Man who was 'killed' after being struck by lightning reveals what he saw when he flatlined

Back in 1975, a US Marine temporarily 'died' after being struck by lightning - a one in 15,000 chance occurrence.

Paramedics on the scene rushed Dannion Brinkley to the nearest hospital, where doctors declared him deceased after he flatlined.

Around half an hour later, Brinkey awoke in a hospital morgue and has spent the following 50 years disclosing what 'happened' to him when his soul was in-between the realms of heaven and Earth.

The businessman, 74, has said he is certain of the existence of an afterlife and believes human beings shouldn't fear death.

Speaking to KLAS, Brinkley recounted his experience, describing a light suddenly flashing when his soul left his body, and a flashback of his entire life being played out before him.

Beginning with the moment he was struck by lightening, he recalled: "It went into the side of my head above my ear, it went down my spine.

Dannion Brinkley endured encounters with death twice (Mintaha Neslihan Eroglu/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

"It threw me up in the air, I see the ceiling, it slams me back down, a ball of fire comes through the room and blinds me. I am burning.

"I am on fire. I am paralysed."

Following his revival, Brinkey had to relearn the ability to walk. It took two full years for him to manoeuvre 'normally' again.

In a shock twist of fate, however, 10 years after the accident, he was left knocking at death's door once again.

After enduring bouts of serious ill health, the former Marine was advised to undergo open heart surgery, during which his soul apparently exited his body for a second time.

Recounting the most recent encounter with death in his memoir Saved by the Light, he recalled being 'reunited with his angelic instructors' during the surgery.

He has since learned how to 'use his new psychic and spiritual gifts to aid the dying and the desperate', and went on to take up a job counselling terminally-ill patients and fellow veterans of the armed forces.

Brinkley now teaches others not to fear death (JOEY MCLEISTER/Star Tribune via Getty Images)

"So, when you learn you don’t die, when you learn you’re a spiritual being, you’re not going to go to hell," he told KLAS.

"That’s enough to inspire you to change."

Discussing his stance on the notion of an afterlife, he added: "Nobody dies. It never happens.

"It’s not a part of the nature of reality, it’s not."

Discussing death, Dr Sam Parnia - who works as an associate professor of medicine at NYU Langone Health - told The New York Post: "There are signs of normal and near normal brain activity found up to an hour into resuscitation."

"We were not only able to show the markers of lucid consciousness - we were also able to show that these experiences are unique and universal," she continued, referencing an NYU Grossman School of Medicine report.

"They’re different from dreams, illusions and delusions."