People who say they have visited the afterlife challenge everything we understand about death. If death is the great equalizer, how and why are some victims able to come back from death while others are not? In Destination America’s all-new series PROJECT AFERLIFE, a team of investigators motivated by their own experiences with pulling victims back from the grave – including a paramedic, an ordained minister, a retired state trooper, and an investigative filmmaker – launch an unprecedented quest to unlock the mysteries of resurrection with help from real people who say they have gone through it. PROJECT AFTERLIFE premieres Sunday, August 9 at 10/9c on Destination America.

Each episode follows the team as they investigate two stories of the most fascinating contemporary cases of resurrection across America. Survivors were in the prime of their lives when an accident or sudden illness led to their untimely deaths, only to inexplicably return to life. Through cinematic recreations and first-person interviews with survivors, PROJECT AFTERLIFE explores the mystery of resurrection while bringing viewers up close and personal to the experience. Hear directly from survivors about the moment they realized they were dead, what – and who – awaited them on the other side, what it felt like to die and come back, and how it changed their lives afterward.

“People have wondered about resurrection for all of mankind, but modern reports in America have our team of investigators looking at it in a whole new light. They’re on a mission to unlock its mysteries with an exploration into more cases than anyone has ever researched before,” said Marc Etkind, general manager of Destination America. “For fans of ghost and mystery programming, PROJECT AFTERLIFE offers a new take on the genre that’s full of curiosity and hope that there is life after life after death.”

In PROJECT AFTERLIFE, the investigation team pours through case files, examines medical records, and visits key locations in each case to better understand these documented experiences by survivors. Interviews with doctors and family who kept vigil bring investigators one step closer to understanding resurrection by revealing key patterns in the surrounding circumstances, such as loved ones always holding the victim’s left hand during prayer.

The investigators who have researched more cases of resurrection than anyone else before are:

· Johnny Clark, investigative filmmaker – Johnny is the visionary storyteller behind the groundbreaking 2013 documentary Deadraiser, which examines the ability of humans to raise the dead. Since the film’s release, Johnny has continued investigating resurrection cases increasingly coming to light in the U.S. with an investigative team comprised of other people who share his passion for unlocking clues about how the supernatural phenomenon works.

Jesse Birkey, paramedic – Jesse’s job frequently puts him on the frontlines of death, but everything changed one day in 2009 when he took part in a resurrection after praying for the patient to come back to life. Jesse has since continued to mix prayer and medicine in his professional duties and wrote a book, Life Resurrected: Extraordinary Miracles Through Ordinary People.

· Rodger Frievalt, ordained minister – Once a skeptic of all things supernatural, Rodger became so inspired by reports of modern-day miracles that he left behind a successful career in sales and marketing to become a full-time minister and healing evangelist. Since finding his calling, Rodger has witnessed sight being restored to the blind and a brain dead woman coming back to consciousness, strengthening his desire to heal the sick and cast out demons.

· Sam Wagner, retired state trooper – After completing his enlistment in the United States Marine Corps, Sam was a member of the North Carolina State Highway Patrol for more than 15 years. While on duty in July 2008, he witnessed the resurrection of an infant as the child laid dead in his arms. Then in June 2012, he watched his nephew return from the dead following a drug overdose. Sam’s life has been forever altered, and he believes that we all have the power to bring people back from the other side.

In the premiere on Sunday, August 9 at 10/9c, Jesse and Johnny investigate the medical phenomena of two resurrection cases. Jesse travels to Palm Beach, Fla., to meet Jeff Markin, who died from a massive heart attack. What Jeff saw in the afterlife, and what unfolded in the hospital while he was dead, is beyond medical explanation. World renowned cardiologist Dr. Chauncey Crandall called his time of death after resuscitation attempts failed, but he ultimately played a role in Jeff’s resurrection after feeling an overwhelming urge to pray at Jeff’s bedside. Meanwhile in Crystal Lake, Mich., Johnny meets with Darnisha Taylor, whose husband discovered her drowned to death in a lake following a scuba diving accident. Was it her ability to make conscious decisions in the afterlife that saved her, or did her husband and his paranormal encounters bring her back to life?

PROJECT AFTERLIFE is produced for Destination America by Screaming Flea Productions with Bechara “Bicha” Gholam, Dave Severson, and Mike Kelly as executive producers. For Destination America, Fay Yu and Christine Shuler are executive producers, Marc Etkind is general manager, and Henry Schleiff is Group President.