56 Comments

• redhand32 | Apr 13, 2011, 11:36 AM EDT

  In 2007 I was told I had "died" briefly in the ICU shortly after unsuccessful brain surgery after this pesky tumor. I do remember seeing a vision of all my major creditors including the strapping bartender from my local shouting hysterically , "Pay up. you worthless lay about!" It was then that I awoke terrified beyond the beyond.

• warrenpoint00 | Apr 11, 2011, 08:42 PM EDT

  My father told me that when my grandfather died six fat rats came out from the hay barn into the front yard,they stood up on their back legs and crossed their front legs as if in prayer.My dad was not sure if they were giving thanks that he had gone on or praying for the repose of his soul.

• irishpjk | Apr 10, 2011, 12:44 AM EDT

  I have not told this story to many people, and don’t really know how to explain it. In April 2002 I had chest pains, went to the emergency room. I was admitted and they said I was after having a heart attack. I was taken for an angina-gram and they put in three stents, I was recovering in cardiac ICU and was half asleep when I saw my deceased father and his brother come in the room. My uncle said is he dead and my dad picked up the sheet at the foot of the bed looked at my feet and said his toes are not tied. In Ireland in the old days as soon as you died they tied your big toes together, it looked like my dad was thinking of doing that and I was thinking they were sent to get me. I was wide awake in a hurry and was all alone in the room. Did I dream it, or was it the medicine? Or could it be something that was part of dying and it just was not my time.

• bkindred | Apr 08, 2011, 03:31 PM EDT

  My mother in law recently passed. The evening of her passing she ask who the lady was that was sitting in the corner chair. We didn't know how to respond to this. I also had a cousin that was speaking to an unseen person and told them she was coming but wanted to see her mother first. After her mother arrived she passed.

• eddies1st | Apr 05, 2011, 07:28 PM EDT

  When my daughter was on her death bed in 2006, she was looking at the end of the sofa and smiling. When I asked her what she was smiling about and she said that her Godfather John came to visit. John had himself passed away a few years before.

• patriot | Apr 05, 2011, 01:41 PM EDT

  God bless all here. And all not here, too.

• sirpeter | Apr 03, 2011, 12:49 PM EDT

  Hallucinations can be very real when the body and mind is experiencing near death or death.Profound calmness and peace is very common too. Don't get to excited.It just means your brain is not getting the oxygen it needs.

• pacifist | Mar 30, 2011, 04:01 PM EDT

  Hallucinations presented as evidence? Only God can raise the dead. Jesus Christ the Son of God raised the dead and He Himself was raised by God the Father. The biblical accounts of the dead being raised are not confined to the New Testament. There are narritives in the Old Testament of the prophets praying to God for the dead being raised to life and it happened. God the Father used more than Jesus to accomplish these extraorinary events. In the Book of Acts there is a description of the apostle Peter doing just that. But the medical profession have never managed it and those in it never will.

• maloney | Mar 30, 2011, 01:56 PM EDT

  jacers...I like and agree with most of your posts. Your comments or attack on Pittsburghkid were uncalled for. I challenge you and say you have no right to, 1st, attack the kid over the name he has chosen to use, attempting to make him feel bad. 2nd, to tell him what he can and cannot say. 3rd, accuse him of trying to scare people on IC. 4th, not knowing all doctors do not treat the sick, some never see a sick person unless passing one on the street. and last, preaching, attempting to scare him with religion and what may happen to you if you don't do as you say. This tactic is not much different than muslims wanting to cut your head off because your not one of them. Save your preaching for the church. I'll worry about my own soul, you worry about yours. My soul is none of your business.

• Dublinjas | Mar 28, 2011, 11:06 PM EDT

  Great story jacersagain' About your wife seeing her dead father in Larne port, have heard similar over the years, there is no accounting for what makes things like this happen, but I believe they do happen, there are many things we don't know about or can explain,

• Dublinjas | Mar 28, 2011, 10:51 PM EDT

  Belief in Jesus sacrifice is not enough to be saved, the Devil himself believes in Jesus...He knows him well, When Jesus was asked by his Apostles, "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law" he answered them, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind." "This is the first and greatest commandment" And he who loves God keeps his Commandments, and keeps Gods Sabbath on the Seventh day as commanded not the First.

• jacersagain | Mar 27, 2011, 03:11 AM EDT

  < more.. > When God calls all of us back to His Dominion - His homes for all - belief in His Son’s sacrifice eases death’s pain like no earthly pain-killer can. No wonder so many die with a smile on their faces, being welcomed by a fore-gone relative or whatever or whomever. I pray you, Pittsburghkid, do too eventually, in less than three seconds of God’s time. Ask yourself: how long is one second in God’s measure of time, never mind that of the French ‘doctor’ you mention. (He couldn’t have been a doctor, given his probing of electrical nerves of dead bodies. Real Doctors heal; don’t prod.) Everybody knows that electricity exists; we have known it since before commercial enterprises made commercial profits out of it. Ask yourself if you believe in Christ and want His death’s pain relief. If you choose to reject Christ’s injection of Life ever-lasting, then you must know that you have everything to be frightened of. Pitts’ frightening practices has no whit or wig of a comparison to what those who reject Christ’s injection of eternally rewarding spiritual life could ‘enjoy’, facing God’s own revealed "alternative".

• jacersagain | Mar 27, 2011, 02:11 AM EDT

  @ Pittsburghkid and comments re French ‘Doctor’ - Erm, say... er, hear a bit, you the Kid from the borough founded and named after a wealthy British Whig man (Pitt) who frightened many into servitude... I challenge you and say you have no right to frighten people like you have with that last comment of yours here on ICental. One hopes that you never face death (which will surely come to you as it does and will to me and everyone else) over three days, or more, as many people, including soldiers from Pittsburgh who have died during the wars that they fought in safeguarding you, your family, your community, your State and your USA federal country’s constitutionally-given liberty to write as you have and posted on IrishCentral. > More >

• Pittsburghkid | Mar 25, 2011, 11:07 PM EDT

  People assume that death is a quick process, but it takes three day for the brain to die. A French Doctor trying to disclaim that cutting a persons head off produced instant death, found that death took three days. The Docter took a freshly cut head, and poke it with needles. The face would twitch for up to three days after having it's head cut off.

• frederic | Mar 25, 2011, 10:42 PM EDT

  Just before my Dad died he too came out of a coma and looking at the end of his bed smiled and said "Ernie"He was was referring to his younger brotherwho had beenkilled in the war

• McNamara31 | Mar 25, 2011, 08:08 PM EDT

  I just returned from a wake for a wonderful spirited 96 year old who was in great shape and sharp as can be till the end. At the wake I overheard his son telling relatives his dad had been seeing and talking to ghosts for the last few days while in the hospital. The son mentioned he thought it was end of life hallucinations, however now I really wonder.....I would love to believe he was met with the kindness of angels to assist him on his journey home.

• abeliever | Mar 25, 2011, 08:04 PM EDT

  My Dad died at the age of 93.His brain was working perfectly but he had become very stiff and unable to move or turn in his bed once his caregiver had put him to bed.My Mom found him in the morning sitting up with his right hand up.He had died peacefully but appeared to be sleeping. My Mom said that she had visited him before she went to bed and that he was lying down. The mystery is how did he get into the sitting position and appeared to be greeting someone. There was no sense of fear in his expression. He was never a complainer but that night on his way to bed with his walker he said "Mammy I am going to die tonight" and he was a man of his word, May he rest in peace.

• modemo44 | Mar 25, 2011, 06:51 PM EDT

  I almost drown when I was 14. Everything went to black and then a white light, reminding me of Jesus, starting coming toward me. I have never felt so wonderful and peaceful in my life. When the lifeguard's voice awakened me, I was furious. It had been so wonderful that I was sad to leave it. BTW, I was saved because my aunt who wasn't in view of the pond where I was swimming had a premonition and raced to the pond. Had she not had the premonition I would have drowned. So I guess I am supposed to be here.

• Deidra47 | Mar 25, 2011, 02:28 PM EDT

  I know reserachers have tried to say that these things that are seen by those impending death are due to the break down in the systems in the body that happen with death. I disagree as I put a lot of stock into Dr. Moody's work with children who have life threatening illnesses that have experienced NDE's. These children essentially say the same things about what they did experience. These are children who have yet become tainted from life and religions. And lots of people aren't heavily sedated as they wait for death and when they are it is to help them cross over and in that statee, they are unlikely to be able to tell anybody anything. Deidra47 - R.N. retired

• Liamkeyes | Mar 25, 2011, 11:05 AM EDT

  It can be very difficult to accept all these experiences. Lots of people are heavily sedated when they are dying so that can have an effect on the individual's thinking and mindset. Of course there are lots of stories that can't be explained.

• irishathens | Mar 25, 2011, 07:56 AM EDT

  Since the age of 11 I have known there is something. My baby sister aged 2 was in a coma on machines in hospital (she had bronichal pnuemonia). She suddenly sat up opened her eyes, smiled at something I could not see at the bottom of her bed and raised her arms and died. Around about that time my sister saw a lady sitting on my bed and told my Mother. That evening we were all told that if in our dreams someone wanted us to go with them we were to refuse. Years later I questioned Mom and she said she knew about such things because when she was young she had seen lots of people around a dying Aunts bed when nobody else could. She then saw her aunt going with them.

• Towngate | Mar 25, 2011, 07:49 AM EDT

  "JACOB'S LADDER" - A wonderful film; deals with this subject brilliantly. But please don't watch it if you are in a 'flaky emotional state' Niall,a Chara! ~ Nice set of Comments on this piece. ~ Thanks.

• curranart | Mar 25, 2011, 06:31 AM EDT

  Nail I think its about time you updated this web site so that people can get emails from it,when people respond to other peoples remarks, a bit like LinkedIn.com.

• haikued2 | Mar 25, 2011, 03:56 AM EDT

  Why do people have to talk about them? This same phenom has been seen/recorded many times over the years. Believe what you might, but out of body experiences are fairly common...those who don't believe in them and don't want to believe in them say it is bunk or psychosis or whatever, but humans seem to have a spiritual side most often called a soul and in the multiverse theory there may be room for that "other" worldliness being experienced.

• semperfidelis | Mar 24, 2011, 09:43 PM EDT

  Interesting article, Niall

• jacersagain | Mar 24, 2011, 08:55 PM EDT

  (...more) We two, before our children arrived, had spent a week’s driving holiday together in beautiful Scotland and, on returning, were aboard a ferry ship as it tried to berth in Nth Ireland’s Larne Port, during a raging sea storm. The sea swells were so bad that the ferry was forced to sail up and down outside the port for about 2 hrs in sight of the berthing dock until it was safe to do dock. Although it was stormy, it was clear and sunny and my late wife and I spent some time enjoying the sun’s warmth at the ship’s rails, mildly amused at the situation. It was just after 2pm as we looked down at the berthing dock, when she suddenly turned to me and said in total surprise “There’s Daddy!” I saw a shocked look on her face because her father was working hundreds of miles away in Ireland’s Cork City. That he should be in Larne to meet us was something of a surprise: no such arrangement had been made between us at all. I looked but could not see her father and said so. She said “But he’s there! Look! He’s waving to us!” and she waved back with a stunned but delighted smile on her face, yet I couldn’t see her dad. We docked eventually, debarked, she still amazedly hopeful and expectant to see her Dad – but no Daddy in sight. We drove on to Dublin - my wife still not convinced but quietly stunned at not seeing her father at Larne - to my own sister’s house as arranged previously. About 8pm, my sister’s house phone rang (no mobile phones back then). It was my wife’s sister, looking for her (the sister knew we were due off the ferry at my own sister’s home as arranged) with news that their Daddy had died suddenly at his work desk, just after 2pm that very day.

• jacersagain | Mar 24, 2011, 08:48 PM EDT

  (...more) He told me that he saw a wide dark tunnel with a very bright light at the narrow end of it and our deceased Mammy standing clearly colourful in the narrow bright light, smiling (as me bro said) "the same lovely smile, y'know the one, all delighted and welcome arms that she’d give us as we came all came home from school?". In his own words he went on to say (Dublin accent) “Then I was floating just below the ceiling in the (IC) room... Lookin’ down acha’, I could see ya sitting beside de bed, leaning over an’ shoutin’ inta me ear, me with tubes in me nose and lots of tubes with needles stuck in the arms... An' I heard ya shouting an’ I looked back to the tunnel, waved to Mammy... bur' I don’t remember anymore after that. But I can still see Mammy at the end of the tunnel”, he said. That’s my brother’s story. >>> To this day, I don’t know which he would have preferred... he had two more bad accidents afterwards: being struck by lightning while up a ladder and falling off, breaking his hip... and another one, on a London Bus that made him and others fall when it jolted to a sudden stop, which broke the leg with the broken hip. He walks with a bad limp these days, but laughs and jokes as he always did as a young man and we will meet again (barring anymore ‘accidents’!) soon. >> Now my wife’s story... is weirdly different (more...)

• jacersagain | Mar 24, 2011, 08:39 PM EDT

  CitizenWhy’s post is a great lovely one to read. Thanks for the sharing, because like others, I can associate with it in a way. >>> I’ve had two remarkable experiences, one NDE and one (kinda) DBE - not of my own, though some might wish! I’ll share both in these posts – this one from my brother’s perspective. Some years ago, at the age of 24, living in London, he was knocked down by a car there, seriously injured and placed in Intensive Care (ICare). The rest of us family members in Ireland, notified of impending death, rushed by ferry and car to his bedside (before the days of cheap air flights). My father and my sisters (our mother was RIP) were so distraught at the sight of him dying that they left after a while but I stayed in the ICare room with him. I prayed silently for him, crying a bit. Now and again, I broke from my prayers and spoke normally to him, though he was sedated. Then a sudden moment of frustration hit me and I, for no reason that I can explain, alone in the room with him, shouted loudly at him saying “(his name) No! You’re too young to go!” My shout brought nurses outside the IC room running in. They ushered me out quickly and frantically went to work on him. He recovered. A year later, my brother told me of his NDE – (more...)

• McNamara31 | Mar 24, 2011, 08:28 PM EDT

  CitizenWhy ...Simply wonderful

• ellenfromcork | Mar 24, 2011, 08:13 PM EDT

  The reality is, we really don't know what's going to happen when we die. I hope it's something wonderful.

• snakehips | Mar 24, 2011, 05:43 PM EDT

  Very interesting, but some folks believe these DBE's are spiritual experiences, while some see them as some function of our brain based on the strain of illness or imminent death. Who knows, you would hope the former rather than the latter.

• guiseppe | Mar 24, 2011, 05:02 PM EDT

  We had a family friend who had a near death experience. He described the experience similar to those mentioned below. His Doctor, also a friend and Buddist by religion spent Christimas eve day with us. He said to us, "Ah your friend Doug, he died and went to what you call Heaven. I pronounce him dead, and he returned to us in the room 45 min. later". Our friend lived another 15 years. True story.

• antoman | Mar 24, 2011, 02:50 PM EDT

  @georgyboy-Trust you to show up wearing runners and expect to get in.Pats Sirpeter on the back and ushers him through."Try Protestant hell down the road.I hear they let anyone in there".

• feeneycj | Mar 24, 2011, 02:46 PM EDT

  Enjoyed the article.

• GeorgeDillon | Mar 24, 2011, 02:36 PM EDT

  I had a near death experience. I had pretty much passed away, walked thru the light, when I saw an extremely ugly and malodorous individual. It turned out he was guarding the entrance to Hell. His name was antoman. Horrified to contemplate an eternity with such a creature, with a huge effort I was able to return to life. I haven't commited a sin since, to the chagrin of a couple of girlfriends who now threaten to leave me.

• MMLeprechaun | Mar 24, 2011, 02:32 PM EDT

  Such experiences for either the gravely ill or the family should not be frightening! If we believe in a loving God and that death is only walking from one room to another, it stands to reason that same God would send a loving family member or close friend to accompany us in our final journey. I look forward to it!

• Collette2 | Mar 24, 2011, 02:32 PM EDT

  I have always maintained it is a priviledge to share the departing of one life into the next. Things that seemed important no longer relevant and the deep yearnings of the soul manifest themselves in so many different ways. I have found myself saying many times to those on that journey, it will be alright, wait and see, which sounds a little silly I suppose.. Reminding me of the song, When peace like a river attendeth....it is well it is well with my soul. Believer or not, it goes beyond the beyond, it is a comfort, wait and see.

• adolyn1 | Mar 24, 2011, 02:06 PM EDT

  Spooky. Whan my father was dying, he described walking up to the Pearly Gates and had the biggest smile on his face (with his high cheek bones the small was tremendous.) Dad died in 1996 but just remembering this still sends cold chills down my back.

• RobertM | Mar 24, 2011, 01:44 PM EDT

  I find it very interesting. Just before my Father passed he looked up to the corner of the room towards the ceiling and said Agnes is here to take me. Agnes was his sister who had passed a few years earlier.

• joan1954 | Mar 24, 2011, 01:31 PM EDT

  Several years ago shortly before my mother died, she said to me "I see my mother and Aunt Nora" Aunt Nora was like a grandmother to my mom while her own mom was the baby sister. While it was hard to lose my mom to non-Hodgkins Lymphoma, I was happy to see that her loved ones came to get her. I did hope that when my dad passed on five years later on Christmas Day that my mom was there to meet him as Christmas was her favorite time of year. For him to died on Christmas Day to return to my mom was a beautiful thing as he missed her so much.

• peterson | Mar 24, 2011, 12:53 PM EDT

  Praise the Lord !!

• Eileen123 | Mar 24, 2011, 12:28 PM EDT

  I believe all of these things and I also believe once we reach after life we are reborn

• antoman | Mar 24, 2011, 12:20 PM EDT

  There are no atheists in foxholes.Praise Jesus and pass me more ammo.

• jlhumpj | Mar 24, 2011, 12:06 PM EDT

  Quite simply, it is vivid proof that there really is life after death, contrary to what an athesist may want to believe. I could add almost 20 such experiences that, to me, really confirm there is a Heaven and a Hell (yes, there was one documented case by a Chattanoga, TN heart specialist I heard in a meeting, of a patient who saw "into" hell.)

• howareya | Mar 24, 2011, 12:00 PM EDT

  caramia, sorry for your loss. This article also is timely for me. My husband passed away 12 years ago to the day. I have since lost my brother, my mother in law, my sister in law(my best friend) and my aunt that I cared for. Kind of leaves a hole in your heart but experiences like these strengthens your faith that they are in peace.

• Niall O'Dowd | Mar 24, 2011, 11:48 AM EDT

  citizen why what a wonderful account.. my own mother i believe also saw long lost relatives in the room as she lay dying. she spoke to them

• NJIrishWitch | Mar 24, 2011, 11:19 AM EDT

  CitizenWhy - Thanks so much for sharing your story. It was beautiful!

• susanna | Mar 24, 2011, 10:56 AM EDT

  CitizenWhy - BEAUTIFUL!

• susanna | Mar 24, 2011, 10:55 AM EDT

  I have read and studied much about NDEs (near death experiences) Elizabeth Kubler Ross and others. Today, many call them "death experiences"because many have actually flat lined for over 5 minutes or more and "came back" perfectly normal (no brain injury due to lack of oxygen(, America has a new program on the BIO channel entitled "I Survived: Beyond and Back" in which people tell of their experiences after having flat lined for one reason or another (heart attack, car accident, drowning, etc.). One woman was "dead" for over an hour and came back perfectly normal to tell of her experience. These people are very credible and are backed by their doctors, friends and family members. It give new meaning to religious views on what really happens when we die!

• NJIrishWitch | Mar 24, 2011, 10:48 AM EDT

  These experiences are true. I have been with my mom, dad, and my mother-in-law during the transition from this life to the next and all had some type of vision or experience that they knew it was time to let go. These stories only increase my faith in the thought of "an afterlife" whether it is with God and his Angels or a higher plane.

• CitizenWhy | Mar 24, 2011, 10:33 AM EDT

  At the nursing home where my Irish-born mother spent her last few months, she woke up and told the Indian-born nurse: "Get my family. This is the day I will die." Most of us lived at a distance, but my brother lived nearby and went. On one side of the bed she spoke to my brother, among other things dictating her obituary "because you'll probably make things up." On the other side of the bed she spoke to various spirits, cheerfully as it were a friendly visit. Then she argued with one. My brother said, "Mother, if you want to be with the angels, you have to forgive." She gave him a scorching look and said, "I know that that, but I'm no saint and I can't be hurried." Finally, she whispered, in awe. "They're here, the ancient ones." My brother asked, "Do you mean your ancestors?" ... "No," she answered, "the ones who were here before there were human beings. Leave now. I'm safe, I've had the last rites. But you're not safe in the same room as them. Go! I have to sleep." Listening at the door, he heard her say joyfully, "Yes!" When we arrived an hour later and went in, she was dead, looking very much at peace. ... The indian nurse said she was surprised at how sharp my mother's mind was at the end, able to do algebra word problems in her head and recite long passages of Shakespeare. She said they talked casually about death, something rare among Americans. They also talked about Ireland and India, where one of my mother['s close relative grew up. The nurse also said my mother talked cheerfully each night of the last week with visiting spirits.

• symba11 | Mar 24, 2011, 10:06 AM EDT

  I believe it is true that the dieing have visions. I was with my husband when he had a vision. He was only 63 years old and he had brain cancer. The day before he died he had a vision. He didn't tell me what it was but I could tell by his actions that it was wonderful.

• floridafinn | Mar 24, 2011, 10:06 AM EDT

  10 days before my Mam died, she told me she had awakened recently to find her dead relatives in her bedroom, just standing around. I asked which ones were there. An Aunt Annie was included and stood the closest. When she had an attack the day after telling me, she was hospitalized and eventually taken off the ventilator, her choice. We had a day of peace, a day of 'fussiness' (lessening of her oygen) and then the last day of unconsciousness. Realizing the end, I called for Aunt Annie to come and get her. Within a few minutes, she had died. A most moving experience.

• Steve Bailey | Mar 24, 2011, 10:05 AM EDT

  No matter that you are a devoted Christian and want to return "Home" again one day, to be with God....No one wants to die to get there. And Reincarnation? I didn't believe it the last time I was here!

• caramia | Mar 24, 2011, 10:03 AM EDT

  thank you for this article. I'm aching from the loss of my father just two weeks ago, and it was comforting to me to read this, to know there's a possibility that death came to him gently.... that he might have "seen" his own father, mother, etc. and that he might not have been afraid or distressed. thank you for printing this. especially today.

• antoman | Mar 24, 2011, 09:30 AM EDT

  When I die I'm going to apply for the airforce up in heaven and see if I can get my wings.I'll be in no hurry to return to Earth like.