Charlotte Holmes tells of heavenly visit on Fox News show


Mammoth resident Charlotte Holmes appeared Tuesday, Jan. 24, on the “Jesse Watters Prime Time” show on Fox News to tell her story about her 2019 near-death experience. The story recounts how, while Charlotte was hospitalized following a mild stroke, her heart stopped, and during resuscitation efforts, she visited heaven. For convenience and technical reasons, a videographer from Kansas City broadcast Charlotte's interview from the Times office in Gainesville.

Mammoth resident Charlotte Holmes was a guest Tuesday evening on the Fox News program "Jesse Watters Prime Time," briefly summarizing a near-death experience that happened to her in September 2019, when her heart stopped and, during resuscitation efforts, she visited heaven. 

Since then, Charlotte's story, which was first published in a story in the Dec. 25, 2019, edition of the Ozark County Times, has been repeatedly retold and republished in print, broadcast and online media. In addition to speaking in churches throughout the country, she has told her story on the Dallas-based Daystar Christian broadcast network, which broadcasts globally, and it was reprinted last fall in Guideposts magazine, which reportedly has a circulation of two million subscribers. 

Most recently, Charlotte's story was posted by an unknown person on TikTok, a social media outlet Holmes has never used, and there it was apparently seen by someone on Fox News anchor Jesse Watters' staff. 

She was contacted Monday about appearing on Tuesday night's show. According to online sources, Fox News at times has as many as 1.7 million viewers. The network sent a videographer from Kansas City, who, for convenience and technical reasons, met Holmes at the Times office in Gainesville. The videographer spent three hours setting up the equipment and adjusting sound and lighting for the remote broadcast, Charlotte said.

Except for an earpiece that let her hear the program, "I couldn't see the show, and I didn't know anything about what was on before my part," Charlotte said. Then, shortly before she was to go on at the end of the show, she was told, "We're running long. You'll have two minutes."

Jesse Watters introduced her and asked some quick questions. Charlotte replied with short answers, "but I didn't really get to tell the story," she told the Times afterward. 

Still, before she and her husband, Danny, made it back home to Mammoth about 9 p.m., she was hearing from viewers around the country who had seen her segment. "I've heard from people all over the place – California, Maine, Arizona," she said. In addition to phone calls, many contacted her through Facebook Messenger, she said.  

One of her favorite calls came from a 10-year-old South Carolina girl, who called with the help of her mother, a nurse. "She asked grown-up questions. I am blown away by her," Charlotte said. The girl's mother told Charlotte her daughter, Ainsley, had been interested in heaven for a long time. "I want you to know, she's writing this down as you talk," the mother said.

Ainsley's first question was, "Are there animals in heaven?" 

Charlotte replied that the Bible says "everyone in God's creation is in heaven."

"That's fine," Ainsley said, "but can I pet them?"

Charlotte couldn't answer that question specifically, but she assured Ainsley, "Heaven's fun. Children are laughing."

Ozark County Times

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