Here's another one for Ripley's Believe It Or Not. According to publisher and translator Michael Cassidyne of Kelowna, Vassily Solitsin (a fictitious name given to a real person to protect the identity of his son) grew up in Russia before and during the Russian Revolution.

"After narrowly escaping from the hands of Soviet persecutors bent on turning the vast country into one huge 'torture chamber,' he immigrated to Canada in the 1940s, where he recorded his incredible and shocking afterlife experiences in the form of a Russian-language manuscript in 1954."

Cassidyne's promotional material states he was approached by the author's son (name withheld) in 1993 when Cassidyne was attending University of Victoria. Cassidyne, who has since gained a Master's degree in political science, was shown a manuscript, written in Cyrillic and shabbily-bound, that apparently arose from Solitsin's horrific experiences in 1931 after he was captured for attempting to reach Iran.

Tortured and imprisoned in an underground cell by Russian State Security Police, Solitsin was left to die without food, water or medical attention. He died for three days.

The out-of-body experiences he describes in the text led him to the revelation that there is no death. "I had no knowledge of Russian so I was a bit baffled,"; Cassidyne has recalled. He learned Russian in order to translate the memoir and he has now created his own publishing enterprise to market it. There is no way to substantiate the claims of the text or the true identity of the person who wrote it.

The man dubbed Vassily Solitsin apparently died-for a second time-in 1987. Possibly he'll be reborn for a sequel. Through Hell, to Heaven & Back! by Vassily Solitsin; translated by Michael Cassidyne (Professional Image Design $21.95).
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