Dead for eleven minutes The woman who claims to have seen heaven and hell

Charlotte Holmes was dead for eleven minutes until doctors brought her back to life. The American reported that she met God, who showed her heaven, but also hell.

September 2019 in Wichita, Kansas. Charlotte Holmes is admitted to hospital in neighboring Springfield because of her high blood pressure: 234 over 134 is definitely too high. Years earlier, she had already suffered a stroke. The matter is serious.

Holmes has already been in hospital for three days when she collapses in bed while being cared for. A nurse informs her relatives that she is not breathing. She remains lifeless for eleven minutes, but later she will tell them what happened to her during this time.

"I was above my body," Holmes told the Christian Broadcasting Network. "I could see them doing CPR. I could see all the staff. I could see [my husband] Danny standing in the corner." She was not afraid, she said. "I was amazed that I could see that."

But then she said goodbye to reality. "I could smell the most beautiful flowers." There are no flowers like that on Earth. "And then I heard music. When I opened my eyes, I knew where I was. I knew I was in heaven." There she saw the gates of heaven: "Yes, they are made of gold."

What does heaven look like?

What does heaven look like? "I saw the beauty around me. I could see the trees, I could see the grass. And everything vibrated with music. Because everything in heaven worships God." However, she could not convey exactly what heaven was like. "It is so far beyond what we can imagine."

She was accompanied to heaven: "It was pure joy when the angels took over. There is no fear when you return home." And then she claims to have met deceased relatives. "I saw my mother. I saw my father. I have seen my sister. I saw family members who were behind it."

The relatives and friends were apparently in good spirits: "They didn't look old. They didn't look ill. None of them were wearing glasses. They looked like they were in their 30s. They looked wonderful." And behind her family, she claims to have made out a bright light that she knew was "her heavenly father".

Holmes meets the child she lost in a miscarriage

She was confused by the sight of a little boy she didn't know. "I heard my heavenly father tell me: 'It's your child'." She once lost an unborn baby boy after five and a half months of pregnancy, Holmes reports.

"When I saw the child, I asked, 'God, how is this possible?' He replied, 'They keep growing in heaven, but there is no time. It's eternity."

But God also showed her hell, Holmes says. "I looked down. That smell. Rotting flesh, that's what it smelled like. The screams. After seeing the beauty of heaven, the contrast to hell was almost unbearable. And [God] said, I'm showing you this to tell you that if some don't change, this [is the place] where they stay."

"Heaven is more than you can imagine"

God also told her that Charlotte still had time and should share what she had seen with others. And her near-death experience comes to an end: "I felt myself being pulled back into my body. I felt the pain where I hadn't felt any pain before. I felt the worry."

After two weeks, Holmes can be discharged from hospital. She talks about her experience to anyone who will listen. "People need hope," said the Christian. "They want to know that everything is going to be OK." And, "Heaven is more than you can imagine. Heaven is real."

Holmes said in one of the interviews that God told her she didn't have much time for her mission to tell people about her experience. She had the choice of staying or coming back to reality, she said. However, she still wanted to see her grandchildren get married.

Holmes dies in November 2023

In December 2019, Holmes tells her story to the "Ozark County Times": the interest is so great that the medium's servers collapse. In the years that followed, she and her husband Danny made further media appearances and spoke at events. But her family worried about Charlotte: her health was still not good.

On November 28, 2023, she is sitting in front of the TV with her husband when she suddenly grabs her heart. She is no longer responsive - and dies. Charlotte Holmes is 72 years old. Her daughter Chrystal Meek publicizes her death on Facebook. The family received many messages of condolence.

Of course, Holmes' story cannot be verified. Near-death experiences occur in all cultures and are not that unusual. A Belgian study examined 126 possible cases in intensive care units: 19 patients, or 15 percent, reported near-death experiences similar to Holmes'.

Near-death experiences in science

Where these experiences come from is the subject of a lively debate. The explanations range from psychological causes to physiological theories. Is it an emotional reaction to imminent death? Are endorphins or neurotransmitters in the brain the reason for the experiences? Is there a transcendental trigger?

The topic remains a subject of research. Dutchman Pim van Lommel and his colleagues list ten factors of a near-death experience in a study: Patients are aware that they are dead. They have positive emotions and escape from their body. They move through a tunnel and communicate with light.

They observe colors and an unearthly landscape. They meet deceased people. They look back on their lives. And they sense a boundary. Other scientists add further points such as a sudden understanding and a strengthening of the senses, a harmony with the universe, but also an insight into the past or the future.