A real-life story · Nebraska, United States, 2003
Colton Burpo’s near-death experience
In March 2003, Colton Burpo, a boy who was almost 4, had emergency surgery in Nebraska for a very serious case of appendicitis. Four months later, in the car, he told his parents that he had been in heaven during the operation. He said he left his body. From there he saw his father praying alone in a small room, and his mother on the phone in another room.
His father, Pastor Todd Burpo, told the story in 2010 in the book Heaven Is for Real. The book was a bestseller, and in 2014 it was made into a movie. The book itself says that Colton’s heart never stopped, although he was very ill. We tell it step by step and then look at what could be checked. If you only want the evidence, skip straight to what can be checked.
Step 1
Before 2003 · Imperial, Nebraska · His father’s account
The youngest son of a pastor in a town of two thousand people
Todd Burpo was the pastor of an evangelical church in Imperial, a farming town in western Nebraska. He lived with his wife, Sonja, and their two children: Cassie, who was 6, and Colton, who was 3.
The family prayed every day at home. Colton knew the Bible stories from his family, from Sunday school, and from his picture books. He knew who Jesus was and that he had died on a cross.
In 1998, five years earlier, Sonja had lost a baby two months into the pregnancy. According to his father, they told Cassie about it, but they never told Colton anything.
In late February 2003, Colton started having stomach pain and a fever.
Step 2
February 27 to March 4, 2003 · His father’s account
For five days, the doctors think it is a stomach bug
The town doctor thought it was a stomach bug, because there were a lot of cases in Imperial. When his fever went down, the family went ahead with a trip they had planned to Colorado. There Colton started throwing up every half hour.
When they got back, he was admitted to the hospital in Imperial. The tests didn’t point to appendicitis. He was put on an IV drip, but his father says he looked worse every day.
On March 5, his parents took him to a bigger hospital.
Step 3
March 5, 2003 · North Platte hospital · His father’s account
His appendix has burst, and his father shuts himself in a room as Colton is taken away
At the hospital in North Platte, about 90 miles away, a scan showed that his appendix had burst. The surgeon, Timothy O’Holleran, decided to operate right away. He told the parents that the boy was not doing well.
Colton was screaming and begging his father not to leave. The surgeon decided not to put him under until he was inside the operating room. Two nurses wheeled the gurney away. Colton, still awake, turned his head and looked at his father.
At that moment, Todd hurried out, almost running, and shut himself alone in a small room. He says he spent about fifteen minutes there, desperate and furious with God. Then he went to the waiting room. Sonja was there, calling relatives and friends on the phone to ask them to pray.
The operation lasted about ninety minutes.
Step 4
March 5 to 19, 2003 · North Platte hospital · His father’s account and the surgical report
Two operations, one night in the ICU, and seventeen days in the hospital
The surgical report says his appendix had burst and he had an abscess. That is a pocket of pus inside the belly. He was operated on under general anesthesia. His father reproduces that report in the book.
When he came out of the operating room, Colton told his father that he had almost died. Eight days later, just as they were about to go home, the surgeon stopped them at the elevator because the test results were still bad. More abscesses were found, and he was operated on again. He spent one night in the ICU. He went home on March 19, seventeen days after he was admitted to the hospital in his town.
His father writes that he read the medical records. According to him, Colton never stopped breathing, and his heart did not stop at any point.
For four months, Colton didn’t say anything about heaven. He only let slip the odd remark about Jesus, such as that Jesus had helped the doctor fix him.
Step 5
July 3, 2003, at night · In the car, in North Platte · His father’s account
As they drive past the hospital, Colton says some angels sang to him there
The family was on a road trip and drove through North Platte. His father jokingly asked Colton if he wanted to go back to the hospital. His mother asked him if he remembered the hospital. Colton said yes, and that some angels had sung him a song there.
The parents pulled into the parking lot of a fast-food restaurant. According to his father, they looked at each other and asked each other quietly whether either of them had talked to him about angels before. Neither of them had.
Colton told them that the angels sang him two religious songs for children. He said he was very scared and that he sat on Jesus’ lap.
His father asked him where he was when he saw Jesus.
Step 6
The same night · Colton’s account, as told by his father
Colton says he saw his father praying alone in a room and his mother on the phone
Colton answered that it was at the hospital, while the surgeon was operating on him. He said he left his body and saw the doctor working from above. This is how his father wrote down what Colton told him:
“You were in a little room by yourself, praying, and Mommy was in a different room and she was praying and talking on the phone.”
His father writes that they had not told Colton what they did during the operation. We have not found anything written down in 2003. He told it in writing in his book, seven years later.
In the weeks that followed, Colton kept telling them things.
Step 7
July and August 2003 · Colton’s account, as told by his father
He talks about heaven, about Jesus, and about a great-grandfather he never met
Colton said that Jesus had a horse of many colors and red marks on his hands and feet. He said that the children in heaven had wings and that he was there for “three minutes.” Some of the words came from his father. For example, Colton talked about “a gold thing” on Jesus’ head, and it was his father who asked whether it was a crown. His father says that after that they decided to ask him only open questions.
In August, Colton asked whether his father’s grandfather was called Pop. He said he had been with him in heaven. Pop died in 1976, long before Colton was born.
His father showed him a photo of Pop at 61, with gray hair and glasses, and Colton didn’t recognize him. Weeks later he showed him another photo, from 1943, of Pop at 29 with his wife and two children. Colton said it was Pop. In that photo, Pop is the only adult man.
In October, Colton said something that left his mother speechless.
Step 8
One night in October 2003 · At home · Colton’s account, as told by his father
“Mommy, I have two sisters”
Colton told his mother that he had two sisters. He asked her whether a baby had died in her tummy. Sonja asked him who had told him that, and Colton answered that the girl herself had.
He said the girl was fine and that she looked like Cassie, but smaller and with dark hair. He added that she didn’t have a name, because her parents never gave her one. Sonja had lost that baby in 1998, at two months, without knowing whether it was a boy or a girl.
According to his father, no one had ever talked to Colton about that pregnancy. They had told Cassie, his older sister.
Seven years later, his father told the whole story in a book.
Step 9
From 2010 to today · What came next
The book sells millions of copies, a movie comes out, and Colton stands by his account
Heaven Is for Real came out in 2010. Todd Burpo wrote it with the writer Lynn Vincent, and it became one of the best-selling books in the United States. In 2014 a movie based on it was released.
In 2014, at 15, Colton told a journalist that some of his memories of heaven had faded. He said he still had others, such as sitting on Jesus’ lap and his sister.
In 2015, Alex Malarkey, another boy who was the subject of a similar book, said he had made it all up. The publisher withdrew his book. Colton and his father said they stood by theirs.
The question remains: could Colton have known what his parents were doing without seeing it from outside his body?
Do children have NDEs?
Colton is not a unique case. Some children also describe a near-death experience, although they have been studied very little.
The best-known study was done in Seattle by the pediatrician Melvin Morse. He reviewed the medical records of a children’s hospital from 1978 to 1984 and talked with 40 children who had made a full recovery.
| Which children | Children | Described something from the time they were unconscious |
|---|---|---|
| Had been close to death | 11 | 7 |
| Had been very ill, with a breathing tube and strong medication | 29 | 4, only memories of the hospital |
What these figures don’t tell you
- There are very few children. With 11 children, there is no way to know how many children have an NDE in general.
- Colton was not in that study. His case was not recorded at any hospital. It was told at home, months later.
We go through the study step by step on the page about NDEs in children who came close to death.
Frequently asked questions
Who is Colton Burpo?
Colton Burpo is the son of a pastor in Nebraska. In 2003, when he was almost 4, he had surgery for a very serious case of appendicitis. Months later he said he had been in heaven. His father told the story in the book Heaven Is for Real (2010), which was made into a movie in 2014.
Did Colton Burpo die during the operation?
No. His father writes in the book that he read the medical records and that Colton never stopped breathing and his heart never stopped. He was very ill, and he was operated on twice under general anesthesia.
Is the story in Heaven Is for Real true?
The illness and the operations are real. His father reproduces the report of the first operation in the book. What Colton went through is known only from what his parents say. Here we explain what can be checked.
What did Colton Burpo say about his sister?
In October 2003, Colton told his mother that he had two sisters and that one had died in his mother’s womb. His mother had lost a baby in 1998. According to his father, no one had ever told Colton. They had told his older sister.
Where this story comes from
The book
- Todd Burpo with Lynn Vincent, Heaven Is for Real (Thomas Nelson, 2010). We read the Spanish edition, El cielo es real (Grupo Nelson, 2011; in Spain, Planeta, 2012)Buy the book
Press
- CatholicIreland.net, Susan Gately’s interview with Colton and Todd Burpo, June 2014Read
- Christianity Today, Alex Malarkey’s retraction, January 15, 2015Read
Learn more
- NDEs in children: the Seattle studyRead
- What is a near-death experience?Read
- How we check each storyRead
Our archive
- The full reading of the book, in the Spanish edition, as of October 29, 2026
Keep reading
California, 1997
Lucky Pettersen
At 4, Lucky came out of a coma and said his friend Big Gino had walked him back from heaven. Two weeks later, his family learned that Big Gino had died.
Nebraska, United States, 1963
Ken Leth
As a boy he was put to sleep with ether for surgery. He says spirits attacked him and that he saw the future in heaven. Starting in 2017, he said on the radio that Trump would be pushed out and that Trump would speak to a crowd.
Boston, United States, 1968
Brad Barrows
Brad Barrows was blind from birth. At 8 he stopped breathing because of pneumonia. He later said he saw the snow in Boston from above the roof of his school.
Reincarnation: The top 5 people who remember past lives
We asked them the same five questions as this story. A 32-page PDF, free in your inbox.
Check your email
We have sent you an email. Open it and press the button to confirm. If you cannot see it, check your spam folder.