A vision of the future before death?

Question

I've heard multiple accounts of people behaving strangely before they wind up dying. Whether it is talking to deceased family members, or giving advice on something that winds up happening in the future. Has anyone had an experience with a deceased relative where this has happened? Care to share your opinion of why this phenomenon may happen before someone dies?

Answer 1

Many people who are on the brink of death see and have conversations with deceased family members or see angels or other spiritual apparitions, it's a common occurrence. I've witnessed it many times and believe it's because they have one foot in, and one foot out of death's doorway, and are able to see otherworldly things we can't. Although some of it could also be drug induced hallucinations or simply the delusions of a dying mind.

Answer 2

Comedian George Carlin has made jokes that when you are about to die, you have a two minute warning. Although he uses satire to find humor with what can be a serious issue, I believe that it can happen, but it does not happen with everybody. Both of my grandfathers knew when they were hospitalized that they were going to die, and one of my grandfathers, quite literally had a, "two minute warning" when he had an aneurysm that killed him. He kept on saying, "Well, this is it! I am leaving!" Although this was kind of sad and a little weird, he did not have a long, painful, protracted death and did not have to suffer with the Parkinson's disease that was just starting to set in, and I am thankful for that. As far as how some people forsee their demise, whether it is 2 minutes or 2 years, it is hard to say. I guess that some people just know when it is going to happen.

Answer 3

Hi. The only phenomenon that happened with my sister's death was that the day before she died I went shopping with my sister and mom and I was really nice to her. I even bought her a pair of earrings which I had never done. My life until then was me picking on my older sister because she was so nice and so passive; I was jealous of her. We had this one great day together with my mom. That night I was in an accident with her. She died and I lived. Before she died she told me that she saw me doing great things in my life, helping others. I didn't see it at all. I was selfish. Over the years since her death I have noticed that I have taken on some of the traits she saw in me. I became a counselor and started volunteering my time, something she would do. My parents give out college scholarships in her name every year. There was a tree planted in her name. She was an actress and I hated going to plays. Now I love going to them and everytime I do I always wonder which part she would have played. She has played many positive roles in my life since her death. Even though tragic, she still teaches me how to be human and how to value what I have.

Answer 4

On the advice thing: I think many people have a pretty good idea of what is likely to happen in the future. It isn't mystical. There is a type of common sense, sensitivity, and wisdom that people (especially older people) can have that makes it seem as if they can predict the future when, really, they just sort of know how things tend to go. A person who knows he's dying may feel the need to "say something" about a situation he believes is headed in some direction before he dies.

My father saw my deceased girlfriend not too long before he died himself. He had all kinds of deceased family members and friends, but she was killed seven months before he had his heart attack; and because she was only 20 and had grown up with me I think it had a horrible impact on him. It felt kind of "spooky" when he said he saw her, but - as animals do - I think people sense they are dying, and maybe that sense makes their subconscious (or something like that) bring up things/people that are their "biggest emotional issues".

When my mother was dying she was on morphine, and she would talk as if she had forgotten what time in her life it was. She once told a nurse, "I'm waiting for my husband to call" (and he had been gone for 30 years). She was also, however, kind of preoccupied with one living family member she was particularly worried about.

There is this thing that people often do, and that is to kind of scratch at the bed sheets. When my father was dying my mother saw him do that and said, "I don't like what he's doing." I'm sure some medical professional knows exactly what that is; but I assume they must somehow feel themselves slipping away and maybe they need to keep touching the sheet or else maybe something changes in their brain that causes that kind of "unconscious" scratching at the bed.

If you've ever had a high fever and were kind of "out of it" you can imagine how some similar thing must go on as a person dies. They're often medicated. They have often lost oxygen or are in the process of it. They have lives and people to be thinking about, worries about what will happen once they go, and whatever range of feelings they have about dying. Also, if they need to say something they know they have to say it now. They are beyond worrying about seeming weird, and they tend to assert their "right" to say or do what they want/need to do.

I believe all of these things add up and any or all of them could be responsible for what can seem like strange behavior. Also, sometimes there can be subtle brain damage already present, and that could account for odd behavior sometimes.

One thing to note, though: Sometimes when we haven't been in a situation and don't understand the range of emotions involved with that situation we may perceive as strange something that - within the context of that situation and that person's own "shoes" - the behavior may not even be "strange" at all. People need to be careful not to assume some behavior is strange when maybe under the circumstances it is absolutely normal and "solid".

Even when people aren't dying and are just sick and/or elderly they can do things that appear a little stranger; but that's only because we don't know what they're going through physically and emotionally.

The person who knows he's close to death probably thinks about the people he knows who are dead. He has them on his mind, so if he gets a high fever or otherwise a little more "out of it" the person most on his mind is likely to "show up" either in his dream or in his "mind's eye". If he's a little "out of it" he may have trouble differentiating reality from a partial dream-type-of-thing; or else he may have some trouble "editing" what he says in response to thinking about someone who is only in his mind.

Those are my guesses. When my father told us he saw my friend we were really "creeped out". We felt better when we realized one of the nurses had red hair, as my friend had had. We told ourselves he was just confused because of the red hair. Maybe something as simple as red hair on a nurse can bring up the thought of someone who has died. That's another possibility. Maybe there are times when reality comes in single-frames of single-characteristics or objects; but the dying mind attached what it has previously known to those single frames.

Answer 5

I think no one can know.