1 00:00:01,610 --> 00:00:03,177 SOLDIER: Fire! 2 00:00:03,220 --> 00:00:06,919 WILLIAM SHATNER: Eerie recollections... 3 00:00:06,963 --> 00:00:09,748 of someone else's memories. 4 00:00:09,792 --> 00:00:14,101 Two people who share one mind. 5 00:00:14,144 --> 00:00:17,887 And people who have been able to see their own bodies 6 00:00:17,930 --> 00:00:19,758 while at the point of death. 7 00:00:25,503 --> 00:00:29,159 What happens to us after we die? 8 00:00:29,203 --> 00:00:32,684 Do our memories or our personalities-- 9 00:00:32,728 --> 00:00:35,470 everything that makes us who we are-- 10 00:00:35,513 --> 00:00:40,127 does it all just... disappear? 11 00:00:40,170 --> 00:00:44,261 Or do we have a consciousness, a-a soul... 12 00:00:44,305 --> 00:00:46,916 that lives on? 13 00:00:46,959 --> 00:00:51,486 Well, that is what we'll try and find out. 14 00:00:51,529 --> 00:00:53,444 ♪ 15 00:01:05,587 --> 00:01:07,806 [wind whistling] 16 00:01:07,850 --> 00:01:09,460 SHATNER: Lynchburg, Virginia. 17 00:01:09,504 --> 00:01:12,072 November 10, 2008. 18 00:01:12,115 --> 00:01:16,119 Accomplished neurosurgeon, Dr. Eben Alexander, 19 00:01:16,163 --> 00:01:19,035 is rushed to the hospital after suffering 20 00:01:19,079 --> 00:01:21,820 from severe back spasms and headaches. 21 00:01:23,996 --> 00:01:26,608 After performing a spinal tap, doctors discover that 22 00:01:26,651 --> 00:01:28,784 his spine and brain are swollen 23 00:01:28,827 --> 00:01:31,395 with a thick, pus-filled liquid-- 24 00:01:31,439 --> 00:01:34,877 the sign of a deadly meningitis infection. 25 00:01:34,920 --> 00:01:39,969 Shortly afterward, Dr. Alexander slips into a coma. 26 00:01:40,012 --> 00:01:44,147 His brain begins shutting down. 27 00:01:44,191 --> 00:01:47,498 My brain was being overrun by an extremely primitive, 28 00:01:47,542 --> 00:01:49,805 aggressive bacterial infection. 29 00:01:51,720 --> 00:01:54,592 One that is almost uniformly fatal. 30 00:01:54,636 --> 00:01:58,509 Some of the fundamental brain stem reflexes were absent. 31 00:01:58,553 --> 00:02:00,816 My pupils weren't responding. 32 00:02:00,859 --> 00:02:03,471 My neocortex was horribly damaged. 33 00:02:03,514 --> 00:02:07,562 People just don't come back from this kind of meningitis. 34 00:02:07,605 --> 00:02:10,826 My doctors called my family together, 35 00:02:10,869 --> 00:02:13,220 and they felt that there was no chance for recovery. 36 00:02:15,700 --> 00:02:18,616 SHATNER: As a surgeon, Dr. Alexander helped save the lives 37 00:02:18,660 --> 00:02:20,314 of countless others. 38 00:02:20,357 --> 00:02:24,100 Now he lies helpless, at the mercy 39 00:02:24,144 --> 00:02:26,363 of the killer bacteria that is whittling 40 00:02:26,407 --> 00:02:28,800 his brain function down to nothing. 41 00:02:28,844 --> 00:02:31,977 But then, something remarkable happens. 42 00:02:34,589 --> 00:02:36,156 I was in very deep coma. 43 00:02:36,199 --> 00:02:38,375 My brain was fully inflamed from this. 44 00:02:38,419 --> 00:02:40,334 All eight lobes were involved. 45 00:02:40,377 --> 00:02:42,814 Uh, there was really no place in my brain 46 00:02:42,858 --> 00:02:45,165 for any kind of conscious experience to happen. 47 00:02:47,254 --> 00:02:50,039 SHATNER: After clinging to life by the barest of threads, 48 00:02:50,082 --> 00:02:54,086 Dr. Alexander eventually makes an extraordinary recovery-- 49 00:02:54,130 --> 00:02:57,873 one that baffles his physicians. 50 00:03:00,180 --> 00:03:04,880 But perhaps even more baffling is the inexplicable array 51 00:03:04,923 --> 00:03:09,493 of sensations that Dr. Alexander believes he experienced 52 00:03:09,537 --> 00:03:12,366 while in a coma. 53 00:03:12,409 --> 00:03:15,369 I was rescued by this slowly spinning white light 54 00:03:15,412 --> 00:03:18,023 that came packaged with a perfect musical melody. 55 00:03:22,289 --> 00:03:24,856 I felt a sensation of going through a tunnel, 56 00:03:24,900 --> 00:03:27,990 being lifted up out of space and time, 57 00:03:28,033 --> 00:03:31,472 and that opened up into this rich ultra-real valley 58 00:03:31,515 --> 00:03:33,125 that I call the Gateway Valley. 59 00:03:33,169 --> 00:03:35,911 It was an incredible, beautiful scene, 60 00:03:35,954 --> 00:03:38,479 and yet, the most profound mystery. 61 00:03:38,522 --> 00:03:42,265 SHATNER: Did Dr. Alexander experience 62 00:03:42,309 --> 00:03:44,746 a hallucination? 63 00:03:44,789 --> 00:03:47,488 Or was he really given a glimpse 64 00:03:47,531 --> 00:03:49,359 into a life beyond the one we know? 65 00:03:49,403 --> 00:03:52,841 A life beyond death? 66 00:03:52,884 --> 00:03:54,234 If true, 67 00:03:54,277 --> 00:03:57,759 the idea is almost too incredible to comprehend. 68 00:03:57,802 --> 00:04:01,806 But consider this: Dr. Alexander 69 00:04:01,850 --> 00:04:05,288 is just one of millions who, at the point of death, 70 00:04:05,332 --> 00:04:10,293 claim to have taken the same, virtually identical journey-- 71 00:04:10,337 --> 00:04:14,079 a journey which is collectively referred to 72 00:04:14,123 --> 00:04:19,041 as a near-death experience. 73 00:04:19,084 --> 00:04:20,956 GREGORY SHUSHAN: A near-death experience is when 74 00:04:20,999 --> 00:04:22,740 somebody dies clinically, 75 00:04:22,784 --> 00:04:25,569 and they come back to life and describe having had 76 00:04:25,613 --> 00:04:27,092 strange experiences, 77 00:04:27,136 --> 00:04:29,747 such as traveling through darkness, 78 00:04:29,791 --> 00:04:32,054 emerging into another realm, 79 00:04:32,097 --> 00:04:35,840 meeting deceased relatives or a being of light, 80 00:04:35,884 --> 00:04:37,494 traveling back to the body, 81 00:04:37,538 --> 00:04:40,715 often being told to go back to the body by this being of light. 82 00:04:40,758 --> 00:04:43,979 Raymond Moody was really the pioneering figure 83 00:04:44,022 --> 00:04:46,677 in the scientific study of near-death experiences, 84 00:04:46,721 --> 00:04:48,810 who wrote a book called Life After Life. 85 00:04:48,853 --> 00:04:50,246 Before Moody came along, 86 00:04:50,290 --> 00:04:52,030 you had descriptions of these accounts, 87 00:04:52,074 --> 00:04:55,251 but nobody called it a near-death experience. 88 00:04:55,295 --> 00:04:59,124 In the United States, about 800 people a day 89 00:04:59,168 --> 00:05:01,649 report that they're having near-death experiences. 90 00:05:01,692 --> 00:05:05,305 And if you think about that over the course of years 91 00:05:05,348 --> 00:05:07,524 and across the whole world, 92 00:05:07,568 --> 00:05:09,483 that's probably millions of people, 93 00:05:09,526 --> 00:05:11,920 which makes me think that this is a real phenomenon. 94 00:05:11,963 --> 00:05:13,878 People are really experiencing this. 95 00:05:13,922 --> 00:05:16,751 They're not making it up. 96 00:05:16,794 --> 00:05:21,843 Before my coma, I fully bought into the, uh, teachings, 97 00:05:21,886 --> 00:05:24,019 uh, that the physical world is all that exists. 98 00:05:24,062 --> 00:05:26,326 That's kind of the conventional scientific model. 99 00:05:26,369 --> 00:05:30,721 But when I first opened my eyes in that ICU bed, 100 00:05:30,765 --> 00:05:33,507 my brain was absolutely wrecked, 101 00:05:33,550 --> 00:05:36,248 and all I remembered was where I'd been, 102 00:05:36,292 --> 00:05:39,034 that extraordinary spiritual journey deep in coma. 103 00:05:39,077 --> 00:05:41,428 That's why near-death experiencers 104 00:05:41,471 --> 00:05:43,691 come back to this world and realize 105 00:05:43,734 --> 00:05:46,128 that we are eternal spiritual beings 106 00:05:46,171 --> 00:05:48,870 and that our physical body is only a vessel 107 00:05:48,913 --> 00:05:51,307 that serves our soul in transition 108 00:05:51,351 --> 00:05:52,700 through this phase of our journey. 109 00:05:54,266 --> 00:05:57,008 SHATNER: The soul? 110 00:05:57,052 --> 00:06:01,056 The intangible essence of who we are that lives on after we die? 111 00:06:03,450 --> 00:06:06,235 If the near-death experiences reported by millions 112 00:06:06,278 --> 00:06:09,760 have, in fact, really happened as described, 113 00:06:09,804 --> 00:06:12,328 then could this be proof 114 00:06:12,372 --> 00:06:15,853 that the soul actually exists, 115 00:06:15,897 --> 00:06:19,422 and that there really is some form of life 116 00:06:19,466 --> 00:06:22,164 beyond death? 117 00:06:22,207 --> 00:06:25,341 The concept of the soul is one of the deepest, 118 00:06:25,385 --> 00:06:28,779 most far-reaching questions in all of science, 119 00:06:28,823 --> 00:06:31,086 and for that matter, in all of human history. 120 00:06:31,129 --> 00:06:35,090 Throughout history, poets, philosophers have tried 121 00:06:35,133 --> 00:06:37,527 to single out what is the soul, 122 00:06:37,571 --> 00:06:40,835 what is the essence of what makes us human? 123 00:06:40,878 --> 00:06:43,664 It speaks to our yearning for more time. 124 00:06:43,707 --> 00:06:45,796 To go beyond the short amount of time 125 00:06:45,840 --> 00:06:49,670 that's been given us as human beings. 126 00:06:49,713 --> 00:06:52,586 If you look to questions about the soul, 127 00:06:52,629 --> 00:06:56,198 you see that these really speak to our fears, our desires, 128 00:06:56,241 --> 00:06:58,809 what we want most and what matters most. 129 00:07:02,073 --> 00:07:05,076 SHATNER: Not surprisingly, not everyone's convinced 130 00:07:05,120 --> 00:07:07,905 that the soul really exists. 131 00:07:07,949 --> 00:07:10,995 As far as many in the scientific community are concerned, 132 00:07:11,039 --> 00:07:13,520 it is little more than a concept brought about 133 00:07:13,563 --> 00:07:16,087 by wishful thinking. 134 00:07:16,131 --> 00:07:17,480 KAKU: There is a theory 135 00:07:17,524 --> 00:07:19,700 that says that people who are prone 136 00:07:19,743 --> 00:07:23,443 to have these near-death experiences are also prone 137 00:07:23,486 --> 00:07:28,273 to have lots of dream activity during REM sleep. 138 00:07:28,317 --> 00:07:32,060 Maybe they were hallucinating, or some people think that, aha, 139 00:07:32,103 --> 00:07:36,412 maybe that could explain near-death experience. 140 00:07:36,456 --> 00:07:40,111 I would maintain, along with virtually everybody 141 00:07:40,155 --> 00:07:43,941 who is engaged in the study of near-death experiences, 142 00:07:43,985 --> 00:07:47,945 that these are not aberrations, these are not hallucinations. 143 00:07:47,989 --> 00:07:50,208 How is it possible that people are having 144 00:07:50,252 --> 00:07:53,516 such rich conscious experiences 145 00:07:53,560 --> 00:07:56,911 when the brain itself is not functioning? 146 00:07:56,954 --> 00:07:59,827 There's a case report in September 2018 147 00:07:59,870 --> 00:08:03,134 in the Journal of Nervous and Mental Diseaseon my case, 148 00:08:03,178 --> 00:08:06,616 and it makes it clear to anyone in the medical profession 149 00:08:06,660 --> 00:08:11,099 that I was deathly ill and that my brain was terribly devastated 150 00:08:11,142 --> 00:08:12,622 by this infection 151 00:08:12,666 --> 00:08:14,319 and should not have been able to produce 152 00:08:14,363 --> 00:08:16,017 any kind of consciousness. 153 00:08:16,060 --> 00:08:18,410 From my point of view, death of the physical body 154 00:08:18,454 --> 00:08:22,110 is not the end of the conscious awareness. 155 00:08:22,153 --> 00:08:24,634 Near-death experiences are showing us, 156 00:08:24,678 --> 00:08:27,724 in no uncertain fashion, that we are souls 157 00:08:27,768 --> 00:08:31,380 living in a spiritual universe and that all the major factors 158 00:08:31,423 --> 00:08:34,296 involved in the events of our lives 159 00:08:34,339 --> 00:08:36,733 have to do with that soul journey 160 00:08:36,777 --> 00:08:38,256 and with that spiritual nature. 161 00:08:40,607 --> 00:08:45,046 SHATNER: Consciousness in the absence of brain activity? 162 00:08:45,089 --> 00:08:46,874 According to mainstream scientists, 163 00:08:46,917 --> 00:08:49,180 such a thing is not possible. 164 00:08:49,224 --> 00:08:52,619 But what if they're missing the target? 165 00:08:52,662 --> 00:08:55,447 Perhaps the answer can be found 166 00:08:55,491 --> 00:08:58,059 by investigating further evidence that, 167 00:08:58,102 --> 00:09:00,931 not only does a soul exist, 168 00:09:00,975 --> 00:09:04,456 but it might actually be transplanted 169 00:09:04,500 --> 00:09:07,329 from one body to another. 170 00:09:15,642 --> 00:09:19,210 SHATNER: Atlanta, Grgia. December 1992. 171 00:09:19,254 --> 00:09:24,085 17-year-old Amy Tippins is having difficulty breathing. 172 00:09:24,128 --> 00:09:26,653 Suspecting that she has some form of pneumonia, 173 00:09:26,696 --> 00:09:29,351 she makes an appointment with her family doctor. 174 00:09:29,394 --> 00:09:33,442 But the actual diagnosis she receives is, 175 00:09:33,485 --> 00:09:36,750 in a word, shocking. 176 00:09:36,793 --> 00:09:38,490 TIPPINS: My senior year of high school, 177 00:09:38,534 --> 00:09:42,103 I started developing what I thought was pneumonia, 178 00:09:42,146 --> 00:09:44,279 and then when they went in to do some further testing, 179 00:09:44,322 --> 00:09:45,672 they realized I didn't have pneumonia, 180 00:09:45,715 --> 00:09:47,761 it was actually a tumor pushing on my diaphragm 181 00:09:47,804 --> 00:09:49,632 and making it much harder for me to breathe, 182 00:09:49,676 --> 00:09:52,896 and I was in full liver failure. 183 00:09:52,940 --> 00:09:55,769 They said, "She'll," you know, "she needs to have a transplant 184 00:09:55,812 --> 00:09:57,161 or she'll hemorrhage to death." 185 00:09:57,205 --> 00:09:59,381 SHATNER: With time running out, 186 00:09:59,424 --> 00:10:04,212 Amy received her new liver and survived. 187 00:10:04,255 --> 00:10:07,607 But in the months following her transplant, 188 00:10:07,650 --> 00:10:10,566 she found herself exhibiting interests and abilities 189 00:10:10,610 --> 00:10:12,655 that were, not only new to her, 190 00:10:12,699 --> 00:10:15,876 but also surprising. 191 00:10:15,919 --> 00:10:17,660 TIPPINS: Not long after surgery, 192 00:10:17,704 --> 00:10:20,097 some things about myself and some of my traits had changed. 193 00:10:20,141 --> 00:10:22,709 Within a couple of years of my transplant, 194 00:10:22,752 --> 00:10:24,319 I really started to love projects, 195 00:10:24,362 --> 00:10:27,235 like replacing flooring on my own. 196 00:10:27,278 --> 00:10:29,150 I never saw flooring being put in. 197 00:10:29,193 --> 00:10:31,456 I never saw anything like that being done. 198 00:10:31,500 --> 00:10:32,980 What I discovered is it was actually fun 199 00:10:33,023 --> 00:10:34,895 to work with my hands. 200 00:10:34,938 --> 00:10:36,723 Just kind of go, "Huh, that's interesting." 201 00:10:36,766 --> 00:10:40,117 SHATNER: Of course, it isn't surprising that people 202 00:10:40,161 --> 00:10:43,033 who have had lifesaving transplant operations 203 00:10:43,077 --> 00:10:45,601 often report experiencing 204 00:10:45,645 --> 00:10:48,125 -a new outlook on life. -[heart beating] 205 00:10:48,169 --> 00:10:51,041 But new interests? 206 00:10:51,085 --> 00:10:54,349 New personality traits? 207 00:10:54,392 --> 00:10:58,179 Is it possible that Amy Tippins was getting these 208 00:10:58,222 --> 00:11:01,835 from somewhere else? 209 00:11:01,878 --> 00:11:04,838 I knew my donor was a male, I knew he was 47 210 00:11:04,881 --> 00:11:10,278 and that he had been killed in a car wreck in Columbus, Georgia. 211 00:11:10,321 --> 00:11:12,323 So I went to the library and I started 212 00:11:12,367 --> 00:11:13,977 looking up obituaries from that time. 213 00:11:14,021 --> 00:11:17,285 And I kind of backed into his obituary, 214 00:11:17,328 --> 00:11:19,766 and backed into figuring out who he was. 215 00:11:19,809 --> 00:11:22,725 What I discovered is he was a police officer. 216 00:11:22,769 --> 00:11:25,902 He was 47 and his name was Mike. 217 00:11:25,946 --> 00:11:29,297 His sister told me that he did a lot of his own home renovation. 218 00:11:29,340 --> 00:11:31,908 He also liked to work with his hands. 219 00:11:31,952 --> 00:11:34,650 He liked to do projects. 220 00:11:34,694 --> 00:11:37,566 When I found out who my donor was, it made a lot more sense 221 00:11:37,609 --> 00:11:40,308 on why some things about myself and some of my traits 222 00:11:40,351 --> 00:11:42,310 had changed after transplant. 223 00:11:42,353 --> 00:11:46,967 SHATNER: Personality traits and even recreational interests 224 00:11:47,010 --> 00:11:49,534 coming from a transplanted organ? 225 00:11:49,578 --> 00:11:54,714 Is such a bizarre notion even scientifically possible? 226 00:11:56,846 --> 00:11:58,413 I've had clients come to the office 227 00:11:58,456 --> 00:12:01,111 who've had organ transplants 228 00:12:01,155 --> 00:12:04,419 who are baffled by what they experience, 229 00:12:04,462 --> 00:12:07,727 and some did have memories that were foreign to them. 230 00:12:07,770 --> 00:12:12,688 And then somehow or other found out what the person was like 231 00:12:12,732 --> 00:12:17,040 whose organ that they now have, and it matches. 232 00:12:17,084 --> 00:12:22,132 It's unusual, and I don't have an explanation for it. 233 00:12:22,176 --> 00:12:27,050 MISHLOVE: They very often report not only the memories of the donor 234 00:12:27,094 --> 00:12:30,445 but sometimes the behavioral patterns of the donor. 235 00:12:30,488 --> 00:12:33,056 It certainly suggests that memory 236 00:12:33,100 --> 00:12:36,799 and-and even behavior patterns can be embedded 237 00:12:36,843 --> 00:12:42,196 in these organs in ways that science has no clue. 238 00:12:42,239 --> 00:12:43,980 GARY SCHWARTZ: After looking at all the cases 239 00:12:44,024 --> 00:12:49,203 that we had access to, I developed a theory about how 240 00:12:49,246 --> 00:12:51,248 if the brain can learn, then other organs 241 00:12:51,292 --> 00:12:54,643 like the heart or the lungs or the liver could learn. 242 00:12:56,384 --> 00:12:58,778 We analyzed ten of the best cases 243 00:12:58,821 --> 00:13:02,607 where the-- it was clear that the individual 244 00:13:02,651 --> 00:13:04,958 had these kinds of personality changes, 245 00:13:05,001 --> 00:13:09,876 and it was only later that they then met family members. 246 00:13:09,919 --> 00:13:11,616 [indistinct radio chatter] 247 00:13:11,660 --> 00:13:14,794 One case in particular was of a young boy 248 00:13:14,837 --> 00:13:20,712 who had been killed in a drive-by shooting, 249 00:13:20,756 --> 00:13:22,976 and his heart was donated 250 00:13:23,019 --> 00:13:26,675 to a foundry worker who was 47 years old. 251 00:13:26,718 --> 00:13:31,071 What happened was he developed a passion for classical music. 252 00:13:33,029 --> 00:13:35,989 And then he subsequently ended up meeting the mother 253 00:13:36,032 --> 00:13:40,645 of this young boy, and he learned that this young man 254 00:13:40,689 --> 00:13:44,171 was taking classical violin lessons 255 00:13:44,214 --> 00:13:49,480 and literally was shot as he was leaving his music lessons. 256 00:13:49,524 --> 00:13:51,961 From my point of view, it simply goes to show 257 00:13:52,005 --> 00:13:54,659 that as much as we want to pretend that things 258 00:13:54,703 --> 00:13:57,575 like mind and consciousness and personality 259 00:13:57,619 --> 00:14:01,101 are all stuck in the brain, um, they're really not. 260 00:14:02,711 --> 00:14:05,540 SHATNER: Could our memories, our identities, 261 00:14:05,583 --> 00:14:10,893 even our consciousness, be stored in not just our brains, 262 00:14:10,937 --> 00:14:15,376 but within each and every part of our bodies? 263 00:14:15,419 --> 00:14:19,859 If that's true, could these traits also be inherited, 264 00:14:19,902 --> 00:14:24,733 just like the color of our eyes or the size of our ears? 265 00:14:24,776 --> 00:14:26,691 According to a groundbreaking study conducted 266 00:14:26,735 --> 00:14:28,737 at the Icahn School of Medicine 267 00:14:28,780 --> 00:14:32,045 at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City, 268 00:14:32,088 --> 00:14:37,441 the answer might just be a resounding yes. 269 00:14:37,485 --> 00:14:41,184 About 25 years ago, we began studying the adult children 270 00:14:41,228 --> 00:14:42,925 of Holocaust survivors. 271 00:14:42,969 --> 00:14:47,277 And what we learned was that Holocaust offspring 272 00:14:47,321 --> 00:14:49,671 were more likely to have been diagnosed 273 00:14:49,714 --> 00:14:52,500 with mood and anxiety disorders. 274 00:14:52,543 --> 00:14:55,285 And we were able to observe epigenetic changes 275 00:14:55,329 --> 00:14:59,811 on, actually, two small segments of two stress-related genes, 276 00:14:59,855 --> 00:15:02,205 which really captured our attention. 277 00:15:02,249 --> 00:15:07,863 Then you start to wonder why a child of a trauma survivor 278 00:15:07,907 --> 00:15:11,084 would have such a change on their DNA. 279 00:15:11,127 --> 00:15:17,177 Is there a way that information somehow stays with us, 280 00:15:17,220 --> 00:15:19,440 maybe in our germ cells, 281 00:15:19,483 --> 00:15:24,706 maybe in other places, and then somehow, they are passed? 282 00:15:24,749 --> 00:15:29,450 SCHWARTZ: The findings about the cross-generational 283 00:15:29,493 --> 00:15:33,541 parent transfer from Holocaust survivors to their children, 284 00:15:33,584 --> 00:15:37,153 is evidence that the, uh, the body itself 285 00:15:37,197 --> 00:15:40,548 is a much more exquisite system 286 00:15:40,591 --> 00:15:45,248 for storing energy information about our lives. 287 00:15:45,292 --> 00:15:48,599 And that that information could not only be transferred 288 00:15:48,643 --> 00:15:51,167 in the case of an organ transplant, 289 00:15:51,211 --> 00:15:53,213 but it also could be transferred 290 00:15:53,256 --> 00:15:57,391 and continued across generations. 291 00:15:57,434 --> 00:15:59,610 KINSELLA: Studies like this are suggesting 292 00:15:59,654 --> 00:16:02,309 that we really don't know how mind, how memory, 293 00:16:02,352 --> 00:16:04,964 how experience work, we don't know how that resonates 294 00:16:05,007 --> 00:16:07,662 with us in body. 295 00:16:07,705 --> 00:16:10,621 HAWKES: I think it's very clear that there's something 296 00:16:10,665 --> 00:16:14,582 about us as beings that's beyond the brain, 297 00:16:14,625 --> 00:16:18,978 and people have used the word soul or spirit. 298 00:16:19,021 --> 00:16:23,330 It's one of those very curious and unexplained mysteries 299 00:16:23,373 --> 00:16:25,767 of who are we 300 00:16:25,810 --> 00:16:29,379 and what comes and goes with our bodies, 301 00:16:29,423 --> 00:16:32,687 our cells, our organs. 302 00:16:32,730 --> 00:16:34,297 His DNA is still in my bloodstream, 303 00:16:34,341 --> 00:16:37,474 and they say that DNA carries memories. 304 00:16:37,518 --> 00:16:40,564 To this day, I still continue to find out information about him. 305 00:16:40,608 --> 00:16:42,566 I'd go, "Huh, that's interesting 306 00:16:42,610 --> 00:16:44,873 in how it relates to me." 307 00:16:48,529 --> 00:16:50,922 Can transplanted organs really contain 308 00:16:50,966 --> 00:16:53,534 some part of the donor's identity? 309 00:16:53,577 --> 00:16:57,625 Conventional medicine believes the notion is far-fetched. 310 00:16:57,668 --> 00:17:03,065 So how do you explain what we just saw? 311 00:17:03,109 --> 00:17:06,808 Is our life experience encoded not just in our brain 312 00:17:06,851 --> 00:17:11,900 but throughout our entire body? 313 00:17:11,943 --> 00:17:14,598 Perhaps the answer can be found by examining 314 00:17:14,642 --> 00:17:18,385 whether such a connection exists between two people 315 00:17:18,428 --> 00:17:21,214 who are physically identical in every way. 316 00:17:21,257 --> 00:17:23,651 Twins. 317 00:17:27,568 --> 00:17:30,571 SHATNER: Los Angeles, California. 318 00:17:30,614 --> 00:17:33,748 March 2004. 319 00:17:33,791 --> 00:17:37,186 Linda Jamison is out for a romantic evening 320 00:17:37,230 --> 00:17:39,493 when she becomes struck by a strange 321 00:17:39,536 --> 00:17:42,670 and overpowering sensation. 322 00:17:42,713 --> 00:17:47,805 Something in her tells her that her identical twin sister Terry 323 00:17:47,849 --> 00:17:49,764 is in mortal danger. 324 00:17:49,807 --> 00:17:53,333 LINDA: While I was on a date with a guy, 325 00:17:53,376 --> 00:17:55,074 in the middle of the dinner, I said, "Oh, my gosh, 326 00:17:55,117 --> 00:17:56,901 "I... I have this horrible feeling. 327 00:17:56,945 --> 00:18:00,818 "I have to get home to see if Terry's okay, 328 00:18:00,862 --> 00:18:03,560 'cause I don't feel she's okay." 329 00:18:08,870 --> 00:18:12,221 And when I went home, I went up to our apartment, 330 00:18:12,265 --> 00:18:16,660 and Terry was lying in bed, unable to speak or hear. 331 00:18:16,704 --> 00:18:19,750 And, I mean, it was so terrifying. 332 00:18:19,794 --> 00:18:21,535 It was kind of like a weird virus that had taken me over... 333 00:18:21,578 --> 00:18:22,666 -It was a virus. -...like, very quickly. 334 00:18:22,710 --> 00:18:25,408 [siren wailing] 335 00:18:25,452 --> 00:18:27,454 And she got me to the ER just in time and they said, "Wow, 336 00:18:27,497 --> 00:18:29,325 you could have died." 337 00:18:31,414 --> 00:18:34,722 SHATNER: Faced with what could have been a fatal viral infection, 338 00:18:34,765 --> 00:18:38,334 Terry was saved in the nick of time. 339 00:18:38,378 --> 00:18:41,772 But was Linda's belief that her sister was in danger 340 00:18:41,816 --> 00:18:47,256 merely a coincidence, or was it something more? 341 00:18:47,300 --> 00:18:48,997 Twins share more than genes. 342 00:18:49,040 --> 00:18:50,999 They've shared an intrauterine environment. 343 00:18:51,042 --> 00:18:53,958 They've shared a set of early experiences together. 344 00:18:54,002 --> 00:18:57,527 They have been there with each other through early attachments 345 00:18:57,571 --> 00:18:59,660 and early developmental milestones. 346 00:18:59,703 --> 00:19:02,619 So the idea that twins feel really connected to each other 347 00:19:02,663 --> 00:19:04,969 is not very surprising. 348 00:19:05,013 --> 00:19:07,798 LINDA: It's a weird thing to describe to singletons, 349 00:19:07,842 --> 00:19:11,019 but we've always had that mysterious bond, 350 00:19:11,062 --> 00:19:13,064 that special bond twins have 351 00:19:13,108 --> 00:19:14,936 where they can feel each other's pain 352 00:19:14,979 --> 00:19:17,460 or they can determine what's gonna happen next 353 00:19:17,504 --> 00:19:20,333 -with the other twin. -We're just always intuiting 354 00:19:20,376 --> 00:19:23,640 what the other wants or what the other twin needs 355 00:19:23,684 --> 00:19:26,165 or, you know, helping each other constantly. 356 00:19:27,557 --> 00:19:29,211 SHATNER: Twins, 357 00:19:29,255 --> 00:19:32,171 each one constantly in sync 358 00:19:32,214 --> 00:19:35,913 with what the other wants or needs? 359 00:19:35,957 --> 00:19:39,308 It is often said that the bond between twins is so strong, 360 00:19:39,352 --> 00:19:42,006 they can actually read each other's minds. 361 00:19:43,834 --> 00:19:47,055 But is that just an expression, 362 00:19:47,098 --> 00:19:51,320 or could it be true? 363 00:19:51,364 --> 00:19:53,583 Studies that were done in Copenhagen and in London 364 00:19:53,627 --> 00:19:56,630 took monozygotic pairs-- 365 00:19:56,673 --> 00:20:01,983 so really, really twins, absolute identical DNA-- 366 00:20:02,026 --> 00:20:05,291 isolated them, and then, 367 00:20:05,334 --> 00:20:07,162 for one of them, uh, was subjected 368 00:20:07,206 --> 00:20:09,077 to different kinds of shocks. 369 00:20:09,120 --> 00:20:12,472 The distant twin was wired up with polygraph equipment. 370 00:20:12,515 --> 00:20:14,865 So these were designed to see 371 00:20:14,909 --> 00:20:16,954 what was happening in the distant twin. 372 00:20:16,998 --> 00:20:20,219 But one shock would have been literally an electric shock, 373 00:20:20,262 --> 00:20:22,525 another would be that, at a time that they didn't know, 374 00:20:22,569 --> 00:20:24,614 somebody behind them would drop a whole bunch of plates, 375 00:20:24,658 --> 00:20:26,921 make a big racket. 376 00:20:26,964 --> 00:20:29,967 So they found roughly eight to ten percent 377 00:20:30,011 --> 00:20:32,013 of the twins that were tested showed that there was 378 00:20:32,056 --> 00:20:34,755 some kind of a correlation between one person 379 00:20:34,798 --> 00:20:36,800 getting a shock and the other person responding. 380 00:20:41,327 --> 00:20:46,506 30% of twins report a telepathic connection with their twin, 381 00:20:46,549 --> 00:20:50,336 and it is because they're sharing a similar genetic code 382 00:20:50,379 --> 00:20:53,121 on some level, but on another level, 383 00:20:53,164 --> 00:20:55,950 they're also connected on a soul level 384 00:20:55,993 --> 00:20:59,258 that allows them to stay in this telepathic communication 385 00:20:59,301 --> 00:21:01,608 at all times. 386 00:21:01,651 --> 00:21:04,350 But we also called it "twin tuition," 387 00:21:04,393 --> 00:21:06,917 because there was no word to describe that weird, 388 00:21:06,961 --> 00:21:10,573 you know, mysterious feeling where your twin is suffering 389 00:21:10,617 --> 00:21:14,273 somewhere, and you pick up on it somehow and even feel 390 00:21:14,316 --> 00:21:17,580 the physical pain that that twin is feeling. 391 00:21:17,624 --> 00:21:19,103 It's very eerie. 392 00:21:19,147 --> 00:21:22,455 [heart beating] 393 00:21:22,498 --> 00:21:24,892 SHATNER: Despite the claims of Linda and Terry Jamison, 394 00:21:24,935 --> 00:21:27,198 and thousands more like them, 395 00:21:27,242 --> 00:21:30,593 skeptics often argue that what is interpreted 396 00:21:30,637 --> 00:21:33,553 as a psychic connection between twins 397 00:21:33,596 --> 00:21:36,207 is merely a misinterpretation 398 00:21:36,251 --> 00:21:37,992 of the fondness they have for each other. 399 00:21:40,821 --> 00:21:43,040 But if identical twins really do share 400 00:21:43,084 --> 00:21:45,739 an inexplicable attachment, 401 00:21:45,782 --> 00:21:50,309 then perhaps evidence of this link can be found 402 00:21:50,352 --> 00:21:53,442 in cases of twins who have remarkable similarities, 403 00:21:53,486 --> 00:21:57,011 even though they were raised separately. 404 00:21:59,405 --> 00:22:02,712 So I've been working with twins raised apart for many years. 405 00:22:02,756 --> 00:22:07,587 And we find that identical twins do show many traits in common, 406 00:22:07,630 --> 00:22:09,719 even after years of separation. 407 00:22:09,763 --> 00:22:13,462 So for example, the Jim twins, Jim Lewis and Jim Springer, 408 00:22:13,506 --> 00:22:16,465 grew up in Ohio about 30 or 40 miles apart. 409 00:22:16,509 --> 00:22:19,686 And they had a long list of similarities. 410 00:22:19,729 --> 00:22:22,819 For one thing, they both had woodworking benches 411 00:22:22,863 --> 00:22:26,388 in their houses; they both loved to do woodwork. 412 00:22:26,432 --> 00:22:31,045 They both had dogs named Toy, and they both had older sons 413 00:22:31,088 --> 00:22:33,003 that they named James Allen. 414 00:22:33,047 --> 00:22:35,832 Both of them worked part-time as sheriffs, 415 00:22:35,876 --> 00:22:38,444 both drove light blue Chevrolets, and they both 416 00:22:38,487 --> 00:22:40,881 used to vacation on the same three-block strip 417 00:22:40,924 --> 00:22:43,013 of beach in Florida. 418 00:22:43,057 --> 00:22:45,189 We don't know the reason for that, but the point is 419 00:22:45,233 --> 00:22:47,931 that when you see these similarities repeated 420 00:22:47,975 --> 00:22:51,195 in identical twins raised apart, and not in fraternals, 421 00:22:51,239 --> 00:22:54,329 it creates a whole new set of hypotheses 422 00:22:54,373 --> 00:22:56,026 that you can begin to explore. 423 00:22:56,070 --> 00:22:58,899 TERRY: Whether people want to look at the evidence, 424 00:22:58,942 --> 00:23:00,553 that's up to them. 425 00:23:00,596 --> 00:23:04,992 And we're not trying to convince anyone, but it's a weird thing. 426 00:23:05,035 --> 00:23:07,211 It's like we're two wings of a bird. 427 00:23:07,255 --> 00:23:10,519 We believe that we were bifurcated-- 428 00:23:10,563 --> 00:23:14,871 a bifurcated soul-- which means one soul with two bodies. 429 00:23:18,353 --> 00:23:21,225 SHATNER: If one soul can be shared between two people, 430 00:23:21,269 --> 00:23:24,838 as Linda and Terry Jamison believe, could it also explain 431 00:23:24,881 --> 00:23:29,103 how twins appear to communicate with each other telepathically? 432 00:23:29,146 --> 00:23:32,498 And if so, does this shared consciousness 433 00:23:32,541 --> 00:23:35,196 simply go away after one of them dies? 434 00:23:38,504 --> 00:23:41,463 Perhaps the answer can be found by hearing the story of a man 435 00:23:41,507 --> 00:23:45,336 who believes his soul doesn't just serve onebody... 436 00:23:46,816 --> 00:23:48,601 ...but several. 437 00:23:55,521 --> 00:23:57,131 SHATNER: Sharpsburg, Maryland. 438 00:23:57,174 --> 00:23:59,176 May 1991. 439 00:23:59,220 --> 00:24:02,484 Connecticut fire chief, Jeffrey Keene, 440 00:24:02,528 --> 00:24:04,181 is on a road trip with his wife 441 00:24:04,225 --> 00:24:07,794 when suddenly he feels a strange urge 442 00:24:07,837 --> 00:24:10,579 to make a detour. 443 00:24:10,623 --> 00:24:13,277 My wife and I, uh, like to go antique hunting, 444 00:24:13,321 --> 00:24:15,497 and we had been through Pennsylvania 445 00:24:15,541 --> 00:24:17,586 and headed down into Maryland. 446 00:24:19,370 --> 00:24:22,156 We were very near where the Battle of Antietam 447 00:24:22,199 --> 00:24:24,463 had been fought, 448 00:24:24,506 --> 00:24:27,030 and I was always impressed 449 00:24:27,074 --> 00:24:29,859 with the bravery of the men that fought in the Civil War. 450 00:24:29,903 --> 00:24:31,382 It strikes a chord in you. 451 00:24:33,036 --> 00:24:35,517 So I asked my wife if it was okay if we, uh, 452 00:24:35,561 --> 00:24:37,954 take a little side trip to go see the battlefield. 453 00:24:37,998 --> 00:24:39,478 SOLDIER: Fire! 454 00:24:42,263 --> 00:24:46,397 SHATNER: On September 17, 1862, 455 00:24:46,441 --> 00:24:49,488 Union forces cornered Confederate troops 456 00:24:49,531 --> 00:24:52,316 near Antietam Creek as they attempted an incursion 457 00:24:52,360 --> 00:24:53,448 into Maryland. 458 00:24:58,540 --> 00:25:00,890 It was the first major battle of the Civil War 459 00:25:00,934 --> 00:25:02,370 to take place on Union soil. 460 00:25:08,811 --> 00:25:11,422 All told, almost 125,000 soldiers took part 461 00:25:11,466 --> 00:25:12,511 in the fighting. 462 00:25:15,122 --> 00:25:16,558 And by day's end, 463 00:25:16,602 --> 00:25:20,431 the battlefield was soaked with the blood 464 00:25:20,475 --> 00:25:24,044 of more than 22,000 souls. 465 00:25:27,917 --> 00:25:31,355 Now, nearly 130 years later, 466 00:25:31,399 --> 00:25:35,621 Jeffrey Keene and his wife arrived at the battlefield, 467 00:25:35,664 --> 00:25:38,580 hoping to experience a bit of this history. 468 00:25:38,624 --> 00:25:41,844 But while visiting the site, 469 00:25:41,888 --> 00:25:46,283 Jeffrey had a very different experience, 470 00:25:46,327 --> 00:25:50,113 one that would prove to be far more personal 471 00:25:50,157 --> 00:25:53,116 than he could ever have imagined. 472 00:25:55,902 --> 00:25:59,383 KEENE: Well, we went to the battlefield, and all of a sudden 473 00:25:59,427 --> 00:26:00,950 I couldn't breathe. 474 00:26:00,994 --> 00:26:05,172 I started crying, uh, I had burning tears 475 00:26:05,215 --> 00:26:07,130 running down my cheek, I didn't know what was going on. 476 00:26:07,174 --> 00:26:11,091 And, uh, I literally crawled up to the side of the road 477 00:26:11,134 --> 00:26:14,703 and, uh, got myself together, went back to the car. 478 00:26:14,747 --> 00:26:19,403 On the, uh, way home, we stopped at a gift store, and, uh, 479 00:26:19,447 --> 00:26:20,753 there was a magazine there. 480 00:26:24,408 --> 00:26:26,410 The whole magazine was done on Antietam. 481 00:26:26,454 --> 00:26:30,197 And when we got home, I was reading through, 482 00:26:30,240 --> 00:26:32,025 and came across a full-figure picture 483 00:26:32,068 --> 00:26:34,244 of General John B. Gordon. 484 00:26:34,288 --> 00:26:36,638 He was a colonel at the battle, 485 00:26:36,682 --> 00:26:39,206 and he'd been wounded five times, but he-he survived. 486 00:26:41,991 --> 00:26:44,472 And I looked at the face, and I told people 487 00:26:44,515 --> 00:26:47,475 I know the face very well. 488 00:26:47,518 --> 00:26:49,216 I shave it every morning. 489 00:26:49,259 --> 00:26:52,828 SHATNER: Jeffrey Keene. 490 00:26:52,872 --> 00:26:55,962 Confederate General John B. Gordon. 491 00:26:56,005 --> 00:27:00,270 The resemblance is, in a word, uncanny. 492 00:27:00,314 --> 00:27:02,621 So much so that Jeffrey began to wonder... 493 00:27:05,232 --> 00:27:09,279 ...could the strange reaction he experienced 494 00:27:09,323 --> 00:27:10,541 while visiting Antietam 495 00:27:10,585 --> 00:27:15,851 be some sort of emotional echo? 496 00:27:15,895 --> 00:27:19,246 A connection that suggests that Jeffrey Keene 497 00:27:19,289 --> 00:27:24,773 is actually John B. Gordon reincarnated? 498 00:27:24,817 --> 00:27:29,038 Reincarnation is the process that allows your soul 499 00:27:29,082 --> 00:27:31,737 to take on a new life, a new body. 500 00:27:31,780 --> 00:27:35,654 In other words, you are born in a human body, 501 00:27:35,697 --> 00:27:38,961 you finish that cycle, you are deceased, then you 502 00:27:39,005 --> 00:27:43,705 continue to recycle that soul from one body to the next while 503 00:27:43,749 --> 00:27:46,447 being within the same Earth plane. 504 00:27:46,490 --> 00:27:48,623 KEENE: A lot of people say to me, 505 00:27:48,667 --> 00:27:51,060 "Why don't I remember lifetimes?" 506 00:27:51,104 --> 00:27:53,062 I say, "You do, you just don't realize that you do." 507 00:27:53,106 --> 00:27:56,370 There'll be haunting songs, 508 00:27:56,413 --> 00:28:00,853 a desire to go to certain places, countries and things. 509 00:28:00,896 --> 00:28:03,638 The furniture that you use to decorate your house, 510 00:28:03,682 --> 00:28:05,945 your hobbies, the clothes you wear, and so on. 511 00:28:07,903 --> 00:28:12,299 SHATNER: Can departed souls really pass into new bodies? 512 00:28:12,342 --> 00:28:14,605 And if so, what evidence might there be 513 00:28:14,649 --> 00:28:18,305 to support such an incredible claim? 514 00:28:18,348 --> 00:28:22,613 According to Jeffrey Keene, there are signs 515 00:28:22,657 --> 00:28:27,227 that can be found once you know where to look for them. 516 00:28:27,270 --> 00:28:30,099 KEENE: In Antietam, where Gordon was wounded, 517 00:28:30,143 --> 00:28:33,842 he described that he had been shot through the right calf, 518 00:28:33,886 --> 00:28:36,062 higher up on the same leg, 519 00:28:36,105 --> 00:28:38,760 and the left arm. 520 00:28:38,804 --> 00:28:41,458 So I had a pretty good picture of where he'd been wounded. 521 00:28:41,502 --> 00:28:44,331 Now, on my right leg, 522 00:28:44,374 --> 00:28:48,509 I have, uh, I guess you would call them varicose veins. 523 00:28:48,552 --> 00:28:53,209 I only have them in two places: on my right calf, 524 00:28:53,253 --> 00:28:55,037 higher up on the same leg. 525 00:28:55,081 --> 00:28:58,649 My left arm, I had a blood clot removed 526 00:28:58,693 --> 00:29:00,782 when I was in my 20s. 527 00:29:00,826 --> 00:29:02,741 It seems to me that, uh, 528 00:29:02,784 --> 00:29:05,787 could have been one of the places Gordon had been wounded. 529 00:29:05,831 --> 00:29:08,137 But you use the word "coincidence," 530 00:29:08,181 --> 00:29:11,010 it can apply in some cases, 531 00:29:11,053 --> 00:29:13,795 uh, but there are small coincidences 532 00:29:13,839 --> 00:29:16,102 and then there's big coincidences. 533 00:29:16,145 --> 00:29:17,668 What I have is evidence. 534 00:29:17,712 --> 00:29:19,105 I have very strong evidence. 535 00:29:21,672 --> 00:29:24,110 SHATNER: Are Jeffrey Keene's scars 536 00:29:24,153 --> 00:29:27,200 evidence that our souls are recycled back into this world 537 00:29:27,243 --> 00:29:29,245 after we die? 538 00:29:29,289 --> 00:29:32,727 According to some researchers, the answer is yes. 539 00:29:32,771 --> 00:29:35,295 And they argue that further proof can be found 540 00:29:35,338 --> 00:29:38,254 not only in physical scars... 541 00:29:38,298 --> 00:29:41,127 but also in mental ones. 542 00:29:42,911 --> 00:29:45,044 There's been substantial research done 543 00:29:45,087 --> 00:29:47,611 at the University of Virginia with children, 544 00:29:47,655 --> 00:29:49,918 showing that a subset of these children 545 00:29:49,962 --> 00:29:52,616 remember times before they were born 546 00:29:52,660 --> 00:29:55,794 that are then confirmed by historical records. 547 00:29:55,837 --> 00:29:59,449 And those data are very consistent with the idea 548 00:29:59,493 --> 00:30:01,756 that reincarnation is a real phenomenon. 549 00:30:01,800 --> 00:30:04,628 COREY: The reason why it is significant 550 00:30:04,672 --> 00:30:07,457 to study children, it is because their memories 551 00:30:07,501 --> 00:30:10,069 are still fresh-- they haven't been 552 00:30:10,112 --> 00:30:12,419 on the Earth for a very long time, so... 553 00:30:12,462 --> 00:30:15,770 they still have that remembrance of the past life 554 00:30:15,814 --> 00:30:18,294 very vividly in their mind. 555 00:30:18,338 --> 00:30:22,211 For example, one of the most famous reincarnation stories 556 00:30:22,255 --> 00:30:25,345 is that of Shanti Devi. 557 00:30:25,388 --> 00:30:28,870 Shanti, since the age of four, kept telling her parents 558 00:30:28,914 --> 00:30:31,960 that she came from another town called Mathura. 559 00:30:32,004 --> 00:30:33,875 After being interviewed by her teachers, 560 00:30:33,919 --> 00:30:38,271 she gives them the name of her husband, who was still alive 561 00:30:38,314 --> 00:30:41,361 and lived in Mathura at that time. 562 00:30:41,404 --> 00:30:44,755 They end up locating a merchant in Mathura 563 00:30:44,799 --> 00:30:49,282 whose wife had died ten days after giving birth to their son. 564 00:30:49,325 --> 00:30:52,024 Shanti recognizes him and says, 565 00:30:52,067 --> 00:30:54,896 "This is my husband, Kedar Nath." 566 00:30:54,940 --> 00:30:58,769 She even says that he neglected to carry out the promises 567 00:30:58,813 --> 00:31:01,772 that he made on her deathbed. 568 00:31:01,816 --> 00:31:04,775 KINSELLA: Ultimately, Mahatma Gandhi set up a commission 569 00:31:04,819 --> 00:31:07,561 to determine whether or not this story was accurate, 570 00:31:07,604 --> 00:31:10,477 and the committee members decided that this was, in fact, 571 00:31:10,520 --> 00:31:12,740 proof of reincarnation. 572 00:31:12,783 --> 00:31:15,264 KEENE: I don't think anybody should be forced 573 00:31:15,308 --> 00:31:16,787 to believe anything. 574 00:31:16,831 --> 00:31:18,746 But I know it's true to me. 575 00:31:18,789 --> 00:31:21,053 You have to make up your own mind. 576 00:31:21,096 --> 00:31:23,490 All I ask is you keep an open mind. 577 00:31:25,274 --> 00:31:28,451 If our souls can, in fact, be recycled, 578 00:31:28,495 --> 00:31:31,280 I hope mine doesn't get put in the shredder. 579 00:31:31,324 --> 00:31:33,369 But if, as many believe, 580 00:31:33,413 --> 00:31:38,592 we're locked in a never-ending cycle of life and rebirth, 581 00:31:38,635 --> 00:31:41,508 what happens when that cycle gets interrupted 582 00:31:41,551 --> 00:31:44,990 and we're literally brought back from the dead? 583 00:31:45,033 --> 00:31:47,731 Perhaps the answer can be found by meeting people 584 00:31:47,775 --> 00:31:49,733 who not only returned, 585 00:31:49,777 --> 00:31:52,301 but have come back 586 00:31:52,345 --> 00:31:55,261 with extraordinary abilities. 587 00:31:59,482 --> 00:32:01,876 SHATNER: Seattle, Washington. 588 00:32:01,920 --> 00:32:05,227 December 1976. 589 00:32:05,271 --> 00:32:08,013 Research biologist, Joyce Hawkes, 590 00:32:08,056 --> 00:32:10,972 is spending a quiet Saturday at home. 591 00:32:11,016 --> 00:32:14,106 But on this particular day, 592 00:32:14,149 --> 00:32:16,760 something happens that will alter 593 00:32:16,804 --> 00:32:19,067 the course of her entire life. 594 00:32:20,764 --> 00:32:22,418 [whirring] 595 00:32:22,462 --> 00:32:24,290 HAWKES: I was vacuuming 596 00:32:24,333 --> 00:32:28,642 right in front of my fireplace, and up on the ledge 597 00:32:28,685 --> 00:32:33,690 on the fireplace was a large, beautiful leaded glass window 598 00:32:33,734 --> 00:32:36,302 that I'd purchased in an antique store. 599 00:32:36,345 --> 00:32:41,046 All of a sudden, this leaded glass window is coming at me. 600 00:32:41,089 --> 00:32:44,440 And I like, "Ah," boom and it hits me. 601 00:32:44,484 --> 00:32:47,878 And all I remember then is just, all of a sudden, 602 00:32:47,922 --> 00:32:50,577 in front of me was a long, dark tunnel, 603 00:32:50,620 --> 00:32:53,493 and at the end was this bright light. 604 00:32:53,536 --> 00:32:55,451 And I was drawn to it. 605 00:32:55,495 --> 00:32:59,020 Then I passed through the entrance to the light 606 00:32:59,064 --> 00:33:02,632 and I was in a place of rolling hills 607 00:33:02,676 --> 00:33:06,071 and beautiful color. 608 00:33:11,424 --> 00:33:13,426 And then, bang, I'm back, 609 00:33:13,469 --> 00:33:18,039 all of a sudden, on the floor in my living room. 610 00:33:18,083 --> 00:33:21,738 SHATNER: In the months after her near-death experience, 611 00:33:21,782 --> 00:33:23,610 Joyce hoped to return to normalcy 612 00:33:23,653 --> 00:33:26,874 and resume her scientific work in the lab. 613 00:33:26,917 --> 00:33:29,659 But she soon realized that, after her brush 614 00:33:29,703 --> 00:33:33,794 with the afterlife, nothing would be the same. 615 00:33:33,837 --> 00:33:36,492 Because Joyce now had the ability 616 00:33:36,536 --> 00:33:41,019 to see things that no one else could. 617 00:33:41,062 --> 00:33:43,891 What I noticed is I could see inside people's bodies, 618 00:33:43,934 --> 00:33:45,632 I could read their bodies. 619 00:33:45,675 --> 00:33:48,330 And there are times when I actually can look 620 00:33:48,374 --> 00:33:51,377 into people's bodies and see something going on 621 00:33:51,420 --> 00:33:53,727 that hasn't been diagnosed. 622 00:33:53,770 --> 00:33:57,078 I resigned my position at the lab 623 00:33:57,122 --> 00:34:01,039 and I started seeing individuals in the basement of my house. 624 00:34:01,082 --> 00:34:05,086 One time, a woman came to me and was on the treatment table 625 00:34:05,130 --> 00:34:09,264 and, all of a sudden, her abdomen opened up 626 00:34:09,308 --> 00:34:12,963 and I saw a small tumor in a very precise location. 627 00:34:13,007 --> 00:34:16,054 And I said, "Please go to your doctor and have it checked out." 628 00:34:16,097 --> 00:34:18,752 She had to have surgery, and it saved her 629 00:34:18,795 --> 00:34:22,973 from having a very serious kind of uterine cancer. 630 00:34:23,017 --> 00:34:26,542 KINSELLA: In the case of near-death experiences, 631 00:34:26,586 --> 00:34:30,764 a number of people report developing heightened intuition, 632 00:34:30,807 --> 00:34:33,332 gaining some kind of psychic ability. 633 00:34:33,375 --> 00:34:36,683 They report manifestations of the paranormal that seem to be 634 00:34:36,726 --> 00:34:40,034 much more common after these kinds of experiences. 635 00:34:40,078 --> 00:34:43,342 MISHLOVE: A materialistic scientist would say, "How can that be? 636 00:34:43,385 --> 00:34:45,474 These things don't exist at all," 637 00:34:45,518 --> 00:34:49,087 but, in fact, they're reported hundreds and hundreds of times. 638 00:34:50,958 --> 00:34:54,962 HAWKES: There's something beyond the neurons, 639 00:34:55,005 --> 00:34:57,834 the astrocytes, the glial cells, in our brain 640 00:34:57,878 --> 00:35:00,141 going "jun, jun, jun, jun." 641 00:35:00,185 --> 00:35:04,145 Something beyond that which we have awareness of. 642 00:35:06,191 --> 00:35:09,411 SHATNER: The power to see through flesh 643 00:35:09,455 --> 00:35:13,241 and diagnose ailments might seem preposterous. 644 00:35:13,285 --> 00:35:16,070 But could it be true? 645 00:35:16,114 --> 00:35:18,768 Is it possible that when Joyce Hawkes nearly died, 646 00:35:18,812 --> 00:35:24,774 she came back with psychic abilities that defy explanation? 647 00:35:24,818 --> 00:35:27,429 Perhaps the answers can be found by examining cases 648 00:35:27,473 --> 00:35:32,434 in which people claim to not only see someone's ailment, 649 00:35:32,478 --> 00:35:34,306 but also heal it. 650 00:35:35,524 --> 00:35:37,439 Richmond, Virginia. 651 00:35:37,483 --> 00:35:40,486 September 5, 2005. 652 00:35:40,529 --> 00:35:42,618 David Schwartz goes to the hospital to be treated 653 00:35:42,662 --> 00:35:47,057 for what he believes is a nagging ear infection. 654 00:35:47,101 --> 00:35:51,801 But in fact, his illness is much, much worse. 655 00:35:51,845 --> 00:35:54,108 DAVID SCHWARTZ: I checked myself into the emergency room. 656 00:35:54,152 --> 00:35:56,066 That was Monday afternoon. 657 00:35:56,110 --> 00:35:59,722 And by Tuesday afternoon, I was in a coma. 658 00:35:59,766 --> 00:36:02,160 My kidneys were shut down, 659 00:36:02,203 --> 00:36:05,598 all of my organs were failing and the blood flow was lost 660 00:36:05,641 --> 00:36:09,384 in my brain stem as well, which would have meant brain death. 661 00:36:09,428 --> 00:36:12,692 They told my mom and my dad that, 662 00:36:12,735 --> 00:36:15,608 really, that I had a limited amount of time left. 663 00:36:15,651 --> 00:36:19,655 SHATNER: With their son facing certain death due to kidney failure, 664 00:36:19,699 --> 00:36:22,049 David's parents were willing to try anything 665 00:36:22,092 --> 00:36:24,225 that might help him. 666 00:36:24,269 --> 00:36:28,186 So they reached out to Scarlett Heinbuch, a woman who, 667 00:36:28,229 --> 00:36:31,841 after having a near-death experience in childhood, 668 00:36:31,885 --> 00:36:36,977 claimed to be gifted with incredible healing powers. 669 00:36:37,020 --> 00:36:38,761 SCARLETT HEINBUCH: When I walked in David's hospital room 670 00:36:38,805 --> 00:36:40,633 for the first time, I knew he was near death. 671 00:36:40,676 --> 00:36:43,157 He was unconscious and I took his hand 672 00:36:43,201 --> 00:36:46,334 and I'm standing right by his bedside when, all of a sudden, 673 00:36:46,378 --> 00:36:49,076 I was out of my body, in another realm. 674 00:36:49,119 --> 00:36:52,384 And he was hovering there and there was soul connection 675 00:36:52,427 --> 00:36:55,256 and I felt him with every fiber of my being, 676 00:36:55,300 --> 00:36:58,781 and he made a decision at that point to come back. 677 00:37:01,523 --> 00:37:04,047 SCHWARTZ: When I first awoke and saw Scarlett, 678 00:37:04,091 --> 00:37:06,659 I had the sense that I knew who she was, 679 00:37:06,702 --> 00:37:08,617 and I knew everything about her. 680 00:37:08,661 --> 00:37:12,273 HEINBUCH: David looked up at me and, all of a sudden, 681 00:37:12,317 --> 00:37:15,363 the next thing I was aware of was that I was 682 00:37:15,407 --> 00:37:17,974 seeing four beings. 683 00:37:18,018 --> 00:37:20,803 They were tall and they were colored blue. 684 00:37:20,847 --> 00:37:24,807 I saw them manifesting a set of kidneys, if you will. 685 00:37:24,851 --> 00:37:28,898 I saw the kidneys being dropped into his body. 686 00:37:28,942 --> 00:37:33,076 David's recovery after that was so stunning that the doctors 687 00:37:33,120 --> 00:37:36,515 and nurses at this hospital called him "miracle boy." 688 00:37:36,558 --> 00:37:38,560 SCHWARTZ: When I came out of the coma, 689 00:37:38,604 --> 00:37:40,736 it was absolutely because we had an experience. 690 00:37:40,780 --> 00:37:42,956 I don't know what happened there, 691 00:37:42,999 --> 00:37:45,654 but I do know that it happened, 692 00:37:45,698 --> 00:37:47,569 because the doctors told me that they didn't have an explanation 693 00:37:47,613 --> 00:37:50,050 as to why I was making the recovery that I was making. 694 00:37:52,357 --> 00:37:56,056 SHATNER: Today, David Schwartz has two fully functioning kidneys, 695 00:37:56,099 --> 00:37:59,015 and both he and Scarlett Heinbuch have no doubt 696 00:37:59,059 --> 00:38:01,279 in their minds that it was the powerful connection 697 00:38:01,322 --> 00:38:05,892 between their souls that saved David's life. 698 00:38:05,935 --> 00:38:10,505 Are stories like those of Joyce Hawkes and Scarlett Heinbuch 699 00:38:10,549 --> 00:38:13,682 evidence that the soul is real, 700 00:38:13,726 --> 00:38:15,597 and can actually become empowered 701 00:38:15,641 --> 00:38:19,819 with strange and otherworldly abilities? 702 00:38:19,862 --> 00:38:22,996 According to people who study near-death experiences, 703 00:38:23,039 --> 00:38:26,782 the answer is a profound yes. 704 00:38:26,826 --> 00:38:31,831 And they also insist that these tales of strange coincidences 705 00:38:31,874 --> 00:38:35,704 and psychic connections are really meant to assure us 706 00:38:35,748 --> 00:38:38,664 that we are all very much connected, 707 00:38:38,707 --> 00:38:43,321 and not only in the ways we've been taught to imagine. 708 00:38:49,849 --> 00:38:53,896 SHATNER: Everything that lives must also eventually die. 709 00:38:53,940 --> 00:38:58,640 And yet, for people who believe they've touched or been touched 710 00:38:58,684 --> 00:39:01,774 by what they refer to as the other side, 711 00:39:01,817 --> 00:39:04,472 death is not an ending, 712 00:39:04,516 --> 00:39:08,215 but a gateway toward a new beginning. 713 00:39:08,258 --> 00:39:11,740 They live with a certainty that the rest of us will never have. 714 00:39:11,784 --> 00:39:15,527 That is, until we die. 715 00:39:15,570 --> 00:39:17,746 [siren wails] 716 00:39:17,790 --> 00:39:20,488 KINSELLA: I think near-death experiences and related phenomena 717 00:39:20,532 --> 00:39:26,102 are so fascinating, frustrating and mysterious 718 00:39:26,146 --> 00:39:29,845 because the footprints they leave behind are very muddied. 719 00:39:29,889 --> 00:39:33,545 And what I mean by that is there seems to be enough proof, 720 00:39:33,588 --> 00:39:37,853 enough anecdotal evidence, to where if people really want 721 00:39:37,897 --> 00:39:40,421 to believe these stories, they want to believe this phenomena, 722 00:39:40,465 --> 00:39:42,031 they certainly can. 723 00:39:42,075 --> 00:39:45,600 But for those that are absolutely certain 724 00:39:45,644 --> 00:39:50,300 that these experiences are, by and large, byproducts 725 00:39:50,344 --> 00:39:55,305 of naturalistic phenomena, like, maybe biological stress, 726 00:39:55,349 --> 00:39:58,221 then there certainly is not enough compelling evidence 727 00:39:58,265 --> 00:40:02,443 that would be able to-to shift them over. 728 00:40:02,487 --> 00:40:06,447 HAWKES: I've heard that near-death experiences 729 00:40:06,491 --> 00:40:10,973 are really some kind of vision or sleep experience. 730 00:40:11,017 --> 00:40:13,889 For myself, I know it wasn't, because I know 731 00:40:13,933 --> 00:40:18,677 what my dreams were like, and this was so different than that. 732 00:40:18,720 --> 00:40:22,855 It's far beyond a dream state, or a state 733 00:40:22,898 --> 00:40:25,466 where there's no oxygen to the brain 734 00:40:25,510 --> 00:40:29,818 and you have some kind of weird thing that lasts. 735 00:40:29,862 --> 00:40:32,430 Now, before my coma, I thought, well, it's just a hallucination. 736 00:40:32,473 --> 00:40:34,083 It's a trick of the dying brain. 737 00:40:34,127 --> 00:40:38,523 So, in many ways, it was very refreshing to me 738 00:40:38,566 --> 00:40:40,525 as I came out of this experience, 739 00:40:40,568 --> 00:40:42,701 and-and especially in those months after my coma. 740 00:40:42,744 --> 00:40:45,660 I came to realize that there are a number of scientists, 741 00:40:45,704 --> 00:40:48,881 literally hundreds of scientists around the world, 742 00:40:48,924 --> 00:40:50,360 who have been studying these problems 743 00:40:50,404 --> 00:40:52,841 very diligently for decades, 744 00:40:52,885 --> 00:40:56,932 and they're actually making tremendous progress. 745 00:40:56,976 --> 00:41:01,023 BERLIN: It's that there might be energies, forces, 746 00:41:01,067 --> 00:41:02,677 things that we haven't yet discovered 747 00:41:02,721 --> 00:41:05,724 that we may never discover. 748 00:41:05,767 --> 00:41:08,553 And however you want to fill in that gap, 749 00:41:08,596 --> 00:41:12,992 whether it's mysticism, spirituality, religion, 750 00:41:13,035 --> 00:41:16,865 I think that's left to each individual person. 751 00:41:22,436 --> 00:41:26,135 SHATNER: Near-death experiences, 752 00:41:26,179 --> 00:41:29,138 the psychic connections between identical twins 753 00:41:29,182 --> 00:41:33,142 and tales of reincarnation. 754 00:41:33,186 --> 00:41:36,668 Are these all evidence that there really is a soul? 755 00:41:36,711 --> 00:41:39,018 Or is it that we're all so desperate to believe 756 00:41:39,061 --> 00:41:41,368 in our own immortality 757 00:41:41,411 --> 00:41:44,327 that we look for evidence to reassure ourselves 758 00:41:44,371 --> 00:41:48,244 that death is not really the end? 759 00:41:48,288 --> 00:41:52,161 Well, when that day comes, 760 00:41:52,205 --> 00:41:56,078 we will not only learn the truth, but also the answers 761 00:41:56,122 --> 00:41:58,341 to all the other mysteries that are, until then, 762 00:41:58,385 --> 00:42:00,648 The UnXplained. 763 00:42:00,692 --> 00:42:03,129 CAPTIONING PROVIDED BY A+E NETWORKS