Jeffrey Olsen claims that after a devastating car crash in 1997 that killed his wife and youngest son, he experienced a profound near-death encounter—and that his doctor and nurse also witnessed something spiritual.
The crash
Olsen was returning from a road trip with his family when he believes he fell asleep at the wheel. The vehicle was travelling at 75 mph when it rolled six to eight times off the carriageway. He heard his eldest son crying but realised no one else was making a sound. 'I then realised that nobody else was crying... I knew that right there at the scene that Tamara was gone and our youngest son, Griffin... he had been killed instantly too,' he recalled.
Olsen suffered severe injuries, including a leg that required amputation and a seat belt that had ripped through his intestines. He underwent 18 surgeries and relied on a colostomy bag.
Out-of-body experience
While trapped in the wreckage, Olsen says his soul left his body. 'I suppose my spirit or soul left my body but I was very much alive. I was held in this light and then my wife, who I knew was deceased at the scene, suddenly she was there in the light with me. She [Tamara] was there and very much alive, beautiful, she didn't display any of the injuries that took her life. However, she was emphatic, like, "Jeff, you can't stay, you have to go, you can't be here, you have to go back." '
He described the light as 'comforting' and said the experience felt familiar: 'The only word that comes close to what I experienced was I was home.'
Shared encounter
According to Olsen, what makes his story unique is that he was not the only one to experience something supernatural. 'The ER physician and a nurse were both told to come into the operating room [at hospital] and they had both experienced Tamara's spirit,' he said. The physician saw Tamara's spirit standing above the gurney, and she communicated with him—something Olsen only learned months later when he came out of ICU. The nurse also felt compelled to share her account.
Olsen later spoke to Dr O'Driscoll, who told him that his wife had expressed gratitude for the efforts to save him. 'I burst into tears because I hadn't shared my own experience with anyone. I knew what I had experienced was very real.' He described it as a 'shared-death experience.'
Second visitation
After struggling with grief, Olsen says he had a second near-death experience. 'I was in so much grief at the loss of half my family. Again, the light surrounded me, it felt like I was rising above the hospital bed. I was in the most beautiful, incredible place.' He believes these experiences helped him cope with the loss.
