WARNING: Sensitive content.
Gerhard Schug spent five days in a coma in 2020 after a suicide attempt – an experience that, he says, radically changed his life.
He believes that during that time he had a near-death experience, not with white light or a sense of peace, but with visions that he interprets as hell.
“I didn't walk into a bright light or a beautiful place,” he said in an interview with Thanatos TV EN. “It was quite the opposite.”
A year earlier, in 2019, Gerhard had lost his eldest daughter, Tanja, to a pulmonary embolism. He and his younger daughter found her dead in their apartment. Her loss, combined with serious health problems — spinal cord injury, Parkinson’s disease, lung disease, and previous diagnoses such as bipolar disorder, depression, and borderline personality disorder — plunged him into deep isolation.
He gained a lot of weight, locked himself in his house and, by his own account, lived almost cut off from the world. “I didn't want to go on anymore,” he said, describing a strong sense of loneliness and a desire to be reunited with his deceased daughter.
After the suicide attempt, Gerhard ended up in intensive care. Doctors had told his daughter that he had little chance of survival and, if he did live, he could have severe brain damage. However, he woke up.
He describes a powerful vision: a large stone palace with a high roof, where the devil sat on a throne. According to him, souls were brought in boats and presented before this throne. Some, he says, were “selected” and crushed under structures resembling lion claws, producing a terrible noise.
Gerhard, who was raised in a Catholic family, admits that religious beliefs may have influenced his imagery, but insists the experience was real to him. “I know there are people who will call it delirium or hallucination, but I experienced it,” he says.
After awakening, his perspective on life changed. He says he saw life as a gift from God and no longer felt entitled to take it away from himself. “If I did, I would end up exactly where I don’t want to be – not with my daughter, but in hell,” he says.
Today, Gerhard says he lives with a more positive approach – "the glass is half full" – and believes that when his moment comes, he will leave naturally, not by his own hand.
Near-death experiences are often interpreted in different ways – from spiritual to neurological explanations. Gerhard Schug's account remains his personal experience, but for him, it served as a turning point towards a different way of living. /GazetaExpress/
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