We categorized each account across 17 types of religious experience. Most accounts contain more than one type. Percentages show how often each type appeared across all 2,080 accounts.
These 17 categories are not mutually exclusive. A single account might describe a vision, a divine communication, and a healing, all within the same event. The percentages below reflect how many of the 2,080 accounts contained each type, not the number of experiences in total.
A felt sense of God, the sacred, or an ultimate presence, not seen or heard, but unmistakably sensed. People describe being enveloped, surrounded, or accompanied by something immeasurably greater than themselves. The presence is often described as both awesome and warmly personal.
The experience or perception of light, sometimes a brilliant radiance filling a room, sometimes an inner illumination that seemed to emanate from within or from no physical source. Consistently described as unlike any ordinary light: brighter, warmer, more alive. The light often carries qualities, love, knowledge, peace, rather than being merely visual.
The sense of receiving a message, guidance, or revelation, through words heard, impressions felt, or direct knowing. Not always auditory; many accounts describe an inner communication that bypassed the ears entirely. The message is often specific and directly relevant to the person's circumstances.
A visual experience of a person, scene, symbol, or figure, whether fully waking, in a liminal state, or in vivid inner perception. Visions may involve figures described as divine, angelic, or deceased, and carry a quality of reality that distinguishes them from ordinary imagination or dreaming.
The dissolution of the boundary between self and the sacred, an experience of unity, oneness, or merging with God, nature, or ultimate reality. Often described as the deepest knowing possible, beyond thought or language. The separateness that ordinarily seems fundamental to existence temporarily falls away.
The experience of receiving a tangible response to prayer, a healing, a provision, a circumstance that arrived precisely when needed, or a communication that directly answered what had been asked. These accounts emphasize the felt correspondence between the asking and the receiving.
The sense of being kept from harm, steered away from danger, or led toward the right path by a power beyond oneself. Some accounts describe physical protection from accidents or violence; others describe a more subtle guidance that redirected a decision at a critical moment.
An encounter with someone who has died, a communication, a presence felt or seen, or a vision that brought comfort, information, or a sense of completion. These accounts often occur in the context of bereavement and are described as clearly distinct from grief or wishful thinking.
Religious experience triggered by or expressed through the natural world, a sudden sense of the sacred in landscape, light, or living things. Hardy himself noted the particular frequency of nature experiences in the archive. The ordinary world becomes transparent to something beyond itself.
An experience that decisively transformed the person's relationship to God or faith, not a gradual shift but a clear turning point. The person before and after are described as different in fundamental ways: different orientation, different understanding, different sense of what matters.
The sense of leaving one's physical body and perceiving the world from outside it, sometimes from above, sometimes from a distance. Occurs in both illness contexts and spontaneously. People consistently describe perceiving their own body as an object while remaining fully aware and conscious.
A direct meeting with a divine figure or being, more personal and interactive than divine presence alone. The person experiences themselves as seen, addressed, or changed by a specific encounter rather than an ambient presence. Often described as the most real experience of the person's life.
A religious or spiritually significant dream that the person considered revelatory, prophetic, or transformative, clearly distinguished from ordinary dreaming by its vividness, clarity, and lasting impact. Many dream accounts include content that was later confirmed or that decisively altered the person's course.
Knowledge of a future event before it occurred, received in a dream, vision, or sudden knowing that was later confirmed. These accounts often include specific details that were verifiable after the fact. Precognition accounts are among those most likely to include a veridical claim.
A healing of physical, emotional, or psychological condition attributed to divine intervention, prayer, or a direct act of grace. These accounts describe healings that were unexpected, rapid, or otherwise unexplained by ordinary means, often confirmed by medical assessment or the testimony of others.
Accounts that include the classic features of a near-death experience: a sense of leaving the body, moving toward or through a light, encountering the deceased or divine figures, a life review, and a return, often reported as the most significant event of the person's life.
The experience of serving as an instrument of healing for another person, through prayer, laying on of hands, or simply being present. The person did not claim to possess healing ability but rather to have been used as a channel for something beyond themselves. Often described with a sense of surprise.