TW: mentions of substance abuse
Discover our latest podcast
Louisa Peck grew up with a very solid belief that there is no greater power: she was a staunch atheist. That is, until she wasn’t. In her blog, A spiritual Evolution, she details her experience of a night out that ended in catastrophe, and ultimately, a major revelation.
Earlier this year, Louise released a novel entitled Die-Hard Atheist: from NDE Denier to Full-on Woo-Woo - Against my Will. In it, she recounts not only her experience of cardiac arrest, but also the creepy events that followed which eventually led her to accept that there is a god, and there is an afterlife. Here's what she witnessed.
The night Louise Peck died
Louisa describes her former self in 1982 as a ‘budding alcoholic/drug addict’. On the night she died, she explains that she was with ‘a secret boyfriend’s best friend’ and a date - it’s unclear whether the date was in fact said ‘secret boyfriend’.
Louisa had taken all the cocaine she had on her, and was searching the Manhattan nightclub she was in for a source. When she found one, she was frustrated to find that the drug wasn’t delivering the desired effect - so she took more and more until her vision started playing tricks on her:
In line for the bathroom, I noticed my peripheral vision had become obscured by tingly orange speckles as if I were about to faint. I was sure this tunnel vision must be some kind of cocaine side-effect, something to brag about.
In the toilet stall, when the graffiti messages on the door looked like gibberish – all of them – I realized something was wrong.
Louisa fumbled her way back to her date and accepted some water from the bartender as she recognised that the cocaine was wreaking havoc in her system. Except, it wasn’t cocaine. It was lidocaine, which was slowing her heart so drastically that her brain wasn’t getting any oxygen. Then, Louisa Peck died.
Louisa’s experience of the afterlife
It turns out Louisa had flat-lined for three minutes as the water-bearing barman heroically administered CPR. She explains how, despite the fact she had enough lidocaine in her system to kill a person, she miraculously started breathing again as her heart kick-started back into action.
What she saw during those minutes changed her life forever. She described feeling a sudden strike to the chin that threw her head back: this was her soul leaving her body.
She recounts feeling a sense of relief as she left the mess of her life behind. She remembers diving into a refreshing pool of water, surfacing and spotting a house. Once there, she became aware that all of her ancestors had passed through it at some point and felt an odd sense of belonging.
Then, she was flying - right into the sun. She says that upon impact, she was engulfed by light and didn’t want to leave. But a voice told her:
You can’t stay. You’re not done yet.
She fought against it, but couldn’t: she woke to someone waving fingers in front of her face. She was drenched in sweat and surrounded by concerned faces, but her experience stayed with her.
Yet, she was still sceptical. However, the creepy events that followed convinced her that there is an afterlife. One of the most chilling involves her sister-in-law. She got pregnant, but Louisa somehow knew she was going to lose the baby:
When my brother called me with the news, he said the baby’s umbilicus had been fanned out over the amniotic sack, so when his water broke, he inevitably bled to death. I felt overwhelming guilt for being as amazed as I was saddened.
After some time, Louisa accepted that what she had seen during those three minutes was real. Now, she views it as ‘irrefutable proof of the reality of afterlife’.
Study of cardiac arrests reveals similar experiences
A recent doctor’s account of people who have suffered cardiac arrest before coming back suggests that Louisa is not alone in her experience of death and the afterlife. Dr. Jeffrey Long was working as an oncologist resident when he stumbled across a medical journal that detailed several examples of patients dying and coming back to life. He was fascinated, and has since studied over 5000 near-death experiences.
Dr. Long says that 45% of people who have died and come back recount having had an out-of-body experience. Just like you see in films, people report witnessing what is going on, often after having risen from their physical body. Others claim they go to another realm, like Louisa.
Even children, too young to have seen the movies’ depiction of the afterlife, reported similar experiences.
So, is there an afterlife? Most of us will wait our whole lives to find out!
Read more:
⋙ This man is so obsessed with death that he got buried alive: ‘I wished I could stay there longer’
⋙ Man who was in a coma for 10 days reveals what he saw in the 'afterlife'
⋙ Man who had a near-death experience reveals what he saw in the afterlife
Sources used:
NDE Stories: Lousia Peck - NDE
Insider: I've studied more than 5,000 near death experiences. My research has convinced me without a doubt that there's life after death.
