Howard Storm (author) - Near Death Experience

Near Death Experience

In June 1985, Storm took a group of his students on a field trip of Europe. After returning to his Paris hotel room with his wife around 11:00 a.m. after a morning excursion, he experienced what he would later learn was a sudden puncture to his duodenum caused by an ulcer or foreign object. He was transported immediately to the biggest and best hospital in Paris, had a diagnosis within an hour, and was told he needed surgery immediately. Because the hospital was understaffed on weekends, however, surgery did not occur until around 9:00 p.m., causing Storm to suffer severe and debilitating pain for several hours after initial injections of morphine given him when he first arrived wore off.

Storm describes in his book that as he lay waiting for surgery, he believed he was going to die, gave up the will to live and mentally prepared himself to die. After saying goodbye to his wife, he eventually passed out and believed he was dying. He states he did not understand what was happening when he opened his eyes again and found himself standing outside of his body. He was allegedly drawn by seemingly friendly voices calling his name and he followed them, but eventually realized that they were malevolent when they turned on him and attacked him savagely in the darkness. His book chronicles an experience that involved him being severely beaten, bitten and torn to pieces by many of these shadowy creatures, and though he managed to survive he experienced severe pain. He says that his overall impression was of a process of "initiation".

His narrative continues with him feeling a voice within him telling him to "Pray to God" and half-heartedly recited fragments of religious material mixed with fragments of the Pledge of Allegiance. He claims this recitation gradually drove away the malignant beings. After a time of deep despair, he resorted to calling out "Jesus, please save me!" He was rescued from that dark place by a being of light that he believes was Jesus, and he was also visited by other "spiritual beings of light" as well. He soon experienced a life review, which he found to be intensely discomforting because it highlighted the selfishness of his life. To his surprise they were more interested in his relationships than his personal achievements. He was then asked by the beings if he had any questions, and he says that he proceeded to ask them every question that he could think of.

He states that, at one point, he asked about the near-future of his country (the United States), and says that he was told that the US was a "blessed nation", but if it did not change its ways it would lose its prosperity. This was in no way portrayed as a punishment of God but rather as a natural consequence. He claims to have seen visions of a future plagued by war, natural disasters and despair, but notes that he was told that this scenario was avoidable if there was a major spiritual "shift" in the consciousness of the world.

The core of his message was primarily about the importance of love and peaceful unity among people, who he says are "all loved by God". He constantly reiterates the importance of caring for others and seeking spiritual truth. In his book he states that he was informed by these beings of light that the "correct religion" is that religion that "brings you closest to God", negating his attempt to force them to say that one specific religion or denomination was "the only correct one". He states that the deepest desire of these beings is only to serve "the One" (which humans refer to as "God"), and part of their acts of service include assisting humanity to "return to the One".

Storm concedes there is no medical evidence that he ever died. His alleged NDE occurred while he was unconscious in a hospital bed awaiting surgery.

Storm's surgery that evening was successful and he appeared to be healing rapidly, but 'a Voice' told him to ignore the advice of doctors and buy tickets to return to the U.S. only a week post-surgery (doctors advised no travel for at least a month post-surgery). According to Storm's statements, most of the doctors stated that there was no way that he should have been able to live through the amount of damage his body sustained during the trip back to the U.S. Storm credits his supernatural experiences as leading to the fact that he is alive today.