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Near-Death Experiences of the
Hollywood Rich and Famous
The
near-death experiences of rich and famous
people are particularly interesting. They
are rolling in the money. They are known
all over the world. They are often beautiful,
articulate and very talented in what they
do. With this in mind, why would such a
person reveal to everyone that they were
dead and came back to life? Money? They
already got that. Fame? They are already
famous. In fact, by telling everyone they
came back from the dead, they may be risking
their own reputation. People who reveal
such things to others often become the butt
of jokes or thought to be crazy. Why would
anyone rich and famous subject themselves
to this when it might result in lost fame
and fortune? The only rational reason that
such people who have nothing to gain is
that it really happened to them and they
want to share it with the world. The following
are rich and famous people who risked it
all to tell the world about their near-death
experience. Some of these accounts are documented
in Jean Ritchie's excellent book,
Death's Door.
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Jane
Seymour is an actress most
noted for the cult classic movie, Somewhere
in Time, with actor Christopher Reeves,
and the television series Dr. Quinn, Medicine
Woman. When Jane Seymour was 36 years of
age, she had a severe case of the flu and
was given an injection of penicillin. She
suffered an allergic reaction which led
to a near-death experience.
"I literally
left my body. I had this feeling that I
could see myself on the bed, with people
grouped around me. I remember them all trying
to resuscitate me. I was above them, in
the corner of the room looking down. I saw
people putting needles in me, trying to
hold me down, doing things. I remember my
whole life flashing before my eyes, but
I wasn't thinking about winning Emmys or
anything like that. The only thing I cared
about was that I wanted to live because
I did not want anyone else looking after
my children. I was floating up there thinking, "No,
I don't want to die. I'm not ready to leave
my kids." And that was when I said
to God, "If you're there, God, if you
really exist and I survive, I will never
take your name in vain again." Although
I believe that I "died" for about
thirty seconds, I can remember pleading
with the doctor to bring me back. I was
determined I wasn't going to die."
Then Jane suddenly found herself back in
her body.
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Peter
Sellers
was the comic
genius of a generation of actors. He
brought brilliant characterizations to
numerous films, including "The Mouse
That Roared" (1959), "Dr. Strangelove"
(1964), "The Pink Panther" (1964), and
"Being There" (1979). He was known for
his enthusiastic way of totally
absorbing himself in his characters,
even carrying roles offstage. He also
suffered from sad moods between films.
While he knew his characters thoroughly,
he said that he really did not know who
he was. Then Peter Sellers, the
brilliant, confused actor, had a
near-death experience.
Seated in a
Hollywood mockup of a limousine's back
seat while shooting his last great film,
"Being There", he told Shirley MacLaine
about his near-death experience,
astonished that she did not consider him
"bonkers." In 1964, during the first of
a rapid series of eight heart attacks,
when his heart stopped and he was
clinically dead, he had an out-of-body
experience and saw the bright, loving
light:
"Well, I felt
myself leave my body. I just floated out
of my physical form and I saw them cart
my body away to the hospital. I went
with it ... I wasn't frightened or
anything like that because I was fine;
and it was my body that was in trouble."
(MacLaine,172)
The doctor
saw that he was dead and massaged his
heart vigorously, Meanwhile:
"I looked
around myself and I saw an incredibly
beautiful bright loving white light
above me. I wanted to go to that white
light more than anything. I've never
wanted anything more. I know there was
love, real love, on the other side of
the light which was attracting me so
much. It was kind and loving and I
remember thinking 'That's God'".
(MacLaine, 172)
Peter's
out-of-body soul tried to elevate itself
toward the light, but he fell short:
"Then I saw a hand reach through the
light. I tried to touch it, to grab onto
it, to clasp it so it could sweep me up
and pull me through it." (MacLaine,172)
But just then his heart began beating
again, and at that instant the hand's
voice said: "It's not time. Go back and
finish. It's not time." As the hand
receded he felt himself floating back
down to his body, waking up bitterly
disappointed. (MacLaine,173)
What effect
did his near-death experience have on
Sellers? His biographer says that "The
repeated act of 'dying' became for Peter
Sellers the most important experience of
his life." (Walker,158) Sellers said of
death: "I'll never fear it again."
Family and friends found him more
spiritual and reflective than before:
"The
experience of resurrection intensified
Sellers' spiritual concern and friends
discerned the start of a new
introspectiveness, a sense of his not
'being there' in spirit, though present
in body." (Walker,158)
His wife
Britt Ekland found it unnerving that her
previously restless husband had now
become so quiet. He was now "sitting
still over lengthy periods, saying
nothing, but staring at her with his
thoughts turned inward." (Walker,158) He
returned to England for an extended
convalescence, but soon reverted to old
habits and bought his 84th car, an
expensive Ferrari.
A couple of
years before the nde, Peter had played
an earnest priest in "Heavens Above",
and developed a serious interest in
Christianity (although he was born
Jewish). During this time, following his
father's death in 1962, Sellers was
drawn to long, serious discussions about
life's meaning with a neighboring vicar
in London, the Rev. John Hester, "to try
to reconcile the world of plenty he
inhabited with the emptiness of soul
that oppressed him." (Walker,143) After
his near-death experience he deepened
his quest for spiritual truth,
continuing his discussions with Rev.
Hester, coming close to joining the
church. In later years he practiced
yoga, saying once that "Yoga has given
me a tranquility I wouldn't have thought
possible." (Walker,217) The near-death
experience strengthened Sellers'
conviction that he was a reincarnated
soul whose power of mimicry sprang from
memories of past lives. But in this
incarnation, at least, he felt lost. He
did not know who he was and why he was
on this earth. He explained to Shirley
MacLaine:
"I know I
have lived many times before ... that
experience confirmed it to me, because
in this lifetime I felt what it was for
my soul to actually be out of my body.
But ever since I came back, I don't know
why I don't know what it is I'm supposed
to do, or what I came back for."
(MacLaine,174)
Spirituality
gave Sellers some peace, but did not
still his restless drift. In 1977 he
complained that his yoga practice did
not stop his heart disease:
"After all,
what did it do for me? I obeyed all the
instructions. I said my prayers
regularly. I did all the exercises for
peace, tranquility, and happiness. And
all that happened was that I got
steadily worse." (Walker,227)
Peter
Sellers' near-death experience awakened
him to a deepened spirituality, but it
did not usher in a major, lasting change
in his soul's makeup. This brilliant
actor still felt lost. A final heart
attack struck Peter Sellers - only this
time it was his time to go.
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British
actress
Elizabeth Taylor
spoke about her experience of having died
on the operating table while undergoing
surgery, and of passing through a tunnel
towards a brilliant white light. Interviewed
by Larry King on CNN's Larry King Live,
the legendary Hollywood star related how
she had died for five minutes on the operating
table. Ms. Taylor said that while she was
clinically dead, she had encountered the
spirit of Michael Todd, one of her former
husbands, whom she referred to as her great
love. She had wanted to stay with Todd,
she said, but he had told her that she had
work and life ahead of her, and he "pushed
me back to my life." Following her
resuscitation, the eleven-person medical
team - including doctors, nurses, etc. -
witnessed Taylor's testimonial of this event.
"I was pronounced
dead once and actually saw the light. I
find it very hard to talk about, actually,
because it sounds so corny. It happened
in the late '50s, and I saw Mike (Todd,
Taylor's third husband, who was killed in
a plane crash in 1958). When I came to,
there were about 11 people in the room.
I'd been gone for about five minutes - they
had given me up for dead and put my death
notice on the wall. I shared this with the
people that were in the room next to me.
Then after that I told another group of
friends, and I thought, "Wow, this
sounds really screwy. I think I'd better
keep quiet about this."
"For
a long time I didn't talk about it, and
it's still hard for me to talk about. But
I have shared it with people with AIDS because
if the moment occurs and you're really sharing,
it's real. I am not afraid of death, because
I have been there."
In an interview with
America's AIDS magazine,
Liz described her NDE again:
"I went
to that tunnel, saw the white light, and
Mike [Todd]. I said, Oh Mike, you're where
I want to be. And he said, ‘No, Baby.
You have to turn around and go back because
there is something very important for you
to do. You cannot give up now.' It was Mike's
strength and love that brought me back."
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The
late
Robert Pastorelli
was most noted for his starring role in
the television series, Murphy Brown. At
the age of 19, he had a car accident which
caused a near-death experience that literally
changed how he was living, in a very dramatic
way.
"It smashed
right into the driver's door. It hit me
so hard it actually knocked the shoes off
my feet. My car rolled over about four times
on this big highway and the next thing I
knew I was in intensive care with a collapsed
lung. Every one of my ribs was shattered.
I had lacerations to my head and face, and
my kidneys, spleen and gall bladder were
all ruptured. I was a mess.
"I
was in excruciating pain. Then, in the next
second, there was no pain. Suddenly I realized
I was out of my body. I was floating above
myself, looking down at my unconscious body
lying in the hospital emergency room with
my eyes closed. I could see tubes down my
nose and throat. I knew I was dying and
I thought, "Well, this must be death."
I even saw a priest giving me the last rites.
But it was the most peaceful feeling in
the world. Then I saw my father starting
to faint out of grief. Two nurses grabbed
him and sat him down in a chair across the
room.
"When
I looked down and saw my father's pain it
had an effect on me. I firmly believe that
at that moment I made a decision to live,
not die. The next thing I knew I was waking
up back in my body. Later, in the recovery
room, when I was fully conscious, I told
my father what had happened, his fainting
and all. He was astounded."
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Basic
Instinct star,
Sharon Stone,
has told how she had a white light experience
during her brain scare. Stone says she almost
died after internal bleeding caused by a
tear in an artery at the base of her skull.
Sharon was interviewed by Katie Couric about
her journey into the afterlife.
“When
it hit me I felt like I'd been shot in the
head. That's the only way I can really describe
it. It hit me so hard it knocked me over
on the sofa. And Phil was out of town and
I called him and said, "I think I had
a stroke." But in all fairness, I'm
a person who's always saying, "I think
I've had a stroke, I think I've had a heart
attack, I think I've had a brain hemorrhage
... I had a real journey with this that
took me to places both here and beyond that
affected me so profoundly that my life will
never be the same ... I get to be not afraid
of dying and I get to tell other people
that it's a fabulous thing and that death
is a gift. And not that you should kill
yourself, but that when death comes to you,
as it will, that it's a glorious and beautiful
thing. This kind of giant vortex of white
light was upon me and I kind of - poof!
Sort of took off into this glorious, bright,
bright, bright white light and I started
to see and be met by some of my friends.
But it was very fast - whoosh! Suddenly,
I was back. I was in my body and I was in
the room.”
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Gary
Busey,
once Hollywood's bad boy, was nominated
for an Oscar for the movie, The Buddy Holly
Story. Busey, who fought addiction with
drugs and alcohol for several years, was
nicknamed Gary Abusey by his wife. Busey
has had supernatural encounters in which
he nearly died three or more times in his
life ...a drug overdose, cancer, and an
accident west of Albuquerque, New Mexico.
But the most tragic experience, and one
that changed his life, was a motorcycle
accident in 1988. Gary was going about 40-50
miles per hour riding on 750 pounds of cold
steel. He was not wearing a helmet when
he crashed. He was flung over the top of
his cycle, head first into the curb and
he cracked his skull. Busey had a NDE while
he was dying on the operating table after
having brain surgery. During his NDE, he
was surrounded by angels. Busey stated that
they didn't appear in the form that people
see on Christmas cards. The angels he saw
were big balls of light that floated and
carried nothing but love and warmth - and
this love is unconditional.
As a result of his NDE, he recently dedicated
his life to Jesus and has been a prominent
speaker at many Christian Promise Keeper
rallies. He is no longer the "bad boy"
of Hollywood.
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Larry
Hagman,
of "Dallas" and "I Dream of
Jeanie" fame, underwent a liver transplant
in 1995. Years of heavy drinking resulted
in cirrhosis and cancer of the liver. He
was only weeks away from certain death at
the time of his liver transplant and near-death
experience. Larry describes what he experienced:
"I was able
to look over the edge. I got a little glimpse
of what was the next step. I didn't see
a light some people see, but I had a wonderful
feeling of bliss and warmth. The bottom
line is love, that sounds corny, but it
was just lovely, uplifting."
Read
Larry Hagman's entire experience
here.
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Actress
Sally Kirkland
has impressive film credits which include
Bruce Almighty, The Sting, JFK, and Anna
for which she was nominated for an Oscar
as best actress. In 1966, Sally was participating
in legal psychedelic experiments with doctors
whereby she would have experiences of cosmic
consciousness. Unfortunately, these experiences
were followed by her life spinning out of
control. The pain of life had just become
more than she could bear. This led to a
nervous breakdown and several suicide attempts.
Eventually, she overdosed on Nembutal and
Seconal during a suicide attempt and was
found with her heart and lungs stopped.
Last rites were even administered. It was
during this suicide attempt that Sally had
a NDE. She states,
"A miracle
happened, I was given a second chance and
this has been a way to stay on the straight
and narrow for 30 years, with the exception
of a period in 1975 where I went off the
track prior to ordination. When people hear
the hell I went through on drugs, they listen
to how to get off them." Today,
Sally is a yoga teacher and serves as an
ordained minister in the Church of the Movement
of Spiritual Inner Awareness for the last
decade, where she helps others to become
drug free. When she is on stage, she uses
the emotional recall of her own near-death
experience as a source for bringing light
to the roles she plays.
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William
Petersen,
the star of the TV show CSI: Crime Scene
Investigation, had a near-death experience
which he described in an interview for Playboy
magazine (March 2004, page 139).
"Years ago,
doing a play in Chicago, I cut my finger
in half onstage. We obviously had to stop
because, well, I didn't have a finger. By
the time they got me to the ER I had lost
a lot of blood and passed out. I could hear
the doctors working on me, saying that they
had lost my vital signs. I was on the "All
That Jazz" escalator with a long tunnel
and a lot of white light. Then I specifically
remember a dominant male voice saying, "It's
not your time. Get off the escalator. You've
got shit to do." I came to, and got
sewed up. Something in me changed, a sort
of knowledge that somewhere on the other
side, its good. For weeks, the more I talked
about it, the more freaked out people got.
Some of them were like, "Okay, whatever:
You took too many drugs."
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By
the late 1970s,
Tony Bennett
and his career were ailing. He had no record
label, no manager, and he was performing
almost exclusively in Vegas. Living in Los
Angeles, he had a drug habit, a disintegrating
marriage, and mounting debts. When the IRS
started proceedings to take away his home,
he nearly overdosed, and had a near-death
experience.
"A
golden light enveloped me in a warm glow,"
he wrote in his autobiography. "I had
the sense that I was about to embark on
a very compelling journey. But suddenly
I was jolted out of the vision ... I knew
I had to make major changes in my life."
After
this experience, Tony Bennett did make the
changes he needed to make and his life and
career turned around. With the help of his
manager/son Danny, he decided to attempt
to appeal to younger audiences with his
music. Beginning with scheduled concerts
at colleges and small theaters, he eventually
got re-signed to Columbia Records in the
mid-1980s although he hadn't recorded an
album in 11 years. Bennett also appeared
on hip shows like The Simpsons and MTV's
Unplugged. His Unplugged disk won Tony Bennett
a Grammy.
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Donald
Sutherland,
who played the character, Hawkeye Piece,
in the movie version of Mash, had a near-death
experience when ill with meningitis in 1979.
"Suddenly
the pain, fever and acute distress seemed
to evaporate. I was floating above my body,
surrounded by soft blue light. I began to
glide down a long tunnel, away from the
bed ... but suddenly I found myself back
in my body. The doctors told me later that
I had actually died for a time."
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Eric
Estrada
became famous for his starring role in the
television series, Chips. While filming
an episode of Chips, he had a terrible motorcycle
accident that led to a near-death experience.
"Suddenly
I was in a long corridor with bright lights,
beautiful music, and a feeling of great
peace. But something seemed to be blocking
my progress. A voice told me, 'You've got
to go back. You've a lot still to do. You've
achieved success and stardom but you haven't
achieved personal happiness and peace of
mind.'" After hearing this voice,
Estrada returned to his body.
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Burt
Reynolds,
the star of Smokey and the Bandit, and many
other movies, went into a coma when trying
to kick a sleeping pill addiction. He stated,
"I went
into a coma for about eight or nine hours.
At one point they tell me that the doctors
brought Loni in to say goodbye to me. And
I had the whole out of body experience.
I heard the doctor say, "We're losing
him." And I was going..."
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Actor
James Cromwell
became internationally known from his role
as Farmer Hoggett, the owner of a piglet
in the hit movie Babe. At the age of five,
James fell into the ocean which resulted
in a near-death experience. Since then,
James describes his whole life as a mystical
event. After his NDE, James has recurring
images in his dreams that are connected
to previous incarnations. He states that
he has memories of a past life in the days
of King Arthur during the Middle Ages.
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Chevy
Chase
became famous when he was one of the Not
Ready For Prime-Time Players for Saturday
Night Live. While working on the film called
Modern Problems (1981), Chevy Chase was
nearly killed by electrocution when a stunt
went awry during the sequence in which he
is wearing landing lights and dreams that
he is an airplane. The current in the lights
short-circuited through his arm, back, and
neck muscles which caused him to lose consciousness
and have a near-death experience. Now, he
sees such accidents as a warning to "cut
it out and save his skin." After his
experience, he went through a period of
deep depression as many experiencers do
when they don't want to return from their
NDE.
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Accomplished
actor
Lou Gossett Jr.,
famous for his role as a drill sergeant
in An Officer and a Gentleman, has had five
near-death experiences. Lou's most intriguing
encounter occurred at the age of twelve.
While playing baseball, he fell into a deep
hole and experienced a brilliant tunnel
of light. He also recalls a past incarnation
as a pirate with a harem off the coast of
Morocco.
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Internationally
renowned actor
Eric Roberts
has starred in more than 70 films, including
the
Dannion Brinkley
movie,
Saved by the
Light.
Eric has traveled all over the world encountering
many colorful experiences. One of Eric's
most dramatic moments took place in Westport,
Connecticut. He was driving along, became
distracted by his dog, and crashed. He was
hospitalized in a coma and almost died.
It was this state that Eric claimed to have
had a surreal out-of-body experience.
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Rebecca
DeMornay
starred in the movie thriller, The Hand
That Rocks The Cradle. When she was 7 years
old, she was in Mexico City, Mexico, when
she got ill from a peptic ulcer and had
what she believes was a near-death experience.
"One
night the doctors told my mother that there
was only a fifty-fifty chance that I'd make
it. I remember that I was tied to three
IVs but I recall getting out of bed and
looking out of the window: it was snowing.
There was an old-fashioned lamppost and
barefoot children were dancing around it,
singing. I went back to bed and the next
morning the crisis was over. In 1983 I started
thinking about it: "Does it ever snow
in Mexico City? Do they have these strange
kind of lampposts there?" I went back
to Mexico and I didn't see those lampposts
anywhere. Nor does it ever snow there."
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George
Lucas is the creator
of the blockbuster movie, Star Wars. Lucas
is not conscious of having a near-death
experience, yet he behaves as if he'd had
one. As a youngster, Lucas was considered
a punk - a non-achiever, romantic, unathletic,
unassertive, and not studious. According
to his father, he was good at only two things:
cruising and hanging out. Wanting to race
cars seemed to be his only ambition. Then,
three days before he was to graduate from
high school, without warning or advance-behavior
cues, Lucas was involved in a spectacular
car crash. For three days he hung between
life and death and was hospitalized for
two weeks more. About the crash, Lucas stated,
"You
can't have that kind of experience and not
feel that there must be a reason why you're
here. I realized I should be spending my
time trying to figure out what that reason
is and trying to fulfill it."
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Rock
star
Ozzy Osbourne "died
twice" after a bike accident which
left him in a coma for eight days. The accident
happened when he hit a pothole which was
covered in leaves. It catapulted him over
the handlebars and he tumbled down a hill
with the bike landing on top of him, crushing
his chest. His bodyguard rushed to his aid
and gave him mouth to mouth when he twice
stopped breathing. "If
it wasn't for Sam I probably wouldn't be
here. He had to bring me back to life twice."
Ozzy said. He described his confusion he
had felt on gradually coming round from
his coma. "I
didn't know where I was or how long I'd
been there. I would drift in and out of
consciousness. Other times there would be
a white light shining through the darkness,
but no f---king angels, no one blowing trumpets
and no man in a white beard."
Ozzy, who has battled addictions to drink
and drugs, said the crash finally made him "grow
up.". Ozzy stated,
"You are
bopping along through life and have your
ups and downs, but it is amazing how two
or three seconds can totally change your
life."
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People
having near-death experiences are often
greeted by someone - usually someone they
deeply love or the so-called "Being
of Light." When
Elvis Presley
died, it seemed like the whole world mourned.
He was truly loved by many people the world
over. Since then, many people have reported
having Elvis sightings where the spirit
of Elvis appears as an apparition to people
much in the same way that Jesus appeared
to people after his death. Not only that,
many near-death experiencers find themselves
greeted, not by a "Being of Light,"
but by Elvis Presley himself. According
to
Dr. Melvin Morse
in his book on near-death experiences entitled
Transformed by
the Light,
a 45-year old Mid-western teacher saw Elvis
Presley in an intense light during her near-death
experience. The woman had met Elvis when
she was a child. The following is her near-death
account:
"I entered
into a dark tunnel and suddenly I was in
a place filled up with love and a beautiful,
bright light. The place seemed holy. My
father, who had died two years earlier,
was there, as were my grandparents. Everyone
was happy to see me, but my father told
me it was not my time and I would be going
back. Just as I turned to go, I caught sight
of Elvis! He was standing in this place
of intense bright light. He just came over
to me, took my hand and said, "Hi,
Bev, do you remember me?" (Mauro,1992)
Dr. Raymond Moody
wrote an entire book on Elvis sightings,
including near-death experiences, entitled
Elvis After Life.
Because of the large number of devoted Elvis
fans, it should not be a surprise that people
having NDEs should be greeted by the King
of Rock and Roll.
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"The
most beautiful thing we can experience
is the mysterious. It is the source
of all true art and science."
- Albert Einstein
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Copyright © 2013 Near-Death
Experiences and the Afterlife
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Death's Door
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by Jean Ritchie
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True stories of near-death experiences
including those of Hollywood stars
and famous people.
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Out on a Limb
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by Shirley MacLaine
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A journey into the personal life of
Shirley MacLaine
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Elvis After Life
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by Raymond Moody
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NDE expert Raymond Moody presents his
findings into the phenomenon of spiritual
Elvis sightings and how the people who
experienced on fervently believed their
experience was real.
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