Paranormal Story Archives
March 2001
– Page 27
Cheating
Death - Twice
by Harry P.
I have had two strange brushes with death. The first occurred some 20 years ago on a flight from Cancun, Mexico, to Greenville, S.C. We had stopped in Orlando for customs. As the plane lifted off the runway, there was the sound of a mild explosion, and the plane lurched to one side. Rumors spread through the cabin. About 15 minutes later, the captain explained that the plane had blown a tire on takeoff, and he was preparing to make an emergency crash landing in Atlanta. He said that the odds of making a safe landing were less than 50%. We were instructed by the flight attendants on crash-landing procedures, and each one of us had to practice them until we got them right. There was a great deal of hysteria among the passengers as they thought about their families back home. At the time I was a Christian, but not a very good one and not very knowledgeable about the spiritual aspects of the Bible. I just prayed something like, "Lord, I've done what I've done, and I can't change anything. It's all in your hands." When I finished, I experienced the greatest peace I've ever known.
We circled Atlanta while the ground crew prepared for us. The captain's signal that we were going down was to be, "Ladies and gentlemen, grab your ankles." When he finally made the statement, I grabbed my ankles, and at that moment - as many people have said before - my entire life flashed before my eyes, very much like a rapid slide show, so fast that I couldn't really distinguish or focus on anything in particular. The landing was a perfect three-point one with no bad experiences whatsoever. It was very sobering to see all the ambulances and fire trucks that lined the runway as we taxied to the terminal. Only after the maintenance crew began work on the wheel did we discover something else far more serious. The tire had been sucked up into the engine, which made a safe landing all the more impossible. We had to change planes for the final leg of the trip.
The second experience I had occurred about 10 or 15 years ago. I was driving through town like a maniac because I was in a big hurry. Without really looking, I pulled into a side street only to discover a school bus a foot away from my door on the driver's side. I blanked out. A few seconds later I found myself driving down the street in the direction I had intended to. I saw the school bus in my mirror headed down the street in the opposite direction. I might add that by that time I had become a Southern Baptist and considered myself a fundamentalist Christian. But I've had too many inexplicable things happen to me and to people that I know for there not to be something beyond what we consider to be normal.
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