A man believes he crossed the threshold of life and death and stepped into a different world after a fatal complication during surgery left him clinically dead for six minutes. His account, shared on the YouTube channel Shaman Oaks, falls under what medical science calls a near-death experience (NDE)—a phenomenon often reported after cardiac arrest, coma or severe trauma.
John Davis said the incident occurred while visiting his parents. Riding their moped, he swerved to avoid a squirrel and crashed into a tree, suffering severe nerve damage in his right arm. During surgery, an unexpected reaction to anaesthesia caused his heart to stop. “The moment I closed my eyes and died, the next moment when I opened them, I was in another world,” he recalled.
'Orientation centre for souls'
Davis described a marble building with ornate doors, gleaming tables and tunnels branching into the unknown. An unseen presence stood at his left, speaking calmly. “My guide told me I was in an orientation centre, a place souls pass through after death,” he said.
Looking through one tunnel, Davis claimed he saw stars and galaxies swirling like a cosmic river. At another doorway, he witnessed a man who had died of a heart attack being greeted by a woman who aged backwards before his eyes.
In a vast garden, Davis saw animals he had loved—two dogs and two cats—racing down a hill to greet him. The most powerful moment, he said, was meeting a luminous figure in a robe with a red sash. “You have to tell them there is no such thing as death,” the figure told him. At that instant, John opened his eyes in the hospital, surrounded by doctors fighting to revive him.
Although medically dead for six minutes, Davis insists his experience lasted nearly two hours in that other realm.
What exactly is death?
“Most of the time when doctors say ‘clinically dead,’ we’re talking about cardiac death, which means your heart is no longer beating,” Dr Daniel Mark Rolston, an emergency medicine physician at Northwell Health in New York, told Live Science.
When the heart stops, oxygenated blood ceases to reach the brain. After about five minutes without oxygen, brain cells begin to die—a process that cannot be reversed. Another form of clinical death is brain death, which occurs when the brain is so damaged that it can no longer control basic life functions such as breathing and heartbeat.
What scientists say about near-death experiences
Research suggests NDEs may be more common than we think. One survey reported by the BBC found that 15 per cent of intensive care patients in the US reported such experiences. These accounts often include recurring elements: out-of-body sensations, bright lights, tunnels, life reviews and feelings of peace.
Dr Gregory Shushan has documented NDEs across cultures and centuries, from 7th-century BC China to 19th-century Ghana. Thousands of similar testimonies have since been collected worldwide.
But, neuroscientists argue these experiences may reveal more about the brain than the divine. In 2024, researchers at the University of Michigan recorded brain activity in four dying patients using electroencephalogram (EEG), BBC reported. Led by Dr Jimo Borjigin, the team observed a surge of brain activity shortly after life support was withdrawn—similar to patterns previously seen in rats.
The study also found heightened connectivity in the prefrontal cortex, a region linked to consciousness and decision-making. “This strongly suggests that the dying human brain can be activated,” the publication quoted the researchers as saying, offering a possible neurobiological explanation for the vivid experiences reported near death.
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