On Woerlee, Grayson and the True Enigma of The Peak in

Darien Experience
Daniel Bourke
Further Explorations
2020

Introduction

The “Peak in Darien” experience references a unique subset of non-ordinary encounter associated
with near-death experiences (NDE), deathbed visions (DBV), “after-death communications (ADC)”
generally, in which individuals report an encounter with a recently deceased-person of whose
passing they could have had no/claimed no prior knowledge. Often the timing of the encounter is
later found to have coincided either generally or exactly with the death of the encountered deceased
person. (Fenwick 2008). The experience often brings a sense of closure and acceptance of the death
which would likely not otherwise have been possible.
Anesthesiologist, physican and author G.M. Woerlee (2005-2020) took a critical look at a paper
published by Dr. Bruce Greyson (2010) on this very topic entitled Seeing Dead People Not Known
to Have Died:“Peak in Darien” Experiences. In this paper Greyson delineates between multiple
types of “Peak in Darien” encounter and it remains the most comprehensive overview of the topic to
date. Here in turn we will take a similarly critical look at Woerlee's analysis of this paper. We will
secondarily explore the “Peak in Darien” experience further and propose a “Type 4 Peak in Darien
Experience” as opposed to the three types recognized by Greyson (2010).
While it is the case that some other authors have resisted the use of the term “Peak in Darien”
(Okhado 2013) due to issues with the reasoning behind it's initial use and origin, or simply referred
to the same experience by a different name, here we continue for now to use the term due to it's
relative ubiquity in comparison to the others.
While the initial enigma of the “Peak in Darien” experience is the fact that individuals report
encounters with deceased persons unknown to have passed and later confirm to their surprise that
this was indeed the case, right down to the time of the encounter vs the death; and hence ascribing
such experiences to the likes of grief induced hallucinations, wish-fulfilment, expectation etc.
becomes incredibly challenging. The full extent of this problem has been overlooked.
The “Type 4 Peak in Darien” experience is one in which the individual encounters a deceased-
person of whose passing they had no apparent prior knowledge, and wherein the deceased persons
unknown to have passed exhibit the same highly idiosyncratic behaviours and observed traits as
those deceased persons known to have passed who are encountered during the more “typical” NDE,
DBV ADC etc. That is to say the characteristics ascribed specifically to the dead during and across
the gamut of these experiences are also observed and reported of the deceased persons during the
“Peak in Darien” experience, despite that fact they were unknown to have passed. (And were indeed
openly thought to have been living). That such specific externally observed characteristics and
behaviours are common between both sets of experience despite wholly unrelated psychological or
neurophysiological states primarily regarding expectation, grief, wish fulfilment and indeed their
absence, suggests a fundamentally external phenomenon and therefore constitutes from the outset, a
true enigma.

1
 Regarding the statements of Dr. Bruce Greyson

In his opening statements, the author Woerlee states that Greyson in his paper had “claimed that
NDE reports where persons claimed to have met the souls of deceased relatives were proof of the
reality of a life after death.” This however is not the case, Greyson specifically used the word
“evidence” in his 2010 papers introductory and concluding statements which read as follows
respectively.

“Cases of this kind provide some of the most persuasive evidence for the survival of consciousness
after bodily death.“ (2010: 161).

“As such, these Peak in Darien cases provide some of the most persuasive evidence for the
ontological reality of deceased spirits.” (2010: 169).

Furthermore the author quoted that very same introductory statement beneath the false claim in his
article. Incidentally, even allowing for a retrospective correction of the article and replacing the
word “proof” with “evidence”, the statement would also be false as the amended claim would read
as follows.

During 2010, Dr. Bruce Greyson, published an article in which he claimed that NDE reports where
persons claimed to have met the souls of deceased relatives were “evidence” of the reality of a life
after death.

This would again be inaccurate as Greysons's presented evidence in his 2010 paper is specifically
regarding the meeting of deceased persons unknown to have been deceased at the time of the
encounter, the “Peak in Darien” experience, not the meeting of deceased persons during such
encounters generally, as the author states.

Regarding the Statements of Dr. Jeffrey Long

Of those cited sources, the author seems to have misrepresented Dr. Jeffrey Long, if not or to a
lesser extent Dr. Pim Van Lommel. Nowhere in the cited chapter of Long's Evidence of the Afterlife
does Long state, as claimed by the author that encounters with deceased-persons during the Near-
death experience are “proof of the reality of a life after death.” Indeed Long too specifically uses the
word “evidence” multiple times and at no point in the cited chapter is the word proof or any other
analogue used. See the following statements from the cited chapter below.

“Why should seeing deceased friends or relatives be evidence of life after death? Because if NDEs
were only a product of brain function, then one would expect that beings encountered during the
NDE would be those most recently familiar to the NDEr.” (Long 2010: 122).

“The percentage of deceased individuals seen during NDEs, especially deceased blood relatives, is
so high that I believe that encounters with deceased loved ones are not the random products of a
frightened, confused, or dying brain but instead are a strong line of evidence for the reality of near-
death experiences.” (Long 2010: 123).

“This remarkably low percentage of living beings encountered during the NDE is consistent with
the findings of the Kelly study and is additional strong evidence for the reality of NDEs and the
existence of an afterlife.” (ibid. 124).

2
The closest Long comes to saying what the author had claimed he'd said comes toward the end of
the chapter where he states the following.

“The findings of the NDERF study and others are consistent with what NDErs themselves generally
believe: they are briefly reunited with deceased relatives and friends when they venture to the other
side. Reuniting with our lost loved ones is the reality—not just the hope—of the NDE. As Mark
Twain said, “Death is the starlit strip between the companionship of yesterday and the reunion of
tomorrow.” It is the convincing stories collected in the NDERF website that lead me to believe
these reunions are real and strong evidence of the afterlife.” (ibid. 134).

Perhaps Woerlee misinterpreted Long's meaning early on the paragraph when he stated his findings
were consistent with what NDE'ers believe, however consistency in this context is not proof and is
not presented as such by Long. That said, even allowing for such an interpretation which isn't
entirely unreasonable, the very last line of the chapter where Long clearly states he believes the
reunions are strong evidence of an afterlife, not proof, should be referenced in the interest of
allowing the reader the most relevant context possible.
Long (2010) though, for the sake of clarity does at another point clearly state he believes in life
after death, however it is not in the cited chapter and it is therefore and importantly not based upon
the data discussed by the author, thus the author has simplified the basis of Long's argument which
is made upon many lines of evidence rather than the single one cited.

Regarding the Statements of Dr. Pim Van Lommel

Regarding cardiologist of 26 years, author and researcher Dr. Pim Van Lommel, while not
specifically referencing “Peak in Darien” type cases he does indeed state the following apparently
in reference to his previous citing of multiple studies regarding the worldwide ubiquity of reported
encounters with deceased loved ones.

“But how else can we explain these experiences, which have been reported the world over by
different people under different circumstances, other than by assuming that consciousness can be
experienced independently of the body in a dimension where time and space play no role and
everything is connected nonlocally?” (Van Lommel 2007: 317-318)

While Van Lommel is seemingly and otherwise reasonably posing the question, this could certainly
be interpreted as the author believing these to be proofs, and Woerlee's interpretation is wholly
understandable in this regard. It is however less understandable not to reference Van Lommel's later
and final conclusion within the same cited pages whereby he states the following.

“Research into NDEs does not provide us irrefutable scientific evidence for this conclusion (of non-
local consciousness as shown by the NDE) because NDErs never actually died.”
(Van Lommel 2007: 318).

While “Peak in Darien” cases are inadequately documented, certainly open to skepticism and
interpretation from all corners, and inherently very challenging to study, misrepresenting the
positions in however small a way, as made apparent in the referenced writings of researchers,
intentionally or otherwise will surely not assist in that endeavour.

3
 Regarding the Authors General Statements on Peak in Darien Cases

Woerlee makes his arguments and conclusions regarding a particular type of “Peak in Darien”
account, seemingly failing to note that there are more than one type of “Peak in Darien” account
upon all of which his assertions have lesser to no bearing. Indeed Greyson (2010) distinguished
between three different types of “Peak in Darien” account, each of differing evidentiary value. The
authors later firm conclusions that “such visions cannot be considered proof of an afterlife” cannot
therefore be said to have been reached upon an analysis of all the relevant case types, let alone the
fact that this incredibly firm conclusion was reached upon the scrutiny of just three cases. The
author first presents the following account from the work of Dr. Raymond Moody.

“I was terribly ill and near death with heart problems at the same time that my sister was near
death in another part of the same hospital with a diabetic coma. I left my body and went into the
corner of the room, where I watched them work on me down below. Suddenly, I found myself in
conversation with my sister, who was up there with me. I was very attached to her, and we were
having a great conversation about what was going on down there when she began to move away
from me. I tried to go with her but she kept telling me to stay where I was. It's not your time, she
said. You can't go with me because it's not your time. Then she began to recede off into the distance
through a tunnel while I was left there alone. When I awoke, I told the doctor that my sister had
died. He denied it, but at my insistence, he had a nurse check on it. She had in fact died just as I
knew she did. (Moody 1988: 173)

Regarding this case Woerlee concludes, and not necessarily unreasonably the following.

“This man knew his sister was near to death in a diabetic coma in the same hospital, and diabetic
coma had a mortality varying between 4.9-46% during the 1980's and before. He needed no
paranormal senses to predict the death of his sister, because he was very likely to have been
correct. The fact his sister died at about the same time as he was being resuscitated was no more
than coincidence. So his apparently paranormal sensations and experience were a combination of
his own sensations, together with a statement of a likely event subsequently invested with
paranormal significance.”

The authors conclusion is not worded as a hypothetical but as a fact, and is based upon multiple
assumptions. The first of which follows is of lesser importance to us but nevertheless worthy of
discussion.
Woerlee cites a very broad range of potential mortality without noting that the cited experiencer's
sister could just as likely have been on the lower end of the quoted range and hence the assumption
that he was “very likely to be correct” is potentially baseless as the actual number is unknown to the
author. More importantly though and which speaks more broadly to the topic of this paper, Woerlee
fails to note how strange it is that such a contextually accurate and relevant vision took place. The
experiencers sister for instance told him it's “not his time”. These exact words are typical of a near-
death experience and most importantly, typical specifically of a deceased relative known to have
passed during an NDE. And while again the author might state that such a context occuring is not
that out of the ordinary considering the individuals knowledge of his sister's state, the same cannot
be said of some of the later presented cases.
It is encounters with deceased relatives which primarily occur during the more typical NDE
DBV and ADC type experiences and it is those deceased relatives whom speak these exact words
(it's not your time) or “you must go back” in case after case (Long, 1998-2020), and hence while
Woerlee calls the man's “guess” no more than a coincidence, which it may well have been, it must
surely then in kind be conceded that it would also be coincidental that it is indeed actually deceased

4
persons who appear most commonly during NDE's, it is indeed actually diseased persons or those
undergoing an NDE themselves who sometimes move “through a tunnel” most commonly (if not
close to ubiquitously) though not solely during an NDE and it is actually deceased persons who
speak the words and often verbatim or similarly utter the sentiment that it's not “not your time”, and
yet these are exactly the occurrences ascribed to the cited experiencers sister who as it turned out,
despite the initial insistence of the present nurse to the contrary, was indeed actually deceased. In
other words, an actually deceased-person unknown to have passed appeared to exhibit the actual
characteristics of deceased-persons who were known to have passed.
All that said however, there is a more fundamental issue with drawing such firm conclusions
from just this account, as the author fails to note that there are “Peak in Darien” experiences
throughout the literature in which the encountered deceased-persons were either not known to have
been unwell, or known/assumed to be completely well and died in a freak and plainly unforeseeable
accident at a time concomitant with the “Peak in Darien” experience and hence no “guess” or
reasonable assumption of imminent death could have been involved or reasonably invoked in any
potential assumption of death. Moreover this suggests that whatever the processes or context which
allowed for the previously cited experiencer's sister to exhibit such highly specific characteristics of
the dead, despte a lack of such definitive knowledge on the experiencers part were indeed
independent of the individuals particular state of mind or assumptions as to her wellbeing at that
time. Indeed drawing a line between those two facts as explanatory, as the author had done, is not as
straightforward as stating them respectively would seem to imply. The following case begins to
further elucidate the problems with such firm conclusions.

“Oh, that is so interesting because a similar thing happened when my father died in Nigeria. My
eldest sister had moved further north and the day that he died he appeared to her. He was well
dressed as if he was dressed to go on a journey. He smiled at her and looked much younger and
very healthy; he was surrounded by a bright light. At the time my sister didn’t even know he was
unwell. The time that she saw him was about the time that he died; now how do you explain that?”
(Sartori 2014)

Again in light of Woerlee's yardstick of “coincidence” and our previous observations we must
concede it at the very least worthy of note or explanation that during the above cited experience, the
deceased father appears to his daughter, whom apparently had no knowledge of his passing as
having been “dressed for a journey,” “surrounded by a bright light,” and looked “younger and very
healthy.” All features highly characteristic of the encountered deceased persons known to have
passed during NDE, DBV, and ADC experiences. This account will be further considered in the
next section.

The True Enigma of the Peak in Darien Experience

It cannot be understated, as perhaps it has been, if it has been stated at all, that the true mystery of
the “Peak in Darien” experience is not so much that deceased-persons unknown to have passed are
encountered and later apparently confirmed to have passed, so much as it is that the encountered
deceased also happen to exhibit the same highly idiosyncratic characteristics specifically exhibited
by the actually deceased persons encountered during the typical and infinitely more ubiquitous
non-”Peak in Darien” NDE, DBV, and ADC accounts wherein the deceased-persons are openly and
undoubtedly known to have passed. Such instances again constitute the type 4 “Peak in Darien”
experience.
Consider once more for example, of which more will follow, that the experiencers father in the
most previously cited case appeared “younger and very healthy”. Deceased-persons are encountered

5
appearing significantly younger, sometimes decades younger than the last time they had been seen
or indeed than they had ever been seen either at all or outside of photographic knowledge extremely
commonly across all known relevant phenomenon in which deceased persons are perceived.
(Fenwick 1995: 115, Moody 2011: 89, Long 2010: 129, Punzak 2017, Keane 2010). Incidentally,
speculations as to why this might be the case and research in this area in general is somewhat
lacking, however, this is a highly idiosyncratic characteristic of ostensible “Afterlife Encounters”
generally (Archangel 2005) and cannot be ascribed to a “misidentification” related to genetic
memory as the author later speculates, as there are cases in which the deceased persons encountered
were known to the experiencer at that younger age at which they are then unexpectedly appearing
and hence they knew what the encountered deceased looked like at that age and thus indeed had
reference.
There are many other characteristics exhibited extremely commonly by the actually deceased-
persons encountered during typical “Afterlife Encounters” such as non-verbal communication, often
described as “telepathic” (Bourke 2013: 2), a form of communication fundamentally different than
that which either the experiencer is used to or the use of which the experiencer would have no
reason to expect. This form of communication is so common across the gamut of “Afterlife
Encounters” that it has been accurately called the “currency of communication” (Wilson 1987: 120-
21). This form of communication also happens to be displayed by deceased-persons during the
“Peak in Darien” experience despite the fact that that experiencer had apparently no knowledge of
their passing, and yet they again act and react both behaviourally and contextually in the same
manner as deceased-persons known to have passed during the typical NDE, DBV, ADC type
encounter. This should not be overlooked, for at face value and in lieu of a sufficient
neurophysiological or psychological explanatory model, might be reasonably construed as being
strongly suggestive of an external phenomenon.
This is to say again, encountered deceased persons unknown to have passed often present
themselves identically to those encountered deceased persons known to have passed in their
expression of highly idiosyncratic non-ordinary characteristics and observed physical traits and
hence knowledge of the death of an encountered deceased person, being in the process of grieving,
knowledge of a loved ones current well-being, wish-fulfilment, expectation etc. etc. cannot be
considered the sole origin of such characteristics in all cases. This, though not only this, needs to be
considered before the “Peak in Darien” experience can be discounted as a potential line of evidence
regarding survival. Such is true of the following sections presented “Peak in Darien” cases.

Case 1

“Almost ten years ago I was in the USA, staying with friends in Virginia. In the middle of the night I
was woken and in my room appeared my old nanny, who I had not seen for several years, although
we corresponded on birthdays, etc. In real life she was well over 80 but in the vision she was
ageless and surrounded by an immensely bright light. She smiled at me, put her hand out and
telepathically told me all was well. I was shocked and stayed wide awake. The next morning I told
my hosts I thought my old nanny had died. The same day I returned to my house in Florida and told
my family. Later that day a cousin of mine called from England to tell me she had died. It was
totally amazing. I don’t dream to any extent. I can only tell you it has given me so much confidence
for the future. She left me some money but her telepathic message was the real legacy.”(Sartori
2014)

Again in this case we note the deceased-person apparently unknown to have passed/been about to
pass exhibiting features highly specific to actually deceased persons known to have passed. She was
described as “ageless”, “surrounded by an immensely bright light” (Long 1998-2020) and spoke

6
“telepathically”, all highly characteristic of deceased persons encountered during typical NDE
DBV, ADC accounts.
Case 2

Following is another such case to which Woerlee's previous conclusions of guesswork regarding
knowledge related to the likelihood of a loved ones imminent death in the first presented account of
the man and his sister, cannot be reasonably applied.

“When my dad died I was not aware of the fact that he had died because I was asleep. During this
particular night (when I was asleep and he had just died and I therefore did not know that he had
died) he came to me in a dream - he was standing beside me with his arm around my shoulders and
we watched my mom being wheeled into an operating room. Then all of a sudden a doctor wheeled
her back out, explaining that there was no need for the operation and that she would make a full
recovery. Near the end of this dream my dad turned to me, gave me a hug and said goodbye. Then I
was awoken by a phone call from my mom saying that my dad had died in a tragic sports accident a
few hours earlier.” (Long 1998-2020)

In this case we must initially note the fact that the “Peak in Darien” experiencers father was not
indicated as being mortally unwell, was not in a potentially critical situation as in Woerlee's quoted
case, quite the opposite in fact and hence no guesses could have been or indeed were made as to
their potentially imminent death. Furthermore it should again be noted that despite the fact that the
experiencer Belle had apparently no knowledge of her father's death and no reason to assume it
would be arriving at any particularly imminent moment, as was potentially the case in Woerlee's
cited account, her father when encountered also happens to act in a way which is contextually
consistent with the fact that he was indeed dead/dying/about to die at that particular moment in time
according to our knowledge of how the dead present and behave during typical NDE, DBV and
ADC accounts. As the experiencer states. “Near the end of this dream my dad turned to me, gave
me a hug and said goodbye.”
It must be considered at the very least worthy of intrigue that such a vision would feature her
father saying goodbye in light of the fact that her father was thought of as being perfectly well at the
time and that this behaviour nevertheless happened to be contextually consistent in it's reflection of
his actual state of being at or in and around that time.

Case 3

In another such case a woman goes under for surgery, her last contact with her grandmother having
been that she was alive although unwell in hospital herself. The account, though not in full follows
below.

“Eventually I was rolled in for my operation. I do remember the operating room, then that was it.
Until, I heard a voice. I heard my grandmothers voice and within a few seconds I saw her standing
next to me. I was sitting on the edge of a bed. Here, you should understand that my grandmother
had an amputated leg. During our meeting the first thing that struck me was she had both legs.
Then I noticed her hair was thicker and blacker than it had been in the last 5 or 6 years. If I had to
guess, I would now say she looked like she was in her 40's or possibly 50's.
“She preceded to tell me that she was great, but her body was dead. She also stressed to me that
she had limited time with me so basically "listen up". She stated to me that an "all knowing"
entered her when her spirit passed out of the body.” (Long 1998-2020)
This case is particularly interesting in how it closely mirrors Woerlee's cited account in that the

7
experiencers grandmother was also known to be unwell and hence Woerlee might again suppose
that upon regaining consciousness that it wouldn't have been entirely out of the realms of reason,
(though we would still contend a low likelihood of actually being correct) that the NDE'r would
proclaim that her grandmother had indeed died. Again though we must note that the deceased
person appeared "without her amputated leg", with "thicker and blacker hair", seemingly appearing
significantly younger than they had last been visualized or indeed than they had been visualized at
all in recent times. And indeed, once again in a manner completely contextually consistent with the
experiencer's grandmother's actual state of being at that time, which was unknown to the
experiencer, was told by her grandmother that, "she was great, but her body was dead".
That the encountered deceased persons known to have passed during typical NDE, DBV, and
ADC encounters appear seemingly healed of physical ailments is again an extremely common
refrain reported of such experiences by both those undergong them as being true of themselves and
reported as being true of the deceased greeters during the encounter. (Atwater 2009: 37; Long 2010:
129; Stafford 2014: 15) The same it would seem is true of those deceased persons encountered
despite a lack of knowledge regarding their passing.
Again this speaks to heart of the enigma, cases such as these (to some extent individually though
more impressively in their ubiquity), strongly imply that the appearance and behaviour of greeters
during the typical NDE, DBV and ADC experiences are not primarily modulated by the particular
knowledge of their passing or anything related to expectation.
Her grandmother during the experience also stated that an "all knowing" entered her when her
spirit passed out of the body and the experiencer also stated of her grandmother that "she talked but
also projected other thoughts feelings and emotions throughout our communication", again
referencing non-verbal communcation but also an apparent sense of "all knowing".
The sense of being privvy to secret or universal knowledge, sometimes the sense of some sort of
intuitive understanding of all things is fundamental to the mystical experience in general (Shrader
2008) and is another feature also found commonly throughout the near-death and related literature
(Long 2010: 15; Van Lommel: 11). In many of these cases the knowledge is lost upon return though
the sense of it having been imparted remains. It's quite novel and intriguing to hear this relayed by a
third party during a "Peak in Darien" experience specifically as opposed to being recounted by
someone in the first or second person undergoing an actual NDE, DBV or related experience.
All of these elements are once again highly idiosyncratic and entirely in common with those
characteristics exhibited by deceased-persons known to have passed during NDE, DBV and ADC
type experiences and are yet being expressed by an encountered deceased person unknown to have
passed. That the experiencer in this case specifically distinguishes between two types of speech,
verbal and non-verbal speaks strongly to the unexpected nature of such characteristics of the
experience. The dead it seems, act and appear dead, whether we know they have passed or not.
Something external seems to know somthing we don't.
There are conservatively hundreds of other such cases and clearly writing them all off as
coincidence cannot be a fruitful approach, let alone explain why the encountered deceased act, in
highly idiosyncratic ways, just as the actually deceased persons act in situations where they are
known to have passed. This again strongly suggests that knowledge of a persons potentially
imminent death, expectations regarding the individuals general welfare or the experiencers own
proximity to death or a relevant pathology cannot solely account for all “Peak in Darien”
experiences as the author has somewhat unwieldily attempted to conclude.

Regarding Peak in Darien Cases Featuring Later Photographic Identification

Woerlee initially cites the following two cases from the literature in reference to “Peak in Darien”
experiences in which the recipient of the vision later claims to have confirmed the identity of the

8
encountered deceased by way of a photograph. While such speculations do not address, explain or
have anything to say on the kinds of previously cited cases we have presented, we will attempt to
address them as they stand alone.

• “He also recalls meeting both his mother and stepmother during one of these subsequent
death episodes, The meeting place was a gorge full of beautiful colors. He also saw other
relatives who had died before. This experience was very pleasurable, occurring in a narrow
valley with very lush vegetation and brilliant illumination by a huge beam of light. He "saw"
his mother for the first time. She had died at age twenty-one when he was fifteen months old,
and his father had soon remarried. This man had never even seen a picture of his real
mother, and yet he was able to pick her picture out of several others a few weeks later when
his mother's sister, after hearing of his experience, produced some family pictures for
identification. There was no mistake. The same auburn hair, the same eyes and mouth - the
face was identical to the lady he saw in his experience. She was still twenty-one years old.
There was no doubt it was his mother. He was astounded and so was his father.” (Rawlings
1978: 5-6)

• “During my cardiac arrest I had a extensive experience and later I saw, apart from my
deceased grandmother, a man who had looked at me lovingly, but whom I did not know.
More than 10 years later, at my mother's deathbed, she confessed to me that I had been born
out of an extramarital relationship, my father being a Jewish man who had been deported
and killed during the second World War, and my mother showed me his picture. The
unknown man that I had seen more than 10 years before during my NDE turned out to be
my biological father.” (Van Lommel 2004)

Woerlee concludes that in both cases the individuals are merely recognizing ostensibly deceased-
persons with features genetically common within their family line in an old photograph and
subsequently “invests the experience with paranormal significance.” While not entirely without
merit this rests in the first place on a simple and in the cases of just these two accounts
understandable lack of faith regarding the discernment of the individuals in those cases, though
does seem somewhat speculative considering there are likely hundreds of such cases and the idea
that in all of those accounts such misidentification occurred seems unlikely, even if not at all
impossible and perhaps even likely in some cases, though more research of this kind would be
helpful, particularly before coming to such final conclusions as the author does. These conclusions
are backed up by the authors visual presentation of genetic similarities through generations, the
imagery and data of which can be viewed in the article.
The suggestion regarding the first of the two previously cited cases was that the experiencers
mother's sister “produced some family pictures for identification. There was no mistake. The same
auburn hair, the same eyes and mouth - the face was identical to the lady he saw in his experience.”
How for example do we know the individual didn't view a great many photographs before
identifying his mother? Speculative, but worth considering in light of such firm conclusions as the
author makes. And if so what are the odds that if, as the author suggested, the experiencer had
identified someone whom merely looked like his mother, he was “able to pick her picture out of
several others” amongst other potentially highly similar looking young women from his family line
such that Woerlee contends?
Admittedly we don't know if the individual went through every photo before arriving at the
correct one, however there is no such suggestion of this in the phraseology “able to pick her out of
several others” And we pose that question sincerely, what indeed are the odds? Particularly
considering there are many more such cases.
According to (Burton et al. 2019) individuals upon being shown a picture of unknown persons

9
later correctly recognised “73% of faces when shown the same photo”. This is a significantly high
percentage of probability and hence the author is banking on what is technically the statistically
lesser most likely outcome according at least to the cited research, particularly when we take into
account just how many cases of this type exist as opposed to the two cited. Though we would not
make any final conclusions based upon this suggestion alone.
When we consider that the majority of deceased-persons encountered during ostensible
“Afterlife Encounters” generally, are persons very close emotionally to the experiencer, the
encountering then of deceased-persons from generations previous as the author suggests, with
whom the experiencer would not likely be remotely as familiar with or emotionally invested in,
while certainly not impossible again errs on the side of significantly less likely and certainly with
far less precedent. Consider the following.

“In our data of terminal patients, 83 percent of the hallucinated human figures were relatives, and
nearly all of those (90 percent) whose relationship to the patient was identified were close ones:
mother, father, spouse, siblings, offspring. This contrasts sharply with the hallucinations of those
who were mentally ill, where the majority of hallucinated persons were either strangers or bizarre
characters.”(Osis & Harraldsson 1977)

Moreover, though as something of a very speculative aside, how can we be sure, for the sake of
argument that this individual was not a so called “super recognizer?” Regarding recognition from
photographs in one study (Russell et al. 2009), the "experimental subjects performed beyond the
range of control subject performance" whilst ultimately this studies findings “demonstrate the
existence of people with exceptionally good face recognition ability, and show that the range of face
recognition and face perception ability is wider than previously acknowledged."
If this or some variant of this were indeed the case, the previously quoted 73% recognition
probability would be instead the least possibly estimate regarding the likelihood of the individual
correctly identifying the encountered deceased.
This is to say that the initially quoted percentage regarding likelihood of recognition would then
be even higher and thus erring on the side of misidentification while not at all irrational would be
statistically less likely to be the case. Though again this is highly speculative and is not presented as
close to primarily explanatory in this context. And while an extremely niche endeavour, further
research here might be helpful.
We are not necessarily discounting Woerlee's explanations here, we are merely pointing out the
potential flaws in each and the lack of context such that there are cases which cannot be similarly
explained or upon which such speculations are little to no bearing. Likewise disregarding the
entirety of a phenomenon based upon an analysis of just three cases seems the opposite of the kind
of enquiry which would permit anything resembling such final conclusions as the author later
comes to.
We should note that in Woerlee's two cited cases there is not enough information provided about
the deceased to note whether or not they displayed characteristics of deceased-persons known to
have passed. However there are many analogous accounts upon which we can here draw in which
we do have such information, such as the following “Peak in Darien” examples in which the
deceased persons unknown to have passed/never previously met and are apparently later recognized
from a photograph also exhibit some of those previously noted characteristics of deceased persons
known to have passed during more typical NDE, DBV, and ADC encounters.

“During his NDE, he also met his great-grandfather named Pop, who had died 24 years before
Colton was born. The family had photos of Pop as a young person and then some of when he was
an older man. In heaven, Pop looked like he did in the photos where he was younger. In the photo of
Pop as an older person, he was wearing glasses, and Colton said no one in heaven wears glasses.”

10
(Punzak 2017)

“Yes, My Grandfather, whom I had never met. He died 8 years before I was born. He looked
younger than his picture, but he had the same wide brimmed hat, that he wore tilted on this head.”
(Long 2008-2020)

While these cases do not outright contradict the authors assertion regarding the possibility of
misidentification specifically, they do show that resting a conclusion regarding the final nature of
the “Peak in Darien” experience and it's bearing on the question of survival upon this potential of
photographic misidentification line of enquiry is premature and potentially even irrelevant in the
final analysis as will be elaborated upon in the following section.

Further Discussion

Debating whether or not the individual recognized someone else other than who they claim from
their family line in a subsequently observed photograph while not at all without merit seems to
some degree to miss the point in light of the much greater enigma previously described regarding
the type 4 "Peak in Darien" experience, which has far more fundamental bearing on the question of
survival than whether or not there was a subsequent photographic misidentification of a previously
encountered deceased. This is to say nothing of the fact that such experiences are occuring at all in
the first place irregardless of their context and/or genesis, particularly cases wherein the evidence
strongly suggests consciousness at a time of cardiac arrest and loss of bloodflow to the brain. (Rivas
et al. 2016: 55). This is to say that even assuming for the sake of argument that an experiencers
recollection of an experience which was confirmed to have occured during a time of clinical death
was even as high for example as 50% innacurate, this would not lessen the strangeness of that fact
that consciousness is occurring at such a time at all.

Posing the Question, Suggesting an Answer

Despite the authors firm conclusions that such visions “cannot be considered proof of an afterlife”,
he does set out some conditions which he considers need to be met in order that one might
reasonably be able to suspect “that something as yet unexplained occurred.”
Woerlee states of the factors listed below that only when they are known could the experiences
be considered unexplained. We will present the questions (all of which are reasonable and are
excellent starting points for further research relating to the “Peak in Darien” phenomenon in
general) in bold with italic font responses directly below each question and a short commentary
beneath that still. We do not present these answers as proof of anything as there is not enough
context for this, we present them simply as specific cases which happen to bear directly upon the
authors posed questions, presenting just one or two cases in response for the sake of succinctness
though they are representative insofar as there are many highly analogous cases throughout the
literature. The presentation order will be question, case/answer to questions, and commentary in that
order apart from question three.

1. “What did the person reporting such an NDE know about the illness of the relative
seen during the NDE. Or did they know the relative was likely to be exposed to danger
such as an explorer, dangerous sports, as a soldier, living in an area of violence, riots,
revolution or war? In other words, what was the likelihood that such a relative would
have died?

11
 “Oh, that is so interesting because a similar thing happened when my father died in
Nigeria. My eldest sister had moved further north and the day that he died he appeared to
her. He was well dressed as if he was dressed to go on a journey. He smiled at her and
looked much younger and very healthy; he was surrounded by a bright light. At the time my
sister didn’t even know he was unwell. The time that she saw him was about the time that he
died; now how do you explain that?” (Sartori 2014)

In the above case which was previously cited, the authors question regarding what
expectation could the experiencer have regarding the likelihood of the potentially imminent
death of the encountered deceased is answered clearly, that being that there was none.
Indeed as Fenwick (2008) stated in chapter 4 of The Art of Dying, “There are many reports
by someone emotionally close to a dying person of an awareness of that person's death, even
though they may be at a distance from them and not even know they are ill.”

2. . What was the exact timing of the demise of the relative, and the occurrence of the
vision of that relative in the reported NDE?

“Physician K. M. Dale related the case of 9-year-old Eddie Cuomo, whose fever finally
broke after nearly 36 hours of anxious vigil on the part of his parents and hospital
personnel. As soon as he opened his eyes, at 3:00 in the morning, Eddie urgently told his
parents that he had been to heaven, where he saw his deceased Grandpa Cuomo, Auntie
Rosa, and Uncle Lorenzo. His father was embarrassed that Dr. Dale was overhearing
Eddie’s story and tried to dismiss it as feverish delirium. Then Eddie added that he also saw
his 19-yearold sister Teresa, who told him he had to go back. His father then became
agitated, because he had just spoken with Teresa, who was attending college in Vermont,
two nights ago; and he asked Dr. Dale to sedate Eddie. Later that morning, when Eddie’s
parents telephoned the college, they learned that Teresa had been killed in an automobile
accident just after midnight, and that college officials had tried unsuccessfully to reach the
Cuomos at their home to inform them of the tragic news” (Steiger and Steiger 1995:42–46)

The above “Peak in Darien” account seems to address the authors question regarding the
timing of death relative to the occurrence of the vision. Indeed while in some cases whereby
the individual had the experience during a time of coma and the attending family members
did know of the death themselves and chose not to divulge, it might be argued that they
could have spoken about the death in the vicinity of the unconscious experiencer and that
they may then picked up on it by some means. This however cannot explain the knowledge
of death in the above case as even the attending family members were unaware of the death
until they made contact for confirmation of that knowledge given to them by the “Peak in
Darien” experiencer, also discovering the death had occurred somewhere in the vicinity of
three hours before the vision.

3. How accurate was the reporting of the content of the NDE?

We are admittedly unsure what the author means by this question in the current context as
the only relevant accuracy is confirmed in cases such as the most previously quoted in that
the NDE'er was indeed correct in supposing a death based upon the content of their vision.
We do know however (see Greyson 2006) that the accuracy of near-death memory itself
doesn't particularly vary over time and seems to be reliable in that sense. Further
investigation or presentation of research regarding the accuracy of reported NDE content

12
 generally are beyond the scope of the current paper.

The Question of Hallucinations

The author eventually suggests that such occurrences are most likely hallucinatory and while this
next section will not exhaustively examine this issue, we will attempt to show some of the issues
with this conclusion generally. The author begins as follows.

“In addition to sociocultural determination of the nature of the persons seen during near-death
experience visions, medical factors are also important. After all, people reporting such visions are
supposedly dying or near to death. The body and brain of a person in such a condition is not
functioning normally. So as Frances Cobbe warned during 1882 in her lecture on Peak in Darien
Experiences, these visions may well be hallucinations induced in the malfunctioning brains of those
reporting them. This latter is the most likely explanation.”

Previously in the article the author had unrelatedly quoted Osis and Haraldsson (1977), both of
whom carried out an extensive questionnaire of over 1000 nurses and doctors in comparing
American and Indian deathbed visions, although neglected to quote their complimentary findings
showing that the type of visions experienced during DBV's “contrasts sharply with the
hallucinations of those who were mentally ill, where the majority of hallucinated persons were
either strangers or bizarre characters,” (Osis & Haraldsson 1977: 31) further noting that, “the
hallucinogenic disease group did not see more dead relatives than the others. On the contrary, their
hallucinations were more rambling, disjointed, and concerned with this-world purposes, such as
reliving past memories or conversing with imaginary visitors in the hospital.” (ibid. 32.) Osis and
Haraldsson also observed that “High temperature and sedation such as morphine or Demerol
(meperidine) did not increase the frequency of seeing otherworldly apparitions.”(ibid. 32.) Indeed
they found a clearer and less medically altered mind more conducive to such experiences as
deathbed visions. Note by Rees (1971) of the post-bereavement hallucinations of widows was that
“there is no evidence of associated illness or abnormality to suggest they are abnormal features.
Further noted by Kellehear (2020) is that "Delerium is very common in palliative patients (upward
of 85 percent), but the symptoms and content of this kind of hallucination are highly diverse,
invariably stressful to the patient, and attended by negative emotions, disorganized thinking, and
disorientation."
Some of those closest to the dying and who are aware of the effects of medication upon them
such as the following social worker with 20 years experience in palliative care themselves make
careful distinctions. "When I conveyed this (vision) to the medical staff it was dismissed as being
probably "the result of the drugs on board". I have to say I always found this patient totally lucid
and there was no suggestion of confusion from the staff's observations. I had enough experience in
this field to know when someone was adversely affected by medication. (Fenwick 2008: 42)
Indeed all the carers the Fenwicks (2008: 19) spoke to in their studies “felt confident that (end of
life experiences) ELE's are not drug induced.” And in agreement with the patients themselves who
so often insist upon a special quality which sets these experiences apart from hallucinations or
dreams proper, the Fenwicks note of these carers observations that, “Many, probably most, of the
patients in their care were on some kind of medication, and the staff were well aware that some of
these drugs induced hallucinations. But they insisted, and in accordance with the patients reports
themselves, that drug-induced hallucinations were of a quite different quality from a true end-of-life
vision, and had a quite different effect on their patients.”
Indeed Professor of end of life care at the University of Bradford, Allan Kellehear (2020)
interestingly noted of the urge to classify such experiences as hallucinatory, that they may better be

13
resisted in the first place, noting that, “Unlike most hallucinations, and similar to most idiosyncratic
perceptions in the general population, these particular perceptions (NDE's, DBV's and VB's) are
neither negative nor distressing. The visitors seen in these experiences are viewed as supportive,
offering information or truths that are credible to the reasonable-minded, tend to enhance personal
and social functioning, and tend not to be associated with organic brain disorders. Yet these
subgroups of perceptions in health care are commonly classified as hallucinations by academics and
clinicians."
Woerlee's statement that the brain was not functioning normally bypasses the fundamental
question as to whether or not consciousness can function independent of the brains activity in it's
philosophical assumption. Such visions are often so specifically consistent relative to each other in
idiosyncratic contents which go far beyond the usual generalizations such as “meeting deceased
loved ones”, “seeing a light”, feeling peace” etc. etc., and into the far more specific features such as
the dead appearing significantly younger or communicating “telepathically” across NDE, DBV and
ADC literature for instance, that dismissing them as hallucinations, whatever they may be, on the
basis of three cases seems unsustainable at least insofar as the lack of relevant data presented to that
effect, the lack of explanation for such specific and consistent idiosyncrasies such as non-verbally
communicating etc within such a model and with reference to the contradictory data found in
previous studies.
It is clear that hallucinations are objectively unverifiable, however characterisation of NDE,
DBV and ADC contents as hallucinatory is nothing more than a philosophically based interpretation
of those contents. Considering the evidence which has been carefully derived from autoscopic
NDE's (those in which the experiencer reports having been outside their bodies) and to a lesser
extent “Peak in Darien” accounts in terms of gaining information later both claimed or confirmed to
be true it would seem that at least some of the NDE and other death related visionary experiences
are indeed, in some limited capacity “verifiable”, which would definitionally set them apart from
hallucinations within the framework of current definitions in the first place.
Indeed anecdotally for instance, those shared death or “empathic” type experiencers wherein
multiple individuals claim to have visualized the same apparition cannot by definition be considered
hallucinatory outside of such an attribution in the absence of the requisite investigative work.
Moreover according to Sachs (2012) hallucinations have no “consensual validation.” This is
simply to say that the casual ascription of such instances to the category of having been hallucinated
might not only stifle enquiry but certainly sidesteps the relatively nuanced and layered complexity
of such phenomenon. This is likely contributory though not primarily, to the lack of such work
being carried out in general.
Kenneth Ring (1980) found that“there is a consistent and dramatically positive emotional
response to apparent near-death by experiencers, whereas an absence of any emotional response is
typical for the non-experiencers.” This tells us that one potential avenue for future “Peak in Darien”
research may be to use this finding in the attempt to delineate between more classically defined
hallucinations and the NDE/DBV/ADC proper.

Memory Characteristics

Both hallucinations and near-death experiences score highly on the Memory Characteristics
Questionnaire, (with the exceptions that the real event memories tend to score higher for context
and thoughts/feelings.) a “reality monitoring” tool developed in order to assess the extent to which
the patient can distinguish between perceived or imagined events. In the case of hallucinations it has
been found for instance in one case study that hallucinations “appear to resemble memories of a real
event in terms of the overall pattern of their phenomenological characteristics.”
Importantly though as was further noted , “this similarity did not, however produce an

14
impairment of reality monitoring for Jim; he knew perfectly well what was a memory of a real
event and what was a memory of a hallucination (Halligan 1996: 250).” Similarly regarding Charles
Bonnet Syndrome Oliver Sachs (2012) notes that “most people with CBS are aware that they are
hallucinating”
While many of those hallucinating do believe in their reality these are typically caused by
serious mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, dementia, and delirium which are not associated
with NDE, DBV, or ADC experiencers and in 19 out of 20 cases are associated with pathology
(McGrath et al. 2015). NDE'ers/ADC'ers on the other hand and without such ailments
retrospectively insist on the absolute reality of the experience both in their testimony and in their
subsequently lived experience and altered personal constitution and outlooks, commonly telling us
that the experience was indeed “realer than real”, reporting more consciousness and alertness than
normal in up to three quarters of cases. (Long 2010: 8)
NDE'ers and those who have undergone related experiences often specifically distinguish
between, dreams, hallucinations and the more typical NDE/DBV/ADC content themselves. Ring
(1980) noted this in his findings explaining that they “did find some evidence for the occurrence of
hallucinatory-like images among a small number of our respondents — there were perhaps a half
dozen such cases — including both core experiencers and non-experiencers. In every case,
however, the hallucinatory images were completely idiosyncratic and were regarded afterwards by
the respondents as having been hallucinations, that is, not real. In the few instances where a core
experiencer also reported having had hallucinations, these could be distinguished from the core
experience itself as having had a distinctly different quality.”
Those having undergone “Afterlife Encounters” and by extension “Peak in Darien” type
experiences vouch for the actual reality of these experiences in the absence of associated pathology.
This should not be overlooked, indeed Ring concludes that the data is “quite unambiguous in this
regard” and that “in the opinion of the respondents themselves, their core experience was not a
dream nor an hallucination — it was real.”
Furthermore the memory characteristics questionnaire has been applied repeatedly to the NDE
and seem to confirm that the NDE memories are indeed experientially “realer than real” (Thonnard
et al 2013; Moore et al 2017: 116–124) with one of those studies suggesting that, “NDE memories
have more characteristics than any kind of memory of real or imagined events and of other
memories of a period of coma or impaired consciousness following an acquired severe brain
dysfunction. In our opinion, the presented data demonstrate that NDEs cannot be considered as
imagined events.“
For the sake of clarity we must note that the authors further noted that they “rather propose that
the physiological origins of NDEs lead them to be really perceived although not lived in reality (i.e.,
being hallucination- or dream-like events), having as rich characteristics as memories of real
events.” That such findings might be indicative of or bolster ideas of an actually experienced
external reality are not entertained.
All of this is not to give an in depth analysis of the relationship between “Afterlife Encounters”
and general hallucinatory experiences but rather simply to say that the relatively passing suggestion
of a simple hallucinatory explanation regarding the “Peak in Darien” experience and regarding the
NDE/DBV/ADC type experiences more generally should be resisted. Each must be considered both
on a case by case basis regarding the actual circumstantial and classically understood hallucinatory
potential of the experiencer, primarily regarding potential pathology and within a much broader
context in light of the insistence of both the experiencers and the data to the contrary.
Moreover during shared deathbed visions and after-death communications (Moody 2011: 29;
Keane 2009; Long 1998-2020) wherein the deceased appear to simultaneously to multiple
individuals and are described identically by both, sharing the same idiosyncrasies such as appearing
decades younger, healed of handicaps or communicating non-verbally as do their NDE counterparts
for which the author suggests medical issues resultant of a malfunctioning brain are the most likely

15
explanation, the experiencers are not compromised neurologically or at least close to death like the
NDE'ers, DBV'ers and still experience strikingly similar “empathetic” experiences featuring
encounters with the deceased displaying the very same highly idiosyncratic characteristics as the
deceased exhibit when appearing to those with an actually compromised brain with whom they are
seemingly sharing the experience. Thus classical medically induced hallucinations within an end of
life context or those potentially induced by a dying brain likely cannot be invoked as explanatory in
these instances.
In light of these highly specific and idiosyncratic similarities between both regarding the
appearance and attributes of the encountered deceased, it would be hard to justify such a a catch all
and non specific approach considering the number of accounts and the specificity of the similarities.
As noted by Kellehear (2017) regarding the relatively uncritical categorization of such visions as
classically hallucinatory, “Current state-of-the-art in hallucination studies does not warrant broad or
uncritical use of this type of diagnosis in end-of-life care.”
Most importantly, the type 4 “Peak in Darien” experience may strongly suggests an external
phenomenon. Acceptance of or further research related to this kind of experience might even have
the capacity to bypass the evergreen question of hallucinations entirely.

Concluding Remarks

Dr. Bruce Greyson, paraphrasing the observations of Canadian Psychiatrist Ian Stevenson regarding
some of the difficulties in confronting the Peak in Darien Experience notes that “although several
witnesses may hear the dying person relate the vision, they rarely make any written record of the
event before receiving corroboration that the person seen in the vision had indeed died. This lapse
permits the explanation that the whole story might be a retrospective falsification of memory.”
Upon which he then observes that, “Stevenson did not himself believe that to be plausible in all
“Peak in Darien” cases, but acknowledged that the difficulties of obtaining reliable testimony
dissuade many researchers from investing the extraordinary effort, time, and patience required to
sift the evidence carefully (Stevenson 1959:22).”
It is exactly this kind of careful careful enquiry which should now be taken up regarding the
“Peak in Darien” experience, and while it may be impossible to corroborate exact specifics of such
large numbers of “Peak in Darien” accounts due to significant issues with retrospective feasibility,
we absolutely must strive at the very least least, though not solely, to take these experiences
seriously insofar as their impressive impact upon those who have undergone them. Medical
professionals in particular should be willing to engage patients reporting such experiences which
generally are as real and indeed realer to them than their own lives to that point in a meaningful and
non-dismissive manner.
We are talking about legitimately vast and life-altering experiences which have the capacity to
heal, bring incredible closure and bring much needed context to ones grieving. Such context which
may otherwise be completely unavailable. For example, Yamamoto et al (1969) concluded of the
post-bereavement visions of widows that, “Most of 20 Japanese widows interviewed during the
acute grief phase of mourning adhered to the cultural beliefs and were less depressed and anxious
and had less difficulty accepting the loss than those who did not.”
Returning to the crux of our enquiry, Sir William Barrett (Barrett 1926), author of the seminal
and oft-referenced Deathbed Visions notes of the “Peak in Darien” experience that it “affords
perhaps one of the strongest arguments in favour of survival”, while Greyson suggested such
experiences “provide some of the most persuasive evidence for the ontological reality of deceased
spirits.” We are here of the opinion that if this is so, then it must surely be the case that if the
“physical” appearance and contextually sensitive and relevant behaviour of those deceased-persons
unknown and later confirmed to have passed during the “Peak in Darien” Experience matches that

16
of those deceased-persons encountered during typical NDE, DBV and ADC experiences known to
have passed, and in such highly specific and idiosyncratic ways as we have previously described,
then these type 4 “Peak in Darien” experiences might constitute either solely or as part of a larger
battery of data, some of the strongest evidence of all.

Notes

1. There is an obscure psychiatric syndrome called “folie a deux” in which multiple individuals
apparently share in the same delusions or hallucinations, however these are associated in the
first place with physiological and psychological pathology and are generally predicated
upon an ongoing relationship in which an “active partner” eventually induces the delusions
of the “secondary partner”.
Detweiler MB, Detweiler JG, Bader GM. Complex Folie a Deux Related to Multiple
Biopsychosocial Factors for an Elderly Patient and his Wife. Am J Gerentol Geriatr. 2018;
1(2): 1008.

References

Arcangel, D. (2005) Afterlife Encounters: Ordinary People, Extraordinary Experiences

(Kindle Location 38). Kindle Edition.

Atwater, P. M. (2009) Near-Death Experiences, The Rest of the Story, p. 37. Kindle Edition

Bourke, D. (2013) On Non-Verbal Communications during the Near Death Experience:

Documenting The Fact And Establishing Its Importance. p. 2.

Burton AM, Jenkins R, Robertson DJ. (2019) I recognise your name but I can't remember
your face: an advantage for names in recognition memory. Q J Exp Psychol (Hove)
72:1847–1854.

Fenwick, P. (1995) The Truth in the Light. p. 115.

Fenwick, P, Fenwick, E. (2008) The Art of Dying, p. 10-11.

Fenwick, P, Fenwick, E. (2008) The Art of Dying, p. 39.

Fenwick, P, Fenwick, E. (2008) The Art of Dying, p. 42.

Greyson, B. (2006) Consistency of near-death experience accounts over two decades: Are
reports embellished over time? Resuscitation, 73, 407–411.
https://www.resuscitationjournal.com/article/S0300-9572(06)00669-1/fulltext

Greyson, B. (2010) Seeing Dead People Not Known to Have Died: "Peak in Darien"
Experiences, Anthropology and Humanism, Vol. 35, Issue 2, pp 159–171.

Halligan, P. (1996) Method in Madness: Case studies In Cognitive Neuropsychiatry, p. 250.

Haraldsson Ph.D, Erlendur. At the Hour of Death: A New Look at Evidence for Life After

17
Death (p. 31). White Crow Books. Kindle Edition.

Keane, C. The Distant Shore: More Irish Stories from the Edge of Death . Capel Island
Press. Kindle Edition.

Keane, C. We'll Meet Again: Irish Deathbed Visions . Capel Island Press. Kindle Edition.

Kellehear A. (2017) Unusual perceptions at the end of life: limitations to the diagnosis of
hallucinations in palliative medicine. BMJ Support Palliat Care. 2017;7(3):238-246.
doi:10.1136/bmjspcare-2015-001083

Kellehear, A. Visitors at the End of LIfe, Finding Meaning and Purpose in Near-Death
Phenomena (p. 27).

Kellehear, A. Visitors at the End of LIfe, Finding Meaning and Purpose in Near-Death
Phenomena (p. 25).

Long, J. Evidence of the Afterlife (p. 7-8). HarperOne. Kindle Edition.

Long, J. Evidence of the Afterlife (pp. 15-16). HarperOne. Kindle Edition.

Long, Jeffrey. Evidence of the Afterlife (p. 18). HarperOne. Kindle Edition.

Long, J. Evidence of the Afterlife (p. 122). HarperOne. Kindle Edition.

Long, J. Evidence of the Afterlife (p. 129). HarperOne. Kindle Edition.

Long, J. (1998-2020) Near-Death Experience Research Foundation.

https://www.oberf.org/sandra_c_dbv.htm

Long, J. (1998-2020) Near-Death Experience Research Foundation.

https://www.google.com/search?ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-
8&q=surrounded+by+liight&btnG=Search&domains=http%3A%2F
%2Fwww.nderf.org&sitesearch=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nderf.org

Long, J. (1998-2020) Near-Death Experience Research Foundation.

https://www.nderf.org/Experiences/1beth_b_nde.html

Long, J. (1998-2020) Near-Death Experience Research Foundation.

https://www.google.com/search?ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-
8&q=must+go+back&btnG=Search&domains=http%3A%2F
%2Fwww.nderf.org&sitesearch=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nderf.org

Long, J. (1998-2020) Near-Death Experience Research Foundation.

https://www.adcrf.org/belle_j_adc.htm

Long, J. (1998-2020) Near-Death Experience Research Foundation.

https://www.adcrf.org/mary_r%27s_adc.htm

John J. McGrath, PhD, MD1,2,3; Sukanta Saha, PhD1,2,3; Ali Al-Hamzawi, MD4; et al

18
(2015) Psychotic Experiences in the General PopulationA Cross-National Analysis Based on
31?261 Respondents From 18 Countries. JAMA Psychiatry. 2015;72(7):697-705.
doi:10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2015.0575

Moody, R. Glimpses of Eternity (p. 29). Ebury Publishing. Kindle Edition.

Moody, R. Glimpses of Eternity (p. 89). Ebury Publishing. Kindle Edition.

Moody RA. (1988), The Light Beyond. published by Bantam Books, USA, ISBN 0-553-
27813-4.

Moore, L.E, Greyson, B. (2017) Characteristics of Memories for Near-Death Experiences.

Consciousness and Cognition 51, 116–124

Okhado, M. (2013) On the Term, "Peak in Darien" Experience, Journal of Near-Death

Studies, 31(4), Summer 2013 © 2013 IANDS

Punzak, Daniel. A Spiritual Hypothesis: An Inquiry into Abnormal and Paranormal

Behaviour. AuthorHouse. Kindle Edition.

Rawlings, M. (1978) Beyond Death's Door, p. 5-6.

Rees, W. Dewi (1971), The Hallucinations of Widowhood, British Medical Journal, 4, 37-41

Ring, Kenneth. Life at Death . Kindle Edition

Rivas, Titus; Dirven,Anny; Smit,Rudolf. The Self Does Not Die: Verified Paranormal
Phenomena from Near-Death Experiences (p. 55). International Association for Near-Death
Studies. Kindle Edition.

Russell R, Duchaine B, Nakayama K. Super-recognizers: people with extraordinary face

recognition ability. Psychon Bull Rev. 2009 Apr;16(2):252-7. doi: 10.3758/PBR.16.2.252.
PMID: 19293090; PMCID: PMC3904192.

Sacks, Oliver. Hallucinations. Pan Macmillan. Kindle Edition.

Sartori, P. (2014) Wisdom of Near-Death Experiences: How Understanding NDEs Can Help
Us Live More Fully . Watkins Media Ltd. Kindle Edition.

Stafford. Betty (2014) Heaven and Hell Unveiled: Updates from the World of Spirit. (p. 15).
White Crow Productions Ltd.. Kindle Edition.

Steiger, Brad, and Sherry Hansen Steiger (1995) Children of the Light: The Startling and
Inspiring Truth About Children’s Near-Death Experiences and How They Illuminate the
Beyond. New York: Signet – Penguin.

Shrader, D (2008) Seven Characteristics of Mystical Experiences, Proceedings of the 6th

Annual Hawaii International Conference on Arts and Humanities, p. 1.

Thonnard M, Charland-Verville V, Brédart S, Dehon H, Ledoux D, Laureys S, et al. (2013)

19
Characteristics of Near-Death Experiences Memories as Compared to Real and Imagined
Events Memories. PLoS ONE 8(3): e57620. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0057620

Van Lommel, Pim (2004), About the Continuity of Our Consciousness. Advances in
Experimental Medicine and Biology 550:115?132.

Van Lommel, Pim. Consciousness Beyond Life (p. 11). HarperOne. Kindle Edition.

Van Lommel, P. (2007) Consciousness Beyond Life: The Science of Near-Death

Experiences, HarperOne. Kindle Edition. p. 317-318.

Woerlee, G.M. (2005-2020) Seeing Family Members During NDEs. Peak in Darien
experiences and NDEs. http://www.neardth.com/seeing-family-during-nde.php. 04/07/2020

Yamamoto, J., et al., American Journal of Psychiatry, 1969, 125, 1661

20
21