More than 600,000 Americans have died from COVID-19 since it arrived in the US last year. As we are tragically aware, most of those unfortunate victims were secluded in isolated wards, away from their families and loved ones, left with only the hospital staff by their sides at their time of death. There was no other way, unfortunately, but it was traumatic, lonely and didn’t give people closure. And, according to many, it has left souls adrift, seeking their people to say goodbye, possibly. Myriad people have said they’ve witnessed signs of loved ones they’ve lost to COVID. Most think they are trying to say goodbye.
The coronavirus pandemic has now killed more than 600,000 Americans. Many of us never had a chance to hug or say farewell to loved ones who died alone and isolated in hospital wards due to fears of spreading the virus.
But there is another group of pandemic survivors who say they have been granted a second chance to say goodbye. They are people like Horne who believe they’ve been contacted by a loved one who died from coronavirus.
These experiences can be subtle: relatives appearing in hyper-real dreams, a sudden whiff of fragrance worn by a departed loved one, or unusual behavior by animals. Other encounters are more dramatic: feeling a touch on your shoulder at night, hearing a sudden warning from a loved one, or seeing the full-bodied form of a recently departed relative appear at the foot of your bed.
These stories may sound implausible, but they are in fact part of a historical pattern. There is something in us — or in our lost loved ones — that won’t accept not being able to say goodbye.
And whenever there is a massive tragedy such as a pandemic, a war or a natural disaster, there is a corresponding surge in reports of people seeing the dead or trying to contact them.
This phenomenon is not unusual. It’s so common, in fact, it has a name: ADCs, which stands for After Death Communication. The article begins with a specific story about a couple that had been married for 10 years when the wife died from COVID related issues last October. The husband said a handful of the streetlights on his route to work turned purple without explanation one morning. He’d worn purple to their wedding, so he saw this as a sign she was reaching out to him. Another woman couldn’t say goodbye to her aunt before she died and saw her apparition in the hallway one night while she was decorating for Christmas, her aunt’s favorite tradition. Another felt a cold hand on her shoulder the morning her mother passed away from COVID *chills*! If you believe souls need to finish their business to move on, then it would make sense that those who died from COVID without the chance to say goodbye want to amend that. A couple of the stories mention a waft of a familiar scent, like a perfume or a distinct hairspray. I have had that happen a couple of times in my life. Not COVID related, but it’s still wild when it occurs with no explanation. I’ve also seen the face of someone in crowds for years who I didn’t get to say goodbye to.
CNN said that research reports millions of Americans from various religions, cultures, income brackets and ethnicities have experienced ADCs. They also aren’t exclusive to America. There were so many ADCs reported after the devastating tsunami in Japan in 2011, it prompted a book and an Unsolved Mysteries episode. The article discussed mass ADC reporting from the Spanish Flu outbreak and WWI and II soldiers haunted by fellow soldiers. Whether its actual spirits saying goodbye or images these folks manifest due to grief, it means closure.
Photos credit: Ravi Kant and Shvets production on Pexels, Michelle Tresemer on Unsplash
Years ago when my dad died unexpectedly, my oldest sister went to sleep that night and “felt” someone sit on her bed and press a whiskered cheek against her cheek. Was it a dream? Maybe. But it was real to her. I believe this stuff, I really do.
When my cousin died of a heart attack a few years ago, my aunt said that she saw him wave goodbye at the foot of the bed before she heard the news. I totally believe that this happens.
We have a physical and spiritual plane and many people who pass from the physical will linger in the spiritual realm before they finally move on. Not every soul leaves earth immediately after death. Many times, spirits will linger for a while and try to connect with their loved ones, especially if they died suddenly or tragically, or in the COVID cases, alone and unable to say goodbye.
My stepson can see spirits and they are drawn to him as a result. We had one in our old house that wouldn’t leave and scared him. I finally took him to a medium and she was able to help the spirit (a man) pass over. Apparently the rest of his family was on the other side and he was lost here. After that, he never returned.
Fascinating! I love these stories.
I do too!! It makes sense though. Looking into the field at Gettysburg has proven to be a hot spot for lost souls. Why they are still trapped, I don’t know. Some have trouble leaving this world, for a magnitude of reasons.
As someone who has been contacted many times, I’m a believer. Hopefully it brings comfort to loved ones to know there is a thin veil between the physical and non physical and our souls don’t just disappear into the ether after death.
I love this stuff! It’s so uplifting, real or not, in the world we live in. I’ve had several vivid dreams with loved ones that have passed over, but I’ve only heard my dog. At least 3 times since she passed 10 years ago, I’ve heard her walking in our houses. It gives me great comfort to know that she’s followed us to our other houses. <3
I had a dog come after she died just to let me know she was all right. She came just that once.
I so wanted to have that closure when my mother died last year. I waited for it as her mother had visited her after death to let her know it was all ok.
It never really happened.
Scratch that, I did find a poem she wrote on her floor. It was titled Let Me Go. It was a goodbye poem and that she was ready to go and to be at peace.
I struggled with letting her die a natural death. I knew that she would never have any quality of life in the rare chance she survived. And the treatments to save her were brutal. I didn’t get to say goodbye and that I loved her but that was my final act of love.
There was nothing in my body ready to lose my mom. It seemed impossible to live a life without that solid foundation that was always there. But I let her go and that poem may have been her saying it was ok?
Death is so horrifically final and finding that peace wherever you can is what matters.
I think you finding the poem was her message to you. You sound like you both knew that she would not have the quality of life that would have been easy for her and sometimes the will to keep fighting or having the family tell their loved ones that they can “go”, is the permission that they need. I think your mother was certain that you would find that poem and gave you her final goodbye.
And you are right, we can never find any part of our body to let our loved ones go. I know that after having experienced my mothers unexpected passing. Know that she sent you that poem and she will watch over you too!
When my mother passed in ‘89, I wasn’t with her when she passed as I was living in another state. She and I were extremely close. I would call her when I woke up, got to work, talk several times during the day and call her when I got home. She was my rock, and I hers. She came to me in a dream and placed her hand on me and told me I would be fine. She also came to me, in human form, while I was washing dishes at home, some time after she passed, but as I turned to walk towards her, I lost sight of her due to a wall and she was gone. I was devastated. It’s making me cry again. She was only 61 when she passed, and I was 27 and pregnant with my second child. My dad passed in 2015 at 94, and he has never visited me. But I did speak to him on the phone as he was dying, so I guess I was able to say goodbye.
In regards to the tsunami, I have read many accounts of people being visited by their loved ones. There was a special on that I watched and a reporter visited the area and spoke with locals who had been visited by those who passed.
Yes, there is often a huge renewed interest in spiritualism and contacting spirits/souls of lost ones immediately following events like the Spanish flu. Also, if history is any indication, lots of con artists and organizations that may try to take advantage of people in their grief, so it’s worth being careful and critical.
Yes, please be wary of charlatans. If you want to find a reputable medium, ask friends or someone you trust.
Serious question – how the heck does one distinguish a reputable medium from a charlatan?
not to take anything away from this, because I believe in spirits and have had experiences with the mysteries of it all, but I also think we’re processing individual and collective trauma on many levels. And some of these may be symptoms of that too. It’s been a lot…, and I’m just really glad we’re talking about this…
My husband died suddenly in his 40’s. He wasn’t able to say goodbye to anyone, but he has since made his presence know repeatedly. My parents died weeks apart, with Dad dying before Mom. When my daughter and I were at Mom’s bedside as she was passing, we both felt a strong hand on our shoulder at the exact same moment. We knew that it was Dad. He came to help Mom to the other side. The moment that Mom passed was beautiful, and there was a peace that came over her face as she closed her eyes for the last time.
The night before my grandfather died, my family had made the 800 mile journey in a day to my grandparents house. My parents decided to wait until morning to go visit my grandfather at the hospital about 45 minutes away. The main reason for this decision was because my much younger sister was done being in a car. My sister and I are sent to bed, I decided I wanted to sleep in my grandfather’s bed like I always did when I went to visit my grandparents. My grandmother slept in a different bed (1950’s style). I had just gotten to sleep when I felt a presence at the foot of the bed that woke me. It told me to gather everyone. I got my 80 year old grandma up and dressed, my sister, my sister and myself up and dressed, and had to FORCE my mom off the telephone from catching up on gossip with her old high school friends. (I can tell you, I was about to get into major trouble with my mom, because I totally walked over and hung up the phone, the 80’s way, with my hand. Call waiting wasn’t a thing at this time!) Not 5 seconds later, the hospital calling to tell my grandma to get to the hospital ASAP! My family has asked me over and over for years, how I knew that the hospital would call… I told them what I just shared with you.
Chills!!
My Dad committed suicide 25 years ago. He said goodbye to me on May 24 this year. He waited until I was ready. And I know what this sounds like. But I know what I know.
I was holding it together, reading all of these, until this one. My heart is bursting with sad happiness/happy sadness for you.
I lost both of my parents to COVID on the same day in Feb. They died 4 hours apart. I believe my parents visited me the day after they died in a dream. They told me they were worried about me, and wanted me to be okay. They said if I wanted to I could sale the house, They told me to buy a small house with a big garden, because I have a lot of flowers. They were holding hands and just looked concerned. I do believe it was them. They were just worried about me, because they said they were fine.
It was weird but my parents story went viral. I’m happy it did, because I believe it helped people get vaccinated. Something good out of so much pain.
I’m so sorry for your loss and hope you’re doing okay.
I believe in ghosts.
I love all of these comments/stories. Thank you so much for sharing.
My family has a few stories like these from after my grandfather died. We were ALL at his bedside when he passed (cancer) and are a close Italian American family. We’ve all had little signs or him appearing to us in dreams.
For example, my husband was driving from Long Island back to NC the night before he died. It had been raining during the day but now there was a beautiful sunset on I-95. We weren’t really seriously talking about having kids at the time but he had this vision that he was going to have a son that should bear his name. The next day, in those last few minutes when his body was slowly shutting down, I had a thought: “I’m going to have a baby on this day next year.” (June 12) When I had my consultation after I got pregnant, my original due date based on my LMP was on my grandparents’ annivesary. The ultrasound a few weeks later pushed it back 10 days (June 14).
On the first anniversary of my grandpa’s death, my mom was woken up by a voice that sounded like my grandpa’s (she’d been dreaming of him all week) that commanded, “Rose, it’s time. Be ready.” She had my dad put their packed bags in the car and spent the day with my grandma, who spent the day praying to my grandpa to not let my son be born that day. My water broke at 5:45pm that evening, just as they had finished dinner. My son was born the following morning (June 13) but I was indeed having a baby a year later.
The “spooky” addendum to the story is that when my son was born, they had to clean out his airways so I didn’t get to hold him immediately. When my mom & husband went over after he finally started crying, my mom’s phone started playing the Bruno Mars song “Amazing” out of nowhere; she hadn’t had any music apps open (nor did she know how to use any haha) but they both heard it. “Amazing” is the song that my grandpa and I danced to together at my wedding. We ended up naming my son Zachary because it means “God has remembered” and using my grandpa’s name as his middle name.
I think I’ve told this other experience on here before, but one other quick story (there are so many from different relatives!) is a few years after he died, my mom had a dream that she’d gone to my grandparents’ house and my grandpa was in the front hallway. She knew in the dream that he was dead and says she felt confused to see him and asked, “Daddy, what are you doing here?” “I just came to check on the house,” he replied.
She called my grandma the next morning to tell her about the dream but my grandma had something to tell her first. “Your father was here last night!” She announced. “As I was laying down in bed, I heard someone walking around downstairs following his nightly routine [of checking to make sure all was locked and turned off]. I know it was him.” We all had chills after hearing that.
My Mom smells flowers when someone she knows dies, every single time no matter the time of day. She doesn’t know who until she gets the call but she knows someone has passed. My childhood cat died when I was 12. For months afterwards I would feel her jump up on my bed and curl up by my feet just like she had every night for years.
My father in law passed in early December from cancer that was caught too late. We didn’t realize it would be so fast (about 2 weeks from diagnosis until he passed) because the doctors kept saying he had months. Since flying with COVID happening seemed too risky my husband planned to rent a car and drive halfway across the country to be with his parents and was leaving on a Friday. On Wednesday morning at 3:30 AM my husband woke up and told me “I just feel like I’m going to be too late, I think leaving on Friday is too late. I just want to be able to say goodbye.” I told him not to worry, the doctors said he had months and it would be ok. We got the call two hours later that his father had passed at 3:30 AM. My husband doesn’t really believe in spiritual stuff but that is something that you can’t deny….somehow at that moment he knew.
There’s definitely another layer of this world and if you’re in tune with it you can receive messages and experience things that have no explanation. My Mom and I both have dreams that tell us things, and my childhood house was haunted so I have lots of stories through the years of experiencing that other layer of the world.
The German shepherd I got in high school died in October. I hadn’t lived at home with my parents for about 5 years. But the first time I went home after she died, the house felt really weird. Mia was a big dog, and she was just a big presence in the home. She used to have one spot in our back den she liked to lay in, because that’s where my mom would work during the day. She was so attached to all four of us in the family. She’d be laying there, and if you walked by, EVERY time she’d pick up her head, open her eyes, and see who it was. Just keeping an eye on everybody, even when she was asleep. You’d hear her claws on the wood floor as she readjusted herself.
One day during that first trip home without her, I was walking by that room, and I heard her claws on the floor. It was Mia. I just knew it. The room was empty, and nobody else was in the whole house. We’d had her 10 years, I instinctively knew that sound. I walked back to my mom and burst into tears when I realized she was there, and wanted me to know she was there. I was so worried about my mom after Mia died, that was her soul dog. And I wasn’t living there anymore, I wasn’t able to check on my mom. I knew Mia wasn’t trying to comfort me about her death, she was trying to tell me she was still home with my mom.
I was watching one of those episodes of Dead Files in which they re-run old episodes with viewers questions, plus little factoids. A viewer asked Amy Allen about the ‘veil’ that existed between our realms. She replied that it was gone.
Take that how you will.
Wish I could believe but just cannot. Have never had any after death experiences so perhaps that is why. Have always considered these experiences as wishful thinking or an overactive imagination or coincidence.
Definitely not unusual, so many people experience things like this when they lose a loved one, sometimes soon, sometimes many years later.
My family had a dear friend who was very close to all of us, and she died suddenly a few years ago. Occasionally I’ll be having a bad day or just feel down, and I’ll randomly find something she gave me from one of her travels.
She often spent Christmas Eve with us, and maybe a year or two after she passed away, on Christmas Eve I had a dream that we were all together again, celebrating, and visiting that way since she couldn’t be there with us.
My dad died of brain cancer two years ago. Right before I received the phone call from my brother, I felt really cold. I told my husband how chilly the room felt, and I few minutes later, my brother called with the news. I dream about him often and I miss him dearly.