They are people just like everyone else. Who walks around saying "I don't ever tell lies?". That would probably be a lie

This view of atheists is childish.
Many people are fooled by many things. Having a near death experience means nothing. "The Amazing Randi" thought he had an out of body experience even though he doesn't believe in them.
He had to think about it before he realized what had actually happened. He thought he rose out of his bed and could observe the bedroom from the ceiling. He described it to his family. He described the patterns of the sheets on his bed and several other things.
It seemed real until someone pointed out that the things he described weren't in his room on that particular night. He owned those things and therefore those images were in his brain but they weren't in his bedroom on that night.
That's the way it works with our brains. We can think an experience was real when it was not.