Mike Z

First, let me say that my experience happened in 1966 when I was 13 years old. I had completely forgotten the event until spring of 2001, which was 35 years later. The "remembering" happened when I was reading Raymond Moody’s book, "Life After Life." I was fascinated by the book, and it was my first introduction to NDEs. As a neuroscientist, I suppose I always had a fascination about what happens next. While reading in bed one evening, halfway through the book, I turned out the light and lay down. Thinking about what I read, the image of what happened 35 years prior came flooding into my head. It was like a thunderbolt. I sat up and said aloud, "I had a near-death experience!" I sat in my bed for what seemed like an hour, recalling the event and replaying it over and over. Why did I forget it for decades? I don’t know, and that concept still mystifies me. In 1966, my parents decided that my 10-year-old brother, Nick, and I needed to see America. We lived in New Jersey and packed up the car for a seven-day road trip to our cousin’s house in Los Angeles. I still have great memories of that trip. In Los Angeles, we stayed in a motel that had a swimming pool. I recall it was mid-afternoon, and my mom told us we could go outside and swim while she stayed indoors with her cousin. A 16 year old cousin, Charis, also visited us at the motel. She brought her swimsuit. Charis was supposed to be watching us while she lay in a recliner with giant sunglasses, reading a book. I recall frolicking in the pool with a ball. I was an excellent swimmer, but my brother Nick was only allowed in the shallow end because he couldn’t swim. Nick walked along the edge of the pool toward the deep end and sat with his feet dangling in the water. That’s when I had the idea that he should get on my back like horseback riding. I’d swim him to the other end of the pool where it was shallower. He thought it was a brilliant idea too. So I held onto the side as Nick climbed on my back. With all the strength in my legs, I launched us off the side wall. That one push got us to the center of the pool, where we both sank like two stones. I vividly recall seeing us both underwater. I didn’t mind too much because I was a great swimmer, but I could see panic in Nick’s violently, flailing movements. Curiously, I remember seeing that his eyes were closed. I went to help him. As soon as I was next to him, he pushed down on my shoulders to pop his head up above the surface of the water. This forced me downward, so I pulled down to get some air. Then he went under again. This up-and-down cycle continued, while getting us nowhere above the water surface. I was breathless and beginning to panic too. Just as I thought my lungs would explode, I saw us from a vantage point about 10 feet above the flailing. There we were, bouncing up and down like two corks. But in an instant, I was back in my body again. We were still in the water, pulling each other down. I just knew this was serious. For a second time, I was back 10 feet above again. This time, I could see me and Nick below. At the same time, I was aware of a newspaper that was right in front of me. The newspaper was unfolded, and in the bottom left corner, in large bold font, it said, "NJ Boys Drown." Just below it was a black-and-white photo of me and Nick, taken a year before. The photo, which my mom mounted and displayed on the mantle, was one we both hated. We called it "that dumb picture." In what seemed like an instant, I was back in my body again. I distinctly remember thinking I should shove him toward the pool’s edge each time he pulled me down. So I did that, and after several shoves, he reached the edge and clung on. I followed. I was right next to Nick on his left side. Charis lifted her sunglasses and said, "You two looked so stupid!" I replied, "We almost drowned!" Then Nick asked, "Were you above us too?" I said, "Yeah, a couple times." He asked, "Did you see the newspaper?" I answered, "Yeah, they put us at the bottom." Nick said, "That dumb picture!" We hoisted ourselves up from the pool and never spoke of it again. Ever. After remembering this event 35 years later, it changed my life profoundly. How did two people see themselves above the scene and witness a future newspaper announcing their deaths? When this experience all flooded back to me, I understood that we both experienced something undeniable. We shared the same event, so it wasn’t a hallucination. It implied there is more than one reality and in at least one reality where we did drown. I’ve used that as a cornerstone of my studies since that time. Just as interestingly, it made me rethink the nature of time. After all, we saw a future event printed in the newspaper, not just something happening in the moment. Sadly, Nick died in 1989, so I could never revisit the event we shared, since I remembered it in 2001. I wish I could say that I and 'we' had more profound visions at the time, like a tunnel or deceased loved ones. But almost drowning was it. It was a very focused vision of the near-drowning below and the "possible" newspaper story. Still, we did share the experience, which was a great confirmation. For that, I’m eternally grateful.