An interesting
NEAR DEATH EXPERIENCE

Much has been written in recent years about NDE's (Near Death Experiences), particularly since the 1970's with Raymond Moody's ground-breaking books on the subject.

Many have wondered if the reports describing tunnels and lights are accurate accounts of genuine experiences, or if they spring from an over-active imagination coloured by previously recorded accounts.

We recently came across an NDE description in a book entitled "Psycic Odyssey" by Percy W. Cole, and the reason this is of particular interest is that the book was published prior to 1959 and describes an incident which occurred to the author as early as 1935.

Mr. Cole - an Englishman residing in Australia - had made arrangements to have all his teeth extracted. A few nights before his appointment, a lady called Dorothea (who was no longer "of this world") visited him in a dream and warned him that the anaesthetic he was to have for the operation presented a major risk for him.

We pick up the story at the author's home, where the dentist and doctor gathered to perform the operation. (Remember, this is 1935, at which time it was not unusual for such an operation to be performed in the patient's own home.)

A mask, sprinkled with ether, was held over Mr. Cole's mouth and nostrils in preparation for the operation.

In the author's own words ....

"Suddenly a doubt came into my mind. Had I done the right thing in having a general anaesthetic instead of having local injections? After all, I had been warned about it. I tried to tell the doctor, but found I could not make him hear. So I closed my eyes and let myself go.

I felt the doctor pull back my upper eyelid and heard him say "he's gone." Finding that I could see the hanging lampshade over my head quite as well as I usually saw it, I tried to tell the doctor that I was not "gone." But once again I found that I was quite unable to do so. So I gave up the effort once more and drifted away into onconsciousness.

The next time I woke up, I found myself completely out of my body. There were others in the room now, besides the doctor and the dental surgeon. One of these was the lady of my dream, Dorothea.

Realising that I was out of my body completely, I had a feeling that for many years I had not experienced. It was a sensation of intense exhilaration and joy. I can best describe it perhaps, in terms of youth and buoyancy; it was like the early morning on my far-away school holidays, when as a schoolboy waking up prepared to go to school but with reluctance, the faint murmur of breaking waves on a distance beach would steal into my sleepy ears, and I would suddenly remember that I was on holiday. Then the whole morning would take upon itself a new and radiant aspect and it was a pleasure to get up and dress before racing down to the beach. That was the feeling, that "holidays" were just beginning.

Looking round the room, I stood between the two men, the doctor and the dentist, I could hear their spoken conversation as well as knowing what they were going to say before the spoken word was uttered. It was as if I knew by some process of telepathy.

They were discussing the price that a man, known to the three of us, would get for his house, which he had put up for sale. A certain sum was mentioned, and I took the opportunity to interject with "he won't get it." Neither man appeared to hear me.

Dorothea turned towards me and said, "We warned you about this." Then she went on to say that now that I was on the "other side" she was not at all sure that I would be able to get back again.

I had a look into my own open mouth, as I walked round the table, and saw that the dentists had taken out all the teeth that I wanted removed. Looking at my pallid features, the doctor said that I looked as though I had had about as much as I could stand. Glancing at my corpse-like face, I felt that had there been much more to come, it would certainly have been too much.

At some time when the operation was getting near to its end, I stopped breathing. I could see the concern of the doctor. More than that I could see what he thought, for all at once it appeared to him that I might slip through his fingers. He said nothing to the dentist but shouted "Breathe, breathe, Mr. Cole".

I was not in my body but standing at its head, yet somehow I managed to make it breathe.

A great bright light shone on my left, for although the summer sun was shining in at the window from a cloudless sky, it was not nearly as bright as that other light. Near to the door, two people were standing. I could not see them clearly or else it is that I cannot recollect them, but I had the impression they were my deceased parents.

Turning to me, Dorothea told me that it was time I got back. She wasnt sure, she said again, that I should be able to go back, but added with a smile "You can stay here with us, if you like."

For a moment only I hesitated, the world and its work seemed so very far away. It would have been lovely to have stayed, but - just at this critical moment our dog, Patch, barked, as she ran across the lawn below the open window. The sound of that bark from close at hand brought me back to a sense of my responsibilities. I thought of all the trouble I should bring upon my wife and son, if I did not come back.

"No, I mustn't stay," I replied, and turned to go.

"You'll have to put up a fight for it, if you are going to get back," Dorothea said.

So I turned away from the light, into the darkness of a kind of tunnel. I fought my way against the stream, for a stream of shadows pressed against me as they passed on towards the light.

How long this kept on, I do not know, but at last I saw in the distance a tiny light, just a mere glimmer far away. Struggling against the stream, I pushed my way towards it. When at last I got there, I found myself in bed, with my wife sitting by my side."