Close to the moment of death, apparitions of deceased friends and loved ones appear to escort the dying to the other side. It is a phenomenon that is more common than you might imagine.

Deathbed visions are not just the stuff of stories and movies. They are, in fact, more common than you might think and are surprisingly similar across nationalities, religions and cultures. Instances of these unexplained visions have been recorded throughout history and stand as one of the most compelling proofs of life after death.

Anecdotes of deathbed visions have appeared in literature and biographies throughout the ages, but it wasn't until the 20th century that the subject received scientific study. One of the first to examine the subject seriously was Sir William Barrett, a Professor of Physics at the Royal College of Science in Dublin. In 1926 he published a summation of his findings in a book titled Death Bed Visions. In the many cases he studied, he discovered some interesting aspects of the experience that are not easily explained:

It was not uncommon for the dying people who saw these visions to identify friends and relatives who they thought were still living. But in each case, according to Barrett, it was later discovered that these people actually were dead. (Remember, communications then wasn't what it is today, and it might take weeks or even months to learn that a friend or loved one had died.)
Barrett found it curious that children quite often expressed surprise that the "angels" they saw in their dying moments did not have wings. If the deathbed vision is just a hallucination, wouldn't a child see an angel as it is most often depicted in art and literature - with large, white wings?
More extensive research into these mysterious visions was carried out in the 1960s and 1970s by Dr. Karlis Osis of the American Society for Psychical Research. In this research, and for a book he published in 1977 titled At the Hour of Death, Osis considered thousands of case studies and interviewed more than 1,000 doctors, nurses and others who attended the dying. The work found a number of fascinating consistencies:

Although some dying people report seeing angels and other religious figures (and sometimes even mythical figures), the vast majority claim to see familiar people who had previously passed away.
Very often, the friends and relatives seen in these visions express directly that they have come to help take them away.
The dying person is reassured by the experience and expresses great happiness with the vision. Contrast this with the confusion or fear that a non-dying person would experience at seeing a "ghost." The dying also seem quite willing to go with these apparitions.
The dying person's mood - even state of health - seems to change. During these visions, a once depressed or pain-riddled person is overcome with elation and momentarily relieved of pain... until death strikes.
These experiencers do not seem to be hallucinating or to be in an altered state of consciousness; rather, they appear to be quite aware of their real surroundings and conditions.
Whether or not the dying person believes in an afterlife is irrelevant; the experience and reactions are the same.

I was at my mother in laws bedside for the last 6 hours before she died....there was nothing like this.
But in fairness i did read somewhere that the instances of this have decreased because people nowadays are more likely to be doped up with morphine and less likely to be conscious at the moment of death....this was the case with my mother in law ,so theres no way of knowing if people in this state experience anything like this !

Yes. I do believe that our beloved ones do come to escort us into the afterlife.
When my great grandma was on her deathbed and my grandma was with her, my grandma says that a white dove came to the window still of my great grandmas room and wouldn't leave. Then about 5 minutes later, my great grandma passed away and at that moment the white dove flew away. I like to believe that was my great grandfather taking her 'home'.
As most may know that my grandmother passed away about 2 weeks ago (post:goodnight grandma) Since then my grandfather, who needed my grandmother, (his caretaker) keeps talking about when she is coming to get him to take him 'home.' Last night, he said that he seen her in the hallway and that the time is coming when he can come home too.

my uncle was with my grandmother the night before she died. She had brain cancer and had previously had several strokes. We knew she was not long for this world. She couldn't speak, could barely move. That night my uncle was with her and she turned her head and looked at him and clear as day said to him "Can you see them?" He said "See who Connie?"

She replied: "Otis and Bonnie" (My grandfather and mother respectively). "They want me to come with them"

My uncle said "Maybe you should go with them." She just smiled and didn't say anything else, she died a few hours later.

I totally believe she saw my mom and grandfather. They were waiting for her, to take her with them to a better place.

Oh angel of mercy, that story is so sweet and sincere. I too, believe that it was your grandfather and mother showing her the path to the afterlife. It makes the thought of death not so scary, cause we do get to see the ones we loved and lost but never forgotten. It is miraculous that she spoke and even moved her head when she couldn't before, they must have given her the strength to speak and move for her last moments.

I do believe in visatations at the end of our life. In Nov 2001 my Mother was crossing the veal of life, I took care of her in my home with Hospus of KY.
Mama would spend time talking full conversations with other members of our family whom had already passed on I wached enough to reolise the conversations was real, she never spoke to any name of a living relative only the dead ones. I think they was helping her cross over.
I will never view Life or death in the same way I did before Mamas Passing ever again. I find that Life has miny phassets as a Diomond dose.

yeh i do believe that loved ones are there when ppl die.

it is similar with my grandfather

personally i tiknk it is the same with me once. i sufficated and there was a bright white light, no tunnel then a feeling of somthing saying go back, i felt it was feminime but i dont know who it was because i was 5 at the time. anyway the bright light started to fade and started to go dark then went pitchblack then came to the normal vision (colour vision u know what i mean). i duno what it was but it was strange

My grandmother owned and operated a funeral home which also provided the only ambulance service in a very large (area-wise) county. I worked for my grandmother all through high school and college, and it was common knowledge that when an ill or injured individual began talking to, or seeing, dead relatives, he wasn't going to make it.

There are several theories about this phenomenon with some scientists attributing it to the "dying brain." However, I once witnessed something that convinced me the presence of the spirits of deceased friends/relatives is real. A lady who attended the Episcopal Church literally drenched herself in Shalimar perfume (which, incidentally, gives me a headache). Consequently, I always made sure I did not sit close to her in church. She was so well-known for her scent that when the lady died, her daughter came to the funeral home and sprayed Shalimar on the wrists & neck of the corpse.

Several months following the lady's death, her 17-year-old grandson was involved in a motorcycle accident and we were called to the scene. After getting him into the ambulance, the seriously-injured young man began talking to a classmate who had drowned the previous summer and his grandmother. Ordinarily, this would not have been unusual but when he looked up and said "Nanna," his name for his grandmother, the entire ambulance was suddenly permeated by Shalimar perfume, so much so that by the time we got to the ER, I had a terrible headache. The driver also smelled the perfume so I know it wasn't my imagination.

My mother past away a few years back I was able to witness her leaving this world and have not feared death since. In the final stages of cancer she had sliped into a coma for about a week with little hope of recovery.
On her last day myself and my two brothers arrived at the hospital room at the same time wich only happened the one time. She awoke from the coma as if nothing was wrong and began to to talk to us in her usually witty irish way. I am sure she was unable to see through her very sick eyes. She spoke with us individually than slipped back into the coma.
In a few minuets her breathing became laboured and we called for the nurse. She awoke again and looked at us with tears in her eyes then glanced over to the corner of the room I do not know what or who she saw but suddenly her face brightened into a child like smile, like a kid at Christmas total surprise and happiness. She turned back to us for just one more look with tears again. Then back to the vision in the corner of the room and smiled and left us.
I felt for sure she had left with someone who came for her, and was very happy to go with them.

whoa
I've got hairs standing on the back of my neck from reading these posts.Thanks to all of you for contributing to this thread....it really makes you think.

I agree this is all very fascinating and well comforting.


Such beautiful stories.

I truly hope that this is the way it will be when you die.

Seeing those again you love that have died.

My Aunt died exactly one year ago this month.
My mom and her were very close, and she was like a second mom to me.
She fought many years with a lung desease, before it finally got the best of her and took her "away" from us.
My mother sat beside her bed those last few days and told me what my aunt had said only a day before she passed away. (They were alone in the room.)
My mother said my aunt had woke up earlier and they sat there talking about this and that. (My aunt had a hard time breathing with her lung desease so alot of the times her words didn't come out right.) When all of a sudden my aunt looked towards the foot of her bed and asked my mom, "Who's them?" My mom said she looked at the foot of the bed to see who my aunt was talking about, and when she saw no one she asked," Who are you talking about sis?" My aunt pointed her first two fingers out (like a "V") and said, " Them. Who's them?" My mom looked again and saw no-one but before she could say anything, my aunt was looking at the foot of the bed, she smiled and said, "Oh!" And asking whoever stood at the foot of her bed, "Who he?" as she pointed now only one finger. Then she said, "Oh, ok!" My aunt then looked at my mom and said, "It ok." My mother replied with, "It's ok?" And my aunt was smiling at her then smiling at her "visitors" at the foot of the bed, that only she could see, and said, "Yeah, it ok." Then after a little bit my aunt said she was tired, so my mom told her not to worry that she would stay there with her and be there when she woke back up from her nap.
Right before my aunt rolled over to sleep, she told my mom, "Night." Then she looked at the foot of her bed and said, "Night-night Eddie." (My Uncle Eddie, which was their brother, died 19 years ago.)
We're still not clear on who the other person was that stood there, we have our ideas. But the one thing we're positive about is, along with someone else my aunt knew, there was my Uncle Eddie who stood at the foot of her deathbed, to help comfort his sister and "walk" her "home."

Its just an illusination. The mind is shutting down and lack of oxygen makes you see things, also the drugs you may have cause the same effects.

Some people have a sense of calm about them as they die. its because the brain is losing its ability to sense enviornment and its just what happens when you're brain dies. There is plenty of research on this.

But the same thing you're talking about happened to many people in my family that died.

its purely the a brain thing. Unfortunatly

Nope, don't believe that.
My Aunt's experience happened a little over 24 hours before she passed away.
And just before she saw her "visitor's " standing at the foot of her bed, she was coherent, and talking to my mother.

I've read the theories that deathbed visions are as whoa182 put it, "a brain thing,” but if this is the case, why doesn't the dying individual hallucinate visions of the living as well as the dead? As I said in an earlier post, while working as an ambulance attendant (there weren’t any EMTs in rural America back then), I witnessed numerous deaths but not once, did the person dying "hallucinate" the presence of someone living—only the dead.

There was a post done earlier on another part of the forum. its a new article, and relates to this topic.

Check it out here : http://news.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=4442005

Yeah i read that...it proves nothing does it ?
For instance could he describe the surroundings or even whats in the rooms above ? like many classic obe's can.Also who's to say that by this stimulation he really didnt have an obe ?and if he did where does that leave him coz a real obe can be proved to show that one is literally not in the body ...there are well documented scientific trials on this..check it out on google.
I'm prepared to go with the family bringing you home theory ,not because i'm gullible but everything i've learned points to it being true.I'm currently reading a channelled description of the afterlife by Geraldine Cummins ...written in the early 1900's (before any of this was ever even known about) and in it it's stated that family members often retake their old form to help and meet earthly family ready to pass over.I'll post a link to this free book if any one wants it.

Its healthy for everyone to read Science as well as religious/spirtual views on things.

Gives you a more accurate picture. I hate it when person ignores science and falls for religion. its lazy .

Totally Totally agree whoa182 believe me i'm probably the least spiritual person i know...on this one though i have listened to both sides many many times and i come down on the side of the relative theory.
As has been mentioned

why only close dead relatives ,why not living relatives or giraffes for that matter ?.
Why is it the same for all cultures even though all cultures are different with different values, traditions and life experiences ?
Why is the experience the same even though the illnesses differ enormously....someone above wrote their relative had brain cancer...shouldnt their experience have been something else again ? i think so !
The science explanation of the brain is shutting down just doesnt do it for me in this case......

From Victor Zammits book
This makes the case better than i ever could

20. Deathbed Visions


'A new idea is first condemned as ridiculous and then dismissed as trivial, until finally, it becomes what everybody knows.'

William James


All through this century there have been books published detailing the observations made by doctors and nurses of dying patients. Sir William Barrett, Professor of Physics at the Royal College of Science in Dublin published a little book called Deathbed Visions in 1926. In it he noted that:


• Many times at the moment of death people would see a friend or relative at their bedside whom they thought was still living.


• In all cases when it was checked out, the person they saw had died before them without their knowledge.


• Dying children often expressed surprise that the angels they saw waiting for them didn't have wings.


In the 1960's Dr Karlis Osis of the American Society for Psychical Research did a pilot study of deathbed visions which was later verified across several different cultures. His finding were:


• The most common type of vision was of people who had died before them.


• Bedside visions were usually of short duration, five minutes or less.


• The dying patients stated that the visitor had come for the

purpose of taking them away.


• Belief in the after-life has no significance on the frequency or the kind of apparition seen.


• The majority of patients in the study had not received drugs which could cause hallucinations.


In 1977 Dr Osis and his colleague Dr Erlenddur Haraldsson published At the Hour of Death. This book extended the original study and included reports from over 1000 doctors and nurses in India as well as the United States. In all it reported on the deaths of more than one hundred thousand people. These studies were all found to correlate well with the pioneering work done over a period of 30 years and reported in the several works of Dr Robert Crookall of England.


According to the information provided to him by medical personnel:


• Only ten per cent of people are conscious shortly before their death.


• Of this group one half to two thirds have near death visions.


• These visions take the form of apparitional visits of loved ones, glimpses of the next world and medically inexplicable moods of elation.


Dr Melvin Morse claims that the French historian Philippe Aries has documented that before 1000AD the dying would tell of visions of God and of seeing those who had died before them. He complains that today patients who have such visions are treated for 'anxiety' with narcotics and Valium, both of which erase short-term memory and prevent patients from remembering any visions they might have had (Morse 1993:60). He also claims that about ninety per cent of people who die in hospitals are 'heavily sedated, endlessly resuscitated and medicated' and that doctors see deathbed visions as a problem to be medicated away (Morse 1993: 63).


In his book Closer to the Light — Learning from the Near-Death Experiences of Children, Morse puts forward the view that deathbed visions are 'a forgotten aspect of life's mysterious process' and that they can have a wonderfully comforting and healing effect on both the dying patient and the family (1993:65). He recounts several cases where dying children began to see visions of the afterlife during the last few days of their lives. They described amazing colors and beautiful places and deceased relatives whom they sometimes had not known existed.


Not hallucinations


Dr Osis himself began with the supposition that these experiences were simple hallucinations caused by the biochemical effects of a dying brain. However, after investigating, he became convinced that these experiences were so extraordinary and so convincing that they could not be explained by the physical condition of the patient or by the medication they had been taking.


There are many cases on record with the British Society of Psychic Research where the apparitional visitor has been seen by others at the bedside of the dying person, sometimes by several persons simultaneously.


• In one well documented case a deadbed apparition was seen by the dying woman, Harriet Pearson, and three relatives who were caring for her (Journal of the Society for Psychical Research Feb 1904: 185-187)


• In another case of a young boy dying, two witnesses independently saw his recently deceased mother at the child's bedside (Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research, Volume 6 p.20 )


Deathbed visions are consistent with and support the other evidence for afterlife. Of those who will experience conscious death, fifty to sixty percent will experience a vision of the afterlife.


The importance of deathbed visions


In his book 'Parting Visions' (1994) pediatrician Melvin Morse argues that:


• Family members who know about the visions of the dying are known to spend more time at the dying person's bedside. This factor alleviates much of the guilt they might feel after the death.


• Spiritual visions empower the dying patients making them realize that they have something to share with others.


• Spiritual visions remove all fear of dying in the patient and are enormously healing to the relatives.


• They can prevent burnout on the part of medical personnel


• If attended to they can dramatically reduce wasteful medical procedures that are often painful to the patient. He claims that 30-60% of the American health care dollar is spent in the last few days of a person's life and 'most of it is spent in irrational procedures that do nothing to prolong life.' (Morse 1994:136)


Carla Wills-Brandon M.A, Ph.D. Psychologist, counsellor and author of six published books became interested in deathbed visions when her own son had one when he was just 3 years of age. Visited by an other worldly creature who shared that he was there to take his grandfather with him, left her son confident his "Da" was all right. In her book One Last Hug Before I Go: The Mystery and Meaning of Death Bed Visions, she not only examines the research of Barrett and Osis, but also takes a look at many recent experiences.

Her conclusion are:

that science cannot explain this phenomena,
DBVs have been with us since the beginning of time,
these experiences point to an after life existence and
we have an awful lot to learn from them.
Carla is conducting on-going research on deathbed visions and wants to hear from people who have had one. To contact Carla Wills-Brandon click here click here.


To learn about the ongoing research work at the University of Virginia on deathbed visions click here.

I think it would be great if when you died you had some friend or family member that has passed on waiting for you to take you to the light or whatever as I'm sure dying is traumatic enough and having someone there to gude you would be very helpfull indeed. These are just my opinions, wether it actually happens or not, we may never know, not til we die anyway, and if thats the case we cant exactly tell other people.
Think it's another one of those things that you can't prove or disprove, but i might be wrong.

first of all,my heart goes out to all the members here who have lost loved ones.if you look at it through "human"eyes,what better way to go.i would feel comfortable knowing someone i loved came for me and i would always be with them.no more tears or heartaches.thanks.

Awwwwww, that's sooo sweet.

I have worked in the caring field for a long time and have been there when people have moved on, they have often called out that someone was there and have often said that they are ready to go because of this, i dont believe the theory that it is only the brain shutting down that makes this happen because it dosnt explain why they would see these dead relatives a month before they pass as they often do.
working in this field i have felt death happening as the person dies, i suppose holding there hand when they pass makes me connected. Also many people i have worked with have seen these spirits or Angels appear just before a person dies and this is even if the person dying does not see them so this puts the mind shutting down theory to a bit of a test because they obviously were still fully alive and this happened to non belivers as well as believers, some people even left the job due to this sort of thing happening.

Those who believe death bed visions are real are right, this is exactly what happens.
I believe scientists say things like that because they have no proof and also they don't want their contemporaries to know that they have no scientific explanation.

I would like to say if you are healthy and a Relatives appears to you they may just be paying a visit and you shouldn't.

And in fact these relatives at times may visit a patient when they are ill or having critical surgery and they may see them but in that case they are there just in case the surgery or whatever isn't successful and sometimes if the person who was critical recovers after seeing them they just turn and go back to the Spirit World until another family crisis appears and they are always on and to comfort and or escort someone to the Spirit World if things don't work out right

In some cases we can't always assume the ill patient is going to pass over they may be just in a very critical condition and there are Angels standing by just in case.

I totally agree and as i said before i have and many i have worked with have seen this for themselves , even non believers have said so.

Hi guys , good post, with some great backwards and forwards discussion, I was wondering this:

There has been a heap of really "positive" reports on people passing over, I was wondering if anyone has any reports of not so pleasent experiences, what I am getting at is I personally believe that a "veil" if you will, has been lifted from our physical eyes to another realm and that only happens at the final moments, well has anyone heard of people seeing stuff that they really did not want to see when there time is called?

The ones that had sent me b4 my birth. I think it will be me with other persons that died close proximity to my Death. Jesus?………sure I guess. It will be surprising.

Maybe, I would finally know Everything, even it’s Hell or Heaven. I think I am going to Purgatory....


Of course this thread will never know on what will happen after Death.

Actually on this Forum is every answer you ever wanted to know about Spirit Communication and Life after Death, and this particular thread here is one of the best ones that I have read in my opinion.

Loved ones do come for us, and they take us to the After Life and show us the ropes and help us deal with and adjust to our deaths.

And although I know this and I have been Channelling for spirit for more than 20 years there is some things I am not supposed to know until I myself die and so no one as yet has explained what Heaven looks like and or Hell and they have not told me specifically where these two places are located although I have mentally explored the Universe and I can't as yet figure out where these things are specifically located.

When I ask they say some things you are not meant to know until you yourself pass over and so for now be happy that you can communicate with the Spirit World and be happy that I have shown you the Book of Life and showed you things in technicolored films which takes you back in time and have given you looks into the future.

Just wanted to write that and to say there is truly life after death although I can't show you the things I have seen, and I can't give you a provable picture of a Ghost and I don't have any recordings of them speaking to me.

But anyone who wants more knowledge could start with the local Spiritual Church, where they teach us how to communicate with the Spirit World and let us connect with those we know beyond the veil of death if that is what you want to do of course.

In the hours before he died my uncle was in and out of consciousness, but when conscious he was completely lucid and talking to us all. About 3 hours or so before he passed away he told us that my grandmother was there in the room. He said she had come to guide him Home. We believed him, but a couple of days later, at his daughter's wedding it was to be proven to all of us. In one of her wedding photos you can clearly see the spirits of both my uncle and my grandmother standing at the alter with my cousin. They stayed long enough to be at the wedding and then their spirits moved on. I have posted about this in more depth on UM before. Anyway......all this to say I voted "Yes".