Millions of people have reported near-death experiences, but without a scientific explanation, claims are often greeted with scorn. Lindsay Jennings reports.

IT WAS the little things she noticed which made the experience disturbingly real. While the doctors and nurses worked frantically on Sheila Walpole's body, trying to bring her back to life after suffering a cardiac arrest, she was watching from a unique vantage point up on the hospital ceiling.

She watched as the doctor put a line in her arm and the medics busied around her lifeless body. But it was her husband's dirty collar which would stick in her mind when the doctors revived her and her soul finally returned to its shell.

Recalls Sheila: "Looking back now, one of the funniest things was shouting at my husband who was sitting in the corner of the room. "I was screaming, 'I'm up here - can't you see me!' and I noticed how dirty his collar was."

For Sheila, of North Yorkshire, her out-of-body experience in 1984 came two days after she had had a near-death experience (NDE) following her collapse from a blood clot.

"The next thing I knew I was in a dark tunnel, travelling at amazing speed with a deafening, thundering wind towards a beautiful light. I was drawn to the light because I felt it was so peaceful and loving," she says. She realised she had re-joined the real world when she was aware of the Egyptian doctor "banging" on her chest as he resuscitated her.

Sheila's is one of scores of testimonies being taken by Nick Watson, who is investigating near-death experiences for his PhD in psychology and theology at York St John College.

According to Nick, the experiences are very similar and happen when people are pronounced clinically dead, either brain stem dead or when the heart stops. Many people who have them admit they are unsure whether or not they have had an experience or a dream and some attach deep religious significance to what has happened.

The first thing people usually find is an out-of-body experience where the person's soul leaves the body, often, like Sheila, to watch what's going on from a vantage point on the ceiling or by a hospital bed.

Nick, 30, says: "People have come back and reported exact medical procedures that have gone on or have read monitors - that is what is classed as the best scientific evidence. Some would then go back into their bodies. Others have a full blown experience where the next characteristic would be a noise, a rush of wind, bells, music or thundering. Then people find themselves either in a dark tunnel or in a large dark void or expanse.

"At the end of the tunnel is a light and there's a knowledge that they have to go towards the light. They feel total peace, serenity and tranquillity. The light is generally perceived as God, it's brilliant white but it's not blinding to the eye. People say the light envelopes them in love."

People often experience seeing dead relatives or religious figures at the end of the tunnel and find they have a life review waiting for them - a kind of fast forward film of all their experiences, both positive and negative. It is at this point where communication is non-verbal, telepathic even, and that people are often told they have to go back to earth, to look after their children or, in some frustrating cases, simply to fulfil their destiny, even though they may not know why.

Nick says: "At the other side of the gate may be their deceased parents or a relative and they will have a non-verbal discussion with them and they will tell them they have to go back. People have a reluctance to return because it's so beautiful and peaceful."

The positive after-effects, include a lack of fear regarding death, and feelings of increased empathy and spirituality. But for others, there can be negative reactions as they struggle to cope with a different reality to our physical world. About three per cent of people also report seeing hellish landscapes and demonic entities or lakes of fire with faces screaming to be let out.

Earliest recorded reports of an afterlife date back to 400BC, to the writings of Plato, who wrote of a soldier slain in battle who came back to life on his funeral pyre telling the story of an "Other World".

But the serious study of NDEs did not start until the mid-1960s when medical science allowed for humans to be resuscitated from what was defined as clinical death. During the last three decades, the study of NDEs has gained momentum with leading medical doctors, professors, scientists and theologists investigating the phenomena.

One of the most respected is Professor Kenneth Ring, professor of Psychology at the University of Connecticut in America, who wrote recently that, due to the flaws in the scientific theories, the burden of proof must lie with those who suggest NDEs as a form of afterlife.

By carrying out his three-year study into NDEs, looking at whether culture and religion affect the type of experience, Nick says he wants to educate three sets of people - the public, the clergy and mainstream psychologists. His interviewees will include the Archbishop of York, Dr David Hope.

He says: "I want to see what the clergy's perspective is on it. Research shows the vast majority of clergy believe they are religious experiences but have no knowledge about the after-effects or the outcomes, so it's important we try and engage in this debate.

"Mainstream psychology doesn't really acknowledge the existence of a religious dimension. Those with atheist beliefs cannot accept that these are religious experiences - they just see them as delusions."

Scientific explanations for near-death experiences tend to centre around lack of oxygen in a dying brain causing hallucinations, or a rush of endorphins when facing death. Anaesthetic has been cited as a contributing factor and it has been said that people with epilepsy are more likely to have them. Psychologists often believe it is the person going into denial, creating a fantasy rather than facing the prospect of death.

But it does little to explain the millions of people who have noticed their husband's dirty collar, read their own medical monitors or can describe exactly what happened in the operating room while they lay clinically dead.

Nick has an open, kind face and, in a down-to-earth Yorkshire way, speaks openly about helping those who have experienced NDEs come to terms with their experiences. Often, he says, people are reluctant to talk at first, but once they are reassured that their experiences have happened to millions of others, the floodgates are opened - with some so relieved at sharing a burden they break down in tears.

Nick, who is keen to hear from others who have had NDEs, says: "I speak to some and they say they've never told anyone or they've just told their husband and it's a huge relief to tell someone else."

As a Christian, he believes in the afterlife and has an inherent interest in NDEs, but his background is also scientific, having undertaken his first degree in sport and exercise science.

"I'm not trying to prove the existence of God because what would be the point of faith?" he says. "My personal view is that all researchers in the field, including myself, need to remain very humble about our findings because we're experiencing a realm of existence which is beyond our understanding."

For Sheila, her near-death experience has had a lasting effect. "The experience has certainly changed the way I think about life and treat other people and I have no fear of death, except for leaving my family behind," she says. "But what I do know, is that God exists."

Anyone who has had a near-death experience or who can help with funding can contact Nick on (01904) 716833 or e-mail him at n.watsonyorksj.ac.uk.

Some of the names in this article have been changed.