Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 213, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 September 1915 — TELLS HOW IT FEELS TO BE DEAD [ARTICLE]

TELLS HOW IT FEELS TO BE DEAD

WOMAN LIFELESS TEN MINUTES ON OPERATING TABLE Sv TUi. Firmly Believes Soul Left Her Body •nd Was Sent Back by Great Unearthly Power. The story was told recently of how • surgeon had restored a woman to life after she had been dead ten minutes. The woman was Mrs. Walter W. Akers, of Los Angeles, Cal. While an operation was being performed on her, her heart stopped beating; there was no pulse; there was no response to the usual tests. The patient was dead. Then the surgeon who was in charge, Dr. Hutchinson, thrust his hand into an incision which had been made in her body and gently massaged her heart back into action. As his hand contracted and dilated the heart, she began breathing again, and soon rallied. From a medical point of view the case was a wonder, and is still more so, now that Mrs. Akers has completely recovered. She now describes her experiences during the brief period when she was lifeless. "I have no recollection of where my soul went,” she said, “but I have a firm, unexplainable conviction that I actually died and that during those minutes of death my soul left this body and began, at least, its journey to the great mysterious beyond. I can recall nothing of what my soul experienced, but yet there is another unexplainable conviction that a great unearthly power sent it back into my body. “When I regained consciousness there was a strange peace within me. It was as though I were waiting for something wonderful to happen to me. “During all the ages no one has caught a glimpse of the life hereafter and returned to tell of it,” she continued. “Then, why should I? When the Creator sent my soul back into the body He erased the memory from my mind.” Mrs. Akers firmly believes that God sent her soul back into her body because its work upon this earth was not accomplished.