Euphoria, out-of-body experiences, visions too marvelous to describe. These are just a part of the truth of near-death experiences. As it turns out, they don’t always include a tunnel, and there’s not always a light at the end. 

Before Raymond Moody’s book, Life After Life, became a worldwide hit, there were far fewer works that described near-death experiences (NDEs). A forerunner on this subject can be found in the Swiss geology professor and alpinist Albert Heim, who lived at the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Although he had no formal education in psychology, Heim was a man with wide-ranging interests; he researched subjects including the use of hypnosis, and raised Swiss herding dogs. 

One reason for his unusual passions was a dangerous accident that happened to him in the mountains. When he described it to friends who had also fallen off precipices, it turned out that they had experienced similar mysterious “paranormal” states. Heim began to document this kind of story from other climbers, as well as war veterans, bricklayers, workers, and fishermen. Essentially, representatives of professions that often experience serious accidents. Regardless of the type of incident, the stories were very similar. His interlocutors felt that time slowed down, while their minds began to work faster. Those who had experienced such things could recall the most important moments of their lives, even the difficult and painful ones, while at the same time taking lightning-fast action to save their lives and minimize their injuries. The descriptions of these experiences sometimes took up several pages, while the event itself took at most a few seconds. Some heard heavenly music, experienced extraordinary aesthetic impressions and had a religious experience of the sublime. One student Heim studied, who had been saved from a train crash, felt no pain even though he was covered in blood, and heard the words “God is all-powerful.” 

People who had similar experiences said their lives were decisively changed. On the basis of his research, Heim reached quite a shocking conclusion: death in an unexpected accident is a positive, pleasant experience. 

Great Harmony 

The article Heim published in 1892 intrigued psychologists and psychiatrists, but it can’t be said to have achieved popularity comparable with Moody’s bestseller from almost a century later. Even though