Prophetic Voices

Recorded: 1979
Duration:19m 52s

Description:
Kenneth Ring Interviews Four Near-Death Experiencers:

Vita E. Ventra
Age 38
Kindergarten Teacher
Divorced, 2 Children

Joe Geraci
Age 39
Public School Supervisor
Married, 2 Children

Geraldine Devito
Age 38
Supermarket Head Cashier
Married, 2 Children

Tom Sawyer
Age 35
Heavy Equipment Operator
Married, 2 Children

Raw Transcript

00:00:00.030 what does it like to die dr. Kenneth
00:00:03.510 ring has spent the last five years
00:00:04.950 interviewing hundreds of people who have
00:00:07.290 nearly died in this program has chosen
00:00:10.710 four people who were representative of
00:00:12.630 those he has interviewed to describe
00:00:14.519 their experiences and how it has
00:00:16.049 affected their lives their reports are
00:00:18.840 giving us a new view of death and I was
00:00:23.010 in a car accident and thrown out I was
00:00:26.220 in severe pain I had a fractured
00:00:28.410 clavicle and lacerations all over my
00:00:30.510 body and I had thought that I’d broken
00:00:31.920 my jaw I had tremendous pain in my jaw
00:00:34.440 and I went unconscious basically the the
00:00:38.489 truck did fall on me and the the frame
00:00:40.379 of the truck came across my chest so
00:00:43.050 that it it immediately pushed all the
00:00:44.940 air out of me the day they sent me home
00:00:47.280 from the hospital they graciously gave
00:00:50.280 me a lot of medication so I’d have a
00:00:52.530 comfortable ride home and I’d be fine
00:00:54.390 when I got there and the result was that
00:00:57.600 it was too much for me and when I got
00:00:59.670 home I collapsed I began to hemorrhage
00:01:02.579 internally and the stitches were inside
00:01:06.060 my body I really the the wound did not
00:01:08.549 heal and I lost quite a bit of blood the
00:01:11.729 subjects were asked to describe their
00:01:13.470 near-death experiences the thing that
00:01:17.460 amazed me was that as the pain became
00:01:21.150 extremely severe my breathing became far
00:01:24.509 more shallow and as I exhaled I became
00:01:28.650 very numb and the morning I became I
00:01:31.200 suggested without realizing it zoomed
00:01:33.329 out of my body like in the frontal
00:01:35.070 fashion and just hovered over it and I
00:01:37.470 wasn’t aware that I had left my body at
00:01:40.229 that time I was only aware that I wasn’t
00:01:42.750 in pain and that something was different
00:01:45.049 and then I became very familiar with my
00:01:48.000 surroundings and space and realized that
00:01:50.670 that was separated but still did not
00:01:53.820 know exactly how until I got high enough
00:01:56.310 up where I saw a bald-headed man put a
00:01:58.560 blanket on my body and the most
00:02:01.890 interesting thing at that moment was
00:02:03.630 when I realized I was out of my body and
00:02:06.719 that I was no longer Vita I did not have
00:02:09.479 a gender whatsoever
00:02:10.860 there wasn’t a back front or anything I
00:02:13.020 was shaped
00:02:13.590 odorless colorless you know just
00:02:15.300 something like a an invisible gas of
00:02:18.090 some sort and I just experimented with
00:02:22.920 the air around me I was the atmosphere
00:02:24.690 and the higher up I went the more I
00:02:27.060 became part of the the air an
00:02:30.530 interesting thing was that my hearing
00:02:33.750 during this escalation was extremely
00:02:37.440 acute as though I was next to anybody
00:02:38.760 who was nearby when the police came I
00:02:41.190 could hear them as accurately as though
00:02:42.930 I was standing right by them when they
00:02:44.850 were trying to shake me you know on the
00:02:46.739 ground as though I was back in my body
00:02:49.260 again and I felt myself going I was in a
00:02:54.090 great deal of pain it was a very
00:02:57.060 frightening experience I began to slip I
00:03:01.920 just sort of feel myself going and I
00:03:07.100 remember trying to hold on I’ll be okay
00:03:10.560 I’ll be okay
00:03:11.430 and it got to the point where you know I
00:03:14.519 just couldn’t
00:03:15.239 and everything began to just become very
00:03:20.010 quiet and I can remember with every
00:03:26.579 ounce of strength I had I wanted to say
00:03:28.410 goodbye to my wife it was important to
00:03:32.190 me and I did I
00:03:34.530 I remember just turning my head looking
00:03:37.110 at her and saying I’m gonna die
00:03:40.200 goodbye John and I did it was then that
00:03:49.109 I experienced
00:03:53.379 experience what we call a near-death
00:03:55.599 experience for me there was nothing near
00:03:58.450 about it it was there it was a total
00:04:03.209 immersion in light brightness warm peace
00:04:10.260 security it I did not have an
00:04:16.298 out-of-body experience I did not see my
00:04:18.548 body or anyone about me I just
00:04:21.548 immediately went into this beautiful
00:04:24.250 bright light it’s difficult to describe
00:04:28.180 matter of fact it’s impossible to this
00:04:29.770 to describe verbally it cannot be
00:04:33.190 expressed it’s something which becomes
00:04:36.580 you and you become it I could say that I
00:04:42.160 was peace I was loved
00:04:45.910 I was the brightness it was part of me I
00:04:51.449 had no recollection of anything using
00:04:55.570 anything biological it’s not like you
00:04:58.750 could see something because your sight
00:05:02.110 is biological it’s necessary here a
00:05:04.409 hearing is necessary here a speech is
00:05:07.900 necessary here it’s not there you just
00:05:11.650 know you’re your all-knowing everything
00:05:15.820 is a part of you and it just so just so
00:05:17.919 beautiful I it was it was eternity
00:05:23.760 it’s like I was always there and I will
00:05:28.570 always be there that my existence on
00:05:31.419 earth was just a very brief instant
00:05:36.700 it’s it’s a hard concept to understand
00:05:39.640 eternity because in your compared to
00:05:42.130 time time requires progression things
00:05:47.860 see if a sequence of things things
00:05:49.990 follow each other this is all it wants
00:05:53.350 everything there there’s no passing from
00:05:56.440 one thing to another I’d like to call it
00:05:58.750 a different dimension but I can’t really
00:06:03.580 call it that because that could be
00:06:05.380 define and there are different
00:06:06.940 dimensions they have beginning as an
00:06:08.200 ensign and and so that doesn’t fit at
00:06:11.110 the point that actually happened I was
00:06:13.690 screaming and I was vomiting at the same
00:06:17.140 time and I felt myself getting ready to
00:06:20.050 pass out and I was conscious of my two
00:06:24.610 sons we were standing in the doorway and
00:06:27.750 I was looking at my husband and the next
00:06:30.640 thing I know I was looking down at my
00:06:32.710 husband and it was unclear at first I
00:06:39.400 said I’m looking at myself and I looked
00:06:43.480 down at the bedroom scene and I all of a
00:06:46.990 sudden I said my god I’m dead and if the
00:06:50.920 other way I can describe my immediate
00:06:52.600 feeling was if you could describe or see
00:06:56.050 or feel a smile or a complete
00:06:59.140 contentment or happiness that was it I
00:07:02.700 couldn’t I see myself my physical body
00:07:06.610 was still alive and I was still
00:07:08.050 screaming could you see yourself clearly
00:07:09.580 yes very clearly and I could see the
00:07:13.030 backs of my husband’s head and my
00:07:15.130 mother’s and I could see my son’s I had
00:07:17.530 a very good clear vision but I had no
00:07:20.530 feeling towards these people if anything
00:07:22.870 I was looking down in amusement because
00:07:24.820 I still had this smiley feeling and I
00:07:28.120 had no attachment no feeling it was like
00:07:31.030 I was looking at that glass of water I
00:07:32.830 mean I have no attachment to that glass
00:07:34.210 of water that I was viewing myself as a
00:07:36.280 spectator of mine exactly and I felt
00:07:39.070 that I was in a vacuum what the reason I
00:07:41.560 say that is because I could hear nothing
00:07:43.630 but yet I
00:07:45.130 I heard the vacuum
00:07:47.450 not a noise of a vacuum cleaner but I
00:07:49.850 heard the quietness and with that it was
00:07:53.030 a peacefulness I would I wasn’t a body I
00:07:56.780 wasn’t in the body form if anything I
00:07:59.480 think I I may have had a head or a
00:08:03.350 center and the rest of me was just
00:08:06.490 something very loose did you feel like
00:08:10.040 you were yourself it was you that this
00:08:12.740 was here wasn’t my body I was my mind I
00:08:14.930 say I was my spirit and contentment
00:08:21.970 happiness it was the most wonderful time
00:08:24.350 in my life it was a peaceful quiet it
00:08:28.130 was just it was magnificent it’s hard to
00:08:31.190 explain because I feel it wasn’t exactly
00:08:33.740 worldly so how can I use worldly words
00:08:36.770 to explain it to you all I can say is it
00:08:40.640 was was a fantastic experience so and I
00:08:45.230 was I was conscious of being maybe
00:08:47.480 inches from the ceiling I could feel the
00:08:50.180 closeness of the ceiling we aware of any
00:08:53.270 other person sort of presences with you
00:08:55.640 at that time or did you feel that you
00:08:57.110 were alone in that space I was alone but
00:08:59.870 I wasn’t alone there again I felt the
00:09:02.600 closeness or the protection of this
00:09:06.410 vacuum that I was in it was like it’s
00:09:12.860 it’s really hard to explain it’s like
00:09:14.600 when you’re real upset and in your
00:09:17.120 little girl and your mother hugs you you
00:09:19.160 have that everything’s gonna be okay now
00:09:21.020 because mommy’s hugging me well I didn’t
00:09:24.410 feel like somebody was right there but I
00:09:26.390 had that wonderful protective feeling of
00:09:29.510 the vacuum but she kind of made me feel
00:09:32.540 that I wasn’t alone the next thing that
00:09:35.180 I experienced or realized that I was in
00:09:37.550 this huge vastness of just nothing just
00:09:41.630 darkness I might add in here during this
00:09:44.990 time the pressure and the pain that you
00:09:48.710 experienced during the accident was gone
00:09:50.690 you were relieved of all that the one
00:09:53.330 sensation that you’re very aware of is
00:09:55.400 your eyesight or that you can see you
00:09:58.430 then see
00:09:59.930 that this area that you’re in that
00:10:03.440 you’re passing through takes the shape
00:10:05.540 of a tunnel and dimension wise it was it
00:10:08.990 was vast it was anywhere from a thousand
00:10:12.320 feet to a thousand miles wide and it was
00:10:15.680 definitely to infinity and before you is
00:10:19.220 this just magnificent beautiful bright
00:10:23.930 white light you are confronted by true
00:10:29.540 pure love in my case since I’ve talked
00:10:34.220 to other people I realized that they
00:10:36.290 necessarily did not were not given a
00:10:39.800 choice
00:10:40.370 in my case at that moment I was aware
00:10:44.300 that I could immediately choose to leave
00:10:48.800 and return to reality or my body or I
00:10:56.450 could have the choice of moving forward
00:10:59.780 or desiring to enter into or become part
00:11:05.440 rather emotional become part of this
00:11:09.380 light and the next moments I did desire
00:11:17.410 to become part of this light including
00:11:23.110 considering my life in reality the the
00:11:29.570 love that I have for my wife and
00:11:32.090 children for the people around me the
00:11:35.290 wonderful things that I’ve been able to
00:11:37.550 do in my life I’ve had a really exciting
00:11:39.890 and wonderful life prior to this
00:11:43.670 experience and the wonderful things that
00:11:46.250 I can continue to do helping the people
00:11:49.130 around me making love to my children and
00:11:52.130 my wife and close friends and so on but
00:11:56.960 it was so much more desirable but this
00:12:01.490 was perfection
00:12:02.450 this this was heaven for God and it is
00:12:08.270 now confusing to me
00:12:11.080 I don’t recall making a specific choice
00:12:15.430 I recall desiring to enter this light
00:12:19.330 and I did in fact make a forward motion
00:12:31.950 excuse me the return trip was extremely
00:12:35.220 vivid and it was everything in Reverse
00:12:39.440 he went back through the tunnel right so
00:12:41.880 that through the tunnel and to reality
00:12:44.459 and upon reaching the the beginning of
00:12:48.089 the tunnel at the reality point I woke
00:12:52.620 up or came to or entered my body with a
00:12:56.399 just a huge bang with a jolt similar to
00:13:00.269 an electric shock or just you know
00:13:02.430 paying like that
00:13:03.870 the minute I decided that I had to come
00:13:07.079 back the light never came back that
00:13:09.630 beautiful light I just plopped into my
00:13:12.660 body
00:13:13.769 I don’t even remember the coming down I
00:13:15.990 just was in and I woke up in such
00:13:17.820 unbelievable pain it was excruciating I
00:13:20.639 just was overwhelming did you remember
00:13:22.829 your experience at the time that you
00:13:24.300 came back yes I did very vividly but I
00:13:27.449 did not speak of it for a very long time
00:13:29.339 very selectively my family did not know
00:13:33.089 about it for many many years there was a
00:13:35.279 it was at least at least six months
00:13:38.160 after the incident that I that I could
00:13:40.230 even speak to my wife about it
00:13:42.839 it was such an emotional beautiful
00:13:47.550 swelling feeling inside that every time
00:13:49.649 I tried to express it I think I would
00:13:51.990 just explode you know I would break down
00:13:53.760 and cry and she you know for the longest
00:13:58.110 time could figure hohos wrong with me
00:14:00.300 well she must have wondered a lot then
00:14:02.010 about how you were dealing with this
00:14:04.110 episode because she as you say is a
00:14:05.940 nurse and knew the seriousness of your
00:14:07.649 condition and I guess also knew that you
00:14:09.540 had I gather this is the case that you
00:14:11.760 had clinically died yes my heart stopped
00:14:14.819 I stopped breathing I guess I was out
00:14:17.279 about a minute and they brought me back
00:14:20.660 the minute I came back and the pain
00:14:25.040 returned immediately the fear I mean it
00:14:27.569 just all the human emotion yes
00:14:30.000 everything healing came back and I
00:14:32.160 remember being very angry they brought
00:14:34.529 me back and she my wife ended up asking
00:14:37.260 why later
00:14:38.100 you know you seemed angry how come I
00:14:40.069 just couldn’t tell her
00:14:42.029 that was probably the most frustrating
00:14:45.120 six months of my existence after
00:14:50.129 experiencing perfection and something so
00:14:52.529 beautiful I wanted to hold on to it
00:14:56.120 didn’t want to let it go and it wasn’t
00:14:59.490 easy after I had recovered the second
00:15:03.810 time and went home I I everything just
00:15:10.019 seemed to change it was almost like I
00:15:13.319 was starting my life all over again I
00:15:15.689 was a baby I hadn’t made the mistakes
00:15:20.550 that I had made in my life things
00:15:22.920 weren’t messed up or whatever and I can
00:15:27.930 recall in my attempt to hold on to this
00:15:32.100 feeling and to hold on to this piece I
00:15:35.269 began to bump into earthly things you
00:15:39.420 know that of course not gonna escape for
00:15:41.939 me who you know they’re there they’re
00:15:43.189 the first my first frustrating
00:15:47.009 experiences experiences with the
00:15:49.170 television I couldn’t watch television
00:15:53.389 there would be a nice you make a
00:15:55.889 commercial cosmetic commercial I
00:15:58.610 couldn’t I’d have to turn it off because
00:16:00.660 it was something also was unnecessary it
00:16:04.079 was fake
00:16:04.709 it just didn’t belong you know it is
00:16:07.470 insignificant any type of violence if
00:16:11.309 there was a even a Western an old
00:16:12.779 western movie I’d have to turn it off
00:16:15.180 because it to me that was totally
00:16:16.889 ignorant there was just no reason on
00:16:20.850 earth to show people killing people no
00:16:24.800 that was frustrating especially when the
00:16:27.029 family sitting down trying to watch
00:16:28.230 television the dad gets up and turns it
00:16:29.759 off all the time so I finally just wired
00:16:32.910 to go to my room it got to the point
00:16:38.220 where I had a great deal of time
00:16:41.189 readjusting and it was at that time of a
00:16:45.029 very very close friend who’s a priest we
00:16:46.860 called father Bob who
00:16:49.880 sat down with me a few times and very
00:16:53.020 understanding there was a man that I I
00:16:55.490 know did not experience what I did but
00:16:58.700 he seemed to know he knew what I was
00:17:00.410 talking about very understanding I
00:17:02.240 perhaps the most important thing he did
00:17:04.640 for me was to help me to readjust to
00:17:09.170 accept life to understand that you are
00:17:11.240 living that you know that is there it
00:17:14.449 will come again and that there is much
00:17:18.140 more here and that I was here for a
00:17:20.329 reason and it did help you know I’m back
00:17:25.130 to watching television
00:17:26.750 even like the boxing matches come a long
00:17:29.000 way good standard right we just found
00:17:32.480 out three years ago my husband is dying
00:17:34.250 of cancer now he’s only 34 years old and
00:17:38.330 he has cancer of the pancreas liver and
00:17:41.630 now bone cancer and what has happened
00:17:48.290 here with me is being so young of course
00:17:51.920 an older person you expect to die you
00:17:53.360 expect me to have a heart attack or die
00:17:55.040 of cancer but not a healthy very healthy
00:17:57.050 34 year old man and I always wondered I
00:18:02.510 wonder why this happened to me and you
00:18:06.680 know what am I going to get out of it
00:18:08.510 a very practical person now I know
00:18:12.310 because the strength that it has given
00:18:14.810 me is in turn allowing me to give my
00:18:19.610 husband a stroke to die we’ve talked
00:18:23.360 about it hours on end I know that I have
00:18:27.500 given him peace of mind to the point he
00:18:30.470 didn’t actually experience it that he
00:18:32.150 can’t say okay great
00:18:33.830 come on death but he can appreciate it
00:18:37.880 it calms him down a little bit and
00:18:40.490 certainly he feels better that I feel
00:18:45.050 calmer about it death is a beginning can
00:18:47.270 it’s beautiful there’s the light it’s
00:18:50.510 love it’s more beautiful it’s if you
00:18:52.910 really love somebody you’ve got to be
00:18:55.700 happy for where they’re going
00:18:57.309 it’s an adventure and they’re not alone
00:18:59.779 see we’re afraid of somebody being alone
00:19:02.000 but they’re not alone and not only not
00:19:06.710 alone but it seems like they’re
00:19:07.940 surrounded by this sort of atmosphere of
00:19:10.039 love that it’s very difficult to leave
00:19:12.350 once you encounter it isn’t it it’s
00:19:14.090 beautiful it is just as though you know
00:19:16.640 you’re being held in a cradle of love
00:19:18.890 and just being carried through the most
00:19:21.200 beautiful magical story God could ever
00:19:23.240 create and it’s I just can’t explain it
00:19:26.539 it’s mother thank you for you thank you
00:19:29.960 Ken