Verified Near Death Experiences: Proof Of An Afterlife

Verified Near-Death Experiences

Simon Bown

FIRST EDITION

LONDON 2025

Copyright © 2025 Simon Bown

First published in 2025 by Simon G Bown.

The right of Simon G Bown to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs, and Patents Act 1988.

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

Simon Bown is the host of

Our Paranormal Afterlife podcast

Alien UFO Podcast

https://www.pastliveshypnosis.co.uk/

Email: [email protected]

Layout & Proofreading by:

AJ Parr/Grapevine Books

About the Author

S

imon Bown is the host of two influential podcasts, a clinical hypnotherapist, and an author specializing in topics related to consciousness, reincarnation, and the afterlife.

He has produced over 800 podcast episodes, engaging with leading experts and scholars in the fields of Near-Death Experiences (NDEs), reincarnation, and contact with intelligent extraterrestrials. His podcasts, Alien UFO Podcast, and Our Paranormal Afterlife, have collectively garnered over 6,000,000 downloads, with Our Paranormal Afterlife reaching No.1 on the UK Apple Podcasts spirituality chart.

Simon holds a diploma in Clinical Hypnotherapy and is certified in Past Life Regression Therapy. He has conducted hundreds of past life regression sessions, specializing in guiding individuals through these therapeutic processes.

His research is informed by personal experiences with paranormal phenomena, including psychic flashes, UFO sightings, and other unexplained occurrences. These experiences have contributed to his academic interest in the nature of consciousness and its potential existence beyond the physical body.

In addition to his work in podcasting and hypnotherapy, Simon is an avid bass guitarist and science fiction writer.

Note from the Author

M

any of the people featured in this book have shared their stories as guests on my podcast, Our Paranormal Afterlife. I’ve had the unique opportunity to speak with them personally, exploring their experiences and the extraordinary events that validate their accounts.

When this book was in its final stages, I shared the chapters with the experiencers to ensure accuracy. Any errors were corrected to guarantee that the information is as reliable as possible.

Simon Bown

For Sarah, Izzy, and Emma

My great appreciation and thanks go to,

Barbara Bartolome

Vincent Tolman

Randy Schiefer

Franco Romero

Malcolm Nair

Jeff Olsen

Jeff O’Driscoll

Deborah King

Lynda Cramer

Ryan McCully

Amber Cavanagh

David Wallace

Andrew Elkan

Crystal Faith

Ingrid Honkala

Stephanie Arnold

Jan Holden

AJ Parr

Foreword

The pages you’re about to read explore one of the world’s most fascinating and mysterious topics: verified near-death experiences. These aren’t just stories of strange visions by people who have experienced clinical death or have come close to it—they’re accounts from experiencers who say they left their bodies, witnessed events, overheard conversations, or visited the other side and encountered deceased people they couldn’t have possibly known about. Some even describe meeting ancestors they had never met before, only to later recognize them in old photographs or through family stories they’d never heard.

While researchers like Dr. Raymond Moody, Dr. Kenneth Ring, Dr. Melvin Morse, Dr. PMH Atwater, and Dr. Jeffrey Long have studied many of such cases for decades, this is the first book I’ve come across that focuses entirely on verified experiences—those where the details can be confirmed by real-world evidence. That’s what makes this book so important.

Written by Simon Bown, a British clinical hypnotherapist and podcaster, this book brings fresh insight into these incredible stories. Simon has spent years researching the afterlife, reincarnation, and consciousness, and what really sets these pages apart is his connection with many of the experiencers featured here. Many have been guests on his popular podcast, Our Paranormal Afterlife, where he’s also interviewed top experts in near-death studies and afterlife research. This has allowed him to offer a unique mix of personal stories and expert analysis that’s both relatable and eye-opening.

What makes this book especially powerful is how it challenges the widespread idea that NDEs are just hallucinations or random brain activity—still supported by many materialistic scientists. And although the stories shared here raise tough questions about what really happens when we die, they strongly suggest that consciousness actually survives beyond physical death.

Although science doesn’t yet have a solid and clear explanation for these events, the growing number of verified cases around the world—many of which are shared in this book—show that this phenomenon deserves serious attention. These accounts hint that death might not be the end after all but rather a transition as well as a new beginning.

In the end, this isn’t just a collection of incredible stories—it’s a book that will certainly change the way you think about life, death, and what comes next. Whether you’re a skeptic, a believer, or just curious, the journey you’re about to embark on is definitely bound to blow your mind!

AJ Parr

NDE researcher and best-selling author

Contents

About the Author

Note from the Author

Foreword

1. Veridical Near-Death Experiences

2. The Peace Above, The Chaos Below

3. The Basket, the Web, and the Sister I Never Knew

4. Ancestral Guardian:The Mystery of Drake

5. The Socks That Confirmed Eternity

6. Lost in the City of Eternity

7. The Question That Changed Everything

8. A Soul’s Surrender and a Life Reclaimed

9. To What Degree Have You Loved?

10. Corinna’s Warning: A Life Unfinished

11. The Library of Lives

12. The Multicolored Tunnel and the Angel Named Elizabeth

13. From the Spider’s Sting to the Ocean of Souls

14. The Garden of What Is and What Could Be

15. Standstill Between Two Worlds

16. The Guardian and the Waiting Room of Souls

17. A Sleeper Who Saw Everything

18. The Surgeon’s Dance and the Light Beyond

19. Three Souls I Would Know

20. City of Light and Desert of Shadows

21. The Maid, the Mother, and the Message

22. Premonition and Proof: A Mother’s Brush with the Beyond

23. Early 20th-Century Near-Death Experiences

24. Dr. Rudy’s Christmas Day Case

I once talked to a man who apparently died at birth but was resuscitated, Dr. Raymond Moody explained. He told his parents at an early age that he remembered this event. Now, he was very young when he started talking about it and vividly described to them the walls of the room where he was born as being pink. Of course, when they heard this, they thought the boy was making it up.

Over and over, the kid kept telling his parents about this event, but they always thought it was a childhood fantasy. However, as he grew older, his insistence on the pink walls perplexed them. They were both in the Air Force, and he had been born on a military base in the Philippines, so one day, his father decided to get to the bottom of this puzzling detail and investigate further. In fact, he contacted the hospital where his son was born and managed to get in touch with the doctor who had delivered him. To his astonishment, the doctor confirmed that the operating room had indeed been painted pink at the time of the birth:

This was not by design but out of necessity—the hospital had run out of other colors, and pink was the only paint available. This revelation left his parents speechless and profoundly moved. They realized that their son’s recollection was not a fantasy but a genuine memory from his brief brush with death.

When I heard this story, I was deeply moved and amazed by the intricate details that children could remember from their near-death experiences. It also made me reflect on the nature of such experiences and the profound impact they have on individuals, even from the very start of their lives. The fact that this man could recall such specific details from his birth, which were later verified, was both astounding and humbling.

–AJ Parr, The Girl Who Visited Heaven and

Other Children’s Near-Death Experiences

1. Veridical Near-Death Experiences

Veridical is derived from the Latin veridicus, meaning speaking the truth or truthful.

The brain isn’t functioning. It’s not there. It’s destroyed. It’s abnormal. But, yet, it can produce these very clear experiences. An unconscious state is when the brain ceases to function. For example, if you faint, you fall to the floor, you don’t know what’s happening, and the brain isn’t working. The memory systems are particularly sensitive to unconsciousness. So you won’t remember anything. But yet, after one of these experiences (an NDE), you come out with clear, lucid memories. This is a real puzzle for science. I have not yet seen any good scientific explanation which can explain that fact.

– Dr. Peter Fenwick, Consultant Neuropsychologist,

King’s College, London

*

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ear-death experiences (NDEs) have fascinated both scientists and the general population for decades. Stories of people who have been declared clinically dead or were on the brink of death—only to return with vivid memories of spiritual experiences—have been documented across cultures and throughout history. These experiences are often characterized by vivid sensory perceptions, encounters with spiritual beings, out-of-body experiences (OBEs), and a sense of profound peace and love.

While NDEs have been the subject of much speculation and study, a particular subset—known as ‘veridical near-death experiences’—offers one of the most compelling lines of evidence for the possibility that consciousness can exist independently of the brain.

A veridical NDE refers to a case in which a person gains accurate, verifiable knowledge about events or details they should not have been able to perceive under normal circumstances—especially given their critical physical state. These cases are remarkable because they challenge traditional scientific paradigms that regard consciousness as solely a byproduct of brain activity. They suggest that human awareness might extend beyond the confines of the body, continuing to perceive reality even when brain activity has ceased.

In many cases, people who are in a deep coma, cardiac arrest, or otherwise incapable of sensory perception report witnessing events or conversations that occurred during their unconscious state. This includes detailed observations of hospital rooms, medical staff, or even locations far removed from their physical body. The experiencer often perceives themselves as floating outside their body—usually above it—and experiencing an altered but heightened sense of awareness. After the experiencer recovers, the details they provide are confirmed by witnesses or other forms of evidence. This verification is critical to defining an NDE as veridical.

*

The Maria’s Shoe Case

One of the most famous veridical NDEs is the case of Maria, a woman in Seattle who suffered a heart attack. After being resuscitated, she described an out-of-body experience during which she floated outside the hospital and spotted a blue tennis shoe on a ledge on the third floor. She provided a detailed description—its worn-out condition, a scuff mark on one side, and the way it was positioned just out of sight from anyone below.

A hospital social worker named Kimberly Clark investigated and found the shoe exactly as Maria had described it, perched on a ledge far from her hospital room and completely hidden from both ground-level views and nearby windows. Since Maria had been unconscious, she could not have known about the shoe by any ordinary means.

*

Veridical NDEs have sparked considerable debate in both scientific and philosophical circles. For those with a materialist perspective, these experiences present a significant challenge. If consciousness truly arises from the brain, how can individuals in a state of deep unconsciousness or even clinical death report detailed, accurate knowledge about their surroundings or events that took place far away?

Some neuroscientists argue that veridical NDEs can be explained by the brain’s ability to generate vivid experiences during extreme stress. They suggest that the brain might create a last burst of consciousness during cardiac arrest or near-death situations. According to this view, the brain may retain and process residual information from the environment, even when seemingly shut down.

However, critics argue that this theory fails to account for the verifiable, specific details that individuals perceive during these experiences. In cases like Maria’s shoe, the knowledge gained is far too precise and external to be explained by residual brain activity or hallucinations.

Proposed explanations include:

Quantum Consciousness, where consciousness may not be confined to the brain but instead may operate on a quantum level, allowing it to persist even when brain function ceases. This controversial hypothesis has gained some traction in the study of NDEs.

The theory of Non-local Consciousness suggests that consciousness may exist independently of the brain and is capable of interacting with physical reality in ways we do not yet understand. The idea is that the brain acts more like a receiver of consciousness rather than its generator.

The Survival Hypothesis posits that consciousness can survive bodily death and that veridical NDEs are glimpses of this post-mortem state.

The idea that consciousness might survive physical death aligns with philosophical dualism, the notion that the mind and body are separate entities. Dualists argue that the mind or soul could continue to exist after the body dies, and veridical NDEs provide potential evidence for this view. These experiences suggest that the self, or conscious awareness, might not be entirely tied to the physical brain and could continue beyond death.

If veridical NDEs are genuine, their implications are profound and could reshape our understanding of life and death, potentially reducing the fear of death and altering medical practices surrounding end-of-life care. Many who have had NDEs report profound transformations in their lives afterward, including a greater sense of purpose, compassion, and decreased fear of death. Veridical NDEs remind us that even in the face of death, the mysteries of human consciousness and the nature of reality may extend far beyond what we currently understand.

2. The Peace Above, The Chaos Below

BARBARA BARTOLOME

He asked, What did you feel like? What did you see? Barbara continued, He completely validated it for himself and all the people in the room. I think that freaked them out.

*

I

n 1987, at 31, Barbara Bartolome lived in Santa Barbara with her husband and two young children—an eight-year-old son and a five-month-old daughter. A few weeks after giving birth to her daughter, Barbara ruptured a disc in her lower back while lifting a heavy object. Her doctor said the injury was permanent and would confine her to a wheelchair for the rest of her life. Barbara sought a second opinion from a neurosurgeon at St. Francis Hospital in Santa Barbara, who assured her he could repair the injury and help her regain her mobility.

The neurosurgeon scheduled Barbara for a laminectomy discectomy, a procedure to remove fragments from her shattered disc. He also brought an orthopedic surgeon onto the team for added expertise. The neurosurgeon informed Barbara that they would conduct a test the night before surgery to determine whether any disc fragments had pierced her spinal cord, as they were concerned about a potential spinal fluid leak. After checking into the hospital, the staff sent Barbara to the X-ray unit for a myelogram.

In this procedure, the doctors would inject iodine dye into Barbara’s spinal cord at the base of her neck. The medical staff instructed her to remain perfectly still on the X-ray table as any movement could cause severe headaches lasting for months. The neurosurgeon and orthopedic surgeon joined the X-ray team in the room to observe the procedure, knowing there wouldn’t be enough time to receive the myelogram results before Barbara’s surgery scheduled for 7 a.m. the next day. The team included two surgeons, two X-ray technicians, and a nurse. Barbara lay on the table as an X-ray technician beside her pressed a button to tilt the table, gradually moving her into an upright position. This movement would allow the dye to flow downward along her spinal cord. Meanwhile, the other technician sat at a monitor, ready to capture images as the dye moved through her spinal cord to detect any leakage.

As the table began moving, Barbara immediately felt disoriented. I thought, I wonder if I’m supposed to feel like this? But the two X-ray techs were talking to each other, and I didn’t want to interrupt them. As the table kept tilting, I felt weirder and weirder, almost like I was going to faint, Barbara recalled. She wanted to speak up and let them know how she felt, but she found herself unable to say anything or even move.

The cause of the issue became clear: the technician hadn’t noticed his finger pressing the wrong button. Instead of raising the table to bring her upright, he was inadvertently lowering her head. The dye injected at the base of Barbara’s skull began flowing into her brain, altering the pressure and impairing her brain function. After about three minutes, she started hyperventilating. This finally drew the attention of the technician, who looked up to see her eyes rolled back into her head. He leaned back to see where his thumb was. And then he had this look of, you know, absolute scared and shock, and ‘Oh no, oh my god,’ Barbara recalled.

At that moment, Barbara closed her eyes briefly, and when she opened them, she found herself looking down at the room from above. I didn’t look to see if I had a body. But I felt there was something that the back of my head was against, like the ceiling. I was looking straight down at the top of everyone’s heads and the top of the equipment. I had been panicking in my body and feeling very scared because I was hyperventilating. But when I got up on the ceiling, the next second, I was absolutely calm, and it was completely peaceful. From her viewpoint on the ceiling, Barbara watched as one of the team members urgently called a code blue. As she took in the scene, she saw her own body lying below and realized she must have died.

Almost immediately, she sensed a boundless presence beside her. It felt so incredibly immense, she said. So knowing of who I was, so connected to me, from the first point of eternity, all the way to the future, throughout eternity. I literally felt this presence, and it seemed to me that’s who God was. Their communication was purely telepathic, an exchange that didn’t need words. It was a seamless connection, direct, thoughtful, and deeply intuitive. Barbara understood something important, and said to the presence, I would really like to go back. If I leave my children in this way, at this time, they won’t grow up to be the human beings that they could be if I contribute to them. She also realized she had a life purpose, something she was meant to achieve but hadn’t completed yet and she told the presence of her desire to return.

The medical team sprang into action. The two X-ray technicians immediately began performing CPR while a nurse urgently called for a defibrillator. From Barbara’s perspective above, she could see the nurse shouting stat, her panic unmistakable. The intensity of the noise and commotion below upset Barbara. I felt it was obnoxious. It literally felt very loud, very chaotic. It felt awful. Actually, all the stuff down below was awful compared to what I was experiencing with this being and the sensitive, gentle, kind, and loving nature I was feeling from this being, she said.

A woman entered the room with an oxygen cart and placed a mask over Barbara’s face. Moments later, a man arrived carrying a small box.