When Doctors Near Terrace, New York City Witness the Impossible

What sets Physicians' Untold Stories apart from other books about unexplained phenomena is its source material. In Terrace, New York City, New York, readers are recognizing that Dr. Kolbaba's collection doesn't rely on anonymous tips or unverifiable claims—it presents the experiences of identifiable physicians who are willing to stand behind their accounts. This commitment to transparency is what earned the book praise from Kirkus Reviews, a 4.5-star Amazon rating, and over 1,000 reviews from readers who value authenticity. For a community like Terrace, New York City, where trust matters and hype is easily detected, this book's quiet integrity is its greatest selling point.

Dr. Scott Kolbaba

About the Author

Dr. Scott J. Kolbaba, MD is an internist at Northwestern Medicine in Wheaton, Illinois. He interviewed more than 200 physicians about their most extraordinary experiences.

Book cover

Physicians' Untold Stories

by Scott J. Kolbaba, MD4.5 stars (1018 reviews)

Miraculous experiences doctors are hesitant to share with their patients, or ANYONE!

Order on Amazon →

Meant to awe, instruct, and inspire — stories that will convince even the harshest skeptic. — From the introduction to Physicians' Untold Stories

🔬

Medical Fact

Human hair grows at an average rate of 6 inches per year — about the same speed as continental drift.

Physician Burnout & Wellness Near Terrace, New York City

Physicians practicing in Terrace, New York City, New York work at the intersection of modern medicine and experiences that resist explanation. In conversations that rarely leave the break room or the on-call suite, doctors in and around Terrace, New York City have reported encounters with phenomena that their training never prepared them for — from patients who describe verifiable details about events that occurred while they were clinically dead, to deathbed visions shared simultaneously by multiple family members, to recoveries that defy every prognostic model available.

The medical community in Terrace, New York City includes physicians across every stage of their careers — residents navigating the exhaustion of training, mid-career practitioners balancing clinical demands with family life, and veteran physicians carrying decades of experiences that challenge the boundaries of conventional medicine. Burnout touches all of them differently, but a common thread runs through: the desire to remember why they chose medicine in the first place, and the rare but profound moments that remind them.

Physician Burnout by Specialty

Percentage reporting at least one symptom (Medscape, 2024)

🔬

Medical Fact

Patients who laugh regularly have 40% lower levels of stress hormones compared to those who rarely laugh.

Near-Death Experiences Reported by Physicians Near Terrace, New York City

Transplant teams at Northeast medical centers near Terrace, New York City, New York occasionally encounter a phenomenon that NDE research may help explain: organ recipients who report memories, preferences, or personality changes that seem to originate from the donor. While cellular memory remains speculative, the consistency of these reports across unrelated patients and transplant centers suggests something worth investigating.

Dr. Sam Parnia's AWARE study at NYU Langone placed visual targets on high shelves in resuscitation bays—images only visible from the ceiling. The implications for medical practice in Terrace, New York City, New York are profound: if even one verified case of a patient accurately reporting these targets during cardiac arrest holds up, the relationship between brain function and consciousness must be fundamentally reconsidered.

🔬

Medical Fact

Walking 30 minutes per day reduces the risk of heart disease by 19% and the risk of stroke by 27%.

Physician Wellness, Grief & Finding Meaning Near Terrace, New York City

The Northeast's medical conferences near Terrace, New York City, New York bring together physicians who, for a few days, step outside the relentless pace of clinical practice to remember why they chose medicine. The best conferences aren't about the latest drug or device—they're about the case that changed a physician's perspective, the patient who taught a lesson no textbook contained, the moment when medicine became something sacred.

The history of East Coast medicine is a history of firsts: the first medical school, the first hospital, the first vaccination campaign. Physicians in Terrace, New York City, New York inherit this legacy of innovation, but also its burden. The pressure to advance, to publish, to break new ground can obscure the fundamental act of healing—which is, at its core, one human being paying careful attention to another.

💡

Did You Know?

Approximately 65% of all emergency department visits in the U.S. occur during evenings, nights, and weekends.

Faith, Medicine & the Unexplained in Terrace, New York City, New York

The tradition of visiting the sick—bikur cholim in Judaism, the corporal works of mercy in Catholicism—creates a volunteer infrastructure near Terrace, New York City, New York that supplements professional medical care. Faith communities that organize meal deliveries, transportation to appointments, and companionship for homebound patients provide a social determinant of health that no hospital can replicate.

The intersection of old-world faith and modern medicine is nowhere more visible than in Northeast hospitals near Terrace, New York City, New York, where Catholic nuns established many of the region's first charitable care institutions. These religious women were the original nurse practitioners, combining spiritual comfort with physical care in a model that modern integrative medicine is only now rediscovering.

Reader Ratings Distribution

Based on 1,018 Goodreads ratings

💡

Did You Know?

The first medical journal, Le Journal des Sçavans, was published in France in 1665.

New York City: Where History, Medicine, and the Supernatural Converge

New York City's supernatural history is as layered as its streets. The island of Manhattan was considered sacred by the Lenape people, who believed certain areas held powerful spirits. In the 19th century, the city became a hotbed of the Spiritualist movement, with famous mediums like the Fox Sisters performing séances in parlors across the city. The notorious Five Points neighborhood—once the most dangerous slum in America—is said to be haunted by victims of its violent past. Washington Square Park was built atop a potter's field containing an estimated 20,000 bodies, and visitors have reported ghostly encounters there for decades. Hart Island, the city's public burial ground since 1869, holds over one million unclaimed dead and is widely considered one of the most haunted places in the United States. The New York Public Library's main branch is reportedly haunted by the ghosts of its benefactors.

New York City has been at the forefront of American medicine since the colonial era. Bellevue Hospital, established in 1736, introduced the nation's first ambulance service in 1869 and its first psychiatric pavilion. The city was home to the first successful open-heart surgery using a heart-lung machine, performed by Dr. C. Walton Lillehei's colleague Dr. John Gibbon's techniques refined at NYC institutions. During the 1832 and 1849 cholera epidemics, New York's medical community developed quarantine practices that shaped modern public health. The city also played a pivotal role in combating the 1918 influenza pandemic and later became a global center for HIV/AIDS research in the 1980s. Today, NYC's medical district houses more than 70 hospitals and some of the world's most advanced research facilities.

💡

Did You Know?

Dr. Kolbaba often emphasizes that the book is not about proving the existence of God but about sharing authentic physician experiences.

Watch Dr. Kolbaba Share These Stories

📖

About the Book

The book has sold particularly well in communities dealing with grief, terminal illness, and existential questions about death.

Notable Locations in New York City

Bellevue Hospital: America's oldest public hospital (est. 1736) is said to be haunted by the spirits of patients from its psychiatric ward and morgue, with staff reporting apparitions in the tunnels connecting buildings.

Merchant's House Museum: This 1832 Federal-style rowhouse in the East Village is considered Manhattan's most haunted building, with visitors and staff frequently reporting the ghost of Gertrude Tredwell, who died there in 1933.

Kings County Hospital: Brooklyn's historic hospital, opened in 1831, has long been reported as haunted by nurses and patients who describe shadowy figures and unexplained sounds in its oldest wards.

The Dakota Building: This iconic 1884 apartment building on Central Park West—where John Lennon was killed in 1980—has been the site of numerous ghost sightings, including reports of a little girl with a ball and a figure resembling Lennon himself.

Bellevue Hospital Center: Established in 1736, Bellevue is the oldest public hospital in the United States and a pioneering institution in American medicine, having created the first maternity ward, established the first ambulance service, and opened the first psychiatric ward.

NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital: Formed in 1998 from the merger of two historic institutions—New York Hospital (founded 1771) and Presbyterian Hospital (founded 1868)—it is consistently ranked among the top hospitals in the nation and is affiliated with Columbia and Cornell medical schools.

Mount Sinai Hospital: Founded in 1852 as Jews' Hospital, Mount Sinai became a world leader in medical research and education, known for pioneering work in cardiology, geriatrics, and genomics.

📖

About the Book

He was named "Top Doctor" in Internal Medicine by Chicago Magazine and a Castle Connolly Top Doctor.

Medical Heritage in New York

New York has been the epicenter of American medicine since the colonial era. The Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, established in 1767 as the medical faculty of King's College, is the oldest medical school in the state. Bellevue Hospital Center in Manhattan, tracing its origins to 1736, is the oldest public hospital in the United States and pioneered America's first ambulance service in 1869, first maternity ward, and first cardiac catheterization. NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, formed by the 1998 merger of Columbia-Presbyterian and New York Hospital-Cornell, consistently ranks among the top hospitals in the world.

The state's contributions to medicine are staggering in scope. Dr. Jonas Salk developed the polio vaccine at the University of Pittsburgh but was born and educated in New York City, and the first mass polio vaccinations took place in New York in 1955. Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, founded in 1884, became the world's preeminent cancer hospital. The New York Blood Center pioneered modern blood banking. Mount Sinai Hospital, founded in 1852, was one of the first hospitals to accept patients regardless of race, religion, or ability to pay. Upstate, the University of Rochester Medical Center and the Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center in Buffalo have made foundational contributions to ophthalmology and oncology respectively.

Reader Ratings Distribution

Based on 1,018 Goodreads ratings

📊

Research Finding

Compassion training programs for healthcare workers reduce emotional exhaustion and increase job satisfaction within 8 weeks.

Supernatural Folklore and Ghost Traditions in New York

New York's supernatural folklore spans from the colonial legends of the Hudson Valley to the urban ghost stories of Manhattan. Washington Irving's 1820 tale of the Headless Horseman was inspired by real Dutch colonial ghost stories from Sleepy Hollow (then called North Tarrytown), and the Old Dutch Church and Sleepy Hollow Cemetery remain pilgrimage sites for those drawn to the legend. The Morris-Jumel Mansion in Washington Heights, Manhattan's oldest surviving house (built 1765), is reportedly haunted by Eliza Jumel, whose ghost has been seen in a violet-colored dress; students from a nearby school fled in 1964 after reportedly seeing her apparition.

The Dakota apartment building on the Upper West Side, where John Lennon was murdered in 1980, has a long pre-existing reputation for hauntings dating to its construction in 1884. Residents including Lennon's widow Yoko Ono have reported seeing Lennon's ghost in the building's hallways. In the Adirondacks, Skene Manor in Whitehall—built in 1874 by Judge Joseph Potter—is haunted by the ghost of his wife, whose body he reportedly kept sealed in a vault beneath the house for years after her death. Rolling Hills Asylum in East Bethany, originally a county poor house opened in 1827, is considered one of the most haunted locations in the Northeast, with over 1,700 documented deaths on the property.

📊

Research Finding

Cold water immersion for 11 minutes per week increases dopamine levels by 250% and improves mood for hours afterward.

Haunted Hospitals and Medical Landmarks in New York

Old Bellevue Hospital Morgue (Manhattan): Bellevue Hospital's old morgue in the basement of the original 26th Street building processed thousands of bodies over more than a century. Morgue workers over the decades reported bodies that appeared to shift position overnight, unexplained temperature drops, and the sound of whispered conversations in the cold storage rooms when no living person was present.

Kings Park Psychiatric Center (Long Island): Kings Park operated from 1885 to 1996 on over 800 acres of Long Island. At its height, it housed over 9,000 patients. Building 93, a towering 13-story structure, is the most investigated site—paranormal teams have recorded shadow figures, disembodied voices, and inexplicable cold drafts in the abandoned wards. The facility's history of lobotomies and insulin shock therapy contributes to its dark reputation.

What makes these accounts remarkable is not just the events themselves, but the credibility of the evidence-based physicians who reported them.

Physicians' Untold Stories

How This Book Can Help You

New York, home to the greatest concentration of hospitals and physicians in the nation, from Bellevue to Memorial Sloan Kettering, is a place where the sheer volume of clinical encounters makes the kind of unexplained phenomena Dr. Kolbaba describes in Physicians' Untold Stories statistically inevitable. The intensity of New York medicine—where residents at institutions like NewYork-Presbyterian see more death in a month than many rural doctors see in a year—creates conditions ripe for the extraordinary experiences Dr. Kolbaba, trained at Mayo Clinic and practicing at Northwestern Medicine, has carefully documented from physicians who dare to share what they've witnessed.

Community organizations near Terrace, New York City, New York that host author events and speaker series will find this book sparks conversation across professional and personal boundaries. When a physician stands before an audience and says, 'I can't explain what I saw, but I saw it,' the room divides not along political or religious lines but along the more fundamental question of what we're willing to consider possible.

Physicians' Untold Stories book cover — by Dr. Scott J. Kolbaba, MD

Reader Ratings Distribution

Based on 1,018 Goodreads ratings

Dr. Kolbaba, a Mayo Clinic-trained internist, spent three years interviewing physicians who came forward with experiences they had never told anyone.

Physicians' Untold Stories

Free Interactive Wellness Tools

Explore our physician-designed assessment tools — free, private, and educational.

Other Neighborhoods in New York City

Nearby Cities

Explore Other Countries

Related Reading

Frequently Asked Questions

Discover the Stories Medicine Never Says Out Loud

Physicians' Untold Stories by Scott J. Kolbaba, MD4.5 stars from 1018 readers.

Order on Amazon →

This page contains approximately 2,009 words of unique content.

Physicians' Untold Stories by Dr. Scott Kolbaba

Amazon Bestseller

The Stories Medicine Never Told You

Over 200 physicians interviewed. 26 true stories of ghost encounters, near-death experiences, and miraculous recoveries that will change the way you think about life, death, and what lies beyond.

By Dr. Scott J. Kolbaba, MD — 4.5★ from 1,018 ratings on Goodreads