He Had a Near-Death Experience and Realized What UFOs Actually Are | Keith Thompson

Summary

At 24, journalist Keith Thompson nearly drowned in a Hawaiian riptide, left his body, and met dead relatives, including a great-uncle he didn't know had died. That experience launched decades of reporting on UFOs, near-death experiences, seances, and objects that seemingly appear from nowhere. In his new book Anomalous Phenomena, he argues these mysteries share a common pattern that points to a deep interconnectedness at the root of reality, one that materialist science has refused to map.

Key takeaways

• 1Thompson's NDE included a 'Peak in Darien' experience: he saw his great-uncle Sam, whom he did not know had already died
• 2He describes seeing mist form human shapes and hearing chime-like sounds at his mother's hospice deathbed; the nurse said such events happen 'all the time'
• 3The Scole Experiment: four people, two of them mediums, held 466 sittings over five years in Scole, England, reportedly producing apports, film images, and a 1944 newspaper; the Society for Psychical Research's report found no evidence of fraud
• 4Thompson's earlier books Angels and Aliens and The UFO Paradox compare UFO abductions to shamanic journeys and initiation rites, building on Jacques Vallée's folklore-based approach
• 5Harvard backed off disciplining John Mack after attorney Danny Sheehan challenged the move on academic freedom grounds; Mack left an unfinished manuscript
• 6The host says that on Joe Rogan, David Grusch claimed the U.S. military killed a reptilian being and that he saw evidence of crashed human-like beings; Thompson notes former Lockheed VP Jim Ryder gave talks for the Lucis Trust on Alice Bailey's teachings

Glossary terms

Source

Transcript excerpt

If you're wondering about how to upgrade your shut-eye, Sleep Number's incredible lineup of beds is your answer. You can make these beds firmer or softer whenever you want, sleep cooler or warmer, and even keep the same bed as your needs change over time, thanks to a design made to last 25 years. Upgrade your sleep this holiday season. Shop at one of Sleep Number stores nationwide or at sleepnumber.com. The sale's right there. Don't miss it. This holiday, give shoppers a flexible way to pay with PayPal Pay Later and turn them into regulars. PayPal is built for all business. Get started at paypal.com slash business. I'm 24 years old, swimming off the shore of Hawaii, Oahu, with friends. Long story short, I got taken by riptides. Didn't know what riptides were. I thought you fight against them. You don't. I was pulled down for a long period and when I came back up, I was out of my body. I didn't know it right away, but I had a 360-degree awareness frame and I saw this body of a swimmer. I said, that person's in trouble. And then I said, oh, wait a minute. That person is me. And I developed a sixth sense for people who were already on that same page, who also were living two different lives. One is in the mundane, everyday world and the other is in touch with more of reality that is not agreed by science or religion to be real. What did I become? A reporter of the mysteries. ...

Excerpt from Third Eye Drops, Nov 1, 2026. Rights remain with the original creators. Hear the full episode at the source.