Did A Near-Death Experience Make A New Age Prophet of H.G. Wells?
by John Chambers Did H.G. Wells, the author of The Time Machine and the inventor of modern science-fiction, have a near-death experience (NDE) that altered his perception of reality and forever influenced the type of fiction he would write? There is no indication anywhere in his autobiographical writings, or in the numerous books about him, that Wells had such an experience. But, as a schoolmaster at The Holt Academy, in Wrexham, Wales, in 1886, Wells did, when he was not quite 21, nearly die as the result of a rugby accident. Eight years later, he abruptly began to write the unique brand of “scientific romances” for which he is best-known, beginning in 1894-95 with The Time Machine. A year later he wrote a short story, “Under the Knife,” which is clearly about a near-death experience. Though not recognized as such by the critics, Wellsís short work of scientific romance, “The Door in the Wall,” written in 1906, may also be read as an account of an NDE. Remarkably, this latter story co
