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00:00 According to studies, up to 15% of people have had a near-death experience in their
00:04 lifetimes.
00:05 A significant portion of humankind has been taken to the brink of dying, only to be brought
00:10 back to the land of the living.
00:12 But in some cases, they return fundamentally changed forever.
00:16 This is Unveiled, and today we're answering the extraordinary question; can a near-death
00:21 experience give you superpowers?
00:23 Do you need the big questions answered?
00:25 Are you constantly curious?
00:27 Then why not subscribe to Unveiled for more clips like this one?
00:30 And ring the bell for more thought-provoking content!
00:34 A near-death experience, or NDE, is an increasingly common phenomenon, felt and seen by anyone
00:40 who has come exceptionally close to dying.
00:42 Perhaps their heart has briefly stopped beating, or they've been knocked out cold in an accident…
00:46 but what happens next is difficult to explain.
00:50 There are certain often shared characteristics, though.
00:53 A white light, a long tunnel, life flashing before your eyes, and a sense of euphoria.
00:58 Upon being resuscitated, NDE sufferers also often report some kind of out-of-body event.
01:04 Perhaps they've seen themselves on the operating table, or they've stood at the foot of what
01:08 was very nearly their own deathbed.
01:10 In some cases, they've even heard doctors deliver their own "time of death" before
01:15 coming back from the dead to remember it.
01:17 After an NDE, many people claim to have a vastly different perspective.
01:22 Life takes on new meaning, and they feel more appreciative of the world around them.
01:26 But, on the other hand, your mood can go in the opposite direction as well… with some
01:30 reports of post-traumatic stress disorder taking hold.
01:34 Having come so close to death, some people feel haunted by it from that point forward.
01:38 Ultimately, there is no standard or expected reaction to an NDE… but every so often,
01:44 an especially unexpected effect comes to light.
01:48 Near-death empowerment is a story trope in some science fiction.
01:51 It's when a character's powers are enhanced, or they're able to unlock all new abilities
01:55 as a direct result of them very nearly dying.
01:58 In the world of comics and superhero movies, it's basically "what doesn't kill you
02:02 makes you stronger" to an extreme degree.
02:05 And yet, if reports are to be believed, then near-death empowerment is much more than just
02:10 a fictional device.
02:11 Instead, it's a mystery of the real world… and one that a select few people have been
02:17 able to tap into.
02:18 In 1983, Bruce Grayson headed a study titled "Increase in Psychic Phenomena Following
02:24 Near-Death Experiences".
02:26 At the time, Grayson was Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Chief of the Psychiatric
02:31 Emergency Service at the University of Michigan.
02:34 Later in his career, he became the Director of the Division of Perceptual Studies at the
02:38 University of Virginia, a role later filled by a leading voice in past-life memory research,
02:44 Jim Tucker.
02:45 In his 1983 work, Grayson sought to investigate "the reported incidence of psychic and psi-related
02:52 experiences occurring both before and after subjects' NDEs".
02:57 His research was conducted on members of the International Association for Near-Death Studies
03:01 who had had NDEs in the past.
03:04 Eighty volunteered to be surveyed, of which the results of sixty-nine of them were "returned
03:09 in analyzable form".
03:11 The survey probed participants on the occurrence of various phenomena before and after their
03:16 NDE.
03:17 The results showed a clear increase in many of them after the near-death experience.
03:22 Grayson writes that "ESP experiences while awake were reported to have occurred significantly
03:27 more frequently after the NDE than before.
03:30 The same for out-of-body experiences, encounters with apparitions, and perceptions of an aura
03:35 about someone else; and also for profound spiritual, mystical, or transcendental experiences,
03:42 lucid dreams, and recall of dreams at least once a week.
03:45 All of these things were found to have increased, on average, in the subjects after they had
03:49 had the NDE."
03:51 Grayson tempers the findings with a reminder that correlation isn't causation; that there
03:55 could be a number of other reasons why this pattern emerges.
03:58 For instance, an NDE might merely increase delusion rather than ESP powers; or having
04:04 had an NDE, a subject may be more prone to a "pro-NDE bias" rather than more prone
04:10 to something like genuine telepathy.
04:12 But nevertheless, of the nineteen individual items on the original survey, it was found
04:17 that nine of them did become more common after near-death.
04:20 So, could we say that a near-death experience gives you superpowers?
04:25 Based on Grayson's study alone, it would appear that it is possible… although exactly
04:30 what those superpowers are is a little ambiguous.
04:33 Extrasensory perception could mean mind-reading, time-viewing, or speaking with dead people.
04:38 A transcendental experience could be walking with God, revisiting the past, or talking
04:43 with animals.
04:44 In general, though, there is a suggestion of an increased somethingness; of greater
04:49 spirituality; of a connection to a higher plane.
04:52 But again, it's perhaps easy to see why not everyone would feel great about that.
04:56 And rather than honing their experience into a superpower, many NDEers have instead been
05:01 led to question their sanity… or to question whether they actually did survive at all.
05:06 In a 1989 paper by Cherise Sutherland of the University of South Wales in Australia reveals
05:12 more, Sutherland extensively interviewed forty subjects regarding their NDE for upwards of
05:17 ninety minutes at a time.
05:18 She questioned them on psychic phenomena, and determined with greater specificity the
05:22 difference before and after the event.
05:25 She also compared her findings from data from the general public - i.e. from those who hadn't
05:29 had an NDE.
05:31 Sutherland looked at, for example, clairvoyance, and found that 38% of the general population
05:36 reported it, 43% of her subjects reported it before their NDE, but 73% of her subjects
05:42 reported it after their NDE.
05:45 So, one conclusion to draw is that NDEers are subsequently more clairvoyant; they're
05:50 better at seeing the future.
05:52 For telepathy, Sutherland's numbers are 58% in the general population, 46% in subjects
05:58 before NDE, but 87% in subjects after NDE.
06:02 It might be said, then, that NDEers are subsequently more telepathic; they're better at reading
06:08 minds.
06:09 For intuition, Sutherland doesn't include a percentage for the general population, but
06:13 for subjects before NDE it's 60%, after NDE it's 95%.
06:19 Can we say, then, that NDEers simply know more?
06:23 Sutherland summarises that "every person interviewed was aware of the increase in psychic
06:27 phenomena in their lives, although the degree of this increase varied."
06:32 What's perhaps also telling, however, is the data put forward in the same study regarding
06:37 beliefs.
06:38 For example, regarding the belief in reincarnation, Sutherland lists the general population at
06:43 32%, subjects before NDE at 39%, subjects after NDE at 79%.
06:51 For life after death, in general, 59%, before NDE, 47%, and after NDE, 100%.
06:59 And finally, for fear of death, there's no number for the general population, but
07:03 for the subjects before NDE it's 78%, and after NDE it's 0%.
07:09 The data seemingly shows that all NDEers inherit a belief in life after death, and that none
07:14 of them are frightened of death, even if they were before.
07:17 Maybe that could be considered a superpower in itself.
07:21 What's your verdict on this issue?
07:23 Have you ever had an NDE that changed your life forever?
07:26 Or do you think that any supposed link between them and enhanced abilities can actually be
07:31 explained by something else?
07:34 Let us know in the comments!
07:35 For now, near-death experiences are still quite an unknown quantity.
07:39 There are things that NDEers report that science simply can't account for… although, equally,
07:45 there are some elements that seemingly can be accounted for.
07:48 The sensation of life flashing before your eyes, for example, has been linked to a noted
07:52 spike in brain activity at the time of death with regions dedicated to the preservation
07:57 of memory.
07:58 As more and more cases are made public, there are suspicions that confirmation bias could
08:02 be skewing some reports as well, with people seeing what they now expect to see as the
08:07 result of an increased NDE awareness.
08:10 Meanwhile, some claim that the apparent inexplicability of an NDE is purely the result of the brain
08:16 reacting to its ultimate trauma, the death of the body.
08:20 Neurons are firing off in all directions, and a euphoric chaos unfolds.
08:25 For those who do live to tell the tale, however, there is apparent evidence that certain aspects
08:30 of their lives from there on out will be different.
08:33 Perhaps profoundly different.
08:34 And to some degree, that's why it might be said that a near-death experience really
08:39 can give you superpowers.
08:42 What do you think?
08:43 Is there anything we missed?
08:44 Let us know in the comments!
08:45 Check out these other clips from Unveiled, and make sure you subscribe and ring the bell
08:50 for our latest content.