The Most Compelling Evidence for Life After Death!
23 fascinating areas of afterlife evidence that I have investigated with books, articles, and online video suggestions for further learning.
Bob Olson is the host of Afterlife TV, author of Answers About The Afterlife and The Magic Mala, and founder of BestPsychicDirectory.com. You’re reading Bob Olson Connect, where you get to read his articles before they become books.
This week, I’m presenting you with a list of the more compelling evidence of life after death that I have investigated. This evidence has been the foundation for my books and articles in the past 27 years.
If you’ve been reading my articles here on Bob Olson Connect (BOC), you’ll notice that I don’t often discuss a few items listed below, mostly because I don’t find the evidence as compelling as those I discuss regularly. However, I list them here because you may wish to explore some of this evidence to make your own determinations.
I provide links to articles I have written about most of these subjects to extend your reading further. I also added book suggestions and a few Afterlife TV interviews that may interest you.
Please note that these are not in any particular order.
MEDIUMSHIP
Mediums are people who can communicate with spirits. I’ve written enough about this subject on BOC that a more thorough explanation isn’t needed, but when discussing it, I usually refer to readings with mediums.
There are numerous types of mediums with specializations, including:
Evidential mediums (who communicate with spirits, giving people names, dates, and detailed descriptions of what they looked like, how they died, and their personality characteristics before passing).
Spirit artists (who draw the spirits they can see).
Medium detectives (who help police solve crimes with the assistance of people in spirit).
Missing person psychics and mediums (who help find missing people).
Historical psychics and mediums (who provide insight into historical places or objects).
Medical intuitives (who help doctors detect physical ailments, usually as energy imbalances).
Animal communicators (who communicate with pets, including dogs, cats, horses, birds, reptiles, etc.). I cover this evidence separately below.
Mediums offer some of the most compelling evidence of life after death. They do this in private sittings (readings) and from stages in front of small and large audiences of 30 to 3000 people.
The work of mediums holds such value in this research and in helping people comfort their grief that I’ve written several articles about this subject. They are:
“When the Skeptic Met the Spirit Medium.”
“A Private Investigator Walks into a Psychic Fair.”
“The Chain-Smoking, Kitchen-Pacing Spirit Messenger.”
“You Might Be a Psychic or Medium.”
“The Best Tangible Evidence of Life After Death” (about spirit artists).
“Why Your Deceased Loved One Didn’t Come Through in Your Reading.”
“The 7 Common Messages from Deceased Loved Ones During Readings with Mediums.”
“Confessions of a Tarot Card Skeptic.”
If you’ve never experienced a reading with a medium, check out my directory of credible and reputable mediums at BestPsychicDirectory.com. If you’d like an instant reading (no scheduling/no waiting), visit our Instant Readings page to see who is available.
PAST-LIFE REGRESSIONS
When hypnotic regressionists use guided meditation techniques to lead ordinary folks into a semiconscious memory of a past life, it’s called a past-life regression. After guiding the sitter into the past-life memory, the regressionist asks questions about what the sitter is wearing, seeing, smelling, tasting, and hearing in the past life. The sitter will often know their name (first name, at least) in that lifetime, the year, their personality and appearance, information about their friends and family members, and most often, details about some significant event in their life and how they died.
A popular book on this subject is Many Lives, Many Masters by Dr. Brian Weiss. Dr. Weiss, a graduate of Columbia University and Yale Medical School, was a bit skeptical when his psychotherapy patient, Catherine, began recounting the details of her past life traumas. These past-life reviews, however, set Catherine free from the anxiety and nightmares that led her to seek Dr. Weiss’s treatment in the first place. Dr. Weiss was then captivated by the idea of using past-life regression as a treatment tool, and the world became “hypnotized” by his best-selling books that retold the particulars of his patients’ healing journeys in remarkable detail.
The afterlife question provoked by past-life regression is this: if we live multiple lifetimes, is this evidence that we don’t die and that there is a place or dimension between lives? I am convinced it is after experiencing more past lives than I can count.
You might want to read “Journey Into a Past Life” (about my first past-life regression) or “How Long Until Our Souls Get it Right?” (which answers questions about past lives asked in an Indigo Girls song). You can also watch my interview with Dr. Brian Weiss on Afterlife TV.
NEAR-DEATH EXPERIENCES (NDEs)
When people die for a brief time (a few seconds to a few minutes) and then come back to life, some have what is called a near-death experience. This is an experience where they leave their body, view their body from above, and then often go into a light they describe as the spirit world. Here, deceased loved ones or other spiritual beings (nonphysical beings) greet them before they are told they must return to their physical life.
In many cases, information that the person obtained while out of their body has been confirmed—for instance, what doctors said or did in the emergency room—that the person could have never known otherwise. Doctors and researchers have tested this phenomenon in numerous ways with remarkable results.
Two near-death experience researchers who have significantly impacted what we know in this field are Dr. Raymond Moody (see his book Life after Life) and PMH Atwater (see her book Near-Death Experiences: The Rest of the Story).
I’ve written “Anatomy of a Near-Death Experience.” You might also want to watch my interviews with near-death experiencers on Afterlife TV, including Dr. Eben Alexander, Anita Moorjani, Natalie Sudman, Dr. Lani Leary, and MarVeena Meek.
OUT-OF-BODY EXPERIENCES (OBEs)
In any discussion on NDEs, one must include OBEs. Some people don’t travel to the spirit world but leave their bodies, nonetheless. This phenomenon is known as an out-of-body experience. People do not have to die to experience this; some have learned to induce this experience intentionally. Those who have become proficient in having intentional OBEs claim to travel to other lands and dimensions, including the afterlife.
For a book on intentional OBEs, check out Adventures Beyond the Body by William Buhlman. You can also watch my interview with William on Afterlife TV.
PAST-LIFE RECALL
Art Linkletter used to say that “kids say the darndest things.” Well, recent claims have been made that some kids talk about their former lifetimes. These children know their past life names, what they did for a living, their friends’ names, and even how they died in a past life. This phenomenon is called past-life recall.
A best-selling book, Soul Survivor, by Bruce and Andrea Leininger, documented a boy’s memory as a World War II pilot. The story is significant because the boy’s parents eventually researched their son’s claims (despite their skepticism). They learned that the man their son claimed to be existed sixty years prior, and many details their son gave were eerily accurate. As it turns out, there was a World War II fighter pilot named James Huston who was killed in the Battle of Iwo Jima.
My favorite interview from Afterlife TV is a MUST-SEE episode. Jenny Cockell tells the mind-blowing story of her past-life recall that led her to find her children from her previous lifetime (who were still alive!). It’s titled “Mother Finds Children From Past Life!”
DEATHBED VISIONS (PRE-DEATH VISIONS)
Many dying people have seen spirits—often deceased loved ones—welcoming them to the other side. These apparitions prepare them for their journey home and then escort them to the spirit world upon death. While most of the evidence we have for this common occurrence consists of eyewitness accounts from surviving relatives or friends who were present when it happened, these incidents are so widespread, and with such interesting responses from the dying, many people believe they are real.
Read my article “Understanding Deathbed Visions” for more details.
SHARED-DEATH EXPERIENCES
There are many claims of family members and friends who have shared their dying loved one’s deathbed visions, called shared-deathbed experiences (or shared-death experiences). In these instances, people say that they, too, had an otherworldly experience that was similar to or the same as their dying loved one’s transition back to the spiritual world.
Many believe it occurs because they’re in the same room with the dying person, but not everyone who has experienced this phenomenon has been in the same room. People who have shared death experiences have seen the spirits of deceased people, caught a glimpse of the spirit world, and even felt an alternate dimension as if the dying person held open the door to eternity so they could experience what it is like for a moment.
DREAM VISITATIONS
It’s natural that the bereaved long for contact with their deceased loved ones on the other side. Survivors want to know that their loved ones who have passed are okay, that they still exist in some form or another, and that they are watching over them from above.
Some people have experienced direct contact in their dreams. However, these aren’t like most dreams, faintly recalled and often disjointed. Dream visitations from the dead are extraordinarily vivid and realistic, filled with heartfelt emotion, and remembered by the dreamer many years later in such lucid detail that it’s as if they had the dream the prior evening.
I’ve written a more in-depth article here: “Dream Visitations.”
GHOSTS (SPIRITS) AND HAUNTINGS
Americans seem obsessed with ghosts (spirits) and hauntings, yet what does a haunting prove? For me, hauntings are merely one piece of evidence of an afterlife. If ghosts exist, that would be evidence of the survival of consciousness.
There are two classifications of hauntings: ghosts (spirits) and energy imprints.
First, there are ghosts, which some believe are people who have died but have not gone into the light. Others, myself included, believe ghosts are not scary entities but are merely loved ones in spirit—spirits who have gone into the light of heaven and are trying to say hello, which happens to scare some people.
Second, there are energy imprints of past events. These are a different phenomenon altogether. Energy imprints exist in places where the energy of an event continues to exist, like a holographic photograph. They are often emotionally charged events, like a traumatic death due to murder, suicide, or war.
People sensitive to these energies can sometimes tap into them and recognize these imprints, which they often interpret as seeing or hearing a spirit (ghost). However, there is no spirit (ghost), just the imprinted memory of some historical event. These people are psychically tuning into an energetic memory.
I wrote an article on this subject titled “Ghosts and Hauntings: An Afterlife Investigator’s Perspective!”
NON-MEDIUM SPIRIT VISIONS
Mediums who see spirits are one thing, but what about the thousands of ordinary people who are not mediums but have experienced a vision of a spirit? Many see visions of spirits at the foot of their bed or walking down their hallway. One woman I know saw her deceased husband walking up her stairway.
Visions of spirits—usually deceased loved ones—are common, though they usually happen to most people only once. These are not scary experiences. They tend to be comforting and reassuring that their deceased loved one is around them. A few see them regularly and even continue their relationship with the person in spirit over many years (see the book The Afterlife of Billy Fingers by Annie Kagan). I interviewed Annie on Afterlife TV.
CHANNELING
As mentioned, mediums communicate with our deceased loved ones, so what are channelers? Channelers, also known as channels, communicate with higher-level spirits, often group entities, to convey wisdom (as opposed to communicating messages from the dead to their surviving loved ones as mediums do).
The most well-known channel of the past is Jane Roberts, who channeled a spiritual being named Seth (check out her book Seth Speaks). Many others do this work today. One channel named Paul Selig has channeled twelve books, including I Am the Word, The Book of Love and Creation, and The Book of Knowing and Worth. Those three books are a great place to begin, although I recommend all twelve of his books. His newest title will be released on September 17th: A World Made New.
You can watch my interview with Paul Selig on Afterlife TV (Paul is full of wisdom and fascinating to watch as he channels) or read my article “Tapping Into the Sacred Flow of Creation.”
REINCARNATED PEOPLE
Some people claim to be reincarnated versions of famous people of the past. Physically, their appearances are strikingly similar. They even share the same personality characteristics, skills, or talents, often long before they realize their similarities with the famous person.
But are they really the same souls reincarnated into a different body in a different lifetime? Only a look at all the evidence, comparing the people who make these claims with the historical evidence of who they claim to be, can help us decide. I’m still unconvinced, but I find the subject fascinating because if reincarnation exists, that means we survive death.
ANGEL INTERVENTIONS
Some people who have escaped seemingly inescapable tragic accidents or crimes claim that an angel intervened. Can angels exist among us to keep us alive or unharmed at times? And if this is real, are these deceased loved ones in spirit watching over them, or are there angels who exist just for this purpose? Furthermore, why are some people saved while others are not?
These are all questions I have explored while interviewing people who claim to have had angel interventions. While the abundant stories of this kind are intriguing, the evidence is primarily hearsay (people’s verbal reports without hard evidence), leaving me wanting more. Nonetheless, it’s worth investigating because if angel interventions are real, they are evidence that spirits exist.
LIFE-BETWEEN-LIVES REGRESSIONS
What happens if we have a past-life regression but continue to follow our existence after our death in that lifetime? That’s what hypnotic regressionist Michael Newton asked himself years ago. He found that we leave our bodies and enter the spirit world to prepare for our next physical life. He called it the “life between lives.”
This extended regression experience, which usually takes four to five hours, allows individuals to learn about their soul group, why certain people are in their lives, and even their purpose for being alive today. Michael Newton’s books on this subject include Journey of Souls and Destiny of Souls.
Check out “Glimpse into the Afterlife” for my wife Melissa’s first life-between-lives regression experience. Even better, you can listen to that recorded experience on Afterlife TV.
CHILDREN’S SPIRIT CONTACT
Some children’s imaginary friends may not be imaginary at all. Some imaginary friends are likely people in spirit. Are these kids perhaps communicating with relatives or other people on the other side? That’s what some parents have concluded since their children know things about their dead relatives—people who died before the child was born—when there is no other way for them to know this information.
Many children see people in spirit because they haven’t yet learned to be skeptical. Many believe children can see spirits because they have only been briefly away from the spirit world. What’s different about these incidents—as opposed to adult spirit visions, for instance—is the innocence and authenticity children bring to these subjects.
I wrote an article titled “Nurturing Spiritual Awareness in Children” about the spiritual experiences of a medium’s children.
PRE-BIRTH PLANNING
We plan our life experiences—at least our significant challenges and relationships—before we are born. Convincing evidence supports this idea, which is most gained from working with mediums, channels, and regressionists. This subject is ripe with riveting stories that help people find meaning in their suffering and deepen their understanding of why bad things happen to good people.
I highly recommend you read two books on this subject by Robert Schwartz titled Your Soul’s Plan and Your Soul’s Gift. You can watch my interview with Rob Schwartz on Afterlife TV. I also interviewed him a second time, which you can watch here.
CHILDREN’S NEAR-DEATH EXPERIENCES
Near-death experiences of adults are engaging, but NDEs of children take it to a whole new level. Because of their authentic innocence, children’s near-death stories are fascinating storytelling. And there are researchers who have dedicated their careers to researching this phenomenon.
PHOTOGRAPHS OF SPIRITS
Many photographs exist that people believe capture the image of a spirit. In most cases, the photograph was taken of something else, and the spirit image was noticed later. Even when recognizing the opportunity for fraud in these cases, some photos are undeniably interesting and serve as tangible evidence of life after death.
ELECTRONIC VOICE PHENOMENON (EVP)
Many people have audio recordings that they believe capture the voices of spirits. Usually, these are recordings of dead air taken by ghost hunters for this purpose. While fraud is easy to manipulate in these cases, and interpreting EVPs is subjective, it’s a subject to consider and perhaps experiment with. When fraud can be ruled out, this is tangible evidence of an afterlife.
SPIRIT COMMUNICATION THROUGH HYPNOSIS
We don’t need a medium to communicate with our loved ones in spirit. Many are having direct contact with the deceased using hypnosis. This is where people use hypnosis to get into a relaxed state and connect with people in spirit. It’s not nearly as common as mediumship but can be even more effective since the connection is direct.
In my first experience with this technique, I saw and felt my father's presence in spirit. It was awe-inspiring. I have since experimented with this technique (after being trained by Dr. Brian Weiss) with myself as the hypnotic facilitator, assisting friends and family in experiencing their loved ones in spirit.
Read my article “An Alternative Method for Spirit Contact” for more details.
ANIMAL COMMUNICATION
According to a survey by the Humane Society of the United States, 90 million people in the United States own pets. Consequently, many of these pet owners wonder if their animals go to the afterlife when they die. To answer these questions, animal communicators communicate with both living and passed pets, convincing thousands of pet owners that their pets have sent them messages from the spirit world.
I, too, have successfully tested animal communicators, leaving me with compelling evidence that these pet mediums made contact with my deceased pets. This is mainly because they told me things my pet would know, yet the animal communicator could never know.
Read my article “Surprising Insights Discovered through Animal Communication” or “Will I See My Pet Again in the Afterlife” for more info.
AFTER-DEATH COMMUNICATIONS (ADCs)
The phrase “after-death communication” was coined by ADC researchers Bill Guggenheim and Judy Guggenheim, who define ADCs as spiritual experiences that occur when you are contacted directly and spontaneously by a deceased family member or friend without the use of psychics, mediums, rituals, or devices of any kind. The Guggenheims estimated that 50 to 100 million Americans—20 percent to 40 percent of the population of the United States—have had one or more ADC experiences. Therefore, ADCs provide convincing evidence for life after death.
While some of the subjects listed above fall into this ADC category (deathbed visions, dream visitations, non-medium spirit visions), many more could be added to this list (or at least be grouped with other ADCs). These include the following: sensing a presence, hearing a voice, feeling a touch, smelling a fragrance, electronic phenomena (e.g., a telephone call from a deceased loved one’s cell phone that is off), miraculous coincidences, animal visitations (birds or butterflies), frequently finding coins or feathers.
People consider after-death communications to be signs from loved ones in spirit to communicate that they are okay, they are watching over them, and they are still a part of their lives. I highly recommend reading Bill Guggenheim and Judy Guggenheim’s book Hello from Heaven for more information on these phenomena.
Read my article “Ten Signs that Spirits Send Us” for a more detailed look, or read “Skeptical Son Gets Unmistakable After-Death Communications from Deceased Father” about my first ADC experience.
SPIRIT WRITING
Spirit writing, or inspired writing, is when a person channels information, guidance, or answers from a spirit through typing or writing. In most cases, a person will ask a question and immediately begin typing the answer before their intellect can contemplate it and provide the answer. Many non-mediums have used this approach to communicate with their loved ones, get advice, or channel wisdom. I have experimented with spirit writing myself with extraordinary success.
Similarly, automatic writing is when a person channels information from a spirit through typing or writing. However, the automatic writer can carry on a separate conversation, read a book, or watch television while their fingers type the channeled information. Thus, automatic writing is a much more advanced form of inspired (or spirit) writing.
I’ve written two articles about this subject. The first is titled “Seven Steps to Spirit Writing.” The second is “My Early Days of Spirit Writing.”
I share this list with you—and all the accompanying resources—so that you may expand your investigation of life after death. Please share with me in the comments which subjects speak loudest to you or those that you have experienced in your life.
With love,
Bob
Bob Olson is the host of Afterlife TV, author of Answers about the Afterlife and The Magic Mala, and creator of the top directory of psychics, mediums, and animal communicators, BestPsychicDirectory.com. This is Bob Olson Connect, where you can read Bob’s articles before they become books.