The idea of dying is a terrifying thing, but most of us keep a distance from the reality of this process until we are going through it ourselves. We are often afraid, or sometimes disgusted, by what happens towards the end of our lives - and would rather not know. However, some people work every day with those going through the last few weeks of their life - and they observe some pretty creepy facts about what happens to us during this time.
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We’ve already written about how the dying process starts in the body around 2 weeks before you take your last breath. But what about the mind? Well, hospice nurse Julie McFadden has taken to TikTok to explain a multitude of creepy truths about the dying process. But it was on an episode of The Skeptic Metaphysicians podcast that she revealed one phenomenon that she says happens to ‘almost everyone’ in this pre-death state.
The creepy thing we experience
McFadden, a former ICU nurse, talks on the podcast about the process of dying, and how it starts weeks before a person actually passes away. She explains to hosts Will and Karen that one thing happens to most people ‘about a month before they die’:
One of the main things that happens to almost everybody, it's usually about a month before they die, they start seeing people who've already died.
She adds: ‘It's always people who bring them comfort...so I say family members - but it's only really family members if you had a good relationship with them.’ These people believe they are seeing grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, friends - and even beloved pets. McFadden explains that this is ‘sometimes in dreams, but it's usually physically.’
What these visitors say
McFadden says that these ghostly visitors speak to their family member, saying things like, ‘Hey I'm coming to get you soon, you don't have to worry about anything we'll be here around you'. She adds, somewhat creepily:
Most people who experience this are completely lucid - they're alert and oriented, they're not actively dying and hallucinating. There's nothing like that going on.
The former nurse states that healthcare professionals know exactly 'what hallucinations look like, what delirium looks like, what hypoxia looks like', but that this is something ‘distinct’. Many listeners found it comforting to know that this happens to dying loved ones.
Indeed, something similar has been reported by those who have died and come back to life. Often, these survivors claim to have seen family members on the other side, and even to have talked with them. This woman, for instance, died for 11 minutes and saw several loved ones in the afterlife - but there was something different about them.
Read more:
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⋙ Man dies and comes back to life after ambulance runs over pothole
⋙ Man dies on a ship at sea and confirms ‘there is life after death’
Sources used:
LadBible: Hospice nurse says there is one thing that ‘almost everybody’ sees just before they die
