The Best Tangible Evidence of Life After Death

Afterlife Evidence You Can Hold in Your Hands

Bob Olson is the host of Afterlife TV, author of two books, Answers About The Afterlife and The Magic Mala, and creator of the reputable directory of psychics and mediums, BestPsychicDirectory.com.

Photo by Stephanie McCabe on Unsplash

There’s so much skepticism around the afterlife because there’s so little tangible evidence of it. When I think of “tangible,” I think of touchable, physical, and solid. The most compelling evidence is experiential, meaning it’s something we experience, like mediumship, past-life regression, a dream visitation, or even a near-death experience. Yet experiential evidence is only convincing to the person having the experience. If a person were to tell her best friend about her dream where her deceased child visited her, the friend would likely listen to the story with sincere interest but not be able to set aside her skepticism.

After my first reading with a medium, I was so excited from the three hours of evidence I’d accumulated that I called two people to tell them the news. The first was my best friend, David, who I called at work. He listened with enthusiasm to my unusual story. Except for an occasional comment where he used the word “holy,” emphasized with some cursing, he sat in pensive silence, letting his voicemail system accept all his phone calls.

David listened to my tale like a true friend. “Wow, that is a lot to take in, Bob. If it were coming from anybody else, I’d never believe it.” There was a long pause. “Phoebe is gonna freak when she hears this story. Tell me more; tell me more!” (Phoebe is David’s wife.)

I did tell David more, and his enthusiasm oozed from his pores. But in the end, he confessed that it was difficult for him to fully accept it. “I hear you telling me all this, Bob, and I believe you—I really do—but there is a part of me that refuses to accept it. It’s like, I know you’re not pulling a prank on me, but I’m waiting for you to start laughing and yell, ‘Gotcha!’” David acknowledged that he would have to find out for himself by seeing a medium on his own.

The second person I called was my mother. She, too, listened with attentive ears. Nonetheless, once I finished listing all the accurate messages that this stranger (the medium) had relayed to me from my mother’s deceased husband, sister, and mother-in-law, her response was, “I believe that you believe it.”

People need evidence they can hold in their hand, something they can show to their friends and family and say, “Here it is. This is evidence of life after death. Take it. Hold it. Contemplate it.” There’s nothing better than having something you can carry around with you to show others, and it took me a year before I came upon this type of evidence during my investigation of life after death.

The First Time I Came Upon This Tangible Evidence

For the first year of my afterlife investigation, I heard about an extraordinary medium named Rita from psychics and mediums in the Boston area. I preferred not to seek out practitioners I hadn’t met, opting to see if our paths crossed without intention. I believed that if something were meant to be, it would happen without any effort on my part. So I didn’t force a connection with Rita to let it happen naturally, at the will of the Powers That Be. That’s exactly how it happened.

One day, a medium named Joe told me during a phone conversation about another medium he’d heard about from Boston who could draw spirits and spirit guides, although he couldn’t remember her name. Two days later, another medium named Nancy invited me to see a medium demonstration on Easter morning at a Spiritualist Church in Quincy, Massachusetts. She said I could call the church’s pastor for directions and told me her name was Rita. She added that Rita is a medium who draws people’s loved ones in spirit.

It was then that I knew I was being led to meet Rita, especially when my Easter plans got canceled because my mother came down with the flu.

Upon meeting the Spiritualist Church pastor on Easter morning, Rita was pleased to let me sample her portfolio of “spirit drawings.” She handed me the book and suggested I browse through it back at my seat since the Easter service was about to begin. After Melissa and I seated ourselves in the back row of the church, we anxiously flipped through Rita’s spirit drawings.

As a medium, Rita can see and hear spirits. As an artist, she can draw them. Rita’s clients visit her for mediumship readings, spirit drawings, or both. Sometimes, the spirit Rita sees is a spirit guide who is watching over and guiding the client from the spirit world. More often, the spirit is a deceased relative or friend who is pleased to have their portrait drawn to prove they are alive in spirit.

Rita’s portfolio contained drawings of spirits that she had drawn for various clients. Next to each drawing was a photograph of the person she had drawn (taken while the person was still alive). These were photographs that Rita’s clients had brought back to her after the drawing was done, sometimes years later. Melissa and I were utterly mesmerized by this tangible display of evidence. These drawings were solid verification that people survive death.

A Spirit Artist Is a Medium Who Can Draw or Paint Portraits

A spirit artist is simply a medium with artistic talents. Spirit artists, therefore, draw or paint portraits of the spirits they see. It’s the only personal experience I know that provides tangible evidence of life after death, which is why it is on my list of best personal experiences. At the end of the session, you get to take home a portrait of your deceased loved one and hang it on your wall. This is weighty evidence, especially if the spirit artist is a stranger to you and the drawing or painting is a moderately accurate depiction of your loved one in spirit.

I’ve had a few of these spirit artist drawings over the years. Although the exact experience can differ from one spirit artist to another, typically the medium gives you a verbal reading as they draw the spirit in attendance. There’s an apparent communication between the medium and the spirit, as the spirit will let the medium know if they need to alter one of their features. I’ve seen this in action. The spirit corrected the medium on the nose drawing in one incidence and the cheeks in another, which were erased by the medium and drawn to a more precise portrayal of the person when living.

The likeness of these drawings is similar to what you might expect from a state fair or carnival artist drawing portraits for attendees. They are portraits rather than caricatures, but they are often less-than-perfect depictions. Still, there’s typically no argument about the portrait's resemblance to the person drawn. In most cases, the spirit artist will get certain features near-perfect, such as the nose, eyes, mouth, chin, or hair, while other features might be slightly off. Although most portraits are from the chest or shoulders up, spirit artists also tend to illustrate the clothing, eyeglasses, perhaps a hat, and jewelry that was often worn by the person with uncanny accuracy.

In my experience, spirit artistry adds a tangible bonus to a mediumship reading. If the resemblance is reasonably accurate, it provides added evidence that the medium is, in fact, communicating with your loved one in spirit. This is especially helpful if the verbal messages could be improved. In other words, a well-drawn spirit artist portrait can make up for a mediocre verbal reading.

On this note, my spirit artistry experiences and those of others I have witnessed do not typically provide the best verbal readings compared to mediums who do not draw or paint spirits. Since spirit artistry focuses on the portrait, and some of the communication the medium is getting is guidance from the spirit about the portrait, the verbal messages tend not to be as detailed as mediumship that doesn’t involve spirit artistry. Therefore, I recommend visiting a spirit artist primarily for the portrait and letting the verbal messages be a bonus to the drawing.

Spirit Artists Might Draw a Spirit Guide

It’s possible the spirit artist could draw your spirit guide, which might not be someone you will recognize. If this is not the type of portrait you desire, I recommend telling the spirit artist before the session, preferably when booking it. On the other hand, some people love discovering what their spirit guide looks like.

Spirit guides watch over and guide us through life. We may have more than one guide at any moment, and they can change as our circumstances and needs change. You might have one guide to help you with your art or writing while another is assisting you with your relationships, health, or career. A spirit guide might be part of your soul group (a family of souls, like a clique, who stick together through several lifetimes) or assisting you solely in this life as part of their own spiritual work. Regardless, their work helping you is as beneficial to their spiritual growth as it is to yours.

We might know a spirit guide from this lifetime, but not necessarily. A spirit guide may be someone we know from another lifetime or only from our time in the spirit world. The assistance of our spirit guides may never be completely understood or appreciated while we are here on earth, but their help to us is invaluable.

Many people enjoy knowing what their spirit guide looks like, and some believe that their spirit drawing brings them closer to their guide. Whatever your beliefs, many spirit artists have been quite successful drawing spirit guides, and clients of these artist mediums have raved to me about the personal and spiritual benefits they received from this gifted service.

Are Spirit Artists Reading Your Mind?

Naturally, just as with all mediums, one might question if the spirit artist is reading your mind about what the person in spirit looks like. This is where the messages being conveyed verbally can be helpful, especially if you are told something from spirit during the session that is not something you know and later learn is true.

I once watched a spirit artist draw a portrait without verbal messages and without showing it to the client until it was complete. This was a demonstration on stage in front of a live audience of approximately 400 people. When the client saw it, she was confused. The person drawn was still alive as far as she knew. A quick phone call confirmed that the person in the drawing had died before anyone could tell the client. Fortunately, it wasn’t a devastating loss to this woman that resulted in a heartbreaking spectacle. It was more a valuable teaching moment for anyone wondering if the spirit artist was reading the woman’s mind.

Final Thoughts

I’ve always had visceral, emotional experiences watching the portraits of my deceased loved ones gradually reveal their images. If the medium is a stranger to you, you know there’s no way he is drawing this from memory. Like hearing your deceased loved one’s voice on a recording, seeing your loved one’s portrait as it’s being drawn is a poignant experience.

I did have one portrait drawn by a spirit artist that confused me. My father came through verbally, but the spirit artist drew a portrait of someone I didn’t recognize. In other words, the verbal messages and the drawing didn’t match. That was mystifying.

Showing it to my mother days later revealed that the spirit artist had drawn my father’s favorite uncle, Nelson (deceased). It compared quite accurately to a photo my mother had of him (see below). I still have no idea why this happened, but I assumed it was my father’s way of showing he was with his uncle. Another possibility is that my father was with his uncle, and the spirit artist saw Nelson instead of my father. I asked the medium but she wasn’t sure either. I may never know.

Such is the risk we take when investigating the afterlife. There are always results that fall into the anomaly category and may always remain a mystery. To be honest, I was quite relieved. I half expected my mother to tell me the drawing was my real father, followed by a confession of sorts.

Thanks for being part of Bob Olson Connect. Let me know in the comments if you’ve ever had a spirit portrait drawn or if it’s an experience you’d like to have.

With love,
Bob

PS, Below are images of two spirit drawings and photos while living: One is my great-great-grandfather, Julius (see drawing of Civil War soldier). Another is my father’s favorite uncle, Nelson (mentioned above).

The portrait of Julius was drawn during a telephone reading I had in which the spirit artist mailed me the drawing. After the spirit artistry session, I phoned my mother to send me the only photo of Julius known to my family. The spirit drawing from the spirit artist and the photograph from my mother arrived in the mail in the same week. The resemblance blew me away. The spirit artist saw Julius as a little older than he was in the photo my mother sent, but there’s no question that she drew Julius with incredible accuracy. My wife, Melissa, later had the spirit drawing framed for me as a birthday present.

Spirit drawing of Bob’s great-great-grandfather, Julius.

Newspaper photo of Bob’s great-great-grandfather, Julius.

Spirit drawing of Bob’s great-uncle, Nelson.

Photo of Bob’s great-uncle, Nelson.

PPS, Rita, the spirit artist in my story, has retired from spirit artistry. However, Joseph Shiel is an experienced and reputable medium from my directory who offers spirit artistry. I met Joseph at the famous medium community in New York known as Lily Dale. I found him to be a wonderfully kind and peaceful man. I would recommend him for both mediumship (verbal readings) and to have a spirit portrait drawn. You can view a gallery of Joseph’s spirit art here.

On this directory page, you can find other mediums who offer spirit artistry. It’s important to keep in mind that spirit artistry means different things to different mediums. To some, like Joseph Shiel, Chris Fitting, and Nancy Smith, spirit art is what I’ve illustrated in this article. To others, like Elaine Clayton, spirit art is all about drawing your spiritual essence (energy) or illustrating your own spiritual realm. Be sure to visit any spirit artist’s website and inquire with them individually to know what they offer. In most cases, the medium artist will have a gallery of drawings on their website.

Bob Olson is the host of Afterlife TV, author of two books, Answers About The Afterlife and The Magic Mala, and creator of the reputable directory of psychics and mediums, BestPsychicDirectory.com. His newest venture is Bob Olson Connect, where you can read Bob’s articles before they become books.

For a list of previous articles written by Bob, click here.