A man who died and came back to life has recalled his experience of witnessing 'the afterlife'.
According to a YouGov study, while a third of Brits believe in an afterlife, four in 10 do not. Despite these figures, many people have shared their experiences of what happens after death, including Ray Catania, who was 20 years old when he was stuck in a house fire at his parents' home.
A gas leak had filled the property and caused the blaze, which luckily, he survived.
Despite managing to make a full recovery, Ray died 'several times' as paramedics battled to save his life, and has since gone on to tell his story about how he 'died and came back to life'.
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"All night long, the gas was rising into my bedroom, and I was breathing it in," Ray told Metro.
"There was a big ball of flames, and the wall caught fire. My father put it out with a fire extinguisher.
"I couldn’t move my legs at all. They were completely paralysed. I couldn’t get my head off the pillow; I couldn’t yell or speak."
After managing to pull himself off the bed with one arm, Ray noticed that he didn't feel any pain at all.
"I didn’t feel anything because I wasn’t in that body anymore," he continued. "I was above it, in the corner of my room looking down. I could see my lifeless body.
"The room was a perfect square. The colours were vivid and bright, everything was more vibrant, like going from old television to high definition. I could tell you the exact sweatsuit I was wearing.
"And I was soaking wet, because the first thing you do when you die is pee yourself."
Ray explained that in the corner of the room, he could see a cone-shaped white light, which he describes as 'everything'.
"It was love, painlessness, peace, joy, enlightenment. It was not separate from me. I was part of it," he added.
"Nothing has ever felt as good as that moment, he recalls. I don’t think anything ever will again until I go back to the light."
Ray said that he approached the light, but was interrupted by his father running into the room and lifting his body from the floor. The next moment he remembers is being downstairs, where paramedics worked to save his life.
The fire wouldn't be the last time Ray had an usual experience with the afterlife. Years later, while working in New York, Ray managed to escape a shooting after he was 'shown' the way to safety.
After visiting a medium, Ray trained as a metaphysical counsellor and has also gone on to write a book about his experiences, The Atheist and the Afterlife - an Autobiography: A True Story of Inspiration, Transformation, and the Pursuit of Enlightenment.
Lucy Devine