The Common Experience of After Death Communications

Bill Guggenheim described himself as a former stock broker that never worried himself too much about death or the afterlife. However, one day his wife insisted he watch an interview on TV with Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, a world renowned Swiss-born psychiatrist that was doing pioneering work with terminally ill patients and helping millions of people overcome fear of death. In the interview, Dr. Kubler-Ross spoke of near death experiences and this piqued Bill's curiosity. This led him to send her a small donation, which created a string of events that eventually would lead him to become a researcher into after death communications.

Bill and Judy Guggenheim wrote the book, Hello From Heaven and created a new field of research called After Death Communication (ADC). They define an ADC as a spiritual experience that occurs when someone is contacted directly and spontaneously by a deceased family member or friend.

Bill joined one of Dr. Kubler-Ross's workshops. During the workshop, Maggie, a mother that had lost her 15-year-old daughter, Joy spoke up about an experience her son had. Bob was 17 years old and having a difficult time after his sister's death. Maggie said the following, "Bob said that he had been reading, but he couldn't concentrate. Then he looked up and saw Joy standing in front of his closet. He told us Joy's hair was like it always was, and she was wearing jeans and a striped T-shirt that he'd never seen on her before. She didn't say anything to him, but he said that the expression on her face was like she was fine, like everything was okay."

In the workshop, Dr. Kubler-Ross said she had a similar experience. She said that she was at a crossroads and felt she needed to give up her work with dying patients. She was going to give notice and leave the hospital. She finished her seminar and walked to the elevator. At that moment a woman walked up to her and asked to speak with her. Dr. Kubler-Ross says that this woman was a patient named Mrs. Johnson that had died almost a year ago. She says the following, "I did the most incredible reality testing I've ever done. I tried to touch her because she looked kind of transparent in a waxy way. Not that you could see furniture behind her, but not quite real either. I know I touched her, and she had feeling to her. We came to my office, and she opened the door. We went inside and she said, "I had to come back for two reasons. Number one, I wanted to thank you and Reverend Smith once more for what you have done for me. But the real reason why I had to come back is to tell you not to give up your work on death and dying. Not yet. The time is not right. We will help you. You will know when the time is right. Do you promise?" Dr. Kubler-Ross said she promised and the woman walked out and when Dr. Kubler-Ross looked down the long hallway there was no one there.

These accounts where a spirit materializes into a physical presence is interesting to me. Based on my research the last three years, my understanding is that spirits contacting humans takes a certain amount of work and skillset. I think that this is part of the soul's plan for a person to receive this type of contact with the spirit realm. It's for a very specific reason but this is with everything in life, every little interaction we have happens for a reason, at least this is what my spirit guide has told me over and over again through mediums and channelers.

Back to the book and the Guggenheims....Bill was inspired to do research on after death communications so he brought his wife on board and they started their research project in 1988 with 1,000 flyers, business cards, a telephone line, a PO box, and a checking account. Their project quickly caught wind and they found people to interview everywhere they went. The ADC Project took seven years to fulfill its purpose. During this time they collected more than 3,300 firsthand accounts of after-death communication. They used ADC accounts that were similar to at least two other accounts so they could group them together for the book. The Guggenheim's say the following about how common an ADC is, "Based upon our research, we conservatively estimate that at least 50 million Americans, or 20% of the population of the US, have had one or more after-death communications."

The book focuses on the following types of ADCs: sensing the loved one, hearing a loved one's voice, feeling a touch like a kiss or hug, smelling a fragrance, partial and full appearance of a loved one, visits during the twilight and sleep state, out-of-body ADCs, telephone calls from the loved one, physical ADCs like lights being turned on and off, symbolic ADCs, ADCs before receiving news, ADCs to prevent danger and suicide, evidential ADCs, and ADCs with a witness.

Let me share a few of the accounts in the book, there are a lot to choose from so if this is interesting to you then I definitely recommend the book.

Shirley, a nurse in Wisconsin, had this mystical encounter with her 5-month-old daughter, Amanda, who died of a congenital heart defect:

"About three or four weeks after Amanda died, I was lying in bed, but I wasn't asleep. All of a sudden, I felt myself being pulled out of my body. I felt I was higher up in the bedroom, near the ceiling looking out the window. The entire window became filled with the brightest golden light that I could ever imagine! It was like someone coming at you in a car with their high beams on. I felt absorbed by the light, and I felt the presence of my daughter. Then I saw Amanda! I saw her spirit in that light! And I heard her, it was a telepathic communication. She said, 'Thank you very much for all that you gave me. I love you very much.' I remember being so overwhelmed by the whole thing. It was like being in a state of wonder. It was a feeling of total acceptance and total love for who I am. It was a spiritual love with no strings attached. And after that, I fell into a deep sleep."

I think when children transition to the spirit realm, humanity really struggles with this because we don't understand the full picture. The full picture is that Amanda isn't just a baby, she's a soul having a human incarnation. The soul of Amanda did not want a full human life, this soul did what it came to do and exited when it was supposed to per its own plan. The soul is powerful and intelligent. We are incarnating on Earth for the learning experience, this is a school, and then we go back home. I think it's important that humanity starts to see children as souls having their own human experience.

Peter, a salesman in Florida had below meeting about 6 months after his daughter, April, died of a brain hemorrhage following an automobile accident at age 20.

"One night while I was sitting up in bed, I had this out-of-body experience. Suddenly, I found myself in the hallway of our home. My daughter, April was standing there! She was in a white robe. I could see her hands and forearms, her neck and shoulders, and her face. Her skin tone was just perfect, and her hair was gorgeous. April was absolutely flawless! I I kept saying to her, 'April, I love you! and she said, 'Dad, I know that. It's all right.' I wanted to hug and kiss her, but as I went forward, she backed away and said, 'Dad, you can't touch me yet.' Then I asked, 'April, are you in heaven?' She said, 'Yes!' I asked her, 'What is heaven like?' My daughter, who had a tremendous sense of humor, said, 'You know what those lifestyles of the rich and famous are like? Well, that's like living in poverty compared to heaven!' Then she said, 'I have to go now.' and I kept repeating, 'I love you'. She said, 'Yes I know, Dad' as she went backwards through the door and out of the house. And I went back to bed and got a good night's sleep."

The above two examples are called out-of-body experiences (OBEs). You can read my detailed blog post about out-of-body experiences to learn more about them. Essentially, what's happening in an OBE is a person's energy body is leaving the physical body for a short time. When people have this experience and find themselves in their house, I believe they are in the 4th dimension. I found it interesting that April told her father not to touch her. My thought is that perhaps she didn't want him to touch her because it would have broken the connection. It may have been challenging for her to materialize herself in a lower dimension for him to see her. Most spirits reside in the 5th dimension and up so when spirits communicate with us down here in the 3rd or 4th dimension, they have to lower their energetic density to communicate with us.

Here is an example from the book of a telephone ADC: Ellyn, a human resources manager in Nevada, had this phone ADC after her 12-year-old daughter, Ashley, died of leukemia:

"This was more than three years after Ashley died. I had been diagnosed with a lung disease, and I was afraid I was going to die. That night, I was making spaghetti on the stove and the phone rang. I picked it up and I heard this little voice say, 'Mommy!' I thought, who is playing this terrible joke so I said 'Please, who is this?' She said, 'This is Ashley. What are you doing Mommy?' I said, 'Ashley? I'm cooking.' And she said, 'You're making my favorite meal. You're making spaghetti!'. It was Ashley's voice, she sounded strong and healthy, and nobody could imitate her voice. Then I asked her, 'Ashley, are you okay?' And she said, 'Mommy, I'm okay. I just called to tell you that you're going to be okay too.' Then the phone went dead. I had lung surgery six months later. A month ago I went to the doctor. My blood count was normal for the first time in three years, and next month he'll start weaning me off my medication. Ashley was right, she told me I was going to be okay!"

I was actually just watching an interview with Daniel Drasin on the Gaia streaming app. He wrote a book and created a documentary film about electronic voice phenomenon (EVP) where the spirit realm communicates with humans through electronics. The film he made is free on vimeo, you can find a 5-minute preview on his website here. https://www.dandrasin.com/films. The footage he provides is very interesting.

Here is an example where an ADC provided much needed solace for someone struggling with a challenging phase in life: Laura works for a community college in Washington. She was devastated when her 6-week-old son, Anthony, died of SIDS:

"It had been a traumatic year. My mother had died in March, and I was having real difficulties with her loss. I didn't even know what sudden infant death syndrome was at that time. It was never explained to me even after my baby's death. I felt I was in a void, it was like a nightmare. Part of my despair was that Anthony had not been baptized. Someone had planted a seed in my mind that all babies who aren't baptized would burn in hell forever. I was agonized over this, and it was awful. I was frantic because the guilt was more than I could bear. When I came home from the cemetery after his funeral, I went into my bedroom and turned the lights off. I sat on the bed for quite a while and emptied my mind of all thought. I went to a very tranquil place. It was like I was on a raft on still water, and the water became like a mirror, and I started feeling peace. Then beautiful rays of light came down towards me, and a stairway became visible. Suddenly, Christ appeared in an awesome form and size! He was solid and real, He was magnificent. He had long hair and was clothed in a long, white robe. Christ started descending the stairs and came all the way to the bottom. He extended His arm and had Anthony cradled in it. Anthony was whole again! He was perfect! He was my baby! The message I got was 'Anthony's all right. He is home and he is safe.' Now I knew my baby was with Christ! Then they faded away and disappeared."

Above is an example where religion can do a disservice for someone. Based on my research, religion can help or hinder a person's connection with the spirit realm. If religion creates a better connection with God then I think that's really great. However, in all my research of near death experiences, out-of-body experiences, mediumship, and those under hypnosis, this stuff about people going to hell if they don't do what a religion says is absolutely untrue. What I'll say is that religion is created by man and the soul is created by Source/God. My research has also concluded that Jesus was a real person and is a very evolved soul that supports humanity. His message here isn't just a message to Laura but is also a message to everyone that all babies go to the spirit realm and are supported in unconditional love. Babies and children are the most innocent of humans on our planet. But as I said in my comment above, a baby isn't just a baby. A baby is a soul having a human experience, perhaps an older, more wise soul than its parents.

Here is an example of an evidential ADC: Tricia is a clothing designer in Florida. She was 18 years old when she attempted to tell her family that she had seen her mother, who had died of cancer:

"Right after Mother passed away, I was in my bedroom. All of a sudden, I felt a presence. I had a little night light, so I rolled over and turned on the switch. I saw my mother standing there! She had on a blue velvet dress that I'd never seen before. When she died of cancer, she weighed only fifty-seven pounds. But when I saw her, she was beautiful, and healthy and happy! I ran into the other room to tell my family. They thought I was being hysterical and having hallucinations. Some time later, my aunt and I were going through my mother's hope chest. I came across a blue velvet dress. I said, 'This is the dress my mother had on when I saw her!' My aunt said, 'That's the dress your mother made to get married in. She didn't have enough money to buy a wedding dress, so she made this blue velvet one herself.'"

Above is evidential because Tricia was shown something that she didn't know prior to her ADC. Since there is no time in the spirit realm, my understanding is that spirits can see the probability of future events so they can show us something that we will see at a later time. This is how signs work. I'll give an example from my own experience. When I first started researching, I was about to go on a walk with my son and dog. In my head, I asked my spirit guides for a sign that this is all real. I heard in my mind, "blue butterfly". We walked a couple blocks and about 10 minutes into the walk, my dog stopped to smell in a yard and my eyes were drawn up to a big blue butterfly yard decoration. My spirit guide knew I would stop at this yard but it also felt like my eyes were drawn to it as well.

Based on my research the last three years, I believe that it's challenging for the spirit realm to communicate with us humans. I remember the first time I listened to Stephanie channel my spirit guide, the cadence of her voice gave me the impression that he was very excited to finally be able to get through to me. Humanity is very good at keeping our brain busy these days with technology and whatever else. However, I have also come to the realization that it's much easier for those in spirit to connect with their loved ones because there is an energetic bond. Perhaps a loving connection that can surpass the different energetic frequencies of the dimensions. So if you have a loved one that is in spirit and you want to communicate with them, my suggestion is to talk with them out loud because they can hear you. The way it works is that when you think of your loved one in spirit or you speak to them they come right over. That's just the way the spirit realm works. Talk to them and then try to turn your brain off. What I've realized is that as we get better at turning off our brain, we become more sensitive to energy. I can confidently say that your loved one is there even if you can't see or hear them.