Three Famous People Have Visits from the Afterlife

I was at a crossroad. I felt I needed to give up my work with dying patience. That day, I was determined to give notice and leave the hospital and the University of Chicago. It wasn’t an easy decision because I really love my patients. I walked out of my last seminar on death and dying towards the elevator. At that moment, a woman walked towards me. She had an incredible smile on her face like she knew every thought I had. She said, Dr. Ross, I’m only going to take two minutes of your time. If you don’t mind, I’ll walk you down to your office. It was the longest walk I have ever taken in my life. One part of me knew this was Mrs. Schwartz, a patient of mine who had died and been buried almost a year ago. But I’m a scientist, and I don’t believe in ghosts and spooks. I did the most incredible reality testing I’ve ever done. I tried to touch her because she looked 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. I realized consciously that maybe indeed this was Mrs. Schwartz. But I thought nobody would ever believe me if I told this to anybody. They really would think I had flipped. So my scientist in me very truly looked at her and said, You know Reverend Smith would be thrilled if he would have a note from you. Would you terribly mind? You understand that the scientist in me needed proof. I needed a sheet of paper with anything written in her handwriting, and hopefully, her signature. This woman knew my thoughts and knew I had no intention to ever give her note to Reverend Smith. However, she took a piece of paper and wrote a message and signed it with her name. Then, with the biggest smile of love and compassion and understanding, she said to me, Are you satisfied now?

Once more, she said, You cannot 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? The last thing I said to her was, I promise. And with that, she walked out. No sooner was the door closed, I had to go and see if she was real. I opened the door, and there was not a soul in that long hallway.

Many of us who believe in what is technically known as the Communion of Saints must have experienced the sense of nearness for a fairly short time for those whom we love, soon after they have died. This has certainly happened to me several times. But the late C. S. Lewis, whom I did not know very well and had only seen in the flesh once, but with whom I had corresponded a fair amount, gave me an unusual experience. A few days after his death, while I was watching television, he appeared sitting in a chair within a few feet of me and spoke a few words which were particularly relevant to the difficult circumstances through which I was passing. He was ruddier in complexion than ever, grinning all over his face and, as the old-fashioned saying has it, positively glowing with health. The interesting thing to me was that I had not been thinking about him at all. I was neither alarmed nor surprised nor to satisfy the Bishop of Woollich did I look up to see the hole in the ceiling that he might have made on arrival. He was just there, large as life and twice as natural.

A week later, this time when I was in bed, reading before going to sleep, he appeared again, even more rosily, radiant than before, and repeated to me the same message, which was important to me at the time. I was a little puzzled by this, and I mentioned it to a certain saintly bishop who was then living in retirement here in Dorset. His reply was, My dear Jay, this thing is happening all the time.

It is very difficult to put this experience into language. I am at a loss to explain some of it in words. Yet, I have no doubt whatsoever that I was in the presence of my deceased grandmother for an extended period and did in fact converse with her at length. At first, as I said, I did not recognize this person, though she immediately seemed somehow familiar. She looked somewhat as had while alive on the Earth, but appeared younger than she had been even when I was born. When I recognized her as my grandmother and confronted her with this fact, she immediately acknowledged it and began to use the nickname she alone had used for me when I was a child. She talked with me about events only my grandmother and I knew. She imparted to me certain very personal information about my early life that has been quite important and revealing. I might add that the relationship between me and my paternal grandmother had been rather difficult while she was alive. Yet, our meeting enabled us to smooth things over. I now see her humor and appreciate her as a person in a brand new way.

I look forward to meeting her again when I make my transition. I can attest that my own visit with my grandmother was radically different from anything I have experienced during my two decades of familiarity with hypnosis.