Divine Encounters Episode 008 | Near-Death Experience Story
Vincent Tolman had lived a well-traveled, successful single life without ever feeling truly happy when, he says, a toxic reaction to a supplement ended with him lifeless on a restaurant bathroom floor. In this Divine Encounters episode he tells Alex Ferrari what he says he watched from above, how a rookie medic refused to give up, and what he understood about the size of God’s love.
Key Takeaways
- Vincent says he had a successful life by the world’s standards, but happiness always seemed to be on the horizon, something he was chasing.
- He says that on Saturday, January 18, 2003, he and a friend each took a toxic amount of a supplement, and that he passed out in a restaurant bathroom and died there.
- He describes being plunged into something like cool electricity that took away all pain, followed by a view of the whole restaurant from above, as if there were no roof.
- He says he could perceive the thoughts and feelings of everyone in the building, and that he knew his friend would be okay.
- He describes watching a team of medics, including a rookie in his first week, handle the scene, and says the rookie was the one who would not give up.
- He says his heart did not restart until the third shock, after the rookie ignored the protests of two veteran medics.
- He says the most important takeaway is that God’s love is beyond anything we can imagine, and that God loves you exactly as you are right now.
| Guest | Vincent Tolman |
| Episode | Divine Encounters 008 |
| Date | Saturday, January 18, 2003 |
| What Vincent says happened | He passed out in a restaurant bathroom after taking a toxic amount of a supplement and died there |
| Time away | At least 45 minutes at the most conservative estimate, and possibly an hour and a half to two hours |
| Where he says he went | A cool electric sensation, darkness, then a view of the restaurant from above |
| Who he met | The episode centers on what he saw, especially a rookie medic who refused to give up |
| The message | “That’s who God loves” |
A Successful Life That Did Not Feel Happy
Alex asks Vincent about his life before. Vincent says he had lived what he calls the ideal single life. He traveled the world and lived all over it. He worked in construction, mostly, and could pick up projects almost anywhere there was a contract. That let him live across the United States and internationally. He also spent about three and a half years working in major television and film, starting at the bottom of the ladder and working his way up.
It was a fun turn of life, he says. By the world’s standards he felt successful. But he did not feel happy. He had happy moments, but he did not embody happiness. For him, “happiness was always on the horizon,” and he was always chasing it. That, he says, was his journey at the time.
An Ordinary Saturday Turns Wrong
Alex mentions that Vincent took a toxic amount of a supplement, which Alex finds fascinating in its own right. Vincent describes the morning. It was Saturday, January 18. They planned to go to an international auto expo, walk around, then do a workout, a normal Saturday. He and a friend each took a bottle cap’s worth, got in the car, and as they headed out they both felt it hitting them fast. It felt like drunkenness. He felt cold spreading from his chest and thighs, as if his body were literally becoming cold.
He suggested they get something to eat, because sometimes food helps when you have taken too much of something. They drove about two blocks to a Dairy Queen. His friend was almost falling asleep as they pulled up, so Vincent shook him awake, and even helped put the car in park. Then Vincent stumbled into the restaurant and made it to the bathroom by the door. It was a single-use bathroom, and out of habit he locked the door. He passed out on the floor on his back, and he says he died there.
Meanwhile, his friend stumbled in and collapsed in a booth. The manager saw the scene and called 911, and his friend was taken to a hospital. He ended up completely fine, Vincent says, released the very next day with no lasting effects. But nobody knew there was another man in the bathroom. By Vincent’s account, he lay there dead on the floor for almost an hour, at least 45 minutes between the 911 call about his friend and the ambulance coming back for him.
Cool Electricity and No Pain
Vincent says that as he walked into the bathroom, the room seemed to spin backwards, the way movies make it look, as if the ground were shaking. The very next moment, he says, he was “plunged into cool electricity.” It felt like a fluid, almost like water, though he did not feel wet. He felt electrified in a good way, not a scary way. He felt full of vitality and energy.
He had been bodybuilding hard and his body was sore. As soon as he plunged into this cool feeling, “100% of pain was completely gone.” He recognized that instantly. Then he realized he was surrounded by nothingness. He could see only darkness. If you are new to this, the glossary entry on the near-death experience explains how people use the term.
Watching the Restaurant Without a Roof
Out of nowhere, he says, a fogginess in front of him began to get clearer and brighter. It became the scene of the restaurant, but seen from above, “as if there was no roof.” He could see everywhere in the building. He could also hear and perceive the thoughts and feelings of everyone in it: the cook, the assistant manager, the manager, and two customers eating breakfast, a man and his wife. He knew what the man was thinking and what the wife was thinking. He calls it surreal. He just proceeded to observe.
He watched them call 911 for his friend and watched his friend being taken away. He believes he must have died the second he passed out. And he knew, without knowing how he knew, that his friend would be okay. But he knew that the other man in the bathroom, himself, was in serious trouble and was gone.
The ambulance showed up with a three-person team, he says: two veteran medics and one rookie, who was on his first week and was supposed to primarily observe and help out. Vincent says he somehow knew all of this the second they arrived, almost as if the rookie carried it like a badge. Some of this, he says, he cannot explain. He just knew. If you are curious about how people describe this kind of awareness, our glossary entry on consciousness is a good starting point.
Processing the Scene
The medics tried preliminary resuscitation, he says, including chest compressions and an oxygen bag. They could not get anything. The legs were starting to get a little stiff, and they knew this one was gone. They put the body in a bag and took their time, there was no rush. They were there for about 45 minutes to an hour, taking statements from four or five witnesses and signing all the paperwork.
While the two veterans handled the paperwork, the rookie sat in the back of the ambulance with the body bag, feeling, Vincent says, “why can’t we make a difference for this one.” He was staring at it, with all these feelings, and this is where Vincent says the story gets very interesting.
The Rookie Who Would Not Give Up
The rookie unzipped the body bag, undoing the straps to do it. He was looking for a pulse. He reached under the arm and could not find one. It was cold and stiff, and he was feeling that this was a dead body. He undid one more strap, so three straps down, and felt on the inside of the thigh, near the femoral artery. As he pressed there, Vincent says, he felt a shock, and he saw the rookie jump. He thinks the rookie felt it too.
That was enough for the rookie to think “there has to be something there.” He kept unzipping the bag and undid a couple more straps. He began forcing oxygen into the lungs. He also hooked up a defibrillator, which makes an alarm sound right before it shocks.
Three Shocks, and Two Veterans Who Stopped Talking
Meanwhile, Vincent says, the two veteran medics were deep in conversation about sports, thinking about the big NFL game that was coming up. But when the warning alarm went off, they turned back and saw what the rookie was doing. They started to freak out on him. They yelled that he was breaking protocol and would get fired in his first week. The rookie ignored it completely.
He let the machine charge and hit. Nothing. There was no heartbeat. He charged it a second time while the medics kept chewing him out. This time, Vincent says, there was a single heartbeat, and then it was flat again. That single beat was enough to shut up the veterans. They stopped talking. They knew something strange was going on. On the third round, there was a steady but faint heartbeat, continuous.
An Hour Dead, Three Days Brain Dead
Vincent says that, factoring in the paperwork and the time in the bag, estimates run from an hour and a half to two hours. He says it was easily well over an hour, “cold, dead and stiff,” before the body came back. Even then, he says, the body was still brain dead, and it stayed that way for three more days. That is where he says he had his experience, while the body was brain dead.
The transcript of this conversation ends with Vincent’s main takeaway, rather than with a full account of the days that followed.
God’s Love, Times Trillions
The most important takeaway for Vincent is about love. He asks us to “take the best love that you can have as a human being,” the most unconditional, perfect love, and multiply it by eons, by trillions. Even then, he says, it is “just an eyelash to God’s love,” the love the Creator has.
That love is so strong and so unconditional, he says, that “the Creator loves you exactly how you are right now.” Not who you want to be, and not who you think you should be, but who you are showing up as, who you are allowing your heart to be right now. “That’s who God loves,” he says.
Beside Other Near-Death Accounts
Vincent’s account touches several themes that appear often in near-death experiences: a sense of pain falling away, seeing the scene from above, knowing things without being told, and a feeling of overwhelming love. His version stands out for how closely he follows the scene around his body. We share his story as his own experience and make no medical claims. For wider context, see our complete guide to near-death experiences.
Loved As You Are
You do not need to agree with every detail to take something from Vincent’s closing idea. He spent years chasing happiness on the horizon. What he says he brought back was not a new thing to chase but a different way to be held: loved exactly as you are, today.
Try letting that be your starting place for one day, before you fix anything about yourself.
Questions to Sit With
- Vincent says happiness always seemed to be on the horizon. What are you chasing that you might already be able to feel today?
- He says God loves you exactly how you are right now, not who you think you should be. How would your day change if you believed that?
- The rookie kept going when everyone told him to stop. Where in your life might it help to trust a quiet inner sense, even when others disagree?
This week, when you catch yourself saying “I’ll be happy when,” stop and name one thing you can feel grateful for right now.
Spiritual Takeaways
- Vincent says the love of the Creator is beyond anything a human being can imagine.
- He says God loves you exactly as you are right now, not who you wish to be.
- He says that in spirit form, you can perceive the thoughts and feelings of others.
- He says happiness is not something on the horizon to be chased.
- He says one person’s refusal to give up can change an outcome.
Please enjoy my conversation with Vincent Tolman.
Guest Links: Connect With Vincent Tolman
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Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Vincent Tolman?
Vincent Tolman is a near-death experiencer who shares his story in this Divine Encounters episode with host Alex Ferrari. He says that on January 18, 2003 he died in a restaurant bathroom and was later revived by a rookie medic.
What was Vincent’s life like before his near-death experience?
He says he lived an ideal single life, traveling widely and working in construction and in film and television. He felt successful by the world’s standards but did not feel happy.
What happened on the day Vincent died?
Vincent says he and a friend each took a toxic amount of a supplement before a planned day at an auto expo. Both felt it fast, he went to a restaurant bathroom, passed out and died, while his friend collapsed in a booth and was taken to a hospital.
How long was Vincent dead?
Vincent says it was almost an hour, and at least 45 minutes by the most conservative estimate. Counting the paperwork and the time in the bag, he says estimates run from an hour and a half to two hours.
What did Vincent see when he left his body?
He says he first felt cool electricity and lost all pain, then saw the restaurant from above, as if it had no roof. He says he could perceive the thoughts and feelings of everyone in the building.
Who was the rookie medic?
Vincent says the ambulance carried two veteran medics and a rookie in his first week. He says the rookie kept searching for a sign of life in the body bag, felt a shock, and continued despite being yelled at.
How did Vincent’s heart restart?
Vincent says the rookie used a defibrillator three times. He says there was no response the first time, a single heartbeat the second time, and a steady but faint heartbeat on the third.
What did Vincent say about brain death?
He says that after his body came back, it was still brain dead for three more days, and that he had his experience during that time.
What is Vincent’s main message?
Vincent says the best human love, multiplied by trillions, is still just an eyelash to God’s love, and that the Creator loves you exactly how you are right now.
Is a near-death experience proof of an afterlife?
Next Level Soul shares near-death experiences as lived experiences told in the person’s own words. Researchers continue to study and debate what they mean. Nothing here is medical advice or a medical claim.
Keep Exploring
- The complete guide to near-death experiences
- What consciousness means
- What a near-death experience is
- Dean Braxton on being clinically dead for 105 minutes
- Rob Gentile on being dead for 20 minutes
- Brian Hoyland on ten minutes clinically dead and a message to bring back
- Dennis Bullock on an overdose and meeting versions of himself
- Maria Lupita Gurule on eight minutes dead and facing everyone she hurt
- Browse more free masterclasses and the Divine Encounters podcast.
Follow Along with the Transcript
Alex Ferrari 0:00
Tell me what your life was like, before you died.
Vincent Tolman 0:09
You know, prior, I had kind of lived the ideal single life I traveled the world lived all over the world, I actually worked construction primarily, and was able to pick up projects all over the United States, even some, some projects, literally everywhere, everywhere I could find a contract, we could work. And so I did, I got the opportunity to live across the United States and internationally and even works for about three and a half years and major TV and film. Just working, you know, kind of worked my way from the bottom of the ladder for as a standing up to it became a second second, then a second ad. So, you know, it was a fun, fun turn of life. And I felt like I was successful by the world standards. But I didn't feel happy. I didn't really have what I felt was happiness, I felt like happy was happiness was always on the horizon. And I was always chasing it. I didn't feel like I felt I had happy moments, but I didn't feel like I embodied happiness yet. And that was kind of my journey. At that time.
Alex Ferrari 1:17
You take this toxic amount of the supplement, which is fascinating in its own right. What happens?
Vincent Tolman 1:25
Well, we each took our little bottle cap and our plan for the day was we were going to go up to a an International Auto Expo and kind of walk around and then we're gonna go do a workout and kind of have our normal day. Normal Saturday, it was a Saturday, it was Saturday, January 18. And so we we that was our plan, we took each cigar bottle cap, we got in the car, and we as we were heading out the door. Getting into the car, we both felt that it was hitting us really fast. And it felt almost like a drunk this. Like literally it felt like a drunkenness. And I felt cold spreading from around my chest and my thighs. Like literally cold cold, my body was becoming cold. So I said, Hey, let's go get some to eat. You know, sometimes if you get a little too much of this stuff, you can get something to eat and they'll make you feel better. So we headed down the street about two blocks down the street to a Dairy Queen. And we pulled up my buddy, he was almost falling asleep as we pulled up. So I was like shaking him awake as we pulled in. I remember like reaching over and helping him put the car in park even he was to that point where he just was almost out himself. I stumbled into the restaurant, made it directly to the bathroom which was right by the door went in there and it was single use bathroom so out of habit just locked the door. And I proceeded to just pass out passed out right there on the floor on my back. And I began to aspirate or vomit and breathe in my vomit literally died right there, there. And then meanwhile my buddy he goes in, he barely stumbles in collapses on a booth and starts vomiting all over the booth, the manager of the restaurant comm comes over and sees this is like oh my god, you know, he calls 911 and gets gets my buddy hauled away to a hospital, my buddy ends up being totally fine. They pump his stomach, they treat him with a bunch of charcoal. And he gets released out of the hospital the very next day, without any problem and no long lasting effects. But again, meanwhile, nobody knew there was another guy knee in the bathroom. And I was literally laying there dead on the floor on the floor. And how long were you out for so so from the time that my buddy came in, and they called 911 to get me out of the it was about an almost an hour. So we we know for at least 45 minutes at the most conservative estimate to because it was 45 minutes between phone calls between the 911 phone call to my buddy to get him all the way and then the 911 to come and get this dead body.
Alex Ferrari 4:00
What happened in when you start to transition?
Vincent Tolman 4:04
So for me from my perspective, what I was watching because I watched the room get very dizzy as I walked in there into that bathroom, and it felt like the whole room start to spin backwards. Like literally like the kind of like in the movies how, you know, it makes it feel like the whole grant felt like the whole ground was shaking on me. And it was just me Of course, I was passing out the very next moment I felt like I was I was like plunged into cool electricity. And it felt very much like a fluid almost a water. But it wasn't water because I didn't feel wet. But I felt electrified literally in a good way. I mean not in the like scary but I felt just full of this. This vitality, this energy and instantaneously. You know, I body I was bodybuilding pretty hard. My body was pretty sore, and was soon as I plunged into this cool feeling 100% of pain was completely gone. And, and I recognize that instantaneously, but then I recognized also that I was surrounded by just nothingness. Like I couldn't see anything I could just see darkness. And out of nowhere I started to see this like fogginess in front of me start to get clearer and clearer and brighter and clearer and brighter. And what it was is it was the scene of this restaurant, but I was looking from above, but I could see everywhere in the restaurant as if there was no roof, like no ceiling, no roof on this restaurant, I could see everywhere in the restaurant, I could see and hear the thoughts, feelings, everything that anyone who was dealing in that building, I could I could perceive literally, the feelings of the cook, I could perceive the feelings and the thoughts of the assistant manager, the manager, even the two customers that were eating breakfast, this man and his wife, I could perceive what the man was thinking about what the wife was thinking about. It was just so surreal. And I just proceeded to observe everything. I watched them Holloway, my friend in the ambulance. I watched them call 911 for him. I watched so I died, I must have died instantaneous. The second that I went in there and passed out I must have died just right then because I watched them haul him away. And I knew, I knew without knowing I don't know how I knew. I knew he was going to be okay. But I knew that this other guy in the bathroom that he was he was in serious trouble that he was gone. And this ambulance shows up. It's a three man team. So there's two veteran medics. And there's one rookie Medic and the rookie has kind of a tag alarm. It's his first live week on the job. And he's supposed to primarily observe and help out. And somehow I know all this, I just know it from from the second they show up. I just know this. It's almost like he carried that as a badge on him that he was a new guy. They're processing the scene. They attempted preliminary resuscitation attempts, they tried, you know, chest compressions, they tried to a little oxygen bag where they're trying to squeeze with their hand, and they weren't able to get anything. Obviously the body was actually starting to get a little stiff in the legs. So they they knew this one was gone. They went ahead and bagged it. They took their time, there was no rush. They were there for about 45 minutes to an hour. While they while they put the body in the bag. They got statements from everybody who witnessed anything. They, which was about four or five people that every all the statements were signed, all the paperwork was signed. Meanwhile, the rookie is sitting in the back of the ambulance while he's waiting for the other two medics to to kind of process all the paperwork, get all the paperwork signed. As they're doing all of this. He's sitting there back there staring at this body bag and feeling all these these feelings that like, why can't we make a difference for this one. This is where it gets very interesting. From my perspective, he unzips the body bag, he has to undo the straps on the body just to unzip the body back he's trying to find a pole so can't find anything. He reaches under the arm area can't find a pole. So it's cold, stiff, it's gross. And he's even feeling this like this is a dead body. And he had to undo one more strap. So now we're three straps down, he goes down and he was feeling on the inside femur area. And when he got on the inside femur area, he made contact with the actual femur bone. He was trying to feel for that femoral artery or I always say that wrong. But the femur artery, the one that's near the femur, I felt a shock and I felt I saw him jump right when I felt the shock. So I think that he felt it too. And that was enough for him that there's gotta be something there, there has to be something there. So he he continued unzip the body baggie and did a couple more straps. He he began forcing oxygen into the lungs. Then he also hooked up a defibrillator. And that is for the heart to shock the heart. And when he hooked that up, it makes this alarm sound right before it shocks the body. So meanwhile, the other two veteran medics, they're deep in conversation about sports. They're thinking about like the game coming up to this, this and that. Because it was right before you know the the big game in the NFL at the time. This is again January 18 of 2003. But when the alarm bells went off the warning alarm for the decent machine. They both like turned back and saw what was going on. And they started to freak out on this medic. They started yelling at him telling him he's gonna get fired. He's breaking protocol. How do you like to be fired on your first week on the job, just really go into town on him and he just ignored it completely ignored it. He let the defib hit he let it charge and hit. It did not do any result. There was no heartbeat. He went ahead and charge the second time. And again these metrics are chewing him out at you and him out. They he lets it go a second time at the second time. I did get a single heartbeat, one heartbeat, and then it was flatline again. And that single heartbeat was enough to like shut up the the veteran medics, they completely stopped talking. And they they knew something odd was going on here, something very different. And so the third round of shocks happen, which which that medical louder third round, on the third round, it was a steady but faint heartbeat, continuous continuous. So he was able to get that heart started back up after the third round of shocks. And there's some estimates that say it's at least it could easily be an hour and a half to two hours, factoring and all the paperwork, the time I was in the body bag, all of that. Yeah. So well over an hour easily over an hour, cold, dead and stiff, the body came back. Now I was still brain dead, the body was still brain dead. And for three more days, I was brain dead. And that's where I had my experience. I had my experience while the body was brain dead. The most important takeaway that I took away from this experience is that take the best love that you can have as a human being the most unconditional, perfect love and times that by eons by trillions. And it's still just an eyelash to God's love, love that the Creator has. And that love is so strong and so unconditional, that the Creator loves you exactly how you are right now. Exactly how you are not not who you want to be. not who you think you should be. But who you're showing up as who you who you are allowing your heart to be as right now. That's who God loves.
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