A new book, Opening Heaven’s Door, will make you rethink everything you thought about death. Survivors of shipwrecks, plane crashes and terrorist attacks tell how they were mysteriously led to safety.
Survivors of the September 11 attack PHOTO: Profimedia
A series of excerpts were first published by the dailymail.
One night, while sleeping in a muddy ditch in France, William Bird woke up to someone shaking him. It was 1917. He had just been through the Battle of Vimy Ridge and was exhausted. Irritably, he tried to pull away, but the person in question continued to shake him with some urgency. Bird – a journalist in civilian life – opened his eyes with difficulty and, to his great astonishment, recognized his brother Steve, who had been reported missing on the mission two years before.
“Steve put his warm hand over my mouth. Then he pointed at the sleepers and my rifle.
Many strange stories emerged in the wake of the Great War, including that of journalist William Bird, who found himself being shaken in 1917,
It had been a dream, for sure. Bird crawled into the nearest hole in the trenches and fell asleep. The next morning, he was awakened by soldiers who were overjoyed to find him alive. The ditch in which “had dreamed” that his brother was shaking him was hit by a high explosive shell.
Had he dreamed of his brother? Maybe yes. However, stories abound of soldiers who have been aided by a ghostly presence in times of need.
Another World War I soldier, George Maxwell, was separated from his platoon in no man’s land. Not only was he lost, but he did not know the outline of the enemy lines. Terrified, he was about to run off in some direction when a voice ordered him: “Scut down and wait for release”
The disturbing stories of the 9/11 terrorist attack
In the more recent past, three survivors of the 9/11 World Trade Center claimed to have been guided to safety by “felt” presences.
Covered in dust, survivors seek refuge after two hijacked planes crashed into the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001
One stopped at a wall of fire, but was pushed through it and later driven up the stairs of the North Tower. Another was comforted as he lay under the rubble. A third, who was trapped under concrete, received encouraging visits from “of a presence he perceived to be a monk.”
Similarly, in 1989, two climbers separately observed a kind, middle-aged Tibetan woman while on Mount Kanchenjunga in India. Lou Whittaker met her as “a friendly spirit” at base camp. He says he kept her company every night for three months.
Whittaker’s wife Ingrid, meanwhile, was descending from the summit to base camp with an expedition group when she developed altitude sickness. For several days, she stayed in a tent, where she found herself cared for during the day by a Tibetan woman.
“She was wearing a veil on her head and a long dress. It was dark and two-dimensional, like a silhouette – and very comforting.”she said.
In 1989, while on Mount Kanchenjunga in India, two climbers separately noticed a kind, middle-aged Tibetan woman
It wasn’t until months later that the two compared their notes and realized that they had been visited by the same ethereal woman.
What do scientists say about the third man?
For the past decade, Swiss neuroscientists have tried to replicate a sensed presence in their labs by using electrodes to stimulate a part of the brain called the left temporoparietal junction.
Lead researcher Olaf Blanke, from the Mind-Brain Institute in Lausanne, suspects that any dysfunction in this area – due to, for example, a reduction in oxygen – could cause a person to become disoriented. More precisely, he believes that “this brain dysfunction could cause people to blur the boundaries between themselves and others.”
To date, however, his theory has not been proven. Nor is it likely to explain why a sensed presence can keep reappearing or stay with someone for months until it is no longer needed.
For the Third Man is nothing but help. As journalist John Geiger discovered when researching the subject, there are literally dozens of references in memoirs, diaries and letters to his crucial interventions.
Which, of course, makes it even less likely that the third man is a product of lack of oxygen or sunstroke.
Another journalist, Maria Coffey, began writing a book about endurance athletes and was surprised by what she found. Many of the athletes were usually hard-headed pragmatists. However, they not only sensed the companions, but often had precise dreams of the test that was to come to them and telepathic access to help messages from the partners.
The athletes also shared intense focus and heightened awareness. Coffey wondered if this allowed them to connect to each other
Possible. But perhaps an even more difficult question is: Why does the Third Man so purposefully support people who feel him? After all, far from being just a voice in someone’s head, he often pushes, intimidates, meddles and takes control.
The rescue of the American climber James Sevigny
In 1983, American climber James Sevigny was seriously injured in an avalanche in Banff National Park and could barely move.
His back was broken, as were his arms, nose and several ribs. He was bleeding internally and lost consciousness for an hour. Just as he was about to succumb to shock and hypothermia, a sensed presence forced him to his feet. Then I pushed him through the deep snow, 1.5 km back to camp.
“All the decisions were made by a certain one
As soon as he reached the tent, his authoritative companion disappeared. Moments later, Sevigny was found by some cross-country skiers and taken by helicopter to the hospital.
The first man to sail around the world alone
Joshua Slocum, the first man to sail solo around the world, had a similar experience. In the middle of a storm, he had contracted food poisoning and was no longer able to steer his boat.
To his astonishment, a tall man appeared and told him that he would take the helm. Somehow, Slocum had the impression that he was “a friend and a seaman of vast experience“.
The man kept the ship on course for 145 km until Slocum was able to regain control. Then he dematerialized.
In most such cases, the presence seems to disappear moments after the problem is solved, even though the person in danger is not yet aware that they are out of danger.
For example, Ensio Tiira, a shipwreck survivor, stated that he had lost all hope while drifting on a raft. “Ihis companion” disappeared on the 30th day. But this also turned out to be the day Tiira was saved.
Why is The Third Man so comforting and so real?
Most scientists believe the answer lies deep within the brain, which somehow projects the image of a comforting and guiding presence. In reality, this is just another theory. Nobody really knows.
“We should not assume that we can explain everything that matters in terms of chemistry, biology and physics. And we certainly shouldn’t infer that everything that can’t be explained in those terms doesn’t matter.” said Martha Farah, director of the Center for Neuroscience and Society at the University of Pennsylvania.
