The presence of the dead: An empirical study

Abstract

It is very common for newly bereaved people to hold on to their spouse's possessions, and talk to photographs of them, or to feel that they are still communicating with them. A post-bereavement experience that encapsulates these themes, providing closeness, communication, and the continuation of an important relationship, is the sense of the dead person's presence. At its weakest this is a feeling that one is somehow being watched; at its strongest it is a full-blown sensory experience. This experience has over the past 50 years become well documented in medical, counselling and psychological literature. Our discussion is based on two empirical studies undertaken roughly 15 years apart, and it leads us to challenge some assumptions found in the literature. We argue, for example, that the sense of presence does not occur at a single stage of bereavement and that it lasts for much longer than the literature has previously suggested. We also look at some of the ways these sorts of experiences have been commonly interpreted and how experiencers interpret them themselves. The view that dominates scientific discourse is that these experiences are illusory-symptoms of broken hearts and minds in chaos, or part of the futile searching for the deceased that characterizes the early stages of grief. However, there is an alternative interpretational framework which allows the phenomenon to be seen as 'real' and 'natural', evidence of the possibility of continuing links with the dead beyond the grave. We argue that both these discourses are cultural artefacts, equally 'rational' and equally 'traditional'. In a search for understanding of their experiences, bereaved people have access to both these discourses. We show that they may utilize either or both, often within the context of a single conversation or narrative. The primary data for this paper come from KMB's recent research into the lives of widows in Leicester; it also draws on earlier research conducted in Manchester by GB.

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