A former US Army Colonel who specialized in military applications of the paranormal has recounted a helicopter gunner's harrowing near-death experience in the jungles of Vietnam. John Alexander, a former Army Special Forces Commander and head of the Army Intelligence 'psychic spy unit' at Fort Meade, Maryland, described the encounter on a podcast with Shawn Ryan.
The Incident
Alexander spoke about a helicopter gunner named Jim, whose Cobra gunship was hit by anti-aircraft fire over Vietnam. The attack disabled vital control circuitry and shattered Jim's leg. The pilot frantically attempted an emergency landing, but the helicopter crashed violently. 'The blade's turning until it's beaten itself to death on the ground,' Alexander said, noting that the impact left them disoriented and the fuel tanks caught fire.
Jim's face was burned, his leg broken, and he was in severe pain. According to Alexander, Jim then experienced an out-of-body experience, looking down from above and seeing the orientation of the helicopter. About a click and a half away was a friendly fire-support base, but the jungle obscured the view from the ground.
The Grim Reaper Encounter
During this out-of-body state, Jim saw 'a hooded figure' who told him 'you're not dead yet.' Alexander described the figure as resembling the Grim Reaper. Jim then watched as the back-seat pilot, who had been thrown clear, ran back to pull him from the wreckage. The pilot said, 'I thought you were dead, you haven't moved since we were hit.'
Jim, now back in his body, told the pilot he knew the route to safety. Despite the pain, Jim directed the pilot to a nearby fire-support base. As the Viet Cong approached, the pilot left to get help, and Jim hid behind large anthills. Help arrived quickly, and Jim survived to tell his story.
Significance
Alexander called it an extraordinary case, noting, 'It's the only case I have where you have vision from an out-of-body perspective and then it's physically replicated.' The account highlights the intersection of military experience and paranormal phenomena, a field Alexander pioneered.
