Skeptical Son Gets Unmistakable After-Death Communications from Deceased Father

After-death communications come in many forms. This true story reveals the first four I experienced, which were so blatant they broke through my skepticism.

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This article was added to Bob Olson Connect earlier but never emailed, so only a few people read it, which is why it’s being emailed to you today. Also, an audio recording of Bob reading this article is available to everyone at the bottom of this page.

I thought I’d share with you the true story of my first set of after-death communications (ADCs). ADCs are basically signs and signals from our deceased loved ones in spirit. This was weeks after my father died in 1997, so I was still quite skeptical about life after death, yet open minded about the possibilities. While I had made a commitment to use my skills as a private eye in search for evidence of the afterlife, I had yet to locate any compelling evidence at this point.

One day, I got in my Volkswagen Scirocco on my way to meet a defense attorney. He had a new murder case he wanted me to investigate. I drove out of the driveway of my house and down a country road. With the windows closed, my car suddenly filled with the aroma of lilacs. I knew the smell because we’d planted lilacs at my father’s grave. It was his favorite flower. The scent that filled my car was so potent that I looked out the window expecting to see lilac bushes nearby. There were none. No lilacs on either side of the road. I rolled down my window and the aroma seemed to be coming from inside the car, not outside of it.

I shook my head, slightly perplexed but without giving it too much thought.

I turned on the radio to a local rock station, WAAF, that was playing Lynyrd Skynyrd’s, “Free Bird.” I grew up listening to Skynyrd, but that particular song had been played during the funerals of three classmates during high school, so it always reminded me of death. Nonetheless, I sang along as I drove because I do love the song.

As I sang, “If I leave here tomorrow, would you still remember me? For I must be traveling on now, cause there’s too many places I’ve got to see...,” the song abruptly stopped and the radio began changing from station to station on its own.

I grabbed the old-style analog knob to turn the dial, but it didn’t stop the needle from moving. It was as if the knob had stopped working. I turned and turned it, but the radio kept shifting from station to station. I had absolutely no control over it.

I pressed the preset buttons to no avail. I pushed the control knob to shut the radio off, but it kept on playing. I slammed the top of the dashboard with my hand because, well, that’s just what guys do. Still nothing. The radio just kept switching from talk show to song to commercial to another song, a different station every second.

Out of the blue, I thought of my father. I don’t know why he came to mind, but I wondered if he was sending a hello from heaven, which was strange since I wasn’t yet convinced the afterlife existed.

“Dad, is that you?” I said out loud.

Instantly, the radio stopped changing from station to station and the end of “Free Bird” played like nothing had happened. The song ended and the next song to play was Led Zeppelin’s, “Stairway to Heaven.”

I felt the blood rush out of my head. I got so lightheaded that I pulled the car over to the side of the road. My heart was pounding, and I felt a little woozy. I opened my window for some fresh air. I pushed the radio knob, which now worked to shut it off, and I sat in silence to process the experience.

Cars whizzed by my Scirocco as I sat there parked on the side of the road. I looked out my window toward the sky.

“Thanks for saying hello, Dad.”

Once I felt steady again, I shifted the manual transmission into first gear and drove back down the road.

That was my first after-death communication. In fact, the experience held four ADCs. The first being the inexplicable aroma of lilacs. The second was the song, “Free Bird,” which reminded me of my friends’ funerals. The third was the radio mysteriously moving from station to station. And the fourth was the song, “Stairway to Heaven.”

It would be a while still before I discovered persuasive evidence of life after death, but this experience was a clue that there are phenomena of a spiritual nature that indicate a communication between the living and the deceased. While one might chalk it all up to an amazing coincidence, the next 25 years of my investigation would teach me that serendipitous events like these are often the most sacred experiences one can know.

I’ve had many experiences since that day that I would classify as after-death communications (ADCs). In truth, I get them often now. Case in point, after I wrote this story for you, I left my desk to get a drink of water. As I walked from my office to the kitchen, the radio was playing in the living room. The song “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You” performed by Frankie Valli was just beginning. This is the only song my father requested be played at his funeral, which we honored. I can’t say that I was especially surprised at this stage in my journey, but the coincidence of it playing just as I finished writing about my first ADCs with “Free Bird” and “Stairway to Heaven” made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

I’d love to hear about your own after-death communications.

Thanks for reading my story,
Bob

PS, I interviewed the man who coined the term after-death communications on Afterlife TV about the 12 common ADCs spirits send us.

Bob with his VW Scirocco 26 years ago.

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Bob’s the host of Afterlife TV, author of two books, Answers About The Afterlife and The Magic Mala, and creator of the reputable directory of vetted psychics and mediums, BestPsychicDirectory.com. Bob’s newest venture is BOB OLSON CONNECT, a Substack newsletter where you can read his stories, listen to a recording of each article, and leave comments. Click here to view upgrade options.

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