Experts say that no matter what age, we all
follow the same steps between life and death.
My first guest is an All-American teenager,
but when she nearly drowned, her life was altered.
Kristle Merzlock claims to have seen heaven.
When Michelle Wilson was lying in a coma,
she recalls floating out of her body.
And Wes Chandler says that his near-fatal fall from a tree
brought him face to face with his guardian angel.
We're glad to welcome you all to the show.
Glad to have you.
[APPLAUSE]
The adults didn't have guardian angels.
Did you feel guardian angels?
Didn't feel them.
But you did.
Oh, yes.
When I was seven years old, I went to a birthday party
and we went swimming.
And I went down to the deep end of the swimming pool
and I got pushed in.
I started struggling.
I panicked.
I needed to get back up to the top of the water.
I needed to get air.
And when I realized that I couldn't
get to the top of the water, I fell unconscious into the deep.
And from there I was surrounded in blackness.
I didn't know where I was and I was really scared.
And from there-- from there, I heard
six noises that really scared me,
and I wasn't sure what it was.
And then suddenly, I was sitting against a wall, or--
and at the end of the tunnel, I could--
I was in a tunnel.
And at the end of the tunnel, I could
see this bright, radiant light.
And the tunnel was filled with brightly colored bricks.
And I didn't know what it was, but I was very curious.
And right then, I was overcome with so much love and so much
happiness and joy that I wanted to stay there.
So I started crawling toward the light.
And the reason I started crawling toward the light
was, I tried to stand up and walk, but I couldn't walk.
It was-- the ground was unstable.
It was bumpy.
And so I started crawling, then I saw--
I look toward the light and I see this lady
coming out of the light.
And I just stopped where I was and just watched her come.
And she came to me and she picked up my hand
and stood me up and said, my name is Elizabeth.
I'm your guardian angel and I will help you.
And from there, she led me down through the light
to what I believe was heaven.
And from right there, I was greeted by my--
by deceased relatives who had died before I
had this-- before I had went in the swimming pool.
And they gave me hugs, you know, patted me on the back, said,
we're really--
we're really glad you're here, Kristle, you know?
We're really glad you made it.
And yeah.
Did you feel like you were dead then?
Oh, no, I wasn't dead.
I wasn't dead at all.
It's-- I didn't even think of being dead.
You're still alive.
And--
OPRAH: As far as you know.
Yeah.
Then I didn't even know I'd swim--
I'd been in a swimming pool.
I mean, I wasn't really thinking about it.
I was just overwhelmed by everything.
By a light, by just everything that--
OPRAH: So what brought you back? - --was happening to me.
What brought you back?
OK.
From there, I met two friends, Heather and Melissa.
They basically helped me.
They told me that they were going to be born soon, and--
OPRAH: They were going to be born.
Yeah. They were going to be born.
And this--
Were they like--
did they have bodies, or what?
Well, they were the same as you and me.
Oh.
They're-- they're spirits.
Did you have a body?
As far as you knew?
Well, yeah, as far as I knew, I was--
you and me. OPRAH: You were me.
Yeah. OPRAH: You were you.
Oh, that's right. You weren't me.
[LAUGHTER] As far as you knew.
And so these people told you they were going to be born.
Yes, they did.
And they said they were to be born soon.
And that's what Elizabeth told me, my guardian angel, too.
She told me, this is the last chance I have to be a guardian
angel before I'm born.
And during the experience, anyway, to go on--
Elizabeth was a guardian angel before she was born?
No.
This is the last time she would have to be a guardian
angel before she was born.
Then she was going to get born.
- Yeah. - Oh.
[LAUGHTER]
And anyway, I went and I talked some more.
And Elizabeth came and asked me, she
asked me, Kristle, do you want to stay
here or do you want to go back?
And I thought for a minute.
I thought how beautiful this place was,
because it was all in white.
Everything was a glorious white, the most--
and then it had lots of beautiful plants and flowers,
and a stream running through it with, you know,
a tree on the other side.
It was really-- it was really great.
And I thought about all of this, and I thought
about the love and the peace I felt, and I thought, no,
I don't want to go back there.
So I decided, I go, OK, yeah, I'll stay.
I'll stay here.
And they started talking with people.
And I thought for a minute.
I thought about my mother, and I thought,
I'll never really get to hug her again, or hold her.
And I went back to Elizabeth and I said, no.
I do, I want to go back.
I want to go back.
And she said, OK.
So I went and talked with everybody.
And during the experience--
I can't remember the sequence of events,
but I had a chance to look down at my body
on the operating table.
And I knew it was myself, unlike some
of the stories you might hear.
And I looked at the things they were doing to me.
They were sticking tubes up my nose
and through my arm and everything,
and I didn't like it.
I thought it was gross, so I looked away.
You know, went on to other things.
So you got back in your body after you decided--
KRISTLE: Yeah, after I--
--you wanted to see your mother.
--decided I wanted to go.
I was still in heaven.
Elizabeth tapped me on the shoulder,
said, it's time to go, Kristle.
And I said, OK.
I turned around and started walking,
and then I was confused.
I turned around and said, I don't know how to go.
And then obviously I was back in my body,
because that's the last thing I remember.