People Who Had A Near Death Experience Share What Their 'Last' Thought Was

There's a belief which dates back centuries that at the moment of death, your whole life replays in your head.

But does it really?

Hopefully most of us won't find out any time soon, but one resource for an answer is people who had near death experiences.

Medically speaking, there are multiple definitions of death.

A stopped heart means clinical death. But people can recover from the sorts of death caused by blood clots, electrical disruption, hypothermia, or any other number of accidents or illnesses.

People often categorize these events as near death experiences, although temporary death might be more accurate.

Some people consider a near death experience as something that should have killed a person but doesn't. In those cases, no death actually occurs. Near death is fairly accurate here.

Reddit user Nokukie asked:

"People who have had near death experiences, what was the 'last' thing you thought?"

Drowning

"I was either 3 or 4 years old and hadn't learned to swim yet. My aunt left me on the stairs and I saw all the other kids having fun and thought it looked like fun."

"I went forward, flailed around, sunk like a rock. I took a big breath of water."

"I didn't have thoughts, but I felt incredibly sad that I messed up."

"I was pulled out and given CPR by the lifeguard and when I came to I was instantly crying and saying how sorry I was."

~ punktilend

Peanut Butter Toast

"Eating some peanut butter and toast a few years ago, alone in my apartment, it was late. I literally just finished the gym and needed to get calories in, incidentally, I was also dehydrated."

"Long story short, I had dysphasgia, couldn't swallow and blocked my windpipe. My throat started doing some involuntary spasms. The lights were literally going out. Felt like it lasted what seemed like a lifetime..."

"Honestly, my last thoughts before it finally dislodged were "f*ck, my mum is gonna get a call in another country, telling her I was killed by peanut butter toast, that's how I'll be remembered'."

"Fortunately, lived. Didn't eat bread for nearly 2 years! 6 months later, someone I knew died of a lower oesophagus obstruction from bread. Sh*t still plays on my mind!"

~ GIrish247

Hypothermia

"I was within an hour of giving up the ghost. Laying in 3 feet of snow, face down while being snowed on."

"I couldn't move because I had a bunch of broken bones from riding an ATV off of a cliff."

"I thought, 'I wonder why I was freezing cold 20 minutes ago and now I'm starting to feel hot? I should start taking my clothes off'."

~ Reddit

Climbing Accident

"Almost rappelled off the end of my rope one time, my last thought was, 'f*ck I'm an idiot'."

~ Lunaciteeee

Unspecified

"When I experienced near death, the last thing I thought was, 'I can't believe this is happening'."

~ SonataEmma

Strangulation

"I was working with people who have developmental disabilities and are violent."

"One day, a guy in our residence, threw a tantrum and punched another resident in the face. I turned to take care of the injured guy."

"The other guy grabbed me from behind and put me in a headlock and squeezed, strangling me."

"I remember thinking that this was probably the end for me. And I had a great feeling of peace settle on me."

"Then, the other staff member was able to pull the guy off of me and I regained consciousness."

"I will always remember that feeling of peace."

~ frithar

Heart Failure

"When my mom came back from being resuscitated 6 times in a week because of heart failure and had her first conscious thoughts, she kept repeating 'I'm not worth it, I'm not worth it, let me go, I'm not worth it'."

"She is still with us, but those were her first words when she came out of it, and it freaks me the f*ck out to this day."

~ TheAbominablePeeworm

WTF, Truck‽

"When I was 19 I was run over by a truck going 45-50mph in a crosswalk. I didn't see it coming. I had my back to the truck while skateboarding crossing the crosswalk."

"I felt the truck impact my entire back. My head whipped backwards and slammed the hood. I was then launched 15-20 feet forward."

"While I was in the air I was still conscious. The only thoughts that ran in my head, 'What the f*ck just happened'."

"I then felt impact to my face/head and that's when I blacked out. I then had a seizure on the pavement, bashing my front teeth into the pavement."

"While it's happening, I'm fully 'conscious' and thinking in my head, 'What the f*ck are you doing! Stop biting the f*cking ground! You a**hole!' Could not control anything physically and that really pissed me off."

"I ended up being on the news that morning. When being brought in by EMT to the ER nurses kept telling me 'we all thought you’d be dead, no way you’re conscious and conversing so well'. They ran me through every test, xray, catscan, MRI."

"There wasn’t any internal bleeding and not a single broken bone. I literally walked out of the hospital with skateboard in hand. Called my buddies for a ride and then told them the story."

~ punktilend

Stabbed

"'So this is how it ends', whilst being attacked and stabbed with a knife, but I fought back."

~ imapangolinn

Bleeding Ulcer

"I had a blood vessel burst in my stomach from an ulcer I didn’t know I had. My last thoughts as I went down were ‘well, OK. This is different’."

"Then I was out and when I came too, I was incredibly nauseous from all the blood now in my stomach. Doctor said I lost 20-25 percent of my blood when it burst."

"I happened to be at work around people. I had called in sick the day before, but felt better that morning."

"They said had I been at home, I might not have made it."

~tanukis_parachute

Choked

"I nearly died being choked out, and I definitely felt peaceful as it happened toward the end, like just very fuzzy around the edges. Sort of like when you go to sleep for a surgery."

"But my experience was like a weird stop motion play-by-play otherwise leading up to it."

"I kept looking at his face and thinking how angry he looked as he rushed me, then suddenly I was very aware I was not able to touch the ground, then kicking a bit to try to make him drop me, then staring at his face and thinking his eyes were so angry and empty and mean looking, then realizing again for the second time I still wasn't on the ground anymore, then looking at his pores and red face, and then I sort of left my body to get perspective on what was happening while it began to feel peaceful and OK with not being on the ground."

"I don't remember the after except for running and running, but it was probably 20 seconds of running. I just remember becoming alert to pain and reality while I was sitting in the middle of the street while refusing to move and him saying sorry a bunch and my airway really hurting."

"It was my dad, and the police did take him away and charge him with assault. Sadly no time served."

~ YourGlacier

Friendly Fire

"I had a weapon oriented at me quickly from short distance away while I wasn't immediately identifiable."

"'Not like this' when I thought I was about to get lit up with friendly fire."

~ BobbyPeele88

Hydroplaning

"Driving home from work on the interstate, in a pretty good rain shower. I didn't *think* that I was going to fast, but I must have been, as suddenly my car is going down the highway passenger side first."

"I am desperately trying to regain control of the car, and suddenly I start heading towards the concrete divider in the middle."

"I actually said out loud before I crashed, 'Well, I'm f*cked...'."

"Fortunately, no major injuries (just some cuts, bruises and airbag rash), but the car was totaled."

~ Mediocre-Source-920

Pool Stunt

"Nearly drowned myself trying some stupid diving stunt in a public swimming pool sometime in my early/mid-teens. Basically I planned to go underwater, slip under the ladder between it and the pool wall, and emerge in that narrow space to then sit on the ladder steps."

"I dived, got into the narrow space, but my big a** connected with the ladder's steps and I couldn't break to the surface, struggling to break free with my face only a few inches away from breathable air."

"I remember being angry at my butt for being fat, I remember being angry at the group of older kids who were chilling by the edge of the pool quite close to me and who were seemingly not noticing. I remember being scared."

"Then I'm not sure what got to me, but something made me kick back and push myself down the way I came instead of continuing to struggle to go upwards. I slipped free from the ladder and resurfaced again."

"I honestly do not remember *thinking* of doing that, but I'm glad I did. I don't think I would've lasted a few seconds longer than I did."

~ thathorsegamingguy

Driving Off The Road

"I was the passenger in a car that drove off the back roads one snowy night in New England. It was the middle of nowhere so there weren't any lights or clear roads and we just flew off the road into the abyss."

Last thoughts: 'F**k! I hate it here! At least we're (my husband and I) dying together'."

"We landed after what felt like forever in a farmer's field that was about 6 feet below the road. It was a very bumpy drive, but we found the path to the farmer's shack and made it back to the road from there."

~ 2baverage

Have you ever had a near death experience?