Michael Prescott's Blog
Archived blog focusing on the paranormal
Category: NDEs
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I'm reading The Map of Heaven, a follow-up to the huge bestseller Proof of Heaven. Like the first book, this one was written by Eben Alexander and Ptolemy Tompkins; unlike the first book, The Map of Heaven makes more of an effort to understand Alexander's complex NDE and to locate it within spiritual and mythic…
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The first detailed write-up of the AWARE study is out, and it makes for interesting reading. It appears in the journal Resuscitation, and is signed by Sam Parnia and many co-authors, including longtime NDE researchers Peter Fenwick and Bruce Greyson. The basic facts are these. Fifteen hospitals in the US, the UK, and Australia participated…
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The Atlantic has an article on the largest study ever performed of anesthesia awareness. Here are a few of the main conclusions: Anesthesia awareness is rare – maybe rarer than previously thought. Other reports have said it happens in about 1 or 2 of every 1,000 operations, but the new study found an incidence of…
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Interesting item on a man's (possible) NDE and its message to him. In the comments he's criticized for plugging a book, but he jumps into the discussion and provides a pretty good answer, I thought. I don't know if the experience is accurately recounted or if it was a true NDE, but it fits in…
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In connection with my recent posts on NDEs, Andrew Paquette sent me a PDF of an article he published in the Journal of Scientific Exploration (Vol. 26, No, 4). The article is also available online. Titled "NDE Implications from a Group of Spontaneous Long-Distance Veridical OBEs," it recounts Andrew's experiments in dream journaling, in which…
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My last two posts covered the discovery of an electrical surge in the brains of lab rats subjected to cardiac arrest or asphyxiation. The study has been touted as a possible explanation for near-death experiences. Arguments about the study quickly become technical, as people debate whether the spikes in certain brainwave frequencies (in the context…
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In my last post I linked to a study of electrical activity in the brains of lab rats undergoing cardiac arrest. The study's authors suggest that this end-of-life electrical surge may help to explain near-death experiences. I've since had a chance to read the study and some critical arguments and counterarguments more carefully. I find…
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Someone emailed me to ask about a study in which the brains of dying rats showed a burst of activity. The question was: What implications, if any, does this have for NDEs? I gave a general answer, but also forwarded the email to Chris Carter, because my email correspondent had asked me to. Chris replied…
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Many cultures have seen a close connection between mysticism and madness — and in fact, there are significant similarities between behaviors associated with some forms of mental illness and the behaviors associated with mediumship (trance mediumship in particular). There are also areas of overlap between the intellectual fixations of some mental patients and the accounts…
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A debate about life after death between proponents and skeptics will be live-streamed online tomorrow (Wednesday). The debate will center on NDEs. Details here. In support of the statement that "Death is not Final" will be seminal researcher of the NDE, Dr. Raymond Moody, and neurosurgeon Dr. Eben Alexander, who has had an NDE himself…