Death Bed Visions (DBV)…this is a phenomenon that are common to those who are dying and they are really seeing the gates of other dimensions or the spirit world.
Though there are people who are not dying (on bed) have seen spirits or souls, eventually died of sudden attacks like stroke or heart failure.
I remember days before Tiya Dely dies, she frequently asked me about those “people”
that she could only see. She described them as wearing beautiful dresses (Filipiniana and European-style dress) with headdresses, others are wearing fine suits (men in black suits). I just told Tiya Dely that her clairvoyance was very active and no idea at all that those are near death visions (NDV).
We normally call (in Filipino) those ghosts or spirits seen in the DBV or NDV encounters as “SUNDO” or those spirits (especially dead relatives) escort the “dying” person to the other side.
In a survey conducted in 1961, Latvian Parapsychologist Dr. Karlis Osis asked doctors and nurses about their observations of patients they have watched die. Only about 10 percent of those patients are conscious shortly before death, and 50 to 60 percent of that number seem to have DBVs. According to Osis’ survey, the patients who articulated what they were seeing said they saw either natural objects and landscapes or they had visions of family, friends and other people.
Many paranormal researchers say that what these dying people are seeing is real — they really are seeing the entrance to the next stage of existence — while many scientists and skeptics theorize that the visions are merely hallucinations caused by a sudden rush of electrical activity in the brain at the point of death. At this juncture, neither idea can be proved nor disproved.
Recently, prominent figure in Information Technology Steve Jobs have had visions before he departed. Jobs’ sister, writer Mona Simpson, was with him when he died and has reported that his final words were, “Oh, wow! Oh, wow! Oh, wow!”
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.
- 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.
