Paying a debt. Rev. Charles McKay, a Catholic priest, reported an evidential case in 1842. When he moved to a new assignment in Perth, Scotland, a Presbyterian woman named Anne Simpson approached him. She described a repeating dream where a deceased woman she had known, named Malloy, insisted she must contact a priest. Malloy owed a small sum, three-and-tenpence, at the time of her death. She apparently expected a priest would go to the trouble of settling her debt.
Simpson, however, didn’t know to whom Malloy owed the debt. But McKay began asking around. Eventually, he contacted a local grocer who checked his books and found Malloy had a debt in his records of exactly that amount. McKay paid the required sum.
This case is instructive as it shows the deceased acting with a sense of purpose we can’t attribute to any living person.
Kübler-Ross’ transformative after-death communication. As reported in the Introduction, a brief dream visitation from my deceased Uncle Harry catalyzed my life transformation. Another life-changing example is Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, whom Time magazine named in 1999 as one of the “100 Most Important Thinkers” of the previous century. A powerful, evidential after-death communication stimulated her pioneering work on the stages of confronting death.
At the time this after-death communication occurred, Kübler-Ross was experiencing burnout. Her seminars on death and dying had deteriorated. She had decided, even though she hadn’t told anyone, to quit her work at the University of Chicago. She was about to announce her decision to a new minister with whom she was working, when suddenly a woman appeared and asked to walk with Kübler-Ross to her office.
As they walked, Kübler-Ross recognized this woman as the memorable Mrs. Schwartz, a former patient who had been the first person to report a near-death experience to Kübler- Ross and had died ten months previously. The woman was insistent Kübler-Ross mustn’t abandon her work on death and dying. She even insisted Kübler-Ross promise her right then and there that she would continue.
Kübler-Ross, recognizing the situation’s astonishing gravity, asked Mrs. Schwartz to write a note. Kübler-Ross describes the event’s emotional intensity:
And this woman, with the most human, no, not human, most loving smile, knowing every thought I had – and I knew it, it was thought transference if I’ve ever experienced it – took the paper and wrote a note.
Kübler-Ross kept Mrs. Schwartz’ note with her signature – as physical evidence of the remarkable event, which she continued to describe in public appearances. Then she agreed to her demand and promised she wouldn’t abandon the work that eventually made her famous worldwide.
This case is significant because it combines evidence of identity, spirit materialization, and evidence of intentionality with a life-transforming event.
At the time of death. Peter Fenwick, a British neuroscientist, has been investigating after-death communications. He found many occurred close to the moment of death (as was my powerful Uncle Harry dream visitation).
Fenwick describes such an incident when a drowned sailor in England appeared to his mother in Australia. He appeared dripping wet at the end of her bed in the middle of the night. Moving toward her, he became surrounded by light. He told her he was fine, and then left. When she checked with the Navy, she learned he had fallen overboard and drowned at the time he had appeared to her.
Jeffrey Mishlove’s essay, “Beyond the Brain: The Survival of Human Consciousness After Permanent Bodily Death,” received first prize in the 2021 Bigelow Institute’s challenge to provide proof for the survival of human consciousness after death. Footnotes in Mishlove’s essay and videos he refers have been removed in this presentation but are available in his essay, which may be downloaded at https://bigelowinstitute.org/contest_winners3.php. Mishlove is a licensed clinical psychologist, author, and host on YouTube of “New Thinking Allowed.”
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