Editorial statement introducing the contents of the journal issue and providing other relevant notes. This issue includes articles discussing near-death experiences in non-western cultures.

Abstract: In this article we present a distressing near-death experience (NDE) that a 23-year-old Iranian Shi'ite Muslim man described having experienced five years previously, during coma following a serious car accident. Given that very few Muslims, especially Iranians, have reported NDEs, one of our aims in presenting this case was to begin to fill this void in the near-death studies literature. We provide extensive quotations from our 40-minute interview with this experiencer, in which he describes the NDE itself as well as aftereffects of it, including experiences of disclosing it to others. We conclude with a discussion about the relationship between his NDE and Islamic beliefs as well as what his case can offer regarding an understanding of the role of culture in NDEs.

Review of a book titled "Near Death in the ICU: Stories from Patients Near Death and Why We Should Listen to Them" written by Laurin Bellg, a critical care physician. The book includes various stories about near-death experiences and discusses how being open about them could improve patient's health.

Abstract: A comparative survey of how near-death experiences (NDEs) intersected with afterlife myths and shamanic practices, as reported in the mid-19th to mid-20th century by missionaries, explorers, and ethnographers of Polynesia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Australia, reveals various culturally distinct patterns. In Polynesia and Melanesia, documentary accounts of NDEs are found alongside myths and beliefs that directly refer to the phenomenon. In contrast, in Australia and Micronesia NDEs are almost entirely absent, and afterlife journey myths instead typically have shamanic contexts. I argue that these dynamics can be explained by reference to certain religious and cultural particularities, including differences in burial practices, variations in attitudes towards the dead, and diversity of shamanic traditions.

Abstract: We describe results of a qualitative study investigating spontaneous mediumship experiences (SMEs) of near-death experiencers (NDErs). Using archival data from a prior survey (Holden, Foster & Kinsey, 2014), we used cross-comparison qualitative analysis to examine emerged themes of participants' descriptions of SME characteristics, challenges of SMEs, and strategies to cope with SMEs. We identified 19 themes across 3 research questions. We discuss implications, including our urge to NDE researchers to continue investigating SMEs among NDErs to provide deeper clarity and understanding of this NDE aftereffect.