A Peculiar Subset of Near-Death Experiences

"NDEs occasionally include encounters with deceased individuals whose death was unknown to the experiencer. If NDEs were driven by expectation, accurate perceptions of unknown (and surprising) facts should not occur. Though rare, such experiences are reported with enough regularity to warrant systematic investigation. A new research protocol aims to document such cases with greater rigor than has previously been possible."

"The literature calls them "Peak in Darien" experiences-a name borrowed from Keats's sonnet about the first European glimpse of the Pacific Ocean. The metaphor captures the element of surprise characteristic of these reports: During their NDE, the experiencer perceives someone they believed to be alive among the dead (2). A recent case our research group has documented illustrates the phenomenon. A woman living in the United States had just returned from an extended trip to Europe when she fell seriously ill and was admitted to the intensive care unit."

"During the resulting near-death experience, she reported encountering her deceased father and grandmother, and, to her own surprise, an elderly cousin whom she believed to be alive and well in another state. When she regained consciousness, she described this encounter to relatives at her bedside. Her mother then disclosed that the cousin had indeed died, approximately three weeks earlier. The mother explained that her daughter's prolonged absence abroad, followed immediately by her hospitalization, had left no suitable occasion to convey the news."

Near-death experiences sometimes include encounters with deceased people whose deaths were unknown to the experiencer. These reports are referred to as "Peak in Darien" experiences, marked by a surprising perception of someone believed alive appearing among the dead. A documented case involved a woman who, after return from Europe and ICU admission, reported encountering deceased relatives and a cousin she believed alive; relatives later confirmed the cousin had died weeks earlier. If expectation alone produced NDE content, perceiving unknown, surprising facts would be unlikely. Although rare, such cases recur enough to justify systematic investigation and better documentation.

Read at Psychology Today