My Near-Death Experience. In Color.
Shortly after graduating high school, I rented my childhood home from my dad. It was an old house. 1950’s, I think. It still makes me weep that there are amazing parquet wood floors buried under two layers of grungy carpet. Such a shame.
Anyway, with the house being so old, there were appliances that were not quite up to code and the electrical was faulty at best. The poor house was hanging from a thread most days, but I was thankful to have it all to myself. (and the blacklight posters from the ’70s that my dad left behind)
I slept in an old, drafty garage conversion bedroom that left me shivering most nights that winter, despite me cranking up the wall heater to the maximum level and surrounding myself with portable electric heaters. I think that was the only time in my life that I actually used an electric blanket. I was a fire hazard waiting to happen.
Out of nowhere, I started getting horrible headaches. Awful headaches. But only at home.
When I left the house or arrived at work, my headaches would subside. After five or so episodes, I finally recognized the pattern. My headaches were directly related to being at home. In the winter. With the VERY OLD wall heater was turned on. I called a serviceman to come out right away.
When the serviceman pointed his flashlight into the wall heater, he spotted the problem immediately – it was full of dust, dirt, and filth. Years of funk packed tightly into an ancient metal tub.
I watched him empty it. Seeing large clumps of dust and dirt fall onto the front lawn was beyond disturbing. I didn’t see how the heater was even blowing out air at all. Oh, I WAS BREATHING THAT JUNK IN.
After cleaning the tub out, the serviceman said, “You are lucky to be alive. This was likely spilling out carbon monoxide.”
Oh, lovely. Well, that explained the awful headaches. I had obviously dodged a huge bullet, so I bought a carbon monoxide detector and went on with my life.
Fast forward to present day.
I watched a local news story a few months ago that was about a man who believed he had a near-death experience. Like you, I’ve heard a million of these accounts before, and they are all the same – white light, peaceful, angels – you know the drill. But his description of what he witnessed during this near-death experience caught me in my tracks, gluing me to the television. Colors. It was the colors that caught my attention.
He described the traditional peaceful, calming place full of love, but then he talked about the amazingly brilliant colors that surrounded the landscape. Colors in the water, sky, and grass. Everywhere, colors. The most beautiful, vibrant colors. Such a color that you could not look away, nor want to. This is what paralyzed me.
I had witnessed these colors before, too. Once, in what I thought was a dream. The same serenity and awe. The same colors that I could not take my eyes off of. A place that I can still vividly remember 20 years later. It was the colors. The only time I have ever had a dream in such vibrant color. Actually, the only dream I can even remember from 20 years ago. (I can’t even remember the dreams I had last night!)
Then I got to thinking about the timing of this colorful dream/near-death experience, which was a difficult place at first. I knew that it was quite a long time ago, and then ahhhhh, I remembered a conversation that I had with an old boyfriend where I talked about this dream. He had asked me the question “What is the most beautiful thing you have ever seen,” so I told him about the beautiful, colorful dream.
We were dating during the same time period that I was living in the old house. In the winter. With the heater on. With carbon monoxide spilling out. I also remember telling him about the awful headaches.
Suddenly, all of the pieces started coming together.
Did I actually have a near-death experience? Did I inhale carbon monoxide? Was it not a dream, after all? Could this explain why I can still remember this dream 20 years later, and the beauty of it? Did I witness the afterlife?
I can’t be sure, but I do know that I experienced something profound and unlike any other “dream” I have ever had. If it was indeed a glimpse into the afterlife, dude, count me in, because it was spectacular.
Have you ever had a near-death experience? Was it in color?
Oh, and I also asked my boyfriend the question, “What is the most beautiful thing you have ever seen?” His answer? “Boobs.”
Founder of Mom Spark – a lifestyle blog for moms.
11 Comments on “My Near-Death Experience. In Color.”
The public radio show RadioLab did a piece once about how a lot of “haunted house” stories were likely due to carbon monoxide. People reported seeing phantom figures and feeling a heavy weight on their chest, both of which are symptoms of dangerously high carbon monoxide. Glad you caught it in time!
Weird. It was nothing like that at all for me, though I’ve experienced that on other occasions. My dream was extremely vibrant, happy and beautiful.
Wow – what an amazing story! Glad you figured out that problem -be thankful it was found before anything happened. I think you may be right about that colorful dream!
What where the colors?? My daughter past away from a drug overdose.. Before she past away she was look off to the side of the celling and she was asked by the nurse what she was looking at. She said it was colors just beautiful colors. The nurse asked what kind r they. She said blue, red, purple, orange and ome other color the nurse cpuldnt remember the last one. But she said it was just beautiful.. Where these they same.
I remember multi-colors. Bright colors, every color you could imagine. Like if the world were decorated as a rainbow.
Dear Amy, I am currently compiling research on people who see the colors on the other side. I would like permission to use your material. I would really love to visit with you as well. Please contact me at your earliest convenience I appreciate you posting this. Yours very sincerely, Yvonne Bent
Hi there! I will email you about it. 🙂
Hi Amy
This post is fascinating because I’ve read many accounts similar to yours which explain colours of the afterlife and I’ve always been searching for different articles that describe this phenomenon. Most people feel frustrated that they can’t describe it. It sounds like you definitely had a NDE.
I have a theory that we are always surrounded by these vision so but as humans we only have a limited perception to senses eg we can only see colours within a certain range so can’t see beyond red and violet.
Thank you for sharing and I’m glad you could remember it so vividly.
Angie
You are exactly right. It is very hard to explain the vivid color I experienced in words. Thank you for your support.
I had an NDE in 2015 from a medical condition that resulted in a coma … the colors I saw were purples. More vibrant purples and more shades of purples than you could count. The most peaceful place, peaceful feeling, and beautiful colors you could ever hope to imagine. Not saying i walked down mainstreet of heaven, but I was definately on the outskirts of town …
Was googling colors for something entirely unrelated but this kind of stopped me in my tracks. That is exactly the experience I had but was so young figured it was a dream but I had it a couple times. Landscape was similar as what I’m used to except the color amped up to a degree not thought possible. Very hard to put into words but it does make reality appear to be a washed out version. Like diluted water colors.