I don't see why in most cases this wouldn't be a case of "lucid dreams". There are too many factors to consider in order to think that any near-death "experience" would be valid. First of all, is each person seeing the same "place"? If not, WHY not? Second, Does every single person that almost dies have this experience? If not, again, WHY not? If these things are not consistant and people's "experiences" contradict each other, then this is obviously not a mystery from God. God is not the author of confusion among people. We already know and cannot question the scriptures that when it comes to actually being dead, no one experiences ANYTHING; but I don't think that's where the confusion lies. Even if you were clinically dead in the hospital, upon awaking, you can dream. It's been studied that most dreams occur in regards to your short term and long term memory communicating (in simplest terms), and that dreams are not necessarily related to the REM sleep state. You can see just about anything that your mind can fabricate in just a matter of moments that can seem to last a long time. I can assume we've all experienced only sleeping for just a few minutes and having a very detailed dream. It would also make good and explainable sense to believe that this is how no two stories of this near-death" nonsense are completely alike. How many "alien abduction" stories have you seen or heard that were any different? Do we think that this is also something that God has yet to reveal? Not quite. We know that the next galaxy over is just too far away to travel to and away from. Either way, this is a good subject to discuss, but there's too much contradiction when it comes to these stories....not to mention in SO MANY of these "I've seen hell" stories, it contradicts Scripture left and right. Is this too any different?