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From the High Desert book cover

From the High Desert

A Cultural History of Art Bell

Thumbnail for February 4, 1999: NDEs, Sarah's Hell - Dr. Jeffrey Long & Trisha McGill

February 4, 1999: NDEs, Sarah's Hell - Dr. Jeffrey Long & Trisha McGill

Feb 4, 1999
2h 41m
0:00 / 0:00
Art Bell welcomes Dr. Jeffrey Long, a radiation oncologist and near-death experience researcher, alongside licensed clinical psychologist Trisha McGill to examine the rarely discussed phenomenon of frightening near-death experiences. Dr. Long reveals that up to 15 percent of NDEs may be terrifying rather than blissful, yet experiencers seldom speak about them due to shame and fear of judgment.

The broadcast features an extraordinary firsthand account from a woman named Sarah, who was struck by a pickup truck while bicycling home from church and flatlined five times over three days. She describes passing through a tunnel of clouds containing doorways to different realms, including a hellish landscape of torment, a world of isolated wandering souls, a luminous paradise she could not enter, and ultimately a place of pure light and joy. Her account stands as one of the most detailed negative NDE testimonies ever shared on the program.

Dr. Long then shares his own frightening experience for the first time publicly, discussing how prophetic dreams and a terrifying vision transformed his understanding of consciousness. Both guests emphasize that frightening NDEs hold equal potential for profound personal transformation as their blissful counterparts.

Key Moments

  1. Why frightening NDEs stay hidden: Long explains researchers once put frightening NDEs at 1-2% of cases but newer studies put the figure near 15%, with the true number likely much higher because experiencers, like him, stay in the closet for years.

  2. The life review as the real hell of an NDE: Tricia McGill says 75% of the NDE experiencers she has interviewed report a complete life review in which they relive the pain they caused others, and Long calls that, not the darkness, the truly frightening part of dying.

  3. Sarah enters the black and the demon arrives: After being struck by a truck and flatlining five times, Sarah describes waking into total blackness with awareness of a body, then a humming demonic creature surrounded by flames bears down on her with intent.

  4. The demon passes through her, then the cloud tunnel: Sarah recounts standing her ground as the demon passes laughing through her body, then being swept forward through more of them until she reaches a tunnel of storm clouds with doorways branching off into the unknown.