A woman who experienced a near-fatal accident after falling 60 feet from a cliff shares her story. Erica Tait, a psychotherapist from New Jersey, was hiking along The Palisades on the Hudson River when her life took a dramatic turn.
At 22, Erica encountered a dried-up waterfall during her hike and attempted to climb down. Unfortunately, she became stuck, and while searching for a safe route, she slipped and plummeted 60 feet onto large rocks below.
The fall resulted in significant injuries, including broken ribs, pelvis, spinal cord, arms, and punctured lungs, rendering her unconscious.
While in a state of fluctuating consciousness, Erica managed to contact emergency services and later recounted experiencing a near-death experience. In an interview with The Other Side NDE, a YouTube channel, Erica shared, “The first thing I remember is separating from my physical body, and so I remember looking at my body and recognizing that I am not that; I am not. There’s something separate from my physical being.”
She continued, “And in that, I learned that I don’t die, that there actually is no death. There’s something that actually survives death, and some people can call that a soul or a spirit or consciousness.”
Erica also described experiencing a ‘life review’ where her entire life flashed before her eyes. At the time, she struggled with addiction and trauma, considering herself a ‘sick and wounded human.’
She realized how her actions were affecting those around her, describing the experience as ‘very eye opening.’
“It’s created a huge heart expansion and deep compassion for the suffering in the world and also a deep understanding for what our true purpose is here,” Erica added.
Prior to the accident, Erica identified as a ‘huge atheist’ but noted a transformative ‘white light experience’ during her ordeal. “It taught me about how it is everything, it was the most incredible, unspeakable amount of love and peace I have ever experienced,” she said.
“… The wisdom that came from being in that energy was tremendous as well… every single cell, every atom in matter is created by this one energy and we’re actually all just one thing, we are all fully connected and because we are all one there is no separation, no death.”
Erica lay at the bottom of the cliff for seven hours until an off-duty firefighter, acting on instinct, located and rescued her.
“I made a decision and was told at the same time to come back into my body, and I did that quite peacefully, there was no real resistance,” she recalled.
After spending a month in the hospital and six months in a wheelchair, Erica reflects on the experience as a ‘gift.’