Bill Letson's NDE: Firefighter Dies & Learns We Have Death Backwards

Bill Letson was doing his job when he caught the thing that would kill him. It was 1994, and he was working as a firefighter and engineer on a paramedic engine at Station 11 in Santa Barbara. A powerful flu epidemic was tearing through the area. Emergency rooms were overflowing. When the call came in, Bill and his crew moved fast.

The woman they'd come to help had been isolated in a room, severely ill. It was obvious we had to move fast because everything about her was wrong, Bill recalls. He grabbed the oxygen, crossed the bed, and positioned himself above her to get a mask on her face. As he tightened the straps, she let out this big exhale, a breath of relief that help had arrived. Bill was inhaling at that exact moment. I felt my lungs fill with her breath, he says. His immediate thought: Well, if that's not an inoculation, I don't know what is.

Two days later, he was circling the drain.

The Descent

By the third day, Bill was home and barely functional. He couldn't get out of bed. He was vomiting, experiencing diarrhea, and when he looked in the mirror that afternoon, he didn't recognize himself. I said, 'Man, I don't even look like myself!'. His heart was racing at 150 beats per minute. When he tried to take his pulse at his wrist, a basic indicator of blood pressure, there was nothing. I couldn't get a pulse at my wrist, so I knew it was below 80.

He called his sister. His niece picked up. Bill tried to speak, but all that came out was a whisper. She knew immediately something was wrong. She hung up and dialed 911. Santa Barbara County Fire responded. The guys did a wonderful job, Bill remembers. They started high-flow IVs, recognizing severe dehydration, and got him to the hospital.

The emergency room was packed with flu patients, kids and adults, all suffering from the same brutal virus. Bill was put in a room and hooked up to IV after IV. By the time he left the next day, they said they'd given me 11 liters of fluids. They were trying to save his system.

Then something happened that Bill doesn't blame anyone for. I don't have any ill feelings towards anybody about it, he says, because it led to this event which was something that was meant to be.

A nurse came in and explained that everyone with this flu was getting two medications: something for pain, a morphine-based drug, and something for nausea. Bill was sitting up, getting dressed, his wife beside him. He felt like he could go home. The nurse said no, the doctor hadn't seen him yet, these were standard orders. She pushed the medications into his IV port.

I keeled over.

His wife later told him it scared everyone. Medical staff rushed in and administered Narcan, a drug that blocks opiates. She had it written down three times, Bill says. And you weren't coming back. They moved him to intensive care, surrounded him with equipment and tubes. His wife stayed.

At some point during that night, Bill left his body.

Flying Through Stars

I found myself flying through this star-filled realm, Bill says, and the smile returns to his face even now, years later. There were all these magnificent stars, orbs, all around me. And they were so welcoming. It was like I was being paraded through.

What he felt in that moment was everything a human being spends their entire life seeking. All I felt was everything a human ever wants to feel. Just acceptance, and love, and joy, and being held. Every negative emotion he'd ever carried, every piece of psychological baggage, vanished. All those negative things that we have about ourselves, they were gone. Things like anger and resentment. Or spite. Or jealousy.

Bill's conviction about this is absolute: In my opinion, those emotions do not travel with us. They stay here. They're tools for us to learn from.

He describes what he felt as absolutely ecstatic. Like a cosmic orgasm. But it wasn't a momentary peak. It wasn't just an explosion. It was a full-time vibe. That is what we come from.

We get glimpses of it here, he explains. When we score the winning touchdown. Or we get that job we wanted. Or get the girl. And all these victories, as you roll them all into one and times it by a million. That is your vibration.

Bill had another realization during this flight. I felt like I'd been released from a hot dark closet. And I was this huge expanded cloud. A huge expanded balloon. It seemed like I went out forever.

The question that kept running through his awareness was this: How in the world did I believe I was this dude? It was such a crazy trick that I was this person. He had full knowledge of Bill Letson's entire life, knew all the details, but I didn't want anything to do with it. And I like him! He's a good guy. But I didn't want anything to do with it.

The thought of going back was out of the question. His body was behind him, and it was like a banana peel. What are you gonna do with a banana peel? Throw it away.

The Clinic and the Hooded Beings

Then, suddenly, Bill landed.

I landed in a place that was solid. It had indirect lighting, and there were gurneys around. And there was equipment hanging from the ceiling. It was like a facility, or clinic, or something.

Right in front of him stood three beings. There were these three short little hooded guys. And they looked exactly like those beings in the movie Communion, Bill says. They had big smiles on their face. And they had these dark hoods. And squatty little bodies.

After Bill shared his story publicly, a woman wrote to him saying she'd been taken by these beings many times as a child. She said, 'I called them the warthog men'. When she saw the movie Communion, she said, 'I dropped my popcorn'. That they looked exactly like that. Bill has received multiple emails from people recognizing these beings, grateful he'd spoken about them.

For Bill, despite their unusual appearance, they were sweethearts. They greeted him with questions: How was it? What did you learn? What can you tell us? Bill was confused. All of a sudden, I was in this place with these beings from a cartoon, basically.

One of them stepped forward, took a long look at Bill, then turned to the other two. He said, 'He doesn't remember us!'

And they all started giggling.

Bill tried to explain himself. Well guys, I'm having a little trouble! All of a sudden, things are very strange from my perspective. And I kind of remember you, but give me a little time. And they were giggling and bouncing around. And they were wonderful.

A vast consciousness flying through a star-filled realm filled with welcoming luminous orbs, then landing in a softly lit facility where three short hooded beings with big smiles stand beside a tall wispy figure radiating overwhelming love.

The Being in Charge

Then another presence made itself known. There was this other guy, and he was sort of in charge. He was kind of in the background. He came forward, and he was this tall wispy guy.

And he had this incredible ecstatic smile. His eyes were open, his eyebrows were up, and he had this wonderful smile and laugh. And he was obviously in charge, but he was the best boss anybody could ever have. He wasn't very strict at all.

When this being approached, something profound happened to Bill. My throat just tightened, and my chest expanded. And I thought I was going to break down in uncontrollable crying from love. There was so much love pouring from this being that it was overwhelming! It was paralyzing.

And I just loved it! I loved those guys, Bill says. There was back-and-forth conversation. Every time I said something, he had this chuckle. I could feel it inside of me. Bill sensed that was a relationship between a father and a child. And he loved me unconditionally.

Bill made his position clear. I said, 'I'm not going back there!'. 'No way! No how! Ever!'. He assumed he needed to move forward. 'So you know what's next? A review of my life? Would you guys like to get started with that?'

The being's response was pure delight. Oh, he just loved that! He just cracked up. Like a little toddler trying to take over. And he said, 'Sure, sure, let's do that! How do you want to start?'

Bill started talking about regrets. Jobs he wished he'd taken. He and his wife had been offered a position on a remote island, an hour helicopter ride off the coast, caring for wildlife in isolation. She wanted that. That was right up her alley. But Bill took a fire job instead. I still wanted excitement. But I wish I'd done that for her. Because she's never asked for anything, but she did want that.

He talked about a few other things, but nobody was listening. They didn't care. It was obvious that I was brought in there for a quick show and tell. And I wasn't staying. It wasn't the end of my life. And I was the only one in the room that didn't know that.

The Return

At one point, he said, 'Okay, that's enough'. The being stepped forward like a father. 'Time to go back'.

And that just floored me, Bill says. 'What? Go back?'. 'I'm not going back there! There's no way!'. But the being was clear: 'Yeah, you got to go back, you got things to do, and they're important'.

The three little hooded beings disappeared, reassigned somewhere else in the facility. It was just he and I, Bill recalls. The being came forward and said, 'Okay you're going back'.

As he stepped forward I felt myself slipping back. The place just started to break up. It started to dematerialize. Like I was being beamed out of there and I was going to another channel. I was going to another frequency. And it was a descending feeling. And I dropped away into darkness.

This darkness was not neutral. It wasn't a good place. It wasn't some place you wanted to be. It was lonely, and it was dismal, and you didn't want to stay there.

Then I was back in my body and I woke up.

The nurse came by. 'You're awake!', she said. 'Yeah! Yeah, I need to talk to you!', Bill responded. She needed to tell the doctor. 'We've been worried about you!'. 'We didn't know what was going to happen with you. We didn't know what was going on'.

Bill's first question wasn't about his medical condition. 'Okay, that's cool. You can go talk to the doctor, but first, what am I doing back here?'

I was pissed, he admits. 'I was home. I made it out of here. I was home with my best bros'. 'How is it that I ended up back here?'

I had bought the farm I was convinced of it.

The nurse's response has stayed with Bill ever since. 'Honey, you've been in escrow', she told him, 'but you fell out of escrow, and now you're back with us. And you're gonna have to get your head around that'.

Looking back, Bill thinks that was really good advice. Because after an experience like this, the yogis and the spiritual teachers will tell you: 'Get back in your life and chop wood and carry water'. 'And do the things that support your life and keep it going because you're on a journey'.

'You're a soldier for the higher self. This higher version of you that came for experiences that are mapped out'. 'Get back on the job and make them proud on the other side that you gave your best'. 'And you made the highest vibration choices in this life'.