Ted Butler is Killed by a Truck, Attends his Funeral, Becomes an Earthbound Spirit Who is then Rescued by a Lady on a Tram

Article by: Walter Semkiw, MD

Source: Communication from the deceased in this case was facilitated through the direct voice mediumship of Leslie Flint. George Woods and Betty Greene were present during tape recordings of Flint’s mediumship sessions and they asked questions of the deceased, who spoke in their own natural voices. Neville Randall reviewed these recordings and summarized the dialogues in his book, Life After Death. Dialogue in the article provided below has been slightly edited to make it more concise.

To learn more about the mechanism of communication with the deceased, go to: Leslie Flint and his Direct Voice Mediumship

Ted Butler is Hit by a Truck

In a session that took place in February 10, 1964, a man named Ted Butler came through. Betty Greene asked Ted how he passed over. Ted replied: 

“I was doing my Saturday shopping with my wife in Leeds, England, and I was crossing the road and before you could say Jack Robinson, something hit me. It was some sort of truck that I think got out of control down the slope. It got me pinned against the wall and I was out. I just remembered something coming towards me, and that’s all. It all happened so sudden. I have no memory of experiencing any pain.” 

Ms. Greene asked, “How did you find yourself?” 

Ted looks Down Upon his Own Body

“Well,” Ted replied, “All I know is that I saw a crowd of people all standing looking down at something. I had a look with the crowd and saw someone who looked exactly like me! At first I didn’t realize it was me.”  

I thought, “That’s a coincidence. That fellow looks the same as I do. It might be a twin brother” 

Then I realized that my wife was there crying her eyes out. She didn’t seem to realize I was standing beside her. 

They put my body in an ambulance, and the wife got in, and some nurse. I got in and sat with my wife and she didn’t seem to realize I was sitting there at all. Then gradually it came on me that that was me lying down there. 

I went to the hospital. Of course, they put me in the mortuary. I didn’t like that at all. So I got out quick and went home. There was the wife, Miss Mitchell next door, trying to comfort her. I think that was the worst time of the lot. 

Ted Attends his Funeral

Then there was the funeral. Of course, I went to that. I thought to myself: “All this fuss and expense for nothing, because here I was.” I thought it was all very touching, but at the same time it all seemed so damn silly, because I there I was. Nobody took any notice. 

The old parson was standing there reciting away. I thought, “He should know if anyone knows. So I went and stood beside him, and kept nudging him with me elbow in the side. He didn’t take any notice at all. He just went on with his ritual. 

Then there was the gravediggers. I knew one of them, old Tom Corbett. He was a case he was, I’d many a pint with him and a laugh. He filled in the hole, and the other bloke filled in the old coffin and the grave. I thought this is a fine how do you do. I’m not staying down here with this lot, so I got out. 

Ted rides the City Trams, where He Meets a Spirit Guide who Helps Earthbound Spirits

I must have hung around my house for weeks I should think. Once or twice I would go on the old trams. At first I was sort of all mixed up. But I used to have a laugh too sometimes. If the Corporation knew I was sitting in here and not paying my fare, they would say something. 

I began to realize that everyone sitting in that tram wasn’t paying their fare either. One of the very first conversations I had was with a woman sitting next to me. I thought she seemed very sort of nice and all that. And she started up a conversation. 

“What are you doing here?” 

I thought, ”That’s a fine way to open up a conversation.” So I said, “What do you mean what am I doing here? I might as well be here as anywhere else.” 

“I know,” she says. “But you ought to be doing something, not just going up and down in trams and buses and going worrying your wife. You can’t do anything that way.”  

“Well,” I said. “It’s all very well for you. But where do you go then?”

Of course, I realized that she was dead. I thought, “What’s she doing on the same lark as me?” 

“As a matter of fact,” she says,” I’ve been coming up and down in the trams and the buses with you for some time. But you probably never noticed me until just now. I’ve been waiting for a chance to try to give you a hand.” 

“What can you do,” I asked. 

“Well,” she replied, “Don’t you think it’s time you got away from these conditions? It’s only your thoughts that’s holding you down. You want to do more than this surely, then hanging about Earth. Nobody takes any notice of you. What’s the point of it?” 

“Well, some sense in that,” I says. “It’s true nobody takes any notice. But I find it’s better than sort of-well, not bothering at all. In any case I don’t know of anything else.” 

“That’s your fault,” she says. “It’s your state of mind that keeps you down here. If you was to release your thoughts and think about things of a higher thought and nature, you’d get away from all this. Of course, I understand it’s partly due to the way you passed, the suddenness of it, and the thought vibrations of your wife and mother, and one or two others holding you down. But you ought to get away from all this. You come with me.” 

Ted’s Helper brings Him to the Spirit Realm

“Well, where are we going?” 

“Oh, I’ll take you. Don’t you worry.” 

“Well, shall we get off at the next stop?” 

“What do you mean, get off at the next stop,” she says. ”It’s not necessary to wait and get  off at the next stop. We can get off whenever we want to, once you’ve made up your mind.” 

“I don’t understand that.” 

“You should know more by now,” she says, “that although you can get in a bus and sit on the bus and get off at the stop and get on at the picking up place and all that, you don’t have to. You don’t have to do what everyone else does. You are only doing things out of habit. You’ve got to get out of those habits and realize now that these things are unimportant, and by the mere thought you can transfer from this condition.” 

“Well, I don’t know.” 

“Look,” she says, “Here’s my hand. You hold my hand, just close your eyes, and try not to think of anything in particular. Just make your mind a sort of blank.” 

So I did as she told me. I found it a bit hard. I don’t know how long we must have been before we got off. I must have lost consciousness. The next thing I knew I was sitting in a very nice arm-chair opposite this lady in a very nice little parlor. Very nice, very pretty. There was a nice rug on the floor, and a wonderful feeling of light and warmth, what I thought was the sun shining through the windows. Everything looked spick and span. The table was nicely laid out. It was just as if I had gone somewhere for afternoon tea. I thought, “Where am I now?” 

“I’ve brought you here,” she said. “You’ve realized now you’re in my little room.” 

“Oh,” that’s very nice of you. I don’t know what my wife would think of me for sitting in a strange woman’s home!” 

“Ah,” she laughed. “You shouldn’t think like that now. That’s far away from you. Now will have a nice chat and a nice cup of tea, and I’ll explain things to you.” 

“That’s very nice of you dear.” 

“Oh, by the way,” she says, “I’d like you to know that I’ve been here for many years. I came at the turn-of-the-century.” (1900) 

“Oh yes,” 

“Yes,” she says. “And I’m living with my mother.” 

“Oh, are you?” I says. “Where is your mother now?” 

“She’s out.” 

“Does she go to work?” 

Deceased Children Grow Up in Heaven

She laughed: “I suppose you could call it work, but not work in the old way. My mother was a hard-working woman went on Earth. She used to take in washing and was always doing something. Now she goes to a place where she looks after children because she was always fond of children. Little children who died in infancy or when they were very young, and she helps to bring them up and look after them. She loves that work. She’ll be back soon. So, we will have a cup of tea.” 

Ted has a Cup of Tea in Heaven

I thought, “That’s funny. I wonder if I’m going to taste it. When I used to go to my wife’s place and they were having a cup of tea, I used to think I’d like a cup of tea, but of course I could couldn’t pick up the cups, and I suppose I wouldn’t have tasted it.” 

“Oh you will here,” she said, “because you are in an entirely different atmosphere. You are in your natural conditions now, so everything around you will be natural and real. You have this cup of tea, dear, and you’ll taste it. It will taste just the same as tea you have on Earth. 

So I tasted it, and it was. 

“Well, isn’t that nice?” 

“Yes,” I says, “it’s very nice. But who’d have thought” I couldn’t help laughing– ”What would people on Earth would think of us sitting up here having cups of tea! They’d think we were crazy.” 

“People just don’t understand,” she said. “Here, according to how you get on, and as you progress, so you find things there for your needs. If, when you first come, you feel it’s necessary to have this or that, it’s provided for. But it’s only a temporary thing until you’ve adjusted yourself to the fact that you don’t need those things. I don’t normally have tea or anything like that. But since you were a guest in my house and you’re getting gradually accustomed to things, I thought it would help you.”  

“That’s very nice of you,” I said. “You shouldn’t have gone to the trouble.” 

“Oh no,”she said. “No trouble. It’s part of my work.” 

“Work?” 

Ted is Told that He was an Earthbound Spirit

“Oh yes,” she says. “I make it a habit of going down to Earth if I can help someone like you who was an Earthbound.” 

“What did you say?” 

“Earthbound.” 

“Earthbound?” 

“Yes, that’s what you was, poor dear. You was tied down to the Earth because of your state of mind and your thoughts. You couldn’t release yourself. And that is part of my job, to help people release themselves from material things. I’ve traveled up and down that tram many a time with people because I used to live in that town many years ago. I’m doing my little bit. Thousands and thousands of people do that, you know, and I’m only one of them.”

Alf Pritchett’s Experience of Death in WW I and of the Afterlife or Heaven: A First Hand Account through the Direct Voice Mediumship of Leslie Flint

Article by: Walter Semkiw, MD

Source: Communication from the deceased in this case was facilitated through the direct voice mediumship of Leslie Flint. George Woods and Betty Green were present during tape recordings of Flint’s mediumship sessions and they asked questions of the deceased, who spoke in their own natural voices. Neville Randall reviewed these recordings and summarized the dialogues in his book, Life After Death. Dialogue in the article provided below has been slightly edited to make it more concise.

To learn more about the mechanism of communication with the deceased, go to: Leslie Flint and his Direct Voice Mediumship

Session of 11/4/60: Alf Pritchett describes his Death in World War I and his Existence in the Afterlife:

The Death of Alf Pritchett

Scene: Trenches of WW I in Belgium

“My name is Alf Pritchett. It must have been 1917 or 18. We were under heavy bombardment all day. Then in the early morning we were given the command to go over the top.

‘Well,’ I thought. ‘This is it boy.’ And I must admit it took all I’d got to really get myself over the top.

I was running forward. Some of the Germans were coming towards me. They rushed past me as if they didn’t see me! I thought, ‘God, this is it.’

But instead of them attacking me or in any way taking any interest in me, they rushed straight past me!

I thought, ‘Well, Good Lord! I can’t make this out at all.’

Alf Doesn’t Realize that He was Killed

I went on. I can remember running and running and I thought, ‘Well, if they’re not going to see me I’m certainly not going to bother about them. I’m going to get into a little cubby hole somewhere and get out of it.’

I remember getting into a hole created by a bomb. I got into this hole and just crouched down and thought, ‘Well, I’ll wait until this is over and hope for the best, I might get taken prisoner. Who knows?

I was lying there thinking to myself, ‘Well, it’s damn odd they didn’t see me. They must have seen me. Yet they went straight past.’ And I started to think about it. And I thought, ‘Well, I don’t know.’

Alf’s Deceased Friend Billy Smart Escorts Him to Heaven

I don’t know how long I was in that hole. I thought I must have fallen asleep. I thought I should have felt stiff having slept in a bomb crater but I was not uncomfortable at all. I felt light as a feather

The next thing I knew is that I saw a bright light in front of me. It was as if the whole place was illuminated, so dazzling I could hardly look at it.

I saw the outline of a shape or figure appearing that gradually took shape. It was a human being full of luminosity. I recognized the person as an old friend who had been killed months before, whose name was Billy Smart.

IISISReincarnationResearchTunnelofLight72CI went towards him as if I was drawn like a magnet. Billy looked wonderful, full of vitality and life with a wonderful color on his face. As I got near him it dawned on me that he was dead.

He sort of held out his hand. I felt a bit daft in a way because I knew it’s natural to shake hands, but there was me in a dugout shaking hands with someone who was dead. It put me in a cold sweat and I thought, ‘Well, what’s going on here? I must be dreaming or something.’

I could hear him speak and he says: ‘All right, nothing to worry about. You’re all right mate. Come on.’

Anyway, I got hold of his hand and suddenly there was us sort of a floating–I can’t say I was doing anything else but floating with my feet off the ground–going gradually higher and higher as if everything was getting further and further away.  And I could see in the distance down below the battlefields, the guns and the lights and the explosions. The war was obviously still going on. And I thought: ‘Well, this is the most peculiar dream, this is.’

Alf Enters a Luminous City

The next thing I remember was sort of gradually coming in sight of what appeared to be a big city. It was luminous. It is the only way I could describe it. The buildings had a sort of glow about them.

Anyway, to cut a long story short, I suddenly felt my feet touching the ground again. Most peculiar. It felt solid. I remember walking on what appeared to be a long avenue, and on each side were beautiful trees, and between every other tree or so there was a sort of statue. And on the sidewalk people were going about in a most peculiar sort of dress.

They were looking as they might have been Romans or Greeks or something you see in pictures. And there were beautiful buildings with pillars and beautiful steps leading up to them. Mostly flat-roofed, by the way. I don’t remember seeing any roofs or gables like one sees in England. And this sort of glow coming from them. All sorts of people there were, and horses.

Billy Informs Alf that He is Dead

Bill was talking away at me. ‘Of course, You know what’s happened to you?’

‘What’s happened to me? All I know is that I am having a good time here. It’s better than being down there in that lot. I shall be sorry to wake up.’

He says, ‘Don’t worry. You aren’t going to wake up.’

‘What do you mean, I’m not going to wake up?’

‘You’ve had it, chum.’

‘What do you mean I’ve had it?’

‘You’re dead.’

‘Don’t be silly,’ I says, ‘How can I be dead? I can see all that’s going on around me. I can see you. But I know you died some months ago. You may be dead, but I’m dreaming.’

‘No you aren’t. You really are dead.’

‘What?’ I says, ‘’You don’t mean to tell me this is heaven?’

‘Well, not exactly. But it’s an aspect.’

Billy brings Alf to a Reception Center

Anyway, to cut a long story short, we went up this nice, very pleasant road in this beautiful city, and we came to a sort of hill. And right in front of me I could see what looked like a beautiful building. ‘What’s that place?’

‘Oh,’ he says. ‘You’re going there to meet some of your old friends. That’s what we call a reception center.’

‘A what?’ I says.

‘Like a kind of a hospital.’

‘Well,’ I says, ‘I don’t want to go to a hospital. There’s nothing wrong with me. I’m all right. And in any case I can’t get this at all.’

‘Don’t worry,’ he says. ‘Don’t tax your brain too much at the moment. It’ll come to you later. Just relax and enjoy yourself.’

‘Well,’ I said. ‘I’m doing alright. It’s a darn better than being down there.’

So we got to this place. We went in. There were all sorts of people there. But what struck me as odd was that they were dressed much the same as many people I had known, the way I used to dress myself. Suits and that sort of thing.

I never seem to remember seeing the Sun, yet there seemed to be plenty of light. And big windows. And people sitting around talking. There were tables and chairs. I didn’t see any beds, and I thought this is a strange hospital, yet it isn’t a hospital I suppose.

The Deceased can Enjoy Food in the Afterlife

Everyone seemed to be quite bright and cheerful. Some were talking, and others were eating, and that struck me. I thought, ‘Well, I’ve got him here. He says this is part of heaven. They shouldn’t be eating. So I says, ‘Look. They’re eating over there.’

‘Ah,’ he says. ‘What you don’t realize is that when you come here, you feel it’s essential to do certain things. If you feel it’s essential to eat and drink, you can.’

I sat down around a table with several other blokes.

‘Just arrived?’ they says.

‘Yes.’

‘We heard you were coming,’ says one.

‘What do you mean? You heard I was coming? You don’t even know me.’

‘Well, that’s what you think,’ he says. ‘We have our scouts out, you know. Helpers. I was helped in the same way. I’ve only been here a short time myself.’

‘Oh,’ I said. ‘Settling in?’

‘Yes. Very nice. Much better than what they used to tell us down there, isn’t it?’

‘Tomorrow,’ he added, ‘I’m going to see my grandparents.’

So I says, ‘Oh, where are they?’

‘I’ve been told, they,’ he says, ‘that they’re on this plane, as they call it here, but further out. I’m being taken there.’

‘Very nice. Who’s taking you there?

‘My guide.’

‘Guide?’

‘Yes. There’s a nice fellow here. Like one of the stewards I suppose you’d call them. And he’s found out a little about my background and my people and he has been given the job of escorting me. By the way, did you notice when you came here how odd it was? How light you felt? The sort of floating feeling?’

‘Yes, it did feel a bit strange.’

‘Well, that’s the way we’re going. We’re not going to walk. We’re sort of going to…I suppose some people would call it flying. You seem to have taken to it all right.’

In the Afterlife, You Judge Yourself

‘What else can I do?’ I says. ‘You’re told you’re dead. The best thing to do when you’re dead, I should think, is to follow instructions and behave yourself. After all, you never know who’s going to be judging you and all that.’

‘Ha,’ he says, “No one judges you. From what I can make out, you judge yourself. Since I’ve been here, I’ve been reflecting. Going back a bit on the old past, and wondering and thinking about things. The only thing is to judge yourself. After all, it’s your conscience. I’ve got one, and so have you, I bet. We all have.’

‘As far as I remember,’ I says, ‘the only thing I ever really did wrong was drowning the cat. Oh, and once I had a pint of beer and never paid for it because there was a crowd in there, and forgot about it and never offered it. I don’t see anything terribly wicked about that.’

‘You’ll be alright,’ he says. ‘Don’t worry.’

‘I’d like to go back,’ I says, ‘and see my people, and see how they are getting on. I wonder if they’ve heard about me being dead?’

‘If you want to go back,’ he says, ‘it can be arranged. One of those fellows who is in charge here can probably arrange it. Of course, it’ll only make you miserable, I should think. Because they don’t take a blind bit of notice of you. And then what? You can go back and knock on the wife’s door. Or you can go and bang on the old parson’s door, and he won’t take a bloody bit of notice of you, because he’s blind as a bat like the rest of them.’

Alf meets his Sister Lilly, who Died before Alf was Born

Eventually the time came when this friend who’d brought me here came over to me and says: ‘I want to show you something.’

So I says, ‘All right, mate,’ and I went with him.

He took me down a street. Past very attractive houses with little balconies and beautiful flowers. Down to the end of the street and out into a big square. With a big fountain playing in the middle. I could hear music. Smashing, wonderful music. And I thought, ‘This is real nice.’ It reminded me of the old days when I used to sit in the park and listen to the band.

We sat down on a little bench under a beautiful tree.

‘You’ll find this restful,’ he says. ‘You just sit there, I’ll leave you for a little while and come back to you.’

I sat there with my eyes closed listening to the music. Then, all of a sudden, I had a feeling there was someone sitting next to me. I opened my eyes and looked and there was a beautiful lady. Beautiful blonde hair she had and looked about nineteen or twenty. I was really taken aback.

She called me by my name. I thought, ‘Well that’s funny, she knows my name, but I don’t know her!’

‘Are you finding it nice here?’ she asks.

‘Very nice,’ I says. ‘Thank you miss.’

‘You don’t have to call me miss. Don’t you know me?’

‘No. I don’t know you.’

‘My name is Lilly.’

‘Lilly? I don’t know any Lilly.’

‘That’s not surprising, in a way. I’m your sister. I died when I was an infant.

‘Golly, I says,’ I remember my mother talking about a little girl who died when she was only a few days old. But you can’t be her. You’re all grown up.’

‘That’s right,’ she says, ‘I’m your sister. I died as an infant and I’ve grown up over here.’

‘Well, it beats me.’

‘I’m going to look after you now that you are here. I’m going to take you home.’

‘Home?’ I says.

‘Yes, home.’

‘Oh.’

She took me out of the square down a broad avenue, lined with trees. We branched off, went down a slope and out into the countryside. Gradually we arrived at a small cottage. The nearest thing I’d seen to cottages at home in England. She stopped at a small place with its own garden with a little gate, a porch and a door. Plenty of lovely flowers, I noticed.

We went in. Off a little passage was a little room, all very cozy and comfortable. Nice chairs. No fireplace.

‘I see you don’t have fireplaces here,’ I said.

‘No,’ she said. ‘We don’t need fireplaces because it’s always warm and pleasant.’

‘That’s nice isn’t it. You don’t get any rain?’

‘No, we don’t have any rain. But we have dew sometimes.’

We sat there talking. About my mother and father and brother that I still had on Earth. She said she often went to see them, and me when I was on Earth, from infancy. She’d been with me all through the war years. She couldn’t–wasn’t with me when I died. But she got everything ready for me, knew I would be coming and that I’d be brought.

I thought, ‘Oh, this is nice.’ Then I thought, ‘Well, I don’t know, it’s strange.’ But I settled in and stayed with my sister. And perhaps I’d better come another time and tell you more about it.

‘I’m told my time is up. I must go. Bye, bye.’

Alf Prichett and Billy Smart are Identified through Military Records

Neville Randall researched British war records to try to see if he could confirm the identities of Alf Pritchett and his friend, Billy Smart. Neville was successful. Their identities are provided below:

Alf Pritchett, Private 9023, Machine Gun Corps, killed in 1971, buried in Potijze Chateau Lawn Cemetery, which is 1 mile from Ypres, Belgium. A link to the battle in which Alf was likely killed is provided below:

Battle of Ypres

William (Billy) Smart, Private 20394, Machine Gun Corps, killed in 1916 near Arras, France.

Note: In the childhood past life memory case involving James Leininger, little James also reported that after he, as his past life persona, James Huston, Jr., died in a plane crash during WW II, three of his fellow aviators, who had died before Huston, welcomed him in heaven. Bruce Leininger, the father of James, was the principal investigator of his son’s case. Bruce was able to identify these three aviators specifically. To learn more, please go to:

James Huston, Jr. | James Huston Reincarnation Case