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I find older reports of near-death experiences interesting, because they predate the popular interest in the subject that developed once Life After Life was published in 1975. Such reports can be traced back at least as far as the Middle Ages, and arguably earlier. Two that recently came to my attention are mentioned in Guided by Spirit, by Charles Emmons and Penelope Emmons (p. 219).
The first involves a woman who went on to become a medium. Guided by Spirit offers a brief summary:
Mrs. J. H. Conant had [an NDE] in 1851 at age 20. When ill she was prescribed a large overdose of morphine and went unconscious. The doctor thought she was going to die. She went into trance and channeled a simple medication, and recovered. While in trance she went to "some beautiful place; she thought she was in heaven." There she met her mother, begged to be allowed to stay there, and was told she must return to Earth because "she had yet a mission to perform."
The source cited is Allen Putnam's Biography of Mrs. J. H. Conant, the World's Medium of the Nineteenth Century (1873). Intrigued, I Googled the title and found that it is available on Amazon. Using the "search inside" feature I was able to find the appropriate passage, written in the florid style of its day. The passage is reproduced below, broken up into shorter paragraphs for easier reading:
In the year 1851 [Mrs. Conant] left Lowell, and, with her husband, came to reside at the North End of Boston. Here her health, never robust, gave way, and she was again prostrated by sickness. Dr. Tobey, a well known physician, was summoned to attend her, who in view of the exigencies of the case, prescribed a certain preparation of morphine -- he being at the time, unfortunately, under the influence of stimulants. Mr. Conant obtained the prescription, as ordered, from a neighboring apothecary, and it was administered, per directions, to his wife. The amount written down by Dr. Tobey proved to be a large overdose; she was thrown into a semi-unconscious state, and began to sink so rapidly as to alarm all those residing in the house.
Mr. Conant immediately proceeded to the doctor's office to apprise him of the fact. He inquired concerning the medicine and its effect -- became agitated, and hurried to the sick chamber. A glance told him that there was some mistake in the remedy administered, and the imminent danger of his patient immediately sobered him. He doubted that he had prescribed so much, and was utterly confounded when, on applying to the druggist, he found the prescription filed in his own handwriting -- the apothecary meanwhile assuring him that he should not have put up the medicine in such quantity had he not known him well, and supposed that he was acquainted with his business. Dr. Tobey said there was no help for Mrs. Conant -- she must die. She, however, told him that she should not.
During the absence of her husband in search of the physician, the second time, Mrs. C. had been mysteriously aroused from the deadly stupor -- her body was shaking, involuntarily as it seemed, and a series of shocks, as from an electric battery, passed through her frame; she then began to speak, and prescribed for herself as she had done frequently before at Portsmouth in her childhood. The medicine, which was something of a simple nature, had been given to her, and by its influence, while the terrified physician stood by her side anticipating her speedy dissolution, perspiration began to set in, and witnessing this sign of returning power -- though ignorant of its cause -- he declared, with great relief to his mind, that she would yet survive.
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