers and birds.  She has said that she noticed that even among flowers and birds of the same type, that some would have more light surrounding them than others.  Everything seemed to be made of light, which she could feel as well as see, and it appeared to Vicki that this light signified love.  Love was everywhere.

She also has said that she saw some people she knew as a child, including a couple of friends from her days at the school she went to for blind children.  These two friends had tragically died very young.  In their previous lives they had many physical problems but in this place they seemed whole, as if fully healed.  She also saw her grandmother, who had died a couple of years previously, as well as some deceased next door neighbours.  No words were exchanged, just feelings of love.

One of the biggest impacts of this experience that Vicki said she found was that she suddenly could make sense of everything.  She had the knowledge, she had the answers to all the questions in life.  For instance, she could understand maths and science; everything; anything.  It was a revelation.

Vicki said that she also met a being whom she believed to be Jesus who contained the most radiant of lights.  He told her that her time was not yet and that she would have to go back into her body.  Indeed, he explained to her that she would need to return so that she could give birth to her children. 

She then said she saw a ‘panoramic’ review of her entire life with Jesus by her side who seemed to be helping her to understand every incident that she experienced as well as the thoughts and feelings of the others involved in these episodes - and yet he left her to come to her own conclusions.  She felt very strongly that she was harder on herself than he was.

With a violent thud, she then found herself back in her own body.  She eventually awoke in great pain with a skull fracture and with neck, back and leg injuries.  But she survived and in time went on to give birth to the children that she was told she should have.  

Vicki Noratuk’s case was actually included in a two year study which was undertaken by Dr Ken Ring concerning blind people who had near-death experiences. It would appear from the information acquired from this study that it is in fact not unusual for people who are blind to have visual perception during such encounters.  Nevertheless, her case is certainly a fine example of how a blind person can have a virtually indistinguishable NDE from those of us who are fortunate enough to be able to see.  Certainly it appears that her mind was active during the time her brain was unable to supply her with such visual information, even if she had the gift of sight.

‘All goes onward and outward, nothing collapses,
And to die is different from what any one supposed, and luckier.’
- Walt Whitman

Joanne Calman has had a lot of pain and suffering to put up with since she had a seizure in a suburban Sydney hospital in the early 1990s. 

She was heavily pregnant with her third child and fifteen hours previously the medical staff at the hospital had made the decision to induce the birth.  Joanne was at this stage finding the pain extremely intense and was very relieved when the decision to administer an epidural was made.

But then things started to go wrong.  The epidural had caused a seizure and Joanne had slumped over the side of the bed.  Over the next twelve hours she drifted in and out of consciousness as the medical staff worked frantically to stabilise her.  Her distraught husband, Ross, said he watched his wife die three times.

Joanne woke up in intensive care.  All she could think of was the vivid journey she felt she had just returned from. 

She firstly remembered the pains in her chest and head and that she was finding it hard to breathe.  She said she felt herself just ‘letting go’ and she found she was floating up from her body and going through a wall into the corridor.  She recalled seeing a patient at the nurses’ station and she said she could hear what they were thinking as well as what they were saying.  They were discussing a bracelet which had gone missing and Joanne knew which one of the nurses had taken it as she could read her thoughts.

She then went into a great tunnel which was warm and soft.  She stood on the edge of a very bright light which had suddenly appeared and she found she was unable to avert her eyes from it.  She moved forward into it where she met many relatives, some of whom at the time she had never heard of, particularly those from her husband’s family. 

Joanne was met by three grandmothers, one was her own, the other two were Ross’ relatives.  She explained that together with the three grandmothers she walked through a beautiful landscape.  Whilst they strolled they spoke of Joanne’s life. 

Apparently when Joanne was three years old she fell off a wharf in Woy Woy.  She had always thought that her father had saved her but was told that it was her aunt who jumped in and that it was her sister who pushed her!  This was all confirmed by her family when she returned to her physical body.

Joanne was also shown what her future would look like.  Frankly, it didn’t look easy.  She would have to endure a great deal of pain, her body would be very weak and Ross would have to give up his job in order to look after her.  Who would blame Joanne for wanting to stay where she was - in such a place where she felt peace and love?  But, no, the grandmothers said that it wasn’t her time and she had to return.  In all, Joanne travelled three times between her pain ridden body and back to her grandmothers in spirit, before she was finally convinced to remain in her battered body.

Before she left however they told her about five people who were still in the physical world and whom Joanne had never met before and gave Joanne some information about each one that only that individual could possibly know.  They asked that she meet these people when she returned.  They also explained that of course she also needed to give birth to her daughter, Mariah.  Joanne felt quite strongly that if she didn’t live then Mariah might have died.

Since that day when she was given the epidural that caused the seizure Joanne has had a lot of health concerns and, as she was foretold, has had to deal with a lot of pain.  Mariah however was born healthy and strong and Joanne is thankful that she has three wonderful children, a fantastic husband and many supportive friends. 

Some time after she returned from the hospital she did in fact start to get in touch with the people whom the grandmothers had introduced her to.  Joanne says that it wasn’t easy getting in contact with each one, trying to explain why she was doing so and giving intricate details about these people’s lives in order to try to prove her story.  All have fortunately been very understanding although they are not sure why they were chosen.

Some while after her near-death experience, Joanne published her story in a book called
The Causeway, the bridge from here to there, a Near Death Experience
and an article also appeared in the Melbourne Sunday Age.

‘I look upon death to be as necessary to the constitution as sleep.  We shall rise refreshed in the morning.’

- Benjamin Franklin

Dr George Ritchie has a fascinating NDE story to tell, not the least of which is the journey he took during his out of body experience where he aerially explored parts of America and beyond that he had never been to before and yet was able to identify certain places from this journey after the event.  A report from The Self-Conscious Mind in November 2008 investigating the route that George says he took came to some very powerful conclusions, all of which will be looked at in greater detail once we have had the opportunity to fully take in the circumstances surrounding his story.

George’s case was one of the first near-death experiences to emerge in the public eye and he published his book
Return From Tomorrow
which he co-authored with Elizabeth Sherrill in the summer of 1978.

It was mid December 1943 and twenty year old Private Ritchie was in basic training with the army at Camp Barkeley, Texas, when he began to develop a raging fever.  As the days went by and his temperature continued to spike, he became very concerned that he would miss the start of his training at the Medical School of Virginia which was due to begin on the 22
nd
December.  George was very excited at the prospect of becoming a doctor as this was where his real passion in life lay and so he was becoming quite agitated that he might not be well enough to travel. 

Unfortunately for George, at Camp Barkeley he was found to have developed double lobar pneumonia and with a temperature at times of 10
6˚
F he was certainly seriously ill.  We must remember that pneumonia in the 1940s was a different kettle of fish to how it is viewed today and although it is still considered serious, the medications and expertise they had then in no way compare to the knowledge we have in the present age.

George was found on the morning of 21 December to have no pulse, respiration or blood pressure.  He was pronounced dead by the medical officer on duty and the ward boy was told to get his body ready for the morgue.  A sheet was pulled up over his face.  According to the hospital records, approximately nine minutes later when the ward boy returned to begin prepping the body, he thought that George’s hand had moved from where he remembered seeing it on top of the blankets.  Because of this he called the doctor back in who, once more, confirmed death.  Fortunately, to give George one last chance of a return to a physical life, the doctor injected adrenalin into his heart muscle.

This type of injection wouldn’t normally have been expected to work in cases such as George’s in the 1940s without other procedures simultaneously being put into place - such procedures of which they were unaware of at the time.  But miraculously for George his heart began to beat and stayed beating, his blood pressure began to rise, as did his respiration, although he did not regain consciousness until Christmas Eve and it was certainly some weeks before he was well enough to travel.  The hospital staff were amazed at his recovery and he was discharged at the end of January weighing one hundred and thirty-four pounds, forty four less than the one hundred and seventy-eight he had checked in with …. but, amazingly, alive and well.

Due to the unusual events of this incident, his medical case was attested to in affidavits by the medical officer in charge of the ward he was in – Dr Donald G Francy - and by the nurse who cared for him – Lt. Retta Irvine.  Indeed, in
Return From Tomorrow
, George has quoted Dr Francy as saying that his had been ‘the most amazing medical case I ever encountered.’  And in a notarized statement years later Dr Francy wrote:

‘Private George G Ritchie’s……virtual call from death and return to vigorous health has to be explained in terms of other than natural means.’

But now let’s take a look at the journey, and in particular the first part, that George Ritchie has documented.

The last thing George consciously remembered is going down to the X-ray department on a stretcher – apparently he had collapsed in front of the X-ray machine - when he resurfaced in a room he did not recall having ever entered.  Whilst he searched for his clothes and personal items, as he was intent not to miss the train to medical school, he became aware of a still figure lying on the bed which he remembered thinking was very strange as he had only just got out of the bed himself! 

Nevertheless he left the room in search of his belongings and on seeing a sergeant in the corridor asked him a question to which he received no reply.  In fact the sergeant continued to move towards him as if George wasn’t there; indeed if George hadn’t leapt out of the way, the sergeant would have walked right into him.  George went further down the corridor and on seeing a heavy metal door he hurried towards it and finding himself outside he realized that he was
flying
above the ground, and not walking on it! 

Towns and countryside flashed by beneath him and he assumed he was somehow on his way to Richmond to start his training.  At one point, just to be sure that this was in fact what was happening to him, he slowed down and stopped on a sidewalk, where he asked a civilian what city he was in.  Like the sergeant he met in the corridor, once again he was ignored, as if he wasn’t there.  George tapped the man on the shoulder but it was as if the man had no body as his hand went straight through him, as if he didn’t exist.

As he had begun to panic that perhaps the still form in the bed in that strange room belonged to him, George then began to move again and found that he was
flying
back the way he came, returning to the hospital.  In fact, he berated himself for ever leaving the body in the first place.  The base hospital hovered into view once more and returning to the corridor he started to search for the room he remembered being in and went from one ward to another searching for himself.  He began to panic.  Finally he came to a cubicle where the sheet had been pulled all the way over the head with the arms hanging outside the blankets.  He recognized the ring on the third finger of the left hand – it belonged to him. 

He felt all manner of emotions; particularly that of despair, but then the light in the room began to change.  It became brighter, so bright in fact that all the bulbs in the world could not have produced so much light.   George then writes of a man made of light who was in the room whom he believed to be Jesus.  George was then shown a review of his entire life in great detail, both good and bad, from his birth through to his childhood through to his arrival at Camp Barkeley.  He also speaks of going on another journey of flight and being shown all manner of things.

One thing that stands out from George’s account of his NDE compared to the other cases in this series of ten, is that George speaks in some detail of seeing a hellish realm as well as a heavenly one.  To give you a flavour of some of his experiences, from his book I have taken the following excerpt:

George thought afterwards of his travels. 
‘First that hellish realm, where I had been permitted to look longest.  Where people who no longer belonged to the earth could not escape it either – could not escape the involvements, the hungers, the pride they had allowed to dominate them here.  Then the brief visit to a realm where ego had been left behind, where all was selfless search for truth.  Where I might have thought myself in heaven except for the final fleeting revelation.  The glorious city.  I had seen it for an instant only, yet of the whole experience it stood out clearest.  Most achingly.’ 
                                                                  

Source:
Return From Tomorrow

When his journey was over he was told to return to his body.  As he reached out and touched a circular band with an oval stone on the ring finger of his left hand he knew that he was back.

What however I find particularly fascinating in this case is what we touched on in the first paragraph of this story.  A report from the Self Conscious Mind, which was initially published in November 2008, looked into the route that George says he took on his flight to see for example whether any of the landmarks he mentioned could be confirmed as existing then.  It is a very detailed research report
http://selfconsciousmind.com/ritchie/index.html
and it came to some interesting conclusions, in brief:

1.
George explained that near the X-ray department there was a rear door which left the hospital from a ward building.  This was the door he said he went through when he had his out of body experience.

Fact -
There was a ward building whose rear door was at the appropriate latitude, which was probably near the hospital's x-ray department.

2.
George described ‘flying’ over a town which had many blinking caution lights at intersections. 

Fact –
The main street in Tyler, Texas, ran directly east-west and lay just north of the appropriate latitude.  In 1943 this town had four traffic lights along the route that caution blinked at night.

3.
George described an all-night café situated in a city by a very large river with a large bridge and has said that as he was driving with some other GIs through Vicksburg, Mississippi, on the way back to Camp Barkeley about ten months after he had recovered from the pneumonia he became aware that he had already visited Vicksburg in his journey of flight.  He was familiar with the layout of the city and the river and he also managed to identify the café where he had stopped in an attempt to ascertain his whereabouts.

Fact -
At the appropriate latitude a café has been identified at 1501 Levee St, Vicksburg, which matched the description that George gave.  The report at this point continued:

‘Although Ritchie later saw and recognized the building and his later perceptions could have influenced his written accounts, his recognition matched the reality in nearly all details (rectangular building, front door flanked by two windows, telephone pole with a guy wire nearby, situated by a large river with a large bridge nearby) and matched other details which were very likely the case (Pabst blue neon sign, all-night operation).’                  

Source:
The Self-Conscious Mind
                                                       

Like so many people who have experienced NDEs the effect such an experience can have on the path their lives take afterwards can be immense.  From George’s own brush with death, he has said that in particular he has learned two things:

1.
‘That our consciousness does not cease with physical death – that it becomes in fact keener and more aware than ever.’

2.
‘That how we spend our time on earth, the kind of relationships we build, is vastly, infinitely more important than we can know.
’

Source:
Return From Tomorrow

George was able to get onto the training course at the Medical School of Virginia a month after he was initially due to start, but unfortunately did not, for various reasons, get the grades he needed and so therefore had to go back a year later to Camp Barkeley.  He did however return to the same med school some while later, passed his exams and worked as a doctor for thirteen years.  At around the age of forty he studied psychiatry at the University of Virginia and became a practising psychiatrist.

Dr George Ritchie, who died five years ago on 29
th
October 2007 at the age of eighty-four, served as President of The Richmond Academy of General Practice, was Chairman of the Department of Psychiatry of Towers Hospital, and Founder and President of The Universal Youth Corps, Inc.