One area that tonight's guest, Dr. Jeffrey Long, has researched is After Death Communication (ADC). ADC is defined as a contact that comes from a deceased friend or family member and often occurs within a short time of their passing.These communications arrive in a spontaneous fashion and as such are differentiated from those of mediums or psychics who deliberately contact the dead. They may come during a regular waking state or in dreams or meditations when the receiver may be more responsive to this kind of communication. Long has set up a website, adcrf.org(1), to collect and analyze ADC reports.
ADC may take the form of various sensory input, such as smelling a familiar scent of the deceased, feeling a tap or hug from them, or hearing them in a one or two way conversation. Among the website's postings was one from a woman who wrote that on the morning of her husband's funeral she awoke "to the sensation of someone gently stroking the tip of my wedding ring finger, which was outside the covers." Another poster told of a dream where his deceased fiancé called him at work. " 'I was just calling to check on the kids. We can't get married because, I'm dead.' Then the call ended and I woke up from the dream," he wrote.
Because ADC is a highly subjective experience, some may question how real it is, i.e. are the dead really communicating with them? Long's website takes the stance that these contacts are neither hallucinations nor indications of mental disturbance. Rather, the reports show that the experiencers generally felt their encounters were valid and meaningful, and that in some sense were real.
--L.L.(2)
1. http://www.adcrf.org/
2. http://archive.coasttocoastam.com/info/about_lex.html