Dr Raymond Moody, in his book Glimpses of Eternity says that “It’s quite common that the people around a dying loved one seem to leave their bodies and accompany the loved on partway to a heavenly realm.”

One great example  which Dr Moody has referred in his book comes from Sussanna Uballe, who wrote in an online journal about sharing the death experience of her husband, who was murdered at a store while, Sussanna slept at home. Here in Sussanna’s own words, is her story:

“I did not have a near-death experience, but I did travel partway up the tunnel with my husband as he left this dimension.

On Memorial Day 1979, I was five months pregnant. My husband and I rode bicycles and ran errands around town, and it was a very hot day for Minneapolis. I lay down after dinner and was so exhausted that I could barely move. As my husband went to the corner store at 8:00 PM to buy something for his lunch the next day, I fell into a very deep sleep.

I dreamt that I was walking with my husband, Herb, up a dark and shady forest path. It was a heavily wooded path, which was enclosed by a thick canopy of trees overhead. The path was slightly inclined, and at the crest of a hill I saw the sky, somewhat like the light at the end of a tunnel. Herb and I had been in deep conversation, about what I could not tell, but I suppose we were reminiscing about our relationship. I felt very close and totally in love

·He began to tell me about what it was like to die; at first he was filled with rage, pain and frustration that the clerk didn’t seem to understand his pleas to call an ambulance. He had been stabbed in the heart and needed help. After a short while, which felt interminable while he was experiencing it, he said he left his body and floated above it and saw the body below him, and felt detached from it, like it was just a body. He was filled with peace and love. And he felt no pain.

After telling me this, he then said that he had to go. His feet started to move very fast, and he began to leave me behind on the path. I told him that I could do that too, and put some effort into ‘powering up’ my feet  to make them go super fast.  I actually started to rev up and move along the path quickly, and felt as if I was traveling up a tunnel of forest toward the sunlight at the top of the hill. As I began to keep pace with him, he said, ‘NO!’ in a very powerful voice, and I woke up in my bed, feeling hurt.

I looked for him, to tell him about my dream. He wasn’t there, and his side of the bed showed that he had not slept in the bed that night. It was dawn. I began to get irritated, thinking  that he must have gone off with some friends, and feeling upset  at how irresponsible he was behaving. I went to where we kept our bicycles to see if his was there and it wasn’t. I was so angry  that I broke the bicycle lock and chain off of my bicycle with my bare hands (he had taken both keys with him), and set off down the street toward the corner store. His bicycle was near the store  and a patrolman was standing next to it. I asked him where my’ husband was, and why his bicycle was sitting there. He asked ” my name and address, and refused to tell me anything more. He [‘ suggested that I go back home, and that someone would explain everything to me later. In about fifteen minutes a police officer and a clergyman came by and told me that Herb had been killed, the night before.

“The dream braced me for this news I and although I was in shock, I felt assured constantly that he was not in his body, and a comforting presence was with me throughout the next few days of viewing the body, the funeral and other unpleasant business.

Two days after the funeral, I was preparing for bed and contemplating suicide to join Herb I so that we could be together on the other side or in our next phase of incarnation or whatever. J consciously thought a question, ‘Should I kill myself to join Herb, or stay here?’

I then went to bed. I was just falling asleep when I felt a presence by my right side, and looked to see Herb, naked and glowing with a soft, beautiful white light. He looked beautiful and I felt filled with love and happiness to see him. He spoke mentally to me, and said, ‘This is our son,’ indicating my womb, ‘Take good care of him.’ I had no question then about my purpose, and have tried to do the best possible job taking care of my son ever since. It did not at all seem strange that he used the word ‘son’, although these were the days before ultrasound and I did not know what I was having. I did give birth to a boy.”

Here are two stories on After Death Communications from the book “Hello From Heaven!” by Bill Guggenheim & Judy Guggenheim

1. Smelling of Fragrance: Olfactory  After Death Communication

A story  from Lorraine, an optometrist  from New York . Her daughter, Tammy, was 25 years when she demised  in an automobile accident:

“When my daughter, Tammy, went to the Bahamas, she  bought me a bracelet and a necklace. The night that she died, she had the bracelet on and it was destroyed. For over two years since the accident, I had been trying to find a new bracelet to match my necklace. I would have paid anything for it!

It was nightime, and we were coming out of one of the attractions at EPCOT Center at Walt Disney World . My other daughter, her friend, and my husband were with me.

My daughter turned to me and said, “Ma, do you smell that?” I’ said. Oh, yeah!” We were smelling the Gloria, Vanderbilt perfume that Tammy always wore!

But as we looked around, there was nobody near us.  Her girlfriend smelled it too and said. “Why don’t we go in here?”

So we all went into the store, and I began browsing in the front. My daughter called, Ma! Ma! Come back  here!” I went to the back of the store, where they were selling jewellery. And there was  the bracelet – the exact match to my necklace Tammy! It was unbelievable!

Can this be a coincidence?  How about the fragrance which lured them to walk into gift shop?  Was Tammy guiding them to the store to show her mother that she will find the priceless bracelet she wanted?

2. Hearing a Voice – Auditory After Death Communication

Mario, age 87, is a retired sugar  merchant in Florida. His beloved wife, Nina, returned to him after she died of emphysema:

“Nina and I were fifty-seven years married. We met in a very romantic  manner, and two hours later we were irretrievably in love, completely and forever.

One night after she died, I  was sound asleep in our bedroom. Suddenly, I felt my Nina standing next to the bed. Then I heard her voice inside my head say, ” I am now in heaven, whether I deserve it or not. My great love for little children all my life made up for  my other sins. I got  permission to return to tell you that I am waiting patiently for you to join me.

“Time is meaningless here, so don’t be in a hurry. Take as long as you want before you leave the world. I will wait patiently until the day comes when you will join me here. Then we will be united in an eternal embrace.  And with that, she faded from my consciousness.

I felt a liaison, a satisfying confirmation that death would not part us, that Nina and I would be united again”.

Life in this earth is a miracle. It also does not make sense when someone close to you parts you ‘permanently’. Why on earth do we have to suffer after being close to one another?  It also does not make sense. So do the sufferings of missing someone ends once we depart this earth?  Of course those who are sceptical would only believe if they witness themselves on after death communication, while living on this earth.  But then if everything moves on well with one’s  life there is nothing one would witness. But the many books written by prominent authors which are consistent on this phenomena are overwhelming and that could subdue the traumas of the grievers.