Near-Death Experiences of the
Hollywood Rich and Famous
The
near-death experiences of the rich and famous are particularly interesting.
Such people have lots money and are known
all around the world.
They're beautiful, articulate, and very
talented in what they do. With this in mind,
why would such a person reveal to the world that
they died and came back from the dead? What
would be their motive? Money?
They're already rolling in that. Fame? They're already
famous. In fact, by telling the world they
rose from the dead, they risk losing their
fame and fortune -- not to mention their
reputation. People who reveal such things
about themselves are often thought to
be crazy. So why would a rich and
famous person subject themselves to such
negative scrutiny when they have so
much to lose? The only rational
reason is that they are telling the truth.
It really did happen to them. Just like
near-death experiencers who are not rich and
famous, they are imbued with a "mission" to
share with the world an important message:
we are eternal souls having a human
experience; and
love is the answer to everything. The following
are rich and famous people who have risked it all
to tell the world about their NDE.
Some of these accounts are documented in Jean
Ritchie's excellent book,
Death's Door.
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1.
Tracy Morgan |
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Tracy
Morgan (1968-- ) is an American actor and
comedian best known for his eight seasons as
a cast member on
Saturday Night Live (1996–2003) and for
his role as Tracy Jordan in the comedy series
30 Rock (2006–2013). He was nominated for an
Emmy Award in 2009 for his work on 30 Rock and
has appeared in numerous films as an actor and
voice actor.
On June 7, 2014, a tractor-trailer
struck Morgan’s minibus on the New Jersey
Turnpike, causing a devastating multicar crash
that left Morgan with a life-threatening brain
injury, a broken leg and broken ribs. The crash
took the life of his longtime close friend, comedian
James McNair. Morgan spent more than a week
in a medically induced coma during which his life
hung in the balance.
When he awoke from his coma, he was blind for
six days and faced a prolonged and grueling
recovery. Morgan said he even contemplated
suicide while recovering from the near-fatal
crash and suffering from the loss of his
friend. According to Morgan, "I thought I was
going to die for a long time. My thoughts --
I was in a very dark place. I was sitting right
here, contemplating suicide. I couldn't walk."
Morgan
was interviewed by
Oprah Winfrey on her "SuperSoul
Sunday" program. While Morgan was in a
coma, he had an NDE during which he met God
and was reunited with his late father, Jimmy
Morgan. He described going
to heaven while he was fighting to stay alive. "When
you’re in a coma for eight to ten days, you’re
basically knocking on the door." Morgan described
having a very clear vision during the time he
was in the coma. "I don’t know if I was in the
coma or in and out of the coma. But I remember
... I was talking to my dad." Morgan's father
passed away in 1987 after losing a battle against
AIDS. When Tracy saw him, his father reportedly
told him it’s not his time to die. "He had this
green, this green thing on. I just remember
him saying, 'I’m not ready for you, son.'" The
spiritual encounter was incredibly overwhelming
for Morgan. "I started crying so hard. Probably
harder than I cried at his funeral. I just kept
saying, 'Dad.' He was my best friend in life."
According to Morgan, his dad told him he still
had to "finish the job."
Often in tears during
the interview with Oprah, Morgan said he
truly believes he was in heaven and that his
late father encouraged him to return to the
living world. "When you’re in a coma for
eight to ten days, and you survive, trust
me, you’re at peace," he told Oprah. "I’ve
been to the Other Side and I came back with
gifts," he added. "These jokes I’m giving
y'all -- they're gifts!"
Morgan's NDE
also included a conversation with God. Morgan
said God told him he still has plans for the
him. "I went to the Other Side. This is not
something I’m making up. Do you know what God
said to me? He said, 'Your room ain’t ready.
I still got something for you to do.' And here
I am, doing an interview with you."
After his trip to heaven, Morgan says he’s
now a changed man and that he is transformed
for the better. He now looks at his
relationships in a new light. When asked by
Winfrey on Super Soul Sunday if a person can
ever be normal again after a near-death
experience Morgan answered, "No. I told my
wife that the other day. 'Something’s
different. The way I am with people.' I find
myself saying 'I love you' 200 times a day
to strangers. I don’t care. I don't have to
know you to love you! That's how we’re
supposed to be as human beings. We're
supposed to take care of each other."
He believes in taking care of people
and becoming a better human being. The comedian
now lives an ordinary life now. He is grateful
to his wife and all those who love him. Morgan
says he will be back in the comedy business,
but he’ll never be completely the same. "Well,
you’re never going to be normal after you go
through something like that. You don’t die for
a few weeks and then come back to normal, trust
me. Something’s going to be missing, something’s
going to be gained -- you just got to live your
life after that. But after surviving something
like that, I’m probably never going to feel
normal," Morgan explained. Today, Morgan is
upbeat about his recovery, saying he thinks
the near-death crash has, in fact, made him
funnier. Watch a
YouTube video presentation of Tracy Morgan discussing
his NDE.
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2.
Jane Seymour |
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Jane
Seymour (1951-- ) is a British-American
actress best known for her performances in Somewhere
In Time (1980), East of Eden (1981), War and
Remembrance (1988), and the American television
series
Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman (1993–1998). She
has earned an Emmy Award and two Golden Globe
Awards. When Seymour was 36 years of age, she
had a severe case of the flu and was given an
injection of penicillin. She suffered an allergic
reaction which led to a near-death experience.
As Seymour described it in her book,
Among Angels: "I literally left my body.
I had this feeling that I could see myself on
the bed, with people grouped around me. I remember
them all trying to resuscitate me. I was above
them, in the corner of the room looking down.
I saw people putting needles in me, trying to
hold me down, doing things. I remember my whole
life flashing before my eyes, but I wasn't thinking
about winning Emmys or anything like that. The
only thing I cared about was that I wanted to
live because I did not want anyone else looking
after my children. I was floating up there thinking,
'No, I don't want to die. I'm not ready to leave
my kids.' And that was when I said to God, 'If
you're there, God, if you really exist and I
survive, I will never take your name in vain
again.' Although I believe that I 'died' for
about thirty seconds, I can remember pleading
with the doctor to bring me back. I was determined
I wasn't going to die." Then Jane suddenly found
herself back in her body.
Seymour says, "I realized
you take nothing with you other than the difference
you maybe made in the world and/or the love
that you shared with people you interact with."
Watch a
YouTube video presentation of Jane Seymour discussing
her NDE.
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3.
Peter Sellers |
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Peter
Sellers
(1925--1980)
was the comic
genius of a generation of actors. He brought
brilliant characterizations to numerous films,
including The Mouse That Roared (1959), Dr.
Strangelove (1964),
The Pink Panther (1964), and Being There
(1979). He was known for his enthusiastic way
of totally absorbing himself in his characters,
even carrying roles offstage. He also suffered
from sad moods between films. While he knew
his characters thoroughly, he said that he really
did not know who he was. Then Peter Sellers,
the brilliant, confused actor, had a near-death
experience.
Seated in a Hollywood
mockup of a limousine's back seat while shooting
his last great film, "Being There",
he told Shirley MacLaine about his NDE, astonished that she did not consider
him "bonkers." In 1964, during the
first of a rapid series of eight heart attacks,
when his heart stopped and he was clinically
dead, he had an out-of-body experience and saw
the bright, loving light. In her book,
Out on a Limb, Shirley MacLaine recounts
Sellers' experience: "Well, I felt myself
leave my body. I just floated out of my physical
form and I saw them cart my body away to the
hospital. I went with it ... I wasn't frightened
or anything like that because I was fine; and
it was my body that was in trouble." The
doctor saw that Sellers was dead and massaged
his heart vigorously, Meanwhile: "I looked
around myself and I saw an incredibly beautiful
bright loving white light above me. I wanted
to go to that white light more than anything.
I've never wanted anything more. I know there
was love, real love, on the other side of the
light which was attracting me so much. It was
kind and loving and I remember thinking 'That's
God'" Peter's out-of-body soul tried to
elevate itself toward the light, but he fell
short: "Then I saw a hand reach through
the light. I tried to touch it, to grab onto
it, to clasp it so it could sweep me up and
pull me through it." But just then Sellers'
heart began beating again, and at that instant
the hand's voice said: 'It's not time. Go back
and finish. It's not time.'" As the hand receded
he felt himself floating back down to his body,
waking up bitterly disappointed."
What
effect did his near-death experience have on
Sellers? In the book
Peter Sellers: The Authorized Biography
by Alexander Walker, the author states, "The
repeated act of 'dying' became for Peter Sellers
the most important experience of his life. Sellers
said of death, 'I'll never fear it again.' Family
and friends found him more spiritual and reflective
than before. He began to trust spiritualists
over all others. Most (if not all) decisions
were based on advice received from Maurice Woodruff,
his clairvoyant and astrologer. The experience
of resurrection intensified Sellers' spiritual
concern and friends discerned the start of a
new introspectiveness, a sense of his not 'being
there' in spirit, though present in body."
His wife Britt Ekland found it unnerving that
her previously restless husband had now become
so quiet. He was now "sitting still over
lengthy periods, saying nothing, but staring
at her with his thoughts turned inward."
He returned to England for an extended convalescence,
but soon reverted to old habits and bought his
84th car, an expensive Ferrari.
According to Walker,
a couple of years before the NDE, Peter had
played an earnest priest in "Heavens Above",
and developed a serious interest in Christianity
(although he was born Jewish). During this time,
following his father's death in 1962, Sellers
was drawn to long, serious discussions about
life's meaning with a neighboring vicar in London,
the Rev. John Hester, "to try to reconcile
the world of plenty he inhabited with the emptiness
of soul that oppressed him." After his
NDE, he deepened his quest for spiritual truth,
continuing his discussions with Rev. Hester,
coming close to joining the church. In later
years he practiced yoga, saying once that "Yoga
has given me a tranquility I wouldn't have thought
possible." The NDE strengthened Sellers'
conviction that he was a reincarnated soul whose
power of mimicry sprang from memories of past
lives. But in his current incarnation, at least,
he felt lost. He did not know who he was and
why he was on this earth. He explained to Shirley
MacLaine: "I know I have lived many times
before ... that experience confirmed it to me,
because in this lifetime I felt what it was
for my soul to actually be out of my body. But
ever since I came back, I don't know why I don't
know what it is I'm supposed to do, or what
I came back for."
According to Walker,
spirituality gave Sellers some peace, but did
not still his restless drift. In 1977 he complained
that his yoga practice did not stop his heart
disease: "After all, what did it do for
me? I obeyed all the instructions. I said my
prayers regularly. I did all the exercises for
peace, tranquility, and happiness. And all that
happened was that I got steadily worse."
Although Sellers' NDE awakened him to
a deepened spirituality, it did not usher in
a major, lasting change in his soul's makeup.
The brilliant actor still felt lost. On July
24, 1980, at the young age of 54, Sellers collapsed
from a final heart attack - only this time, it
was his time to go.
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4.
Elizabeth Taylor |
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Elizabeth
Taylor (1932--2011) was a British-American
actress and humanitarian who began as a child
actress in the early 1940s. She was one of the
most popular stars of classical Hollywood cinema
in the 1950s. Her breakthrough role was the
film
National Velvet (1944). She then made the transition
to adult roles in Father of the Bride (1950)
and A Place in the Sun (1951). She continued
her career successfully into the 1960s and
remained a well-known public figure for the
rest of her life. The American Film Institute
named her the seventh greatest female screen
legend in 1999.
Taylor was
interviewed by Larry King on CNN's Larry
King Live and spoke about her experience of
having died on the operating table for five minutes
while undergoing back surgery. She described
passing through a tunnel towards a brilliant
white light and encountering the spirit of
Michael Todd (Taylor's third husband who
was killed in a plane crash in 1958),
whom she referred to as her great love. She
had wanted to stay in heaven with Todd, she said, but
he had told her that she had work and life ahead
of her, and he "pushed me back to my life."
Following her resuscitation, the eleven-person
medical team -- including doctors, nurses, etc.
-- witnessed Taylor's testimonial of this
event: "I was pronounced dead once and
actually saw the light. I find it very hard
to talk about, actually, because it
sounds
so corny. It happened in the late '50s, and
I saw Mike. When I came to, there were about
eleven people
in the room. I'd been gone for about five minutes.
They had given me up for dead and put my
death notice on the wall. I shared this with
the people that were in the room next to me.
Then after that I told another group of
friends, and I thought, "Wow, this sounds
really screwy. I think I'd better keep quiet
about this. For a long time I didn't talk about it,
and it's still hard for me to talk about. But
I have shared it with people with AIDS because
if the moment occurs and you're really sharing,
it's real. I am not afraid of death, because
I have been there."
In an interview with
America's AIDS magazine,
Taylor described her NDE again: "I went to that
tunnel, saw the white light, and Mike [Todd].
I said, Oh Mike, you're where I want to be.
And he said, ‘No, Baby. You have to turn around
and go back because there is something very
important for you to do. You cannot give up
now.' It was Mike's strength and love that brought
me back."
After many years of ill health, Taylor
died from congestive heart failure at the age
of 79 in 2011. Watch a
YouTube video presentation and an
ABC News video interview of Elizabeth Taylor
discussing her NDE.
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5.
Robert Pastorelli |
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The
late
Robert Pastorelli (1954--2004) acquired
a reputation as a skilled character actor in
the 1980s and 1990s in films such as Outrageous
Fortune (1987), Beverly Hills Cop II (1987),
Dances with Wolves (1990), Eraser (1996), and
Michael (1996). His big break in television
came in the role of the gruff but lovable house
painter "Eldin Bernecky" on the series
Murphy Brown, and he stayed with the show
for seven seasons from 1988 to 1994.
On June 21, 1973, at
the age of 19, Pastorelli had a near-fatal car
accident which led to a near-death experience
that literally changed how he was living, in
a very dramatic way. He describes it as follows:
"Late in the afternoon I was goin' about 90
mph. It smashed right into the driver's door.
It hit me so hard it actually knocked the shoes
off my feet. My car rolled over about four times
on this big highway and the next thing I knew
I was in intensive care with a collapsed lung.
Every one of my ribs was shattered. I had lacerations
to my head and face, and my kidneys, spleen
and gall bladder were all ruptured. I was a
mess. I was in excruciating pain. Then, in the
next second, there was no pain. Suddenly I realized
I was out of my body. I was floating above myself,
looking down at my unconscious body lying in
the hospital emergency room with my eyes closed.
I could see tubes down my nose and throat. I
knew I was dying and I thought, 'Well, this
must be death.' I even saw a priest giving me
the last rites. But it was the most peaceful
feeling in the world. Then I saw my father starting
to faint out of grief. Two nurses grabbed him
and sat him down in a chair across the room.
When I looked down and saw my father's pain
it had an effect on me. I firmly believe that
at that moment I made a decision to live, not
die. The next thing I knew I was waking up back
in my body. Later, in the recovery room, when
I was fully conscious, I told my father what
had happened, his fainting and all. He was astounded."
By August that year,
everything had changed for Pastorelli. "After
almost dying, things like a secure job and pension
suddenly became meaningless ... A goal like
acting -- which I thought was unattainable --
became the only thing I focused on. If I hadn't
had the accident, I'd probably be dead or just
sleepwalking through life ... It was my destiny
to have that accident." he says. "I felt such
freedom. I realized there's a soiul and eternal
life, that part of you can't die, that the soul
keeps recycling until we reach a point of bliss.
I sound like Gandhi -- I mean, Gandherelli,
don't I?"
Unfortunately, Pastorelli's
career went into decline after the death of
his girlfriend under mysterious circumstances
at his home in 1999. He died of an accidental
heroin overdose in 2004. Sources say Pastorelli,
49, previously battled heroin addiction and
had been depressed since the suicide of his
girlfriend, Charemon Jonovich.
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6.
Sharon Stone |
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Sharon
Stone (1958-- ) is an American actress,
film producer, and former fashion model. She
first came to worldwide attention for her role opposite
Arnold Schwarzenegger in the sci-fi thriller
Total Recall (1990) before achieving international
recognition with her starring role in the erotic
thriller
Basic Instinct (1992). She was nominated
for an Academy Award for Best Actress and won
a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion
Picture Drama for her performance as Ginger
McKenna in the crime drama film Casino (1995),
directed by Martin Scorsese.
During interviews, Stone
has revealed how she underwent a "white
light" experience during a severe brain hemorrhage
in 2001. Stone says she almost died from internal
bleeding caused by a tear in an artery at the
base of her skull sending her "into that vortex
of white light" where she encountered dead friends.
About her brain hemorrhage, she says "When it
hit me, I felt like I'd been shot in the head.
That's the only way I can really describe it.
It hit me so hard, it knocked me over on the
sofa. And Phil was out of town and I called
him and said, 'I think I had a stroke.'"
Stone's NDE occurred
after the doctors performed an MRI on her. She
was unconscious in the MRI tube, and when
she came out, the doctors were talking to
her. Then her NDE
happened: "It’s sort of like passing out but
you sort of pass up," she said. The experience
started off with an explosion of white light.
"It’s just a lot of white light and you see
people that have passed on, and they talk to
you, and then you pop right back into your body,"
Stone said. The experience, however, did not
leave Stone surprised; instead she felt an "incredible
sense of well-being," and described the feeling
as beautiful. "It’s a very near and very safe
... and loving, and gentle, and OK [feeling],
and there’s nothing to be afraid of," she said.
"I had a real journey with this, that took me
to places both here and beyond that affected
me so profoundly, that my life will never be
the same ... I get to be not afraid of dying
and I get to tell other people that it's a fabulous
thing and that death is a gift. And not that
you should kill yourself, but that when death
comes to you, as it will, that it's a glorious
and beautiful thing. This kind of giant vortex
of white light was upon me and I kind of --
poof! Sort of took off into this glorious, bright,
bright, bright white light and I started to
see and be met by some of my friends. But it
was very fast -- whoosh! Suddenly, I was back.
I was in my body and I was in the room."
Stone says the brain
aneurysm changed everything for her and ushered
in a dark period that ultimately gave her a
new outlook on life. "I had to learn to walk,
hear, write, talk, remember and everything all
over again," she says. "I thought that I was
dying for a long time, even after I came home."
In the years that followed, her life came apart
at the seams. In 2004, Stone and her husband
Phil Bronstein divorced. In 2008, he was granted
full custody of their son. "There was a part
of me that felt like wow, I lost so much," Stone
says. "My career was basically over, my family
was over, I got divorced, my child was taken
away -- a lot of my identity, I thought. I got
down, down to it. And when I got down to it,
it’s like being a phoenix. I was burned to the
ground. Because everything I had been before,
I thought, ‘I’m not any of those things anymore.'"
Losing everything was like a death, she says.
"But it’s not a bad thing. You know, death isn’t
all it’s cracked up to be. Everything got richer
for me through this experience. Everything got
better for me through this experience. It was
like starting over. Every death is a rebirth."
Watch a
YouTube video presentation of Sharon Stone discussing
her NDE.
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7.
Gary Busey |
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Gary
Busey (1944-- ), once Hollywood's bad boy,
is an American actor who has appeared in over
150 films including Lethal Weapon (1987), Point Break
(1991),
Under Siege (1992), The Firm (1993), and Fear and Loathing
in Las Vegas (1998). Busey was nominated for
an Academy Award for Best Actor for his role
in
The Buddy Holly Story (1978). Busey has fought
addiction with drugs and alcohol for several
years, was nicknamed Gary "Abusey" by his wife.
Busey has had supernatural encounters during
which he nearly died three or more times in
his life ... a drug overdose, cancer, and an
accident west of Albuquerque, New Mexico.
But his most
life-changing experience was a near-fatal
motorcycle accident that occurred on December 4th, 1988. Busey
was riding his 750-pound Harley Davidson
without wearing a helmet when he crashed
while traveling about 40-50 mph. He flung over the top of his
motorcycle and hit
head-first into the curb. He split his skull
from the right temple to the top of his head,
knocking a hole in his head as big as a 50
cent piece, and fractured his lower back.
While undergoing brain surgery, Busey had an
NDE: "When
I went to the Other Side there were balls of
light in the air and three of them came down
to my essence. I was about a foot long and a
quarter of an inch wide. I wasn’t a boy or a
girl. I had no emotions from earth. And the light
on the left spoke to me in an androgynous voice,
in thought telling me what I’ve been doing was
good, direction I was going in, good,
ups and down downs ... [what] comes with the
dinner on the unconscious menu. It said, 'Where
are you going now? You need to look for help
in the spiritual realm.' And then the voice
said, 'You may come with us now or return to
your body and continue your destiny. It’s your
choice,' the light said." Busey says that
the balls of light surrounding him were angels;
but they "didn't appear in the form people see
on Christmas cards. These angels floated around
him and carried nothing but love and warmth
-- and this love is unconditional." Busey
continues, "I died after surgery and I went
to the Other Side and I had quite a journey
that started me in a new door of my life. Understanding
that there’s more here than I thought there
was ... and that’s the way with everybody truly.
There’s more in you than you think there is,
and the giving and the loving you have, and not
taking things personally, and not taking things
seriously, will take you to a place of calm and
relaxation where everything okay."
As a result
of his NDE, Busey has dedicated his life to
Jesus and has been a prominent speaker at many
Christian Promise Keepers rallies. He is no longer
the "bad boy" of Hollywood. Watch a
YouTube video presentation of Gary Busey discussing
his NDE.
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8.
Larry Hagman |
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Larry
Hagman (1931--2012) was an American
film and television actor, director and producer
best known for playing ruthless oil baron J.
R. Ewing in the 1980s prime time television
soap opera
Dallas, and befuddled astronaut Major Anthony
"Tony" Nelson in the 1960s sitcom, I Dream of
Jeannie.
Hagman underwent a liver
transplant in 1995. Years of heavy drinking
resulted in cirrhosis and cancer of the liver.
He was only weeks away from certain death at
the time of his NDE which
occurred in the hospital's Intensive Care Unit
following his liver transplant operation. According
to his autobiography,
Hello Darlin': Tall (and Absolutely True) Tales
About My Life, Hagman described his experience
as follows: "I was able to look over the edge.
I got a little glimpse of what was the next
step. I didn't see a light some people see,
but I had a wonderful feeling of bliss and warmth.
The bottom line is love, that sounds corny,
but it was just lovely, uplifting."
Hagman
recalled focusing on what he calls his "celestial
song" which he believes each of us uniquely
has, just waiting to burst forth. "Everyone
has their own unique song, an inner melody that
fuses each of us to the deep, modulating, harmonious
hum of the celestial orchestra that's the collective
energy of everything that's ever lived and ever
going to live. It's our life force. The power
of the universe." Hagman's NDE gave him "a feeling that
was ecstatically happy and familiar -- and it
confirmed what I'd always suspected, that every
one of us living creatures is part of a collective
energy that is also ecstatically happy and familiar.
The culmination of that energy is love. It's
with us now, it always has been, and it always
will be. Every one of us has this familiarity.
We know it. The problem is, we bury it under
so much apprehension and worry." At some point
in his NDE,
Hagman understood that it was "not yet time to cross
over." Hagman was also allowed a deep insight
and understanding about life and what comes
after: "This
was not the end. There were more levels, an
infinite number of levels, of existence, each
one adding to the hum of the cosmic orchestra,
as if we're always spiraling upward until we
reach a state of atomic bliss." It occurred
to Hagman that every religion he knew of had
tried to figure out the meaning of life and
had essentially reached the same conclusion
-- the meaning of life is love. Hagman's philosophy
of life resulting from his NDE became: "Don't worry.
Be happy. Feel good."
Hagman died on November
23, 2012, from complications of acute myeloid
leukemia. Read
Larry Hagman's entire
amazing experience here.
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9.
William Petersen |
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William
Petersen (1953-- ) is an American actor
and producer who is best known for playing Dr. Gilbert
"Gil" Grissom in the CBS series
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation which ran
from 2000 to 2015. Petersen also
starred in such films as To Live and Die in
L.A. (1985) and Manhunter (1986).
Petersen had an NDE in
the 1980's which he described in an interview
for Playboy magazine (March 2004, page 139):
"Years ago, doing a play in Chicago, I cut my
finger in half onstage. We obviously had to
stop because, well, I didn't have a finger.
By the time they got me to the ER, I had lost
a lot of blood and passed out. I could hear
the doctors working on me, saying that they
had lost my vital signs. I was on the
All That Jazz escalator with a long tunnel
and a lot of white light. Then I specifically
remember a dominant male voice saying, 'It's
not your time. Get off the escalator. You've
got shit to do.' I came to and got sewed up.
Something in me changed, a sort of knowledge
that somewhere on the Other Side, its good.
For weeks, the more I talked about it, the more
freaked out people got. Some of them were like,
'Okay, whatever: You took too many drugs.'"
About his NDE, Petersen
says, "And there was a great desire to get to
the light. I could tell it was a great, great
place. Full of love and peace and crap like
that. You know, postcard stuff. I remember the
whole rest of the night I was sort of blissed
out by having seen that."
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10.
Tony Bennett |
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Tony
Bennett (1926-- ) is an American singer
of traditional pop standards, big band, show
tunes, and jazz. He is the founder of the Frank
Sinatra School of the Arts in Astoria, Queens,
New York. He had his first number-one song with
"Because of You" in 1951 followed by several
top hits in the early 1950s. In 1962, Bennett
recorded signature song, "I
Left My Heart in San Francisco". He has
won 19 Grammy Awards, two Emmy Awards and has
sold over 50 million records worldwide. But
by the late 1970s, Bennett and his career
was ailing. He had no record label, no manager,
and he was performing almost exclusively in
Vegas. Living in Los Angeles, he had a drug
habit, a disintegrating marriage, and mounting
debts. Bennett described what led to his NDE
in 1979: "As hard as I tried to stay current
with my taxes, my financial situation only got
worse. The accountant called to say that the
IRS was starting proceedings to take away the
house. That night, in frustration I overindulged
and quickly realized I was in trouble. I tried
to calm myself down by taking a hot bath, but
I must have passed out. And I experienced what
some call a near-death experience."
In
his Bennett's book,
The Good Life: The Autobiography of Tony Bennett,
he describes his NDE: "A golden light
enveloped me in a warm glow" and a "clear,
yellow peaceful plane that everybody who
mentions a near-death experience sees" ...
"It was quite peaceful; in fact, I had the
sense that I was jolted out of the vision."
Bennett continues, "I had the sense that I was
about to embark on a very compelling journey.
But suddenly I was jolted out of the vision
... I knew I had to make major changes in my
life ... The tub was overflowing
and Sandra was standing above me. She'd heard
the water running for too long, and when she
came in, I wasn't breathing. She pounded on
my chest and literally brought me back to life.
As I was rushed to the hospital, the only thought
on my mind was something my ex-manager Jack
Rollins had told me about Lenny Bruce right
after Lenny's death from an overdose. All Jack
said was, 'The man sinned against his talent.'
That hit home. I realized I was throwing it
all away, and I became determined to clean up
my act." After this NDE, Bennett
did make the changes he needed for his
life and career to turn around. With the
help of his manager/son Danny, he began to
appeal to younger audiences with his music.
Beginning with scheduled concerts at
colleges and small theaters, he eventually
got re-signed to Columbia Records in the
mid-1980s although he hadn't recorded an
album in eleven years. Bennett also
appeared on hip shows like The Simpsons and
MTV's Unplugged. His Unplugged disk won Bennett a Grammy. Bennett exhibits all the aftereffects
of a person who has truly had a profound, life-enhancing
NDE.
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11.
Donald Sutherland |
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Donald
Sutherland (1935-- ) is a Canadian actor
whose film career spans 50 years. He is known
for playing a diverse range of characters, both
leading and supporting, including such films
as
M*A*S*H (1970), Kelly's Heroes (1970), Animal
House (1978), Invasion of the Body Snatchers
(1978), Ordinary People (1980), JFK (1991) and
Cold Mountain (2003).
According to Jean Ritchie's
book,
Death's Door: True Stories of Near-Death Experiences,
while filming Kelly's Heroes, Sutherland had
an NDE when he became ill with
a severe case of meningitis and his body shut down.
Sutherland describes it: "Suddenly the pain, fever and acute distress
seemed to evaporate. I was floating above my
body, surrounded by soft blue light. I began
to glide down a long tunnel, away from the bed
... but suddenly I found myself back in my body.
The doctors told me later that I had actually
died for a time." Southerland says his NDE
has made him more honest with himself and a
better actor: "If
you get on the Other Side, you're really alone
with yourself," he says. "I gave a commencement
speech at the University of Toronto this year.
One section had to do with being honest with
yourself. There's no point in not being (honest);
when you die, you die alone. You want to be
at one with yourself and responsible to yourself.
You really do not want to have too many regrets."
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12.
Erik Estrada |
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Erik
Estrada (1949-- ) is an American actor,
voice actor, and police officer best known for
his co-starring lead role in the police drama
television series
CHiPs which ran from 1977 to 1983. His
film credits include The Cross and the Switchblade
(1970), Airport (1974), Midway (1976), National
Lampoon's Van Wilder (2002), and numerous appearances
on TV.
In August 6, 1979, while
working on the set of CHIPS, Estrada had a horrific
accident which resulted in an NDE that he will never forget.
Estrada describes: "It was a shot where me and
Larry Wilcox, who is my partner on the show,
we're running out of a building and we jump
on the bikes and we're chasing a car." But then
something went terribly wrong and instead of
being seated on top of his motorcycle, Estrada
suddenly found the 600-pound vehicle on top
of him. Wilcox was the first to be at his side
and the Vietnam veteran kept Estrada from going
into shock. Both of Estrada's wrists were broken
and his lungs were punctured and filling up
with blood. He was having trouble breathing
and had a lot of internal bleeding. Wilcox rode
with Estrada in the ambulance. Wilcox
states: "I'll never forget
it. I could see in his eyes -- death -- and
I've seen it, you know, I know what it looks
like ... It's almost like the spirit's leaving
the body." At the hospital a priest came in
to give him his last rights. Doctors had anticipated
that Estrada had ruptured his aorta and his
heart. Death could be a matter of seconds. At
first they thought they would have to
immediately perform open-heart
surgery. But the situation almost
miraculously
ruled that out. But Estrada still had other serious
life threatening conditions to deal with including
collapsed lungs, numerous broken ribs and several
unspecified internal injuries.
While
he was in intensive care, Estrada had an NDE:
"At the foot of my bed were four people that
I knew: a friend of mine from New York, my Dad
who was in a wheelchair -- he was always in
a wheelchair -- my mother, and a friend of the
family who was with my mother. And they were
looking at me; but they had really sad faces
on them. My mother was crying. So I got out
of the bed and walked towards them. And I was
maybe three, four inches away, five inches away
from them. And they didn't see me. They just
kept looking, like looking through me. They
were looking past me. And I turned around and
I saw what they were looking at." At this point,
Estrada's spirit was no longer in his body.
Shocked at seeing himself outside of his body,
Estrada knew the only way he would ever
leave the intensive care unit alive was by re-entering
his physical body. But something else
happened instead: "Suddenly I was in a long corridor
with bright lights, beautiful music, and a feeling
of great peace. But something seemed to be blocking
my progress. A voice told me, 'You've got to
go back. You've a lot still to do. You've achieved
success and stardom but you haven't achieved
personal happiness and peace of mind.'" After
hearing this voice, Estrada found himself back
in his body.
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13.
Burt Reynolds |
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Burt
Reynolds (1936-- ) is an American actor,
director and producer who has starred in many
television series and feature films, such as
Deliverance (1972), The Longest Yard (1974),
Smokey and the Bandit (1977) and The Cannonball
Run (1981). He also won two Golden Globe Awards,
one for Best Actor in a Television Series Musical
or Comedy for Evening Shade (1990-1994) and
one for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture
for Boogie Nights (1997).
In 1983, on
his first day of shooting the film
City Heat (1984) with Clint Eastwood,
Renolds was accidentally hit in the face
with a metal chair during a fight scene
which broke his jaw and shattered his
temporomandibular joint. Reynolds was
restricted to a liquid diet, causing him to
lose over 30 pounds by the time filming
wrapped. His condition made headlines in the
tabloids, which speculated he had AIDS. What
Reynolds actually was suffering from was
temporo-mandibular joint dysfunction, or
TMJ disorder, the pain from which would
later cause an addiction to the analgesics
used for pain relief. Reynolds describes the
pain as "worse than a migraine ... It never
stops ... You can't stand up. You can't move
your head. It's like the worst seasickness
all day long. And you lie there in bed." In
response to the pain, Reynolds became
addicted to a collection of painkillers
including morphione. But he nearly died from
an addiction to the controversial sleeping
pill
Halcion which he was hooked on for more
than four years. The pain from the injury
was so intense that he took five to six
pills at a time and as many as 50 a day. But
when he tried to quit his addiction cold
turkey, something went terribly wrong.
Because of his severe dependence on the
drugs, and because of his sudden lack of
intake, Reynolds slipped into a coma for
eight to nine hours. Reynolds told the story
of his addiction and his NDE in a
1992 issue of TV Guide. Reynolds said
that during the time he was comatose in a
Los Angeles hospital, doctors brought in his
wife, Loni Anderson, so she could say
goodbye to him. He stated, "I went into a
coma for about eight or nine hours. At one
point they tell me that the doctors brought
Loni in to say goodbye to me. And I had the
whole out-of-body experience. I heard the
doctor say, 'We're losing him.' And I was
going."
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14.
Chevy Chase |
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Chevy
Chase (1943-- ) is an American actor, comedian,
writer, and producer who rose to fame as a key
cast member in the debut season of
Saturday Night Live. Chase is also well known
for his portrayal of the character Clark Griswold
in five National Lampoon's Vacation films, and
for his roles in comedies including Foul Play
(1978), Caddyshack (1980), Seems Like Old Times
(1980), Modern Problems (1981), Fletch (1985),
Spies Like Us (1985), and Three Amigos (1986).
While working on the film Modern Problems,
Chase was electrocuted which resulted in an NDE.
Chase was
playing the role of an air traffic controller
who developed telekinetic powers after being
exposed
to radioactive soap suds. According to Rena
Fruchter's biography of Chase, I'm
Chevy Chase and You're Not, Chase was being
prepared for a sequence in the film during
which he was dreaming of landing a plane. Large lights were
put on his arms for the scene, and the special
effects people had arranged to
attach the lights with plastic and rubber insulation
over his shirt. The director thought the lights
should be attached directly to his skin; but
Chase hated electricity and knew AC power was
deadly. But no one involved agreed with him.
"It's perfectly safe," they said. "Don't worry.
We can test it." Chase gave in. They attached
the lights and "turned the juice on. For ten
seconds, I was screaming, as this electric current
was going through my body. Screaming 'Turn it
off, turn it off!'"
Known
for being a prankster, everyone thought Chase
was joking around. So they ignored him and continued
the test. "They thought I was kidding, until
I hit the floor." Chase nearly died in this
episode of his life and it resulted in an
NDE. "I woke up with a paramedic
infiltrating my arm with a needle, trying to
get an IV hooked up." The pain of the attempt
woke Chase up. "I remember opening my eyes and
I was laid out on a blanket." Chase was then
taken to an emergency room.
The electric
cuffs had left black burn marks on Chase's arms,
but more seriously, the electricity ended up burning the
muscles in his arms and shoulders. It took
a couple of years for Chase to heal completely
during which he was
weakened and depressed. Chase often found himself crying
uncontrollably while in the hospital. The doctor
explained to him that the electrocution had
caused a near-death experience and that a strong
emotional response was not unexpected. Chase
spent a few days in the hospital and went back
to the set. "For at least a year,
I wouldn't turn a light on or off. I asked Jayni
to do it," Chevy remembers.
Chase says
he fought off the effects of his NDE by working, but he
still remained weak
and depressed. A few months later, he was shocked
to learn of the death of
John Belushi. John's
death on March 5, 1982, from a mixture of heroin
and cocaine, was difficult for Chevy to handle.
He couldn't figure out how to deal with it.
He was angry, devastated, and yet couldn't seem
to mourn Belushi's death. He didn't go to the
funeral; the loss stayed with him for a long
time, and it wasn't until several years later
that he finally broke down and cried.
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15.
Eric Roberts |
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Eric
Roberts (1956-- ) is an American actor,
the brother of Academy Award winning actress
Julia Roberts, whose
career began with a well-received performance
in
King of the Gypsies (1978) for which he
earned his first Golden Globe Award nomination.
His second Golden Globe nomination came for
his portrayal of Paul Snider in Star 80 (1983),
followed by Globe and Academy Award nominations
for his supporting role in Runaway Train (1985).
He achieved recent recognition for his feat
of acting in over 150 films between 2013 and
2015. He also starred in the
Dannion Brinkley
true account of his NDE,
the movie
Saved by the Light (1995).
In June of 1981, when
Roberts was 25 years-old, he was involved in
a vehicle accident which left him with a
severe brain injury and in a coma.
During his coma, he had an out-of-body experience
and an NDE. When he returned to his body and
awoke from his coma, he
had severe memory loss. Then a mysterious Romanian
couple, whom Roberts wasn't acquainted with, appeared at his bedside
and told Roberts they knew him. They told him
he was severely injured and would have to
take a particular medicine
to regain his memory.
Once Roberts was able to leave the hospital,
he followed their instructions and his memory
was restored as they foretold. The bizarre
aspect to Robert's entire experience was that no one
else at the hospital had seen the Romanian couple.
Roberts
was driving his Jeep at about 35 or 40 mph when
he took his hands off the wheel for a moment
and his eyes of the road. The result was an
accident that left him with significant facial
and head trauma, and comatose for four days.
During his coma, he had an out-of-body experience.
He describes it as follows: "Now I’m not out
of the coma ... but I see 'myself' over myself
... my face looking at my face -- I could actually
feel my breath. I'm that close. Then I started
rising ... and I rise so high that the bed is
about the size of my thumbnail. I can either
come back to my body or not, and I chose to
come back to my body."
When he awoke
from his coma, he remembered little of his life.
His arm was in a sling. He had intravenous tubes
coming out of his body, and he couldn't feel
the right side of my body. He had hit the left
side of his body so hard that the right side
was about totally gone of any feeling. The doctor
told him his heart had stopped twice.
Two days later, while Eric was depressed
and contemplating living
with severe memory loss for the rest of his
life, an elderly couple looking
like gypsies whom he didn't recognize came to
visit him in the hospital. They said they were
from Romania and they gave him specific instructions
about medicine to take that would help him regain
his memory. They told him he must start
taking "Vasta Macoline" because he "had
suffered a tremendous brain injury" and he's
"going to have a severe loss of memory." They also told him
that after about a month of taking Vasta Macoline,
he would have to begin taking "the hard stuff"
called "Aslavital" or "Gerovital".
They explained to Roberts that "Aslavital" or
"Gerovital" is a "youth serum" and a "memory
enhancer". They also said the
medicine was illegal, but can be gotten under
the counter in most drug stores. They wrote
down the names of the medicines for him, smiled,
then turned and slowly left the room. After
a month of hospitalization, it took Roberts about a week or two until he decided
to go to the pharmacy to ask about these medicines.
He went to the pharmacy where he knew the pharmacist
and staff well to get the Aslavital and Gerovital.
Roberts discovered
the medicine was not approved by the FDA; but
because the pharmacist knew Roberts, he sold
it to him. Roberts took the medicine as the mysterious
couple suggested and within a week his memories
began to return. No one else at the hospital
had seen the mysterious couple from Romania.
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16.
George Lucas |
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George
Lucas (1944-- ) is an American filmmaker
and entrepreneur who is best known as the creator
of the
Star Wars and Indiana Jones franchises,
as well as the founder of Lucasfilm and Industrial
Light & Magic. Five of Lucas's seven features
are among the 100 highest-grossing movies at
the North American box office. He is one of
the American film industry's most financially
successful filmmakers, and has been personally
nominated for four Academy Awards. He is also
considered a significant figure in the New Hollywood
era.
As a youngster, Lucas was considered
a punk - a non-achiever, romantic, unathletic,
unassertive, and not studious. According to
his father, he was good at only two things:
cruising and hanging out. Wanting to race cars
seemed to be his only ambition. While Lucas
was in high school, he had his heart set on
becoming a professional race car driver. Then
on June 12, 1962, just three days before he
was to graduate from high school, without warning
or advance behavior cues, Lucas was involved
in a spectacular, near-fatal car crash which
made him suddenly aware of his mortality. While
driving his souped-up Autobianchi Bianchina,
another driver going 90 mph broadsided him,
causing Lucas' car to flip over, nearly killing
him. For three days he hung between life and
death and was hospitalized for two weeks more.
Lucas was not conscious of having an NDE, yet
he behaves as if he'd had one.
It
was such a horrible accident, it caused him
to lose interest in racing as a career and reevaluate
his life. He became obsessed with the idea of
living a meaningful life, transforming overnight
from a "directionless loafer" into "the guy
who always works harder than everyone else."
Lucas states, "You can't have that kind of experience
and not feel that there must be a reason why
you're here. I realized I should be spending
my time trying to figure out what that reason
is and trying to fulfill it." His convalescence
left him little to do but read: mostly science
fiction and comic books. Since the accident,
he views every day as a bonus. "In high school,
I lived to be a race car driver. I was in a
very bad accident and so then I reevaluated
all that. I said maybe there's something else
for me. Maybe there's a reason I survived this
accident that nobody should have survived which
nobody should have survived. I should be dead.
From that moment on, I said, you know, I'm going
to get an extra day. I'm gonna get an extra
day and today is my extra day. So, I got a bonus.
It did give me a perspective on life that said,
you know, basically I'm operating on extra credit.
I can do anything I want, so therefore, let's
just go for it. I'm never afraid of dying. What
I'm getting is bonus material." Eventually,
his dream developed into a love of film and
photography of car races. Capturing the nostalgia
of his teenage years in the early 1960s resulted
in his first box office hit with the film
American Graffiti. This in turn allowed
Lucas to take a bolder artistic risk. He told
Time magazine, "I wanted Star Wars to have an
epic quality, so I went back to the epics. Whether
they are subconscious or unconscious, whatever
needs they meet, they are stories that have
pleased or provided comfort to people for thousands
of years."
But
it was stumbling on
mythologist
Joseph Campbell’s work about the
hero’s journey,
The Hero with a Thousand Faces, that brought
Lucas’ efforts into focus. Lucas says that if
it hadn’t been for Campbell's influence, he
may have still been writing Star Wars years
later. Joseph Campbell often noted that while
"mythic
structure" is universal, myth itself must
be kept fresh through reinterpretation. Every
generation must recontextualize myth to suit
their times, to create their own road map for
how to fit best into the world. One of Campbell's
messages is that mythic structure is more than
the underlying
archetype of a good story; myth teaches
us how to live well. Lucas learned the underlying
mythic principals of storytelling through Campbell's
writings. And it appears Lucas used the movie
Star Wars to create a mythic map of his life
using various mythical elements associated with
his life. Lucus' nickname in high school was
"Luke", the same name as Luke Skywalker, the
main character in the movie. As it was with
Lucas, Skywalker struggled to find his place
in the vast universe. You can see it in how
Skywalker looked to the stars for answers. Like
Skywalker, Lucas was stuck in the backwoods
(Modesto, CA) and dreamed of adventures far
away. The hero, Skywalker, reaches the edge
of death (against Darth Vadar), receives a piece
of magic (the Force), then brings that magic
back home to save his community (defeating the
dark side). Campbell teaches how the archetypal
"belly of the whale" (i.e., the near-death experience)
tends to be where the hero finds the magic he'll
later use to overcome his final ordeal. Star
Wars, as a universal myth, is powerful because
it is an embodiment of the universal lessons
Lucas learned from his NDE. After the release
of Star Wars, Campbell and Lucas became friends.
Campbell credited Lucas with reinvigorating
the mythic force in the modern world. In return
Lucas reignited worldwide interest in Campbell's
ideas, which have had profound repercussions
on world culture in general and Hollywood in
particular. Lucas once called Campbell "my Yoda."
Watch an
Oprah video interview presentation of George
Lucus discussing his NDE.
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17.
Ozzy Osbourne |
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Ozzy
Osbourne (1948-- ) is an English singer,
songwriter, and television personality who rose
to prominence in the early 1970s as the lead
vocalist of the band
Black Sabbath, widely considered to be the
first heavy metal band. Osbourne has also had
a successful solo career, releasing 11 studio
albums. Osbourne's longevity and success has
earned him the informal title of "Godfather
of Heavy Metal"
In 2003, Osbourne "died
twice" in an all-terrain vehicle (ATV) bike
accident which left him in a coma for eight
days with multiple injuries including fractured
vertebrae, eight rib fractures, a partially
collapsed lung and a badly fractured left collarbone.
The accident happened at his 150-acre Victorian
estate in Buckinghamshire, England while riding
across the sprawling, uneven landscape for what
would be one unexpected trip. Osbourne said
at the time of his accident he was going, "pretty
fast," and was not wearing a helmet while on
the 600-pound vehicle. He was riding with his
bodyguard who recalled the accident. "I see
the bike hit some berms, and it starts to bounce,
and Ozzy's holding on," said Sam Ruston. "But
what happens is the back end of the bike comes
up off the ground, throwing him forward and
over the handlebars." Ruston explained that
the ATV whipped on top of Osbourne, landing
on his back, neck and shoulder. "As the bike's
tumbling and he's tumbling, he actually somehow
gets entangled in the bike, and he's rolling
with the bike," said Ruston. When Ruston approached
the fallen star, he was lying face down and
needed a lot of help. "I turned him over and
I put my head on his chest, and I hear -- no
breath, no heartbeat, nothing," said Ruston.
Osbourne
says, "If it wasn't for Sam I probably wouldn't
be here. He had to bring me back to life twice."
When Osbourne stopped breathing a second time,
Ruston again provided assistance. "He was the
weirdest blue color when I turned him over …
so -- I again cleared his throat, and -- I just
gave one good breath, and he started breathing
again." An MTV camera crew member radioed for
emergency help. Osbourne was then rushed to
the hospital and placed in intensive care.
He described his confusion he had felt on
gradually coming round from his coma. "I didn't
know where I was or how long I'd been there.
I would drift in and out of consciousness. Other
times there would be a white light shining through
the darkness, but no F##king angels, no one
blowing trumpets and no man in a white beard."
Osbourne, who has battled addictions to drink
and drugs, said the crash finally made him "grow
up." Osbourne stated, "You are bopping along
through life and have your ups and downs, but
it is amazing how two or three seconds can totally
change your life." "It was just a terrible,
a terrible accident," said Osbourne. "The last
thing I remember, what I do remember is I got
on the bike and, and something in my mind went
'bad move. There's something's really bad is
gonna happen.' And I go oo-huh-oh."
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18. Nikki
Sixx |
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Nikki
Sixx (1958-- ) is an American musician,
songwriter, radio host, and photographer, best
known as the co-founder, bassist, and primary
songwriter of the band
Mötley Crüe. On December 23, 1987, after
a night of drug-fueled partying Sixx injected
himself with one last syringe of heroin -- and
promptly passed out cold. Unfortunately, this
overdose wasn’t like the others; he had turned
blue, and couldn’t be roused. In Sixx’s book,
The Heroin Diaries: A Year in the Life of a
Shattered Rock Star, a recent U.S. transplant
named Sally McLaughlin recalls frantically giving
the rocker mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. The
paramedics arrived and gave Sixx adrenaline,
although not before he had an out-of-body experience.
As he recounts in
The Dirt: Confessions of the World’s Most Notorious
Rock Band: "I tried to sit up to figure
out what was going on. I thought it would be
hard to lift my body. But to my surprise, I
shot upright, as if I weighed nothing. Then
it felt as if something very gentle was grabbing
my head and pulling me upward. Above me, everything
was bright white. I looked down and realized
I had left my body. Nikki Sixx -- or the filthy,
tattooed container that had once held him --
was lying covered face-to-toe with a sheet on
a gurney being pushed by medics into an ambulance."
Amid
this pandemonium, word leaked to the radio and
other members of the band that Sixx had died.
But then -- miracle of miracles -- Sixx eventually
woke up just a few hours later. True to form,
he was not thrilled to be in the hospital, and
left it in style.
Sixx celebrated the
25th anniversary of his NDE in December 2012
in a very public manner, posting on Facebook:
"25 years ago today I had two almost-fatal drug
overdoses that changed my life forever. I can’t
even see myself these days as that kid who was
running head strong into the abyss, but I know
he taught me how to live when he finally decided
to do it for himself."
Sixx told CNN
that during this 1987 close call, he went out
of body and "saw things I shouldn’t have been
able to see. I saw the hotel hallway, the ambulance,
the limo that was there. I couldn’t have seen
that because there was a sheet over me." In
fact, the two adrenalin shots that restarted
his heart also inspired the song, Kickstart
My Heart. Five years later, Nikki Sixx says
he kicked the habit for good -- and is now said
to be two decades sober.
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19.
Roy Horn (of Siegfried & Roy) |
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Roy Horn (1944--2020) is one of the German-American duo of
former stage magicians and entertainers
known as Siegfried &
Roy. Horn's other partner is
Siegfried Fischbacher;
and together, they were known for their
spectacular appearances with
white lions and white tigers. From 1990
until 2003, the duo performed at the
Mirage Resort and Casino which was regarded
as the most-visited show in Las Vegas, Nevada.
On October 3, 2003, the great stage show
that was Siegfried & Roy came to an abrupt
end. During a live show at the Mirage, Horn
was apparently bitten in the neck by his
380-pound, 7-year-old male white tiger named
Montecore in front of 1,500 horrified
audience members. Crew members separated
Horn from the tiger and rushed him to
University Medical Center. Horn was
critically injured, sustained severe blood
loss and was not expected to live. The
show’s producer said, "The first three days
were truly touch and go ... [Siegfried] had
to make some very quick decisions,
life-saving decisions" about whether doctors
should perform those potentially dangerous
operations. Doctors described Horn's
survival as a miracle. According to Shriver,
"This is a guy who had come back from the
impossible. He has defied everybody’s single
belief that he would be here today." Indeed,
Horn had defied all odds and made a
remarkable recovery, despite having part of
his brain removed, suffering a crushed
windpipe and being partially paralyzed. By 2006,
Horn was talking and walking (with
assistance from Siegfried), although he has
not yet gained use of his left side. The
injury to Horn prompted
the Mirage to close the show, and in February
2009, the duo staged a final appearance with
Montecore as a benefit for the
Lou Ruvo Brain
Institute. In 2010, Siegfried & Roy retired
from show business.
During
an hour-long NBC special with Maria Shriver
called "Siegfried & Roy: The Miracle,"
doctors described how they resuscitated
Horn, whose heart stopped for about a
minute. In the interview with Shriver,
Horn described the NDE he had while on the
operating table. "I saw a bank of white
light, and then I saw all my beloved
animals," Horn said. "For a moment I stepped
out of my body." Asked
by Shriver what he was thinking at the time,
Horn said, "Dear God, let this be just a bad
nightmare." It is not uncommon for people to
have NDEs and
see their beloved pets in heaven.
Siegfried and Roy have strongly disagreed
with the reports claiming Roy was attacked
by the tiger. They insist Roy had suffered
the stroke while on stage and any injury by the tiger was secondary and
accidental. They insist Montecore was merely
responding by picking up Roy and moving him
out of the way to protect him, accidentally
severing his artery in the process. While
being taken to the hospital, Roy said
"Montecore is a great cat. Make sure no harm
comes to Montecore." Montecore died in 2014 at
the age of 17 after a
short illness.
Horn released a statement upon the tiger's
death: "The world has lost one of its most
majestic creatures and I have lost a
brother. I will forever believe it was his
concern for my safety and well-being that
caused him to act as he did on that night
long ago. We spent many hours together and
he never failed to bring me great joy and
wonderment. It was my great honor to be
beside him at the end. He is now playing
with his siblings in White Tiger heaven ...
His contribution to the avalanche of
awareness for conservation and preservation
has made him unforgettable. His spirit will
live forever with Siegfried & Roy and his
multitude of fans."
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20.
Jeremy Kagan |
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Jeremy
Kagan (1945-- ) is an American film and
television director, screenwriter, and television
producer whose feature film credits include
the box-office hit
Heroes (1977), The Big Fix(1978), The Chosen
(1981), The Journey of Natty Gann (1985), Big
Man on Campus (1989), By The Sword (1991), and
Golda's Balcony (2006). Kagan has won an Emmy
Award for Outstanding Directing, a Directors
Guild nomination, a CableACE Award for Best
Dramatic Special, a Golden Globe Award nomination
and more.
In 1994, while participating in a Native American
sweat lodge ritual, Kagan had an NDE. After leaving his
body, he reportedly entered a personal hell,
escaping, and then exploring various spiritual
realities. Among
other things, Kagan reports becoming aware of
everything he had ever perceived, actual or
imagined. His personal story, or life review,
eventually morphed into the story of humankind
which he felt he had created: "Everything
I had seen and heard -- all the events I have
known about, all the media I had watched, every
movie, TV show, book, image, human I had met
or seen or heard about -- all of them -- I had
made them all up! Everything known on my path
as this particular human being had been of my
making. My imagining. And all the creations
made by others -- even the very existence of
others -- all of this had originated in my mind."
Watch a YouTube video presentation of
Jeremy Kagan discussing his NDE. Kagan published a book
in Amazon Kindle format about
his NDE entitled
My Death: A Personal Guidebook.
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21.
Ronald Reagan |
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Ronald
Reagan (1911--2004) was a Hollywood actor,
an American politician who served as the 33rd
Governor of California (1967-1975), and the
40th
President of the United States (1981-1989).
Reagan's policies have been credited
for the prosperous economy of the
'80s; for bringing
a peaceful end to the Cold War; and for restoring American pride, morale
and faith in the American Dream. When he left
office, Reagan held an approval rating of 68%
percent, matching those of Franklin D. Roosevelt,
and later Bill Clinton, as the highest ratings
for departing presidents in the modern era.
Twice President Reagan faced life-threatening
experiences and twice he reported having encounters with
angelic beings who comforted him and helped
pull him through his medical crises, says a
book by Mary Beth Brown entitled,
The Faith of Ronald Reagan. As Reagan was
fighting for his life after being shot by John
Hinckley on March 30, 1981, he was having trouble
breathing. His skin had turned so pale, Nancy
Reagan remembers, "He was the color of paper
-- just as white as a sheet, with dried blood
around his mouth." President Reagan later recalled looking
up from the gurney and praying. Half-conscious,
he realized someone was holding his hand. "It
was a soft, feminine hand," he writes in his
autobiography,
An American Life. "I felt it come up and
touch mine and then hold on tight to it. It
gave me a wonderful feeling. Even now I find
it difficult to explain how reassuring, how
wonderful, it felt." Despite great efforts to
find out who was holding his hand, no one in
the hospital could help the president. Reagan’s
children believe those mysterious nurses who
helped pull their father through this life-threatening
ordeal were angels. "Patty believes they were
angels, and so do I," said Michael Reagan, who
wrote the foreword to
The Faith of Ronald Reagan.
The
president had experienced a similar event when
he was critically ill with viral pneumonia many
decades before. He had been working on a movie
with Shirley Temple when he became gravely sick.
Reagan described days and nights of shivering
with chills and burning with fever. His temperature
kept rising, and it was difficult to breathe.
"Finally I decided I’d be more comfortable not
breathing," recalled Reagan. "I don’t know what
time of night it was when I told the nurse I
was too tired to breathe. 'Now let it out,'
she’d say. 'Come on now, breathe in once more.' This went on all night." Reagan says he decided
to keep breathing out of courtesy to the nurse.
Once again, despite his efforts to thank the
mysterious nurse, Reagan could never locate
her. This led family members to consider other
possibilities -- such as angelic visitations.
In
The Faith of Ronald Reagan, Brown makes the case
that the secret ingredient to Reagan’s astonishingly
successful presidency, never before explored
fully in print, was his deep Christian faith.
Even in death, Reagan demonstrated how miracles
could still happen to him. Reagan's brain
had been destroyed
by
Alzheimer's
after over a decade of suffering from the
disease. He had not
been able to recognize his wife Nancy for a
number of years. He could no longer talk, walk
or feed himself. Then on June 5, 2004, at 93
years of age, after being in a coma for
several days,
Reagan miraculously opened his eyes. He then
rose, stared for awhile directly into
Nancy’s eyes for one last look of deep
acknowledgment, then took his last breath
and died. Reagan's daughter Patti told
People magazine: "At the last moment, when his breathing
told us this was it, he opened his eyes and
looked
straight at my mother. Eyes that hadn't
opened for days did, and they weren't chalky
or vague. They were clear and blue and full
of love. And they closed with his last breath.
If a death can be lovely, his was." Patti
and her brother Ron were standing next to
their father's bed when the astonishing
interchange between their parents took
place. "In his last moment he taught me that
there is nothing stronger than love between
two people, two souls," she states. "It was
the last thing he could do to show my mother
how entwined their souls are and it was
everything." The former President died just
before Michael Reagan entered his father's
room, but he said the look on Nancy face
revealed she had been given a gift even as
she began to mourn her loss. "His last
earthy look was at his wife, his next look
was at the face of God," Michael Reagan told
People. The Reagans' personal physician, Dr.
John Hutton, could not rule out the
possibility that Ronald Reagan recognized
his wife of 52 years just before he died.
"Whereas one could not explain it on any
medical or physiological terms, I think
there must be something to this," Hutton
said. "It's something that if you believe in
it, you should take great joy and happiness
in your belief," he said, adding that such
moments have more to do with "the belief of
people and their faith."
Despite
having had years to prepare for his departure,
Patti said the reality was crushing her
mother, said the article, titled "Reagan rose
from coma for last look at Nancy." After nursing
her husband of 52 years through a final devastating
decade of Alzheimer's -- what is commonly known
as "the long goodbye" -- Mrs. Reagan was relieved
at his passing according to the article. "While
it is an extremely sad time for Mrs. Reagan,
there is definitely a sense of relief that he
is no longer suffering and that he has gone
to another place."
The deathbed
phenomena experienced by Reagan during his end-of-life
coma is known in the medical literature as "terminal
lucidity."
It is considered by parapsychologists as evidence suggesting the
mind can function without a brain; and
therefore, evidence suggesting survival of consciousness
after death. Terminal lucidity often comes
as a complete surprise to those who attend
the dying, and the dying person may appear
completely restored to mental health for
even minutes and hours before death. According to terminal lucidity
pioneer researcher
Michael Nahm, "The most remarkable cases
involve patients whose brains were destroyed
by diseases such as tumors and Alzheimer’s disease,
but who seemed to recover shortly before death
with their memory being intact." He defines
"terminal lucidity" as "the re-emergence of
normal or unusually enhanced mental abilities
in dull, unconscious, or mentally ill patients
shortly before death, including considerable
elevation of mood and spiritual affectation,
or the ability to speak in a previously unusual
spiritualized and elated manner."
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22.
Johnny Cash |
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Johnny
Cash (1932--2003) was an American singer-songwriter,
guitarist, actor, and author, who was widely
considered one of the most influential musicians
of the 20th century and one of the best-selling
music artists of all time, having sold more
than 90 million records worldwide. His crossover appeal won Cash the rare
honor of multiple inductions in the Country
Music, Rock and Roll and Gospel Music Halls
of Fame. He traditionally began his concerts
with the simple "Hello, I'm Johnny Cash",
followed by his signature song,
Folsom Prison Blues.
According to
Cash: The Autobiography, Cash had
several personal spiritual experiences
including an NDE in 1988. His first
spiritual experience came when his older
brother, Jack, died, of whom he was very
close to. In May 1944, Jack was pulled into
a whirling head saw in the mill where he
worked and was almost cut in two. He
suffered for over a week before he died on
May 20, at the age of 15. Cash often spoke
of the horrible guilt he felt over the incident. His father
was away that morning, but he and his mother,
and Jack himself, all had premonitions or a
sense of foreboding about that day, causing
his mother to urge Jack to skip work and go
fishing with his brother. Jack insisted on working,
as the family needed the money. On his deathbed,
Jack said he had visions of heaven and angels.
Decades later, Cash spoke of looking forward
to meeting his brother in heaven. Johnny wrote
that he had seen his brother many times in his
dreams, and that Jack always looked two years
older than whatever age Cash himself was at
that moment.
Then
in 1968 Cash had a second spiritual experience
-- a spiritual epiphany --
while inside the
Nickajack Cave in Tennessee.
He entered the large cave when attempting to
commit suicide while under the heavy influence
of drugs. He descended deeper into the cave,
trying to lose himself and "just die", when
he passed out on the floor. He reported being
exhausted and feeling at the end of his rope
when he felt God's presence in his heart and
managed to struggle out of the cave (despite
the exhaustion) by following a faint light and
slight breeze. To him, it was his own rebirth.
Later, his family help him conquer his addiction and
June Carter agreed to marry Cash after he had
"cleaned up". Cash curtailed his use of drugs
for several years since then and rediscovered
his Christian faith. But according to longtime
friend Marshall Grant, Cash's 1968 rebirth experience
did not result in his completely stopping use
of amphetamines. However, beginning in 1970,
Cash ended all drug use for a period of seven
years.
In December of 1988,
after having emergency double coronary bypass
surgery, Cash developed double pneumonia and
his life suddenly hung in the balance.
During that time, he reportedly caught a
glmpse of heaven during
an NDE but was brought back. He described
traveling toward a "peaceful light", but
became very angry at having to return. His
NDE totally convinced him of the reality of
heaven: "I just don't have any fear of death
... I'm very much at peace with myself and
with God ... And when he sees fit to take me
from this world, I'll be reunited with some
good people I haven't seen for a while ...
That great light is a light that now leads
me on and directs me and guides me. That
great light is the light of this world. That
great light is the light out of this world,
and into that better world. And I'm lookin'
forward to walkin' into that great light."
Cash says his NDE is something that
completely changed his life. After his NDE,
Cash became more spiritual and he produced more gospel albums.
Cash died on September
12, 2003, at the age of 71 from complications
from diabetes -- less than four months after
the death of his wife. It was suggested that Johnny's health
worsened due to a broken heart over his wife's
death. Watch a
MTV video presentation of Johnny Cash discussing
his NDE.
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23.
George Foreman |
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George
Foreman (1949-- ) is an American former
professional boxer. In his boxing career he
was a two-time
world heavyweight champion and
Olympic gold medalist. Outside the sport he
went on to become an ordained minister, author
and entrepreneur. Foreman has been inducted
into the World Boxing Hall of Fame and the International
Boxing Hall of Fame. The International Boxing
Research Organization rates Foreman as the 8th
greatest heavyweight of all-time.
In 1977, Foreman
participated in a boxing match in Puerto Rico against
the skilled opponent Jimmy Young, The fight lasted
for 12 rounds and resulted in Foreman losing
in a decision. After the fight, Foreman returned
to his hot, stuffy dressing room. The building's
air-conditioning wasn't working that night, and
it was intensely hot and smothering. Still running
on adrenalin, Foreman paced back and forth in
the room trying to cool down. Sweat pouring
down his face and chest, he had never been so
hot in his life. Suddenly, he was overcome with
the fear that he was about to die. In Foreman's autobiography,
God in My Corner: A Spiritual Memoir, Foreman
wrote: "I had heard about
boxers dying after big fights. Was I next? That's
not going to happen to me! I assured myself."
Then an otherworldly voice interrupted his thoughts,
"You believe in God. Why are you afraid to die?"
This voice only terrified Foreman even more.
In fact, the heavy weight champion of the world
said he had never been so afraid in his life.
He believed in God, but not in religion which
he thought was only for the "pitiful".
With death staring
him in the face, Foreman had a life review where
he saw "favorite things that had happened during
my life, recalling them like a video tape running
fast-forward, as though I knew somehow that
it was about to end." At this point, Foreman
was crying and trying to make a financial deal
with the voice. Foreman was very rich at the
time and he bargained that he would give his money
to poor. The voice replied, "I don't want your
money. I want YOU!" Finally, Foreman said, "God,
I believe in You -- but not enough to die."
It was then that Foreman collapsed to the floor
and had an out-of-body experience. It was later
determined he was suffering from exhausting
and had a heatstroke.
Foreman
described his NDE as follows: "Instantly I was transported
into a deep,
dark void, like a bottomless pit
... I was suspended in emptiness, with nothing
over my head or under my feet ... This was a
place of total isolation, cut off from everything
and everyone ... It can only be described as
a vacant space of extreme hopelessness ... I
knew I was dead, and this wasn't heaven ...
Sorrow beyond description engulfed my soul,
more than anyone could ever imagine ... If you
multiplied every disturbing and frightening
thought that you've ever had during your entire
life, that wouldn't come close to the panic
I felt ... Although I couldn't see anyone, I
was aware of other people in this terrible place
-- The place reeked with the putrid smell of
death ... This place was a vacuum without light,
love, or happiness ... In that place, I had
no hope for tomorrow -- or of ever getting out."
Then Foreman screamed
with all his might, "I don't care if this is
death. I still believe there's a God!" Instantly,
what appeared to be a gigantic hand reached
down into the darkness and pulled Foreman out
of the void. With that, he suddenly found himself
back in his body on the table in the dressing room. He awoke
with great joy! He was no longer in hell;
and God had rescued him. While on the
table, Foreman suddenly had a vision of Jesus
standing over him, thorns on his head, and
blood dripping on Foreman's head. Upon
seeing this, Foreman described an intense
born-again experience:
"Every hostile emotion had been drained out
of me, and a spigot of God's love had been turned
on inside me, filling me up, and overflowing
out of me." To the total surprise of everyone
in the dressing room, Foreman suddenly sat straight
up and yelled at the top of his lungs, "Jesus
Christ is coming alive in me!" Jumping off the
table and overcome with an intense love for
everyone, Foreman then hugged everyone in the
room -- telling them how much he loved them.
Everyone, most of whom had known Foreman for
years, didn't know what to think about this
unusual behavior. It was so out of character
for him; he wouldn't stop talking about Jesus,
and no one could shut him up. He was now praising
the name of Jesus, the name everyone had only
heard him use in vain. His doctor / friend tried
to explain it away by telling him, "George,
you just got your bell rung."
Since his NDE,
Foreman says he is no longer
afraid of dying and has found
great peace and happiness with himself and God. Foreman eventually
stopped boxing and became an ordained minister,
initially preaching on street corners before
becoming the reverend at the
Church of the Lord
Jesus Christ in Houston and devoting himself
to his family and his congregation. He also
opened a youth center bearing his name. Foreman
continues to share his conversion experience
on Christian television broadcasts such as The
700 Club and the Trinity Broadcasting Network
and later joked that Jimmy Young had knocked
the devil out of him. Watch a
YouTube video presentation of George Foreman
discussing his NDE.
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24.
Elvis Presley |
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Elvis
Presley (1935--1977) is one of the most
celebrated, influential musicians, and most
significant cultural icons of the 20th century.
He is the best-selling solo artist in the history
of recorded music with estimated record sales
of around 600 million units worldwide. He is
regarded as the catalyst for the cultural revolution
that was
Rock and Roll, with its racially mixed origins
facilitating a new acceptance and appreciation
of black culture. In this regard, Little Richard
said of Presley, "He was an integrator. Elvis
was a blessing. They wouldn't let black music
through. He opened the door for black music."
Today, Elvis is the second highest-earning deceased
celebrity with Michael Jackson being the first..
Immediately after Elvis' untimely death
at the age of 42, there were numerous alleged
sightings of him. This resulted in a long-standing
theory among his fans is that he faked his death.
Fans have noted alleged discrepancies in the
death certificate, reports of an alleged wax
dummy in his original coffin and numerous accounts
of Presley planning a diversion so he could
retire in peace. But this phenomenon,
commonly known as "Elvis sightings," are known to
parapsychologists as a real phenomenon called
"after-death communications"
or ADCs. In Elvis' case,
the ADC reports of Elvis' apparition appearing
to living people occurred much in the same way Jesus
reportedly appeared to his disciples after his death. ADCs
are a very common phenomena, especially
among people who have recently lost a loved
one and are grieving.
After Elvis
died, some people also reported seeing Elvis
during an NDE. NDEs
frequently involve the experiencer being greeted
by someone - usually someone they deeply love,
such as a deceased family member, a religious
figure such as Jesus, or the so-called "Being
of Light." So when Elvis died, people who
knew Elvis or had special feeling for Elvis, began reporting
being greeted into heaven by Elvis himself.
For example, according to
Dr. Melvin Morse
in his book on NDEs entitled
Transformed by the
Light, a 45-year old Mid-western
teacher saw Elvis in an intense light during
her NDE. The woman had met Elvis when she was
a child. The following is her near-death
testimony:
"I
entered into a dark tunnel and suddenly I was
in a place filled up with love and a beautiful,
bright light. The place seemed holy. My father,
who had died two years earlier, was there, as
were my grandparents. Everyone was happy to
see me, but my father told me it was not my
time and I would be going back. Just as I turned
to go, I caught sight of Elvis! He was standing
in this place of intense bright light. He just
came over to me, took my hand and said, "Hi,
Bev, do you remember me?"
The number
of reported "Elvis sightings" have been so great,
that
Dr. Raymond Moody
wrote an entire book about them entitled
Elvis After Life. Moody is the author of
Life After Life; and coined the phrase "near-death
experience." He is the considered the "father" of the NDE
phenomenon. Because of the large number of devoted
Elvis fans, it shouldn't come as a big surprise
that people having NDEs should be greeted by
a King - the King of Rock and Roll.
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Books
on Hollywood and NDEs
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Death's Door
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by Jean Ritchie
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Celebrities who have had near-death
experiences include Elizabeth
Taylor and Jane Seymour. Some
have seen a light at the end
of a tunnel. Others have seen
angels or deceased loved ones.
Some have felt pain while others
an overwhelming joy. But one
thing everyone who has had a
near-death experience agrees
upon: the NDE changed their
lives forever.
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Out on a Limb
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by Shirley MacLaine
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Her most controversial book is one
you will never forget. An outspoken
thinker, a celebrated actress, a
truly independent woman, Shirley
MacLaine goes beyond her previous
two bestsellers to take us on an
intimate yet powerful journey into
her personal life and inner self.
An intense, clandestine love affair
with a prominent politician sparks
Shirley MacLaine's quest of self-discovery.
Also available in
KINDLE EBOOK Edition.
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Elvis After Life
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by Raymond Moody
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There are many cases of Elvis's
providing comfort and assistance
to people in need and influencing
lives, after his death. Whether
it was in the form of an after-death
communication (ADC) - or what was
called in the media an "Elvis sighting"
- or in the form of the greeter
in a near-death experience, Elvis
Presley has provided comfort to
millions of people worldwide during
his life and an untold number of
people after his death. NDE expert
Raymond Moody presents his findings
into this phenomenon of spiritual
Elvis encounters and how the people
who experienced them fervently believed
their experience was real.
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The Life and Death of Peter Sellers
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by Roger Lewis
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Peter Sellers became known to a
worldwide audience through his many
film characterizations, among them
Chief Inspector Clouseau in The
Pink Panther series of films. His
fluidity as an actor made for a
terrifying madness that grew like
a slow metastasizing cancer throughout
his adult life. The story of Peter
Sellers is one of great public adoration
but concludes with his premature
death at the age of 54, "sick at
heart and alone in those sunless
hotel rooms," so recoiled from intimacy
that no one really knew him anymore.
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Exploring Heaven Through The Movies:
Hollywood's Take on Heaven, Near
Death Experiences, Ghosts, Angels
and Reincarnation [KINDLE EBOOK]
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by Ken Turner et al
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The authors hope what you read in
their book serves as a springboard
for debate among movie buffs and
mavens of the esoteric. The movies
put under the spotlight include:
Resurrection, Flatliners, Fearless,
Hereafter, Defending Your Life,
Heaven Can Wait, What Dreams May
Come, The Sixth Sense, Beetlejuice,
The Haunting, The Others, It’s a
Wonderful Life, A Matter of Life
and Death, I’ve Lived Before, The
Search for Bridey Murphy, Audrey
Rose, and Little Buddha.
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Dancing in the Light
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by Shirley MacLaine
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Now, at a turning point in her life,
comes her most revealing and exciting
book yet. Outspoken, controversial,
talented, and perceptive Shirley
MacLaine now takes us on an intimate
and fascinating personal odyssey.
In 1984 she won an Oscar, starred
on Broadway, wrote the best-selling
Out on a Limb -- and turned fifty
years old. At this special time,
in this special year, she was now
ready to resume the spiritual journey
she had begun in her early forties.
In Dancing in the Light, Shirley
MacLaine bares her innermost self
and explores the lives, both past
and present, which touched and affected
her own. Also available in
KINDLE EBOOK Edition.
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The Eternal Party: Understanding
My Dad, Larry Hagman, the TV Star
America Loved to Hate
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by Kristina Hagman et al
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The author states, "When you have
a very famous father, like mine,
everyone thinks they know him. My
Dad, Larry Hagman, portrayed the
storied, ruthless oilman J.R. Ewing
on the TV series Dallas. He was
the man everyone loved to hate,
but he had a personal reputation
of being a nice guy who fully subscribed
to his motto: Have Fun, Don't Worry,
Be Happy. Also available in
KINDLE EBOOK Edition.
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Going Within
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by Shirley Maclaine
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At last Shirley MacLaine reveals
the secrets of her intimate journey
of transformation. Multi-talented
Shirley MacLaine describes her own
ongoing spiritual journey in search
of inner harmony and self-transcendence.
She also shares an enlightened program
of spiritual techniques and mental
exercises to become healthier, happier,
and more attuned to the natural
harmony of the world around-and
within-ourselves. Also available
in
KINDLE EBOOK Edition.
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The Delaplaine Donald Sutherland:
His Essential Quotations
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by Andrew Delaplaine
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Here are his most essential quotations
culled from as wide a variety of
source materials available. They
have been compiled, edited and carefully
selected for inclusion in this book
by that well-known Quote Monger,
Andrew Delaplaine. The original
illustrations are by his sister,
Renee. Learn about the man’s wit
and wisdom from his very own words.
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Who Is George Lucas?
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by Pam Pollack et al
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As a child his passions were comics
and cars, but George Lucas grew
up to be one of the most successful
filmmakers of all time. He is a
producer, screenwriter, director
and entrepreneur whose company Lucasfilms
pioneered the movie effects that
changed the world of animation.
He founded Industrial Light and
Magic, which transformed special
sound and visual effects throughout
the Hollywood film industry. Also
available in
KINDLE EBOOK Edition and
AUDIOBOOK.
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I Am Ozzy
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by Ozzy Osbourne
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Ozzy says, "Every day of my life
has been an event. I took lethal
combinations of booze and drugs
for thirty f**king years. I survived
a direct hit by a plane, suicidal
overdoses, STDs. I've been accused
of attempted murder. Then I almost
died while riding over a bump on
a quad bike at f**king two miles
per hour. People ask me how come
I'm still alive, and I don't know
what to say." Also available in
KINDLE EBOOK Edition,
AUDIOBOOK, and
AUDIO CD.
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My Death: A Personal Guidebook [KINDLE
EBOOK]
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by Jeremy Kagan
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This is a powerful memoir of an
NDE. After a Native American sweat
lodge, the author is a famous Hollywood
director who loses control of his
body and then his life in a Native
American sweat lodge. He begins
a passage that leads to a personal
hell. He discovers a way to escape
and emerges into an amazing exploration
of the soul’s journey. In this intense
adventure, there are insights into
stages of consciousness and encounters
of blissful perfection. This spiritual,
inspirational book is meant to be
an aid to removing the universal
fear of the final journey we are
all taking.
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The Death of Elvis: What Really
Happened
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by Charles C. Thompson
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An account of Elvis's final days,
his death, his autopsy and the cover-up
that followed. The book uses documentation
to assert that Elvis did not commit
suicide as was alleged in the Albert
Goldman biography of Elvis, neither
was he murdered. The truth the book
reveals is far sadder. A decade
of investigation is represented
in the book in which the authors
tracked down three important sources
of new information: interviews with
Colonel Tom Parker, assorted aides
from Elvis's entourage, the "mystery
girlfriend", autopsy documents,
suppressed until now and a detailed
account of the autopsy itself.
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Death at the Movies: Hollywood's
Guide to the Hereafter
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by Lyn Davis Genelli
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It's a Wonderful Life (1946), Resurrection
(1980), Poltergeist (1982), Beetlejuice
(1988), Ghost (1990), Groundhog
Day (1993), The Sixth Sense (1999)
-- these are only a few of the influential
movies in recent decades dealing
with the afterlife. But beyond entertainment,
do they mean anything? The authors
of this wise and well-informed guide
believe so. They explore how popular
motion pictures, from Outward Bound
(1930) to Hereafter, play a perhaps
unconscious role in guiding humanity
toward its evolutionary comprehension
of the meaning and purpose of death.
Also available in
KINDLE EBOOK Edition.
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The Hollywood Book of Death: The
Bizarre, Often Sordid, Passings
of More than 125 American Movie
and TV Idols
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by James Parish
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Discover the tantalizing details
of Hollywood's famous and infamous
fatalities. The death of a celebrity
is often as fascinating as--and
sometimes more fascinating than
-- a star's actual life. From the
grisly end of Sharon Tate at the
hands of the Manson family and the
mysterious demise of Bob Crane to
the peaceful passings of Lucille
Ball and George Burns, The Hollywood
Book of Death is a captivating and
appealingly packaged volume of more
than 125 television and movie stars'
final curtain calls. Also available
in
KINDLE EBOOK Edition.
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Hollywood's Most Mysterious Deaths:
The Deaths That Continue to Haunt
Tinseltown
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by Danny Morrison
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The author takes you on a trip through
some of Hollywood's most sordid
and mysterious scandals and murders
dating back to its earliest days.
The cases reviewed in the book include:
Thelma Todd, Elizabeth Short (the
"Black Dahlia"), Bob Crane, George
Reeves, and Natalie Wood. You’ll
find out all about the histories
of these glamorous celebrity victims
as well as the circumstances surrounding
their mysterious deaths.
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Ghosts of Hollywood: The Show Still
Goes on
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by Marla Brooks
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Hollywood has meant many things
to many people throughout its illustrious
history, but nowadays, Tinseltown
is best known for the three G's-Glitz,
Glamour, and Ghosts. Read about
the celebrity apparitions who touch
visitors at the Hollywood Wax Museum.
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Dead Women Talking
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by Tarona Hawkins
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The author is a hypnotherapist,
psychotherapist, numerologist and
psychic, and during her career she
has worked with many fascinating
people including the late Princess
Diana. In this book, the author
illustrates how she is able to communicate
with spirits, using one of the most
famous women in the world as an
example, the beautiful but damaged
Marilyn Monroe. In her own words,
Marilyn tells of the sinister happenings
in Hollywood, solving the mystery
of her death and naming who is responsible.
Also available in
KINDLE EBOOK Edition.
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Tragic Hollywood, Beautiful, Glamorous
and Dead
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by Jackie Valinda Ganiy
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Have you always been fascinated
by the morbid side of Hollywood?
This book promises to deliver all
the salacious details about the
stars you remember, not for their
films, but for their tragic short
lives. What really happened to Natalie
Woo? Was Jayne Mansfield really
decapitated? Chock full of details,
shocking photos and even a segment
on haunted Hollywood. You've never
seen a book quite like this. Read
about the unbelievable thing that
happened to Errol Flynn after he
was dead. Find out why Sharon Tate
is said to haunt her neighborhood
to this day. Also available in
KINDLE EBOOK Edition.
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Tinseltown Tragedies Box Set: Celebrity
Deaths That Rocked Hollywood and
the World Vol.1-3
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by Alexander Scott
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When we get to see inside the lives
of celebrities as we do, it is hard
not to become attached to not only
the characters they play but also
who they are as human beings. It
is easy to sit in our homes and
judge them and wonder how things
can be so bad when they have all
that money and fame. The reality
is they experience the same anxiety,
depression and hardships many of
us face when it comes to being the
emotional people we are. All the
money in the world does not guarantee
happiness and in many cases it causes
more problems. You know the saying
"more money, more problems." Celebrities
are not insulated from having their
feelings hurt and self-doubt any
different than the next person.
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Elizabeth Taylor, A Passion for
Life: The Wit and Wisdom of a Legend
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by Joseph Papa
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From the time she appeared in National
Velvet, the film that skyrocketed
her to international fame at age
twelve in 1944, until her death,
Elizabeth Taylor's beauty, allure,
and personal strength captivated
the world. In a career that spanned
more than sixty years, she brought
her raw talent and magnetism to
bear in now classic films such as
Father of the Bride, Suddenly, Last
Summer, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Giant,
Cleopatra, and Who's Afraid of Virginia
Woolf? Also available in
KINDLE EBOOK Edition.
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Heaven Is for Real (DVD)
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starring Greg Kinnear, Kelly Reilly
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This is the true story of a small-town
father who must find the courage
and conviction to share his son's
NDE with the world. Starring Academy
Award winner Greg Kinnear as Todd
Burpo, the real-life father whose
son Colton visited heaven during
a NDE. Colton shares the details
of his amazing journey with childlike
innocence and speaks matter-of-factly
about things that happened before
his birth -- things he couldn't
possibly know. Also available in
BLU-RAY and
AMAZON VIDEO.
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Miracles From Heaven (DVD)
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starring Jennifer Garner, Kylie
Rogers
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This is the true story of Christy
Beam (Garner) who discovers her
10-year-old daughter Anna Beam (Rogers)
has a rare, incurable disease and
searches far and wide for a solution.
But after Anna falls three-stories
out of a tree, she has an NDE where
she went to heaven and talked to
God who sent her back. Miraculously,
the NDE caused Anna to be healed
which leaves medical specialists
become mystified, and their community
inspired. Also available in
BLU-RAY.
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Ghost (BLU-RAY)
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starring Demi Moore, Patrick Swayze
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Winner of two Academy Awards, Sam
(Swayze) living as a ghost, discovers
his death wasn't just a random robbery
gone bad. To help him reconnect
with the love of his life, Molly
(Moore), and solve his own murder,
he enlists the talents of a psychic
(Whoopi Goldberg). This is a supernatural
mystery-thriller that will touch
your heart. Also available in
AMAZON VIDEO.
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What Dreams May Come (DVD)
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starring Robin Williams, Annabella
Sciorra
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After Chris Nielsen (Williams) dies
in an accident, he tries to remain
close to his mortal wife, Annie
(Sciorra). With the friendly spirit
(Gooding, Jr.) assigned to guide
him, he begins to adapt to his new
heavenly state of being. But when
his distraught wife takes her own
life, she is banished to hell. Chris
vows to find her so they can share
eternity together, but no one has
ever succeeded in rescuing a soul
from such a horrific fate. With
the help of his heavenly friends,
Chris sets out on the most perilous
and harrowing journey of his life,
or afterlife: a quest for everlasting
love that will take him to hell
and back. Also available in
BLU-RAY and
AMAZON VIDEO.
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Defending Your Life (DVD)
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starring Albert Brooks, Meryl Streep
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When advertising executive Daniel
Miller (Brooks) dies suddenly in
a car accident, he's transported
to Judgment City and faces a life
review to decide whether he will
go to a better place or return to
earth for another reincarnation.
It doesn't look good for Miller,
but unexpectedly and for the first
time in his life -- or his past
lives -- Miller discovers love.
Also available in
AMAZON VIDEO.
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Hereafter (DVD)
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starring Matt Damon, Bryce Howard
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George
(Damon) is a blue-collar American
with a special connection to the
afterlife dating from his childhood.
French journalist Marie (Cécile
de France) has a NDE that shakes
her reality. And when London schoolboy
Marcus (Frankie and George McLaren)
loses the person closest to him,
he desperately needs answers. Each
seeking the truth, their lives will
intersect, forever changed by what
they believe might -- or must --
exist in the hereafter. Also available
in
BLU-RAY and
AMAZON VIDEO.
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Astral City: A Spiritual Journey
(DVD)
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starring Renato Prieto, Fernando
Alves Pinto
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Andre Luiz (Prieto) is a successful
doctor who experiences an enlightening
spiritual awakening after his death.
When he wakes up in the spiritual
world, he embarks on a new journey
of self-discovery and transformation,
from his first days in a dimension
of pain and suffering, until when
he is rescued and taken to the spiritual
Astral City.
Also available in
BLU-RAY.
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Flatliners (DVD)
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starring Kiefer Sutherland, Julia
Roberts
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Medical students begin to explore
the realm of NDEs, hoping for insights.
Each has their heart stopped and
is revived. They begin having flashes
of walking nightmares from their
childhood, reflecting sins they
committed or had committed against
them. The experiences continue to
intensify, and they begin to be
physically beaten by their visions
as they try and go deeper into the
death experience to find a cure.
Also available in
BLU-RAY and
AMAZON VIDEO.
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Jacob's Ladder (DVD)
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starring Tim Robbins, Elizabeth
Pena
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Hellish visions haunt a Vietnam
veteran (Robbins) and others who
were in his battalion. The visions
get worse as the movie progresses
and the mystery of what is happening
to the veteran grows. Then, at the
end of the movie ++ spoiler alert
++ he sees his deceased son on a
"stairway" of light to heaven and
realizes that he had died in Vietnam.
He then climbs the stairway to his
son in heaven. One of the best NDE
movies made. Also available in
BLU-RAY and
AMAZON VIDEO.
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