This site uses affiliate links to Amazon.com Books for which IANDS can earn an affiliate commission if you click on those links and make purchases through them.
1. Introduction to NDE homecomings
One of the most profound and universal features reported by individuals who undergo near-death experiences (NDEs) is a deep sense of “homecoming.” This aspect of the NDE is often described as a feeling of returning to a familiar, loving, and peaceful place, one that feels like home in a way that transcends earthly life. For many, this experience is transformative, leaving them with a heightened sense of belonging, purpose, and connection to something greater than themselves.
The homecoming aspect of near-death experiences provides a powerful, emotionally charged glimpse into what many believe is the ultimate destination of the soul—a return to a realm of peace, love, and belonging. Whether understood in religious, spiritual, or personal terms, this sense of homecoming speaks to a deep-seated human yearning for connection, comfort, and unity with something beyond the physical world. For many, it is the most transformative and reassuring part of the NDE, offering a profound sense of purpose and hope for what lies beyond death.
2. Examples of NDE homecomings
The following are some examples of the homecoming that people have during their near-death experiences:
a. Betty Bethards
“When you die you are greeted by loved ones first so that you may understand what has happened. There is a big celebration, like a birthday party, heralding your arrival. Family and friends who have gone on before you are there to celebrate your arrival. There is always good at the time of your cross-over. Even people who have lived lives of selfishness will know and understand the rejoicing. Whatever you have sown you are going to reap in terms of structuring your experiences and lessons which continue on the other side. But the first few days of cross-over (as you know time on the earth plane) you are allowed to be with your teachers, and those who have loved you in the past. You are able to see those you left behind and to hear their thoughts and words. The first six weeks we stay very close to our loved ones on the earth plane … After the first six weeks the soul meets with what may be called a loving board of directors. It is composed of teachers and other higher beings who have walked with you. These beings help you review your past life, to begin to look at what was learned and not learned, and what you wish to work on or do from this point.” (Betty Bethards)
b. Ned Dougherty
“I turned to my right, realizing that a group of spiritual beings had joined us on the celestial field. This event was indeed a homecoming for me. Among the group of spiritual beings, I recognized deceased friends and relatives from my life. I also recognized other friends from my spiritual life prior to my birth on earth. I was filled with joy when I recognized my grandparents, aunts, and uncles who had died during my life. However, I was disappointed because I did not see my Dad among the group. I then recognized other friends from my life, including a girl from high school. I did not know she had died. The feelings of love and joy that I shared with these relatives and friends were far beyond the emotions I had shared with them during my life. As the child of an alcoholic and broken home, I did not communicate feelings to relatives or friends very well. In fact, I wasn’t aware that I had many feelings. Most of my feelings were hidden inside. Now that I was at my homecoming as a spiritual being, the greetings were the kind that I had imagined took place in a healthy family. It seemed as if we were celebrating every major holiday, every birth and birthday, every wonderful event in all of our lives in a manner that we could never celebrate as mortal human beings. I wanted this celebration and homecoming to continue forever, but a silence suddenly fell across the crowded amphitheater.” (Ned Dougherty)
c. Sylvia Browne
“Most people, who go through the heavenly process, go through a tunnel and towards the light of God. They return home to the place they came from on the other side. Here, they have a reunion with family and friends who have departed before them. After the reunion, most of us are lead by our spirit guide to a building on the other side called the Hall of Wisdom. In a sacred room, we see our lives flash before us … Once a person has adjusted to the transition, they can visit a place called the Hall of Records where historical data is stored such as the charts of everyone’s past lives. Another beautiful structure is the Hall of Justice where people go before the Council of Elders who are highly advanced spokespersons of God who help us decide how we are to progress further into the spirit realm. Sylvia describes seven levels of advancement and they are: (1) The reunion and homecoming previously discussed, (2) The orientation process previously discussed, (3) Becoming skilled in a particular vocation, (4) Becoming creative in the arts, (5) Researching areas of progress and passing the knowledge to earth through a process of infused knowledge, (6) Becoming a teacher or leader, (7) Forfeiting your identity as a personality by willingly absorbing into the light of God.” (Sylvia Browne)
d. Betty Eadie
“Life does not end when we die. Death is a rebirth into a spirit world of light and love, a transition from the physical to the spiritual that is no more frightening or painful than passing between rooms through an open doorway. It is a joyful homecoming to our natural home.” (Betty Eadie)
e. Michelle Dillon
“And then I was Home and I knew it was Home and I wasn’t afraid. I saw lots of people I knew, some of whom I’ve since met, and a lot of whom I knew were ‘related’ but that wasn’t what mattered. What mattered was that I KNEW them and they KNEW me and we hadn’t said a word. Or, well, we had, sort of, only not SAID. But I have never since been involved in such a joyful welcome, being loved, totally loved.” (Michelle Dillon)
f. Randy Gehling
Randy could hear beautiful music playing somewhere off in the distance. “Just a little ways off I could see a bridge with someone standing on it. Beyond the bridge, I saw a golden city with towers like European castles. The whole city seemed to be shining with light that shot up into the sky like a giant searchlight. I could see that some of the domes of the city were red, others were gold, and a few were blue. The gates and walls of the city seemed to be made of bright blue, red, and violet lights.” Randy asked Areo if they were going to visit the city. The angel nodded. “That’s to be your new home, Randy.” They began walking toward the bridge to the city, and Randy saw that the man standing awaiting them was his Grandpa Hansen. Randy ran to his grandfather and felt his strong arms close around him. Grandpa Hansen had been a farmer all of his life in Minnesota. He had died, still a powerful man, when Randy was six. Randy asked his beloved grandfather if he would now be living with him in heaven. “One day,” Grandpa Hansen told him. “But not just yet.” When Randy questioned his grandfather, he told him that he still had things to learn on earth. (Randy Gehling)
g. Laurelynn Martin
“As I admired the beauty of the light, I was drawn closer, feeling the radiant warmth, infinite love and lasting peace. I felt as if I were home in the light. Before I became further engulfed in the light, I became aware of many spirits. They surrounded, embraced and supported my journey with their gentleness, knowledge and guidance. I felt one of them approach from my right upper side. This familiar presence came forward and my feelings changed to sheer joy when I discovered my thirty year old brother-in-law, the one who had died seven months earlier from cancer. My essence moved to meet his essence. I couldn’t see with my eyes or hear with my ears, yet I instinctively knew that it was ‘Wills.’ I heard his smile, saw his laughter and felt his humor. It didn’t make sense, but it made complete sense. We were separate but we were also one. It was as if I had come home and my brother-in-law was here to greet me. I instantly thought how glad I was to be with him, because now I could make up for the last time I had seen him before his death. I felt sad and a bit guilty for not taking the time out of my busy schedule to have a heart-to-heart talk with him when he had asked me to. I realized I was not being judged by him but by myself. I was in his position dying, wanting to say goodbye to those I loved, and then meeting people like myself not ‘getting it’ not getting that all the achievement, money or recognition in the world cannot be taken with you when you die. The only thing you take with you is the love you give away.” (Laurelynn Martin)
h. Karen Schaeffer
“Immediately I was in the most beautiful serene place I had ever been. My grandfather, another person whom I had known in a previous life, and a guardian were ready to help me with the transition. They told me of the accident, showed me the site. It was my time to come home they said. The overwhelming love and happiness of that place was so inviting.” (Karen Schaeffer)
i. Barbara Springer
“I then became aware of a bright heavenly being. I felt as if I was in the presence of God. This being had light radiating from him and he embraced me. And when he embraced me, I could feel the most powerful love. It is the greatest love that there is in the universe. There is no greater love. It was absolute, total, real, great, engulfing love. I felt the love surrounding me. I felt it flowing through me. There really are no words. I can’t find words to explain how I felt. The amount of joy I felt. The amount of love I knew I was being given. I felt as if I had come home. I knew this is where I actually belonged. Even though I love earth and I love living here. But when I was encountered by that being, I knew I had come home.” (Barbara Springer)
j. Barbara Marie
“And then there was a period of being embraced by this love and peace and serenity and knowing I had reached my final destination, that this was truly a home. It gave new meaning to the word “home.” This, she realized, was where she actually belonged. This is where she wanted to permanently be.” (Barbara Marie)
k. Arthur Yensen
“As the heaven-people gathered around, the oldest, largest and strongest-looking man announced pleasantly, ‘You are in the land of the dead. We lived on earth, just like you, till we came here.’ With unbounded enthusiasm I shouted, ‘This is wonderful!’ ‘It’s marvelous!’ they answered. Then with delight they told me how I could swim around in the lake as long as I pleased and when I came out, I’d be dry! Another one said, ‘You can run, jump, dance, sing and play as much as you want to and you’ll never get tired!’ Then I noticed that the landscape was gradually becoming familiar. It seemed as if I had been here before. I remembered what was on the other side of the mountains. Then with a sudden burst of joy, I realized that this was my real home! Back on earth I had been a visitor, a misfit, and a homesick stranger. With a sigh of relief, I said to myself, “Thank God I’m back again. This time I’ll stay!” (Arthur Yensen)
l. George Anderson
George Anderson’s psychic revelations: “Well, according to what they say, we go through the different levels of consciousness. We’re working our way up. It’s like, to go up to the twelfth grade, you’ve got to pass the first through the eleventh. When we pass on, we do go into the tunnel, we can go through these little darker levels, which can represent a form of hell or purgatory, because these are the two negative levels, or the darker ones. But if we’ve been a good person, we generally just seem to pass through them very quickly and then we go on through the third and fourth levels of consciousness, where average people such as ourselves go – not everybody can be a Mother Teresa, who would probably go higher up. When we go through these levels we meet our relatives and friends greeting us at the end of the tunnel, much as in the movie Resurrection, where they’re waiting and they lead us into the light. And there’s like a form of spiritual rejuvenation, like a reunion, like a party, ‘Hey, it’s great to see you again.’ We recognize each other by personality. As we all have individual, unique fingerprints, we each have a very singular personality.” (George Anderson)
3. NDE homecoming research
a. Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross
“His entire family had piled into a family van and were on the way to pick him up when this tragic accident occurred which burned his entire family to death. He shared the shock and the numbness, the utter disbelief of suddenly being a single man, of having had children and suddenly becoming childless, of living without a single close relative. He told of his total inability to come to grips with it. He shared how he changed from a money-earning, decent, middle-class husband and father to a total bum, drunk every day from morning to night, using every conceivable drug and trying to commit suicide in every conceivable way, yet never able to succeed. His last recollection was that after two years of literally bumming around, he was lying on a dirt road at the edge of a forest, drunk and stoned as he called it, trying desperately to be reunited with his family. Not wanting to live, not even having the energy to move out of the road when he saw a big truck coming toward him and running over him. It was at this moment that he watched himself in the street [sic], critically injured, while he observed the whole scene of the accident from a few feet above. It was at this moment that his family appeared in front of him, in a glow of light with an incredible sense of love. They had happy smiles on their faces, and simply made him aware of their presence, not communicating in any verbal way but in the form of thought transference, sharing with him the joy and happiness of their present existence. This man was not able to tell us how long this reunion lasted. He was so awed by his family’s health, their beauty, their radiance and their total acceptance of this present situation, by their unconditional love. He made a vow not to touch them, not to join them, but to re-enter his physical body so that he could share with the world what he had experienced. It would be a form of redemption for his two years of trying to throw his physical life away. It was after this vow that he watched the truck driver carry his totally injured body into the car. He saw an ambulance speeding to the scene of the accident, he was taken to the hospital’s emergency room and he finally re-entered his physical body, tore off the straps that were tied around him and literally walked out of the emergency room. He never had delirium tremens or any aftereffects from the heavy abuse of drugs and alcohol. He felt healed and whole, and made a commitment that he would not die until he had the opportunity of sharing the existence of life after death with as many people as would be willing to listen. It was after reading a newspaper article about my appearance in Santa Barbara that he sent a message to the auditorium. By allowing him to share with my audience he was able to keep the promise he made at the time of his short, temporary, yet happy reunion with his entire family. (Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross)
b. Aziz Khabirpour
“Meeting others during an NDE is not uncommon, and often has great effect upon the person’s being afterwards. The people they meet are either family members or very close friends. These people, in form of spiritual beings, are usually there to either protect or guide the person. It is not always common for the person to be seen, but usually they are more felt’. One woman who met her family when she died states, I felt that they had come to protect or guide me. It was almost as if I was coming home, and they were there to greet or welcome me. All this time, I had the feeling of everything light and beautiful. It was a beautiful and glorious moment (Moody, 55). Accounts have also been reported where the dead person is guided around by his/her pet, that he/she used to have. The people one encounters with are usually people that played an important role in ones life. The people that were seen could often be described as soul mates. So this shows how only people that we have a special bond with in this life, will we encounter in the next.” (Aziz Khabirpour)
c. Dr. Michael Newton
Dr. Michael Newton’s Regression Research: “After physical death, a soul’s journey back home ends with debarkation into the space reserved for their own colony, as long as they are not a very young soul or isolated for other reasons. The souls represented in these cluster groups are intimate old friends who have the same awareness level. Members of the same cluster group are closely united for all eternity. These tightly-knit clusters are often composed of like-minded souls with common objectives which they continually work out with each other. Usually they choose lives together as relatives and close friends during their incarnations on earth.” (Dr. Michael Newton)
