A father of two from Germany has described a terrifying near-death experience during a five-day coma in 2020, claiming he 'stood next to the devil' and witnessed souls being crushed. Gerhard Schug, 58, says his vision was far from the peaceful, bright-light encounters often reported by others.
Speaking to Thanatos TV EN, Schug recounted a vast grey stone palace with a high canopy roof resembling those found in China or Japan, and a flat stone throne. 'It was hot there – he had horns, how you might imagine a typical devil,' Schug said. He alleged that souls arrived by boat and were brought before the throne, where a selection process began. Some, he claimed, were fed into a funnel and crushed beneath giant stone structures shaped like lion's claws.
Schug's ordeal followed years of personal tragedy and illness. His daughter Tanja died in 2019 from a pulmonary embolism, plunging him into isolation. Already battling a spine injury, Parkinson's disease, lung disease, and mental health conditions, he said the grief became unbearable. After being hospitalised with a virus, he fell into a coma, with doctors reportedly warning his family he might not survive.
Schug says the experience 'burned itself' into his memory and lasted the entire five days he was unconscious. 'It was clear to me that God had given me life,' he said. 'I did not have the right to take my own life.' Today, he describes himself as living 'glass half full', determined to wait until, as he puts it, God decides his time is up.
