How we check each story
In short. A story can be sincere and still not be checked. That’s why we ask every story the same five questions. They don’t tell us whether someone is telling the truth. They tell us what can be shown today.
Why checking matters
Many people who have come close to dying say they left their body and saw things happening around them. For example, they describe what the doctors were doing, who came into the room, or an object no one had shown them.
If someone truly saw something they had no way of knowing, it would be a huge discovery. But there are also ordinary explanations. They may have heard it, been told about it afterward, or worked it out. Or they may have come to remember it differently over the years. Listening to the story is not enough to tell these apart. You have to look at what was written down, when, and by whom.
The five questions
- Did they give their account before anyone told them what had happened?If someone explained to them what happened, the person could have learned it from that explanation rather than from what they experienced. That’s why what counts most is what they said before anyone told them anything. It counts even more if it was written down and dated.
- Do we know when they were at their most critical?We need to know whether their heart had stopped, whether they were under anesthesia, or whether they were unconscious when the things they describe happened. For that, we need the time of the most critical moment, recorded in a medical report or in their medical records.
- Do we know when what they described happened?We also need the time of what they say they saw or heard. Only with both times can we tell whether they match.
- Does anyone else confirm what they described?We need a doctor, a report, or a record that knows about the event on its own, not because the person told them. If the confirmation comes only from their family or from their own account, it counts for less.
- Can we rule out that they knew it by ordinary means?Before considering anything extraordinary, we have to rule out the ordinary. We have to rule out that they heard it, caught a glimpse of it, worked it out, or already knew it. If the person or their family say that nobody told them, the answer is “unconfirmed”. If nobody asked them, it is “no data”. And if we know they found out beforehand, it is “no”.
How each answer is marked
Each question is answered with a mark. These are the five marks, and what each one is worth:
- YesThe evidence is in plain view.1 point
- UnconfirmedSomething supports it, but the full evidence is missing.½ point
- NoThere is an answer, and it is no.0 points
- No dataThe information needed to answer is missing.0 points
- Does not applyThe question makes no sense for that story.0 points
A story’s score is the sum of its five marks. The highest score is 5.
A question that does not apply adds no points.
Only something with the evidence in plain view counts as “yes.” “Unconfirmed” means there is some support, but not the full evidence. For example, someone says they wrote it down, but that piece of paper has not been published. “Unconfirmed” does not mean we suspect anyone.
When a piece of information is missing, the story is not thrown out. We mark it “no data” and say what we would need to answer the question. If none of the five questions applies, the story has no score.
A story can have a score without a single “yes.” That means the account is complete, but nothing in it has been verified yet.
When two stories have the same score, the one with more “yes” answers comes first. And scores are compared between stories of the same kind. A near-death experience does not leave the same evidence as a shared death experience or a reincarnation case. That is why the questions are adapted to each kind.
What these questions don’t do
These questions don’t decide whether an experience was real or whether there is life after death. A story with few “yes” answers can be completely sincere. If it has few “yes” answers, that only means it wasn’t documented.
Nor do we take sides in advance. There are two main explanations. One says that everything happens in the brain. The other says that consciousness can carry on without it. We ask the same of both explanations, and we look for mistakes in both directions.
Where the information comes from
Not all sources carry the same weight. From most to least:
- A document from the time: a medical report, a medical record, a police report.
- The person’s own words, recorded or quoted word for word.
- What a journalist or a researcher reports in their own words.
- A source that copies another one.
The more hands a piece of information passes through, the more mistakes it picks up. That’s why every story ends with its sources, one by one, with a link whenever possible.