It was the evening of Friday 6th April 2001, the day had not been unusual from any other day, I had gone to work as usual. I am an office worker with the Insolvency Service a government organisation part of the greater civil service in the centre of Birmingham and had returned home from work.
I lived with my father Harry he was 69 years old and retired and we lived in a small two bedroom semi-detached house in Great Barr a suburb of North Birmingham. The winter was now gradually coming to an end and moving into springtime and the evening�s were becoming lighter. That winter had been hard for different reasons as me and my father and indeed the rest of the family were coming to terms with the loss of My Mother Edna from Lung cancer at the age of 70 on 29th February 2001 It had been a short illness and the funeral had been held two weeks later.
It was a big loss for me and my Dad I had never experienced loosing someone so close to me before. She had always been the pillar of the family and its centre point. For example she loved Christmas and would work tirelessly cooking for Christmas day days before and also separately for boxing day when Brothers, Sisters, Aunts, Nephews and Nieces and close friends would come over. The table would be extended to accommodate everyone and red and white checkered table cloth laid over. It was always a full spread Turkey from Christmas day, Gammon, Pork, Salmon, Chicken Drumsticks, English Trifle the alcohol was flowing, relatives abroad would be phoned to wish them merry Christmas and there would be laughter. It was your typical English Christmas.
She was well liked and respected in the community. For example her last Job was as a part time lollipop lady outside the school opposite to where we lived . It gave her the opportunity to get out of the house and get to know the families in the local community she was a character and it didn�t take long for her to become known and loved by all, for instance at Christmas she would be inundated with Christmas presents from the Mothers and their children.
This is not to say her early life had been tough for her however she had came through this and found happiness and raised a family of her own. She was no different from any other Mother and you all probably know someone in your family and can relate.
Well returning back to the main story I had returned home that Evening My Dad as always had a cup of Tea ready for me as he always did when I came home from work. We had chatted then I had cooked the evening tea and sat down and watched the TV. It was about 12.00 So I said good night to my Dad and went to bed and he followed shortly afterwards.
What I experienced in the early hours of that morning was to change my life forever.
While I was in bed trying to get to sleep the room temperature fell dramatically , I would say between 2 � 4 degrees Celsius in a matter of seconds. At first this didn�t bother as all people a bedroom can suddenly get cold however my body started to shiver more than usual my teeth started to chatter and my experience began.
I recollect that I was sitting in the living room of the house on the old sofa next to my eldest brother Paul. Sitting in the armchair opposite me and my brother was my dad Harry.
Then I heard a swishing noise resembling a helicopter above the house. Then suddenly my brother and my father rushed to the front window opened the curtains and looked out. I ran to the window and looked out to see what they were looking at. All I could see would be what resembled a full moon very bright and low on the horizon. I live opposite a school so if you can imagine this vision of a bright full moon was visible just above the school roofs.
It was after looking out of the window that my brother and father left the room and walked out the front door I then followed them but as I walked out there seemed to be another entrance or exit call it what you will built onto the front door. It had white walls and the ceiling was like a canopy made of branches and leaves inter wining and very thick with birds singing it was very beautiful. I walked through this looking up. I was walking slowly like being in a place I had never seen before then I walked straight into the front garden and walked over to my Father and Brother who were kneeling motionless in the front garden (To describe the garden for you it was 20 feet by 20 feet square just grass no borders of flowers or soil and quite Plain)
I remember then looking back at the house and at the front door where I had just come out from, it was the normal front door it had always been, there was no exit/entrance that I had just come from. Then I seemed to be transported in a second back into the front room and sitting back on the sofa however this time but this time my brother Paul was not there and my dad was sitting in the armchair as before. I remember to the right of me by about 8 feet the light wooden door into the living room was fully open as if awaiting for someone to enter. As I scanned around the room towards my dad I saw standing behind him behind the armchair an elderly lady about 5 feet tall may be smaller in old fashioned clothing and with a very dark complexion.
I then scanned back to the door into the living room and levitating in the living was my mother Edna. Not levitating as you would normally imagine but having great difficulty she was moving her arms around to gain motion it didn�t seem very natural or dignified to her if I was to be honest.
She then levitated over to me and held my hand and was talking to me I couldn�t understand what she was trying to say. Her face seemed serious no smile but this could be due to no face muscles I am not sure.
My own Thoughts
My own opinions for and against this experience were these.
In the Pro camp my own consciousness in some aspects seemed a little more heightened than what it would usually be but not to the extent that people experiencing Near death would state when they talk about the out of their body aspect.
However the appreciation and also the sensation of there being a Non Physical reality was huge to me for six months after this experience this sensation lingered and it seemed to me that I had one foot in the Physical world and my other foot in the non physical world.
After roughly six months when walking to the bus stop on my way to work this sensation suddenly came to a halt. It was a bit like somebody shutting a foot wide vault door to a safe and my entirety was now fully in the physical reality.
The fact that everything we do in this world is entirely physical makes me think that we are prejudice towards there being a non physical reality.
Everything we do in this world is physical including talking. We talk verbally but via a voice box which is a physical element.
In the Against Camp were these opinions.
I had talked about this experience to everyone I knew. Everybody had only warm words of condolences and consideration towards my feelings but I think they were being sympathetic due me coming to terms with the loss of mother.
Some people including close and respected friends and work colleagues stated that it was solely down to the sub conscious and the complexity of the mind and brain which is very rational and a good argument against there being an existence for after death.