Deathbed Visions

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FACT OR FANTASY?

How many people have deathbed visions? This is unknown since only about 10 percent of dying people are conscious shortly before their deaths. But of this 10 percent, it is estimated, between 50 and 60 percent of them experience these visions. The visions only seem to last about five minutes and are seen mostly by people who approach death gradually, such as those suffering from life-threatening injuries or terminal illnesses.

So what are deathbed visions? How can they be explained? Are they hallucinations produced by dying brains? Delusions produced by drugs in the systems of the patients? Or could the visions of spirits be exactly what they appear to be: a welcome committee of deceased loved ones who have come to ease the transition to life on another plane of existence? Carla Wills-Brandon attempts to answer these questions in her book, One Last Hug Before I Go: The Mystery and Meaning of Death Bed Visions, which includes many modern-day accounts.

Could they be creations of the dying brain - a kind of self-induced sedative to ease the dying process? Although this is a theory offered by many in the scientific community, Wills-Brandon doesn't agree. The visitors in the visions were often times deceased relatives who came to offer support to the dying person, she writes. In some situations, the dying did not know these visitors were already dead. In other words, why would the dying brain only produce visions of people who are dead, whether the dying person knew they were dead or not?

And what about the effects of medication? Many of the individuals who have these visions are not on medications and are very coherent, writes Wills-Brandon. Those who are on medications also report these visions, but the visions are similar to those who are not on medications.

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