After collapsing at his son’s wedding, a man claims he spent 45 minutes clinically dead, meeting Jesus and exploring heaven before waking up in intensive care
A construction site manager who was clinically dead for 45 minutes has opened up about his trip to the afterlife, where he claims he met Jesus Christ face-to-face. Mike McKinsey, from Chattanooga, Tennessee, US, was attending his son’s wedding celebration when he suddenly fell ill.
Initially writing off his symptoms as a standard bout of flu, McKinsey pushed through the rehearsal dinner despite suffering from a burning fever and insomnia.
Refusing to let his health ruin his son’s big day, he powered through the ceremony before finally seeking emergency medical care.
At the hospital, doctors suspected a ruptured appendix. When a medical test involving a tap to his foot left him screaming in agony, he was rushed straight into surgery.
However, just moments before the medical team could administer anaesthesia, McKinsey says he experienced something extraordinary.
He said that “before they put a mask on or gave any medication” he “looked to [his] right and Jesus walked through the surgical room doors”.
Speaking on the Round Trip Death podcast, McKinsey said it was during a terrifying window where he was “pronounced dead for a good 45 minutes” that his vision of the afterlife truly unfolded.
Detailing the encounter, McKinsey said Jesus appeared as a physical person dressed in a white robe, with “darker skin than [he] had been shown as a kid”.
He said: “[He] had a short dark brown beard with dark wavy hair. His eyes were a dark greenish blue. Even though he looked different, I knew immediately that it was Jesus.
“As he came closer to me, he held out his hand and said, ‘I want to answer your prayer’. I was very confused and thought I must have died, but I took his hand.”
The figure then escorted McKinsey into what he believes was heaven itself. He described standing on “a grassy hill” surrounded by a “white, blinding light”, with hyper-heightened senses.
“I was standing on beautiful, lush green grass, a very dark green,” McKinsey said. “The blades of grass were perfectly manicured. My senses were heightened to the point that I could feel every blade of grass touching my feet.”
Moments later, he said the blinding light lifted to reveal a city with a giant golden dome, white steeples and a mountain range under vivid sunset-coloured skies.
Overcome with emotion, McKinsey said he sank to his knees – and the moment he touched the ground, he snapped back to reality inside the intensive care unit.
While McKinsey’s story sounds supernatural, researchers estimate that between 10 and 20 per cent of people who survive close calls report near-death experiences.
A 2023 study noted that feelings of inner peace, hyper-heightened senses and out-of-body visions are common hallmarks of the phenomenon.