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Top 10 best-checked NDEs

Assessed against the published evidence and documentation

We ask every story the same five questions. Each answer is marked like this:

  • Yes1 point
  • Unconfirmed½ point
  • No0 points
  • No data0 points
  • Does not apply0 points

The top 10 at a glance

  1. #1 Patient 10 4.5
  2. Al Sullivan 4.5
  3. #3 Pam Reynolds 4
  4. Mr. M. 4
  5. Mrs. M. 4
  6. The blue-cap patient 4
  7. #7 Carl Gustav Jung 3.5
  8. Lucky Pettersen 3.5
  9. Doris 3.5
  10. Mr. S. 3.5
  11. Luis Miguel Domínguez 3.5
  12. Luding Coenen 3.5
  13. José Manuel Ramos Montalvo 3.5
  14. Israel Vargas 3.5

A low score doesn’t mean the person lied. It means the documents needed to check their account are missing.

There are ties, so the top 10 has 14 stories. How we score

#1: 2 stories tied with 4.5 out of 5

Patient 10

Wales, United Kingdom

4.5 out of 5

A man in intensive care said he saw what the doctor, the nurse, and the physical therapist were doing. A researcher was right beside him and confirms it.

  1. Did they tell it before anyone explained anything to them? Yes.
  2. Do we know when they lived through it? Yes.
  3. Do we know when what they saw or heard happened? Yes.
  4. Does an outsider confirm it? Yes.
  5. Did they find out some other way? Unconfirmed.
What document would raise the score A written record of what was said beside his bed while he was unconscious. That would show whether he could have heard some of what he later described.
Read the full story

Al Sullivan

United States, 1988

4.5 out of 5

Al Sullivan had heart surgery. He says he saw his surgeon from above, moving his elbows as if trying to fly. Moving his elbows that way was a habit of the surgeon’s. On television, the surgeon said he could not explain how Sullivan saw the gesture under complete anesthesia.

  1. Did they tell it before anyone explained anything to them? Yes.
  2. Do we know when they lived through it? Yes.
  3. Do we know when what they saw or heard happened? Yes.
  4. Does an outsider confirm it? Yes.
  5. Did they find out some other way? Unconfirmed.
What document would raise the score A record from the operation with the time the surgeon moved his elbows. Before the general anesthesia, Sullivan was awake for a while under local anesthesia. With that time, we would know whether he was already fully asleep when the surgeon made the gesture.
Read the full story

#3: 4 stories tied with 4 out of 5

Pam Reynolds

United States, 1991

4 out of 5

Doctors stopped her heart to operate on her brain. She later said she had watched the operation from above. She talked about the saw they used and about what the doctors said about her groin. Some of what she described matches the surgical report.

  1. Did they tell it before anyone explained anything to them? Unconfirmed.
  2. Do we know when they lived through it? Yes.
  3. Do we know when what they saw or heard happened? Yes.
  4. Does an outsider confirm it? Yes.
  5. Did they find out some other way? Unconfirmed.
What document would raise the score Something written in 1991, when she woke up from the operation, with what Pam said. The oldest known record is from years later.
Read the full story

Mr. M.

United States, 1978

4 out of 5

He was resuscitated in the ER. He said he saw them put a needle into his groin. The medical record confirms that blood was taken from his groin, but on the opposite side from the one he named.

  1. Did they tell it before anyone explained anything to them? Unconfirmed.
  2. Do we know when they lived through it? Yes.
  3. Do we know when what they saw or heard happened? Yes.
  4. Does an outsider confirm it? Yes.
  5. Did they find out some other way? Unconfirmed.
What document would raise the score Something written in the days after his cardiac arrest with what he said about the needle in his groin. His wife says he told her and their daughter about the resuscitation the next day, but she doesn’t say whether he mentioned his groin.
Read the full story

Mrs. M.

United States, 1978

4 out of 5

She was resuscitated in her hospital bed. She later said she saw them prick her hand with a small needle, and she talked about blood gases. Her medical record notes that blood was taken from an artery at 7:30.

  1. Did they tell it before anyone explained anything to them? Unconfirmed.
  2. Do we know when they lived through it? Yes.
  3. Do we know when what they saw or heard happened? Yes.
  4. Does an outsider confirm it? Yes.
  5. Did they find out some other way? Unconfirmed.
What document would raise the score Something written when she woke up with what she said. The recorded interview is from seven months later, and by then a nurse had already told her part of what happened.
Read the full story

The blue-cap patient

AWARE study, 2014

4 out of 5

He was resuscitated after a cardiac arrest in a hospital taking part in a study. He said he saw himself from the ceiling during the resuscitation, heard the defibrillator’s voice, and saw a man in a blue cap. His medical records confirm part of what he said.

  1. Did they tell it before anyone explained anything to them? Unconfirmed.
  2. Do we know when they lived through it? Yes.
  3. Do we know when what they saw or heard happened? Yes.
  4. Does an outsider confirm it? Yes.
  5. Did they find out some other way? Unconfirmed.
What document would raise the score Something written with his description of the man in the blue cap before he saw him in person the next day. That would show he didn’t describe him after seeing him.
Read the full story

#7: 8 stories tied with 3.5 out of 5

Carl Gustav Jung

Zurich, 1944

3.5 out of 5

After a heart attack in 1944, Carl Gustav Jung said he saw the Earth from space. According to him, his doctor appeared to him to say he had to go back, and from then on Jung feared for the doctor’s life. The doctor died months later.

  1. Did they tell it before anyone explained anything to them? Unconfirmed.
  2. Do we know when they lived through it? Unconfirmed.
  3. Do we know when what they saw or heard happened? Yes.
  4. Does an outsider confirm it? Yes.
  5. Did they find out some other way? Unconfirmed.
What document would raise the score A letter, or something written down by someone close to him, from the spring of 1944, with Jung’s fear for his doctor’s life. The oldest known record is one Jung wrote himself in 1955, eleven years later.
Read the full story

Lucky Pettersen

California, 1997

3.5 out of 5

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.

  1. Did they tell it before anyone explained anything to them? Unconfirmed.
  2. Do we know when they lived through it? Unconfirmed.
  3. Do we know when what they saw or heard happened? Yes.
  4. Does an outsider confirm it? Yes.
  5. Did they find out some other way? Unconfirmed.
What document would raise the score Something his parents wrote in 1997, on the day he woke up, with what he said about Big Gino. Today all there is is what they say in a documentary from 2000.
Read the full story

Doris

London, 1924

3.5 out of 5

Doris was dying after giving birth and said she could see her sister Vida. Vida had died 18 days earlier, and no one had told Doris.

  1. Did they tell it before anyone explained anything to them? Unconfirmed.
  2. Do we know when they lived through it? Unconfirmed.
  3. Do we know when what they saw or heard happened? Yes.
  4. Does an outsider confirm it? Yes.
  5. Did they find out some other way? Unconfirmed.
What document would raise the score A dated note, written the same day, with the sentence in which Doris names her sister Vida. The note written shortly afterward by the doctor who was treating Doris doesn’t include that sentence.
Read the full story

Mr. S.

United States, 1973

3.5 out of 5

He was resuscitated in the early hours in a coronary care unit. He described how the two needles moved on the defibrillator, the machine that delivers the shocks. The medical record does not say which machine it was.

  1. Did they tell it before anyone explained anything to them? Unconfirmed.
  2. Do we know when they lived through it? Yes.
  3. Do we know when what they saw or heard happened? Yes.
  4. Does an outsider confirm it? Unconfirmed.
  5. Did they find out some other way? Unconfirmed.
What document would raise the score The model of defibrillator that unit had in 1973, to confirm the dial needles he describes. Something written before 1978, the year he told his story in an interview, would also be needed.
Read the full story

Luis Miguel Domínguez

Madrid, Spain, 2019

3.5 out of 5

He says he was in a coma after a stroke and that he drank “fossil water” in New York. While he was in the coma, a large reservoir of water under the sea off the coast of New York was announced. He and his wife, Mónica, say no one told him about it.

  1. Did they tell it before anyone explained anything to them? Yes.
  2. Do we know when they lived through it? Unconfirmed.
  3. Do we know when what they saw or heard happened? Yes.
  4. Does an outsider confirm it? Unconfirmed.
  5. Did they find out some other way? Unconfirmed.
What document would raise the score Something written in 2019 that places the water beneath the seabed, off the coast of the United States, as the news story said. In the first thing he put in writing, in 2021, the water was on the banks of the Hudson River.
Read the full story

Luding Coenen

Colombia, around 1985

3.5 out of 5

She had a hemorrhage in childbirth and says she saw her grandparents and a light. She says that years later she saw buildings falling at two in the morning. It was the time of an earthquake in Turkey.

  1. Did they tell it before anyone explained anything to them? Unconfirmed.
  2. Do we know when they lived through it? Unconfirmed.
  3. Do we know when what they saw or heard happened? Yes.
  4. Does an outsider confirm it? Yes.
  5. Did they find out some other way? Unconfirmed.
What document would raise the score A statement from her husband, made separately, saying that she woke him up that night and at what time. All we have today is what she says.
Read the full story

José Manuel Ramos Montalvo

Mexico City, 2001

3.5 out of 5

He says he was in a coma after being hit with a rock and that he saw the Twin Towers burn on September 11. The attack is public record. Only he says he knew about it before anyone told him.

  1. Did they tell it before anyone explained anything to them? Unconfirmed.
  2. Do we know when they lived through it? Unconfirmed.
  3. Do we know when what they saw or heard happened? Yes.
  4. Does an outsider confirm it? Yes.
  5. Did they find out some other way? Unconfirmed.
Read the full story

Israel Vargas

Colombia, 2020

3.5 out of 5

He was intubated with COVID and says he saw hell and a white valley. He says that on some screens he saw Joe Biden and América de Cali win before it happened.

  1. Did they tell it before anyone explained anything to them? Unconfirmed.
  2. Do we know when they lived through it? Unconfirmed.
  3. Do we know when what they saw or heard happened? Yes.
  4. Does an outsider confirm it? Yes.
  5. Did they find out some other way? Unconfirmed.
What document would raise the score The drawings and notes he says he made at home after leaving the hospital, with their dates. They would count if they show Biden or América de Cali before they won. Today all there is is his own account from 2024.
Read the full story

And the most famous ones?

The stories people search for most on Google in the United States are not always the best checked. Colton Burpo is the most searched for and has no question answered yes, only five unconfirmed. Al Sullivan is searched for 20 times a month and has four questions answered yes.

  1. Colton Burpo 6,600 searches a month 2.5
  2. Eben Alexander 2,400 searches a month 2
  3. Anita Moorjani 2,400 searches a month 3
  4. Pam Reynolds 1,000 searches a month 4
  5. Al Sullivan 20 searches a month 4.5

Monthly searches in the United States, according to Semrush, as of November 1, 2026.

How we score each story

The five questions are the same for every story. Only something with the evidence in plain view counts as a “yes.” For example, a medical report, a witness who isn’t family, or something written down with a date. The answers for each story are on its page, with their sources. We explain it all in How we check each story.

Frequently asked questions

Why does no near-death experience reach 5 of 5 in the ranking?

Because every one of them still has something unconfirmed. In none of them has it been possible to fully rule out that the person found out some other way. For example, that they heard it or were told.

Does a low score in the ranking mean the person lied?

No. A low score means the documents that would check their account haven’t been published. A story can be completely sincere and still have a low score.

Who scores each story in the ranking?

We do, with the same five questions for every story. Each answer says what it is based on and links to its sources, so anyone can review it.

Does this ranking prove there is life after death?

No. The ranking shows which parts of each experience can be checked. It doesn’t prove there is life after death, and it doesn’t prove these experiences are only the brain’s doing either.

Does the ranking change over time?

Yes. If we publish a story with a higher score, or a document turns up that raises or lowers the score of one already listed, the order changes.

Reincarnation · Free PDF

What about reincarnation?

We asked them the same five questions we ask of near-death experiences. None of the five cases scores 5 out of 5.

Reincarnation: The top 5 people who remember past lives

A 32-page PDF with what each person said, what was checked and what was not. Free, in your inbox.

See what’s in the PDF

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