When people come back from the brink of death, their stories often sound eerily similar: glowing light, heavenly beings, and the sense of crossing into another realm. Researchers interviewed 48 people who had near-death experiences (NDEs), asking them to describe and even sketch what they saw as they hovered between life and death.

The following written confession was submitted via email in response to Episode 485: Death To Life (Members): I really loved that episode because I had a near death experience when I was 17 however mine differed from hers. I actually saw Jesus…

By definition, a near death experience is “an unusual experience taking place on the brink of death and recounted by a person after recovery, typically an out-of-body experience or a vision of a tunnel of light.” Though fundamentally correct, the textbook definition of NDEs fails to capture the mystery, transcendence, and often supernatural nature of these episodes, which have been well-documented but still remain ambiguous in the wide scope of science.