IANDS Glossary: What Is After-Death Communication?

After-Death Communication, or ADC, is a spontaneous experience during which a living person believes they are in direct contact with someone who has died. These experiences typically include sensory contact—seeing, hearing, feeling, or smelling someone—or might be something more symbolic.

After-death communication comes in a broad range of experiences, from something as simple as hearing a particular song on the radio to full visualizations and conversations with deceased loved ones. Some have even rarely reported tactile experiences, saying they could physically touch and feel the deceased.

Looking for a more scientific definition? Be sure to read our after-death communication fact sheet

How common is after-death communication?

Anyone and everyone can experience after-death communication. They’ve been reported by people of all education and income levels, regardless of religious views, ethnicity, or cultural backgrounds. They happen at every level of consciousness, too, from individuals who are perfectly awake and alert to those sleeping or meditating. They have no known connection to physical or mental health conditions, either.

This phenomenon is quite common, too.  A Pew Research study found that 53% of adults in the United States say they’ve experienced an ADC. Other studies have found that anywhere from 47% to 82% of people have reported ADCs or related phenomena.

Read More—IANDS Q&A: Are NDEs proof of loved ones communicating after death?

Are ADCs nothing more than hallucinations?

Some skeptics are quick to label after-death communication as little more than hallucinations. But whereas hallucinations tend to be surreal, distressing, and easily forgotten, after-death communication is usually anything but.

After-death communication feels realistic and inseparable from reality for the people experiencing them. The phenomenon is described as pleasant, positive, mystical, comforting, spiritual, or otherwise pleasurable. And whereas hallucinations can often be forgotten, that’s not typically the case with after-death communication, where people can vividly recall events weeks, months, years, and even decades later.

Explore the extraordinary with IANDS!

There’s still a great deal we don’t yet understand about after-death communication. The same can be said for near-death experiences and other related phenomena. But with your help, we can continue researching these mysteries and educating the public, ending stigmas and normalizing conversations around them.

Here’s how you can get involved at IANDS:

• Make a tax-deductible donation to our educational nonprofit
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