my grandpa was expirencing things like this 8 years ago just before he passed away. I remember going into his room one morning and half his face was limp (he must have had a stroke during the night) and he was talking strange. He held my left arm and said "what are all these strange markings on your arm" he said it looked like symbols/writing.... i dont have any tattoos on my arm or anything like that...

and of course i dont know if its dementia, something other, or a combination of things but it sounds crazy.

Thank you all for these touching and fascinating stories!
It makes death less scary to know that there can be some kind of comfort in the end.

i believe in he spirit world., i am sure she is seeing relatives whos there to walk her through to the other side. i had an incident about a yr ago here at my house. it was with the inscents burning in my home, but the thing was is i never burned inscents, i have a glade spray. which releases every 10mins, i know that smell because everybody used inscents back in the 90's.. i see and hear stuff but its something we will all have to learn. the things we see and hear and even smell, could be related to us ghost hunting etc.. aka "spirits i think its attached, but havent yet to be seen.

Not too long ago, my cousins grandmother passed away quite unexpectedly. About a week before she passed, she went over to my cousins house and was saying that she was seeing dead relatives of hers, most notably my cousins grandpa who had passed on about 10 years prior.

Two days before she passed away, my cousin had a dream in which his grandmother was asking him why he doesn't visit her and that she misses him and wants to see him. My cousin didn't heed the warning. After her passing, my cousins sister was discussing with her other cousin a similar dream they had had the week leading up to her death.

Stay strong, Blue. Your gamma is in good hands.

I absolutely believe that your 96 year old grandmother is in fact seeing and interacting with those who have passed and were close to her in life. When my grandfather was 93 and in a similar condition he began talking about seeing the "shadow people", and speaking with his long passed brother when he was in the shower one morning. Others in the family said that he was losing his mind but I suspected that his time was coming fast and the other side was reaching out to him.

When the end was very near and he was in the hospital in a semi-comatose state the doctor told us that it was taking him longer to pass because the pacemaker in his chest was forcing his heart to beat and keeping him alive. Then it all made sense to me that he was actually remaining here a little bit past his time and is why he seemed to develop a sudden connection with the afterlife, so to speak.

I definitely believe in the spirit world especially since I've had a lot of interaction. Some of that interaction resulted in physical movement of objects.

I have an older relative who has either seen spirits and a couple of times she claims she saw Satan. I have no idea why she thinks it was Satan. She didn't have anything good to say about Satan but it sounded encouraging that Satan wasn't happy at least the first time she claims she saw him watching us.

My relative told me when she goes, she will be greeted by a lot of her family and friends who have already passed over. As we get older the number of family and friends waiting to meet us after we pass over grows larger and larger if we live long enough I've been told.

I once seriously thought I was going to die one night which didn't make any logical sense because I was home and in bed. I saw death coming for me floating down in the sky. It was dark outside but I woke up from this dream or vision. I did not want to go. I felt I was spared. A powerful tornado shook our house moments later not damaging it one bit not even a single shingle but it totally destroyed and swept away all the trees at the end of the house and large branches hanging almost on the roof. I never posted this next statement I believe on ATS before. I prayed not to be taken. I believe my mother was praying too. I imagined a giant hand reaching out over our roof protecting us in answer to our prayers. I guess for the atheists out there, they would probably say I was dreaming since I was trying to sleep. I had to be awake to pray. I believe in the power of prayer.

I met one atheist in college and thought it was amusing that he had a crisis because of all the extraordinary things he saw around me. He didn't even see all the really weird stuff. I thought maybe he wasn't the brightest person around easily beating him about 8 times in a row playing chess. Then he told me he was his High School chess champion.

I believe there is a lot going on in the spirit world. I don't usually see anything though unless it's really unusual or a spirit in my house being friendly. Even then I don't see anyone. I've seen something unusual in my vision when the spirit or ghost gets right in front of me and then touches me.

The most amusing encounter was when something opened a lobby door for me and some guy in the lobby saw something that scared the living daylights out of him. I was a bit concerned about what he saw that scared him so much. Maybe he saw something I didn't. Sorry if my post seems to ramble.

Eternal Life? What a depressing thought.

I’m sorry to hear about your Grandmother OP. Hope she had a good life and finds peace.

The only experience I have had of this kind was when I was visiting my older sister in our local hospital. I can’t remember why she was in – it wasn’t anything serious, just a precautionary stay over, but there was an old lady in her ward, must of been 80-90 at least and you could just tell she would never leave the hospital again. She was very brittle and in and out of consciousness. At one point, she started speaking as if to nobody, it still shivers my spine thinking about it! She was saying things like “Help me, Mother. I’m ready, come and get me,” then a long pause before “please.” She said more but I can’t recall it all word for word.
I’ll never forget that as long as I live (apart from the wording ). My entire family that was visiting my sister just stopped talking and we all had a look on our faces like somebody had just walked over our graves! I’m not sure what it was she was going through, be it a mental illness or not but it sure makes you stop and think when you witness something like that. Pretty spooky.

Another subject people have been posting about are there dreams where they meet loved ones that have previously passed. My mum once told me about one she had. It was about two years after my Grandpa had passed and my Granny was very ill. She said that in the dream she was in a field and close to a house that was brimming with people and laughter. The house was completely fenced off and she said that my Grandpa came walking down from the house and that he looked middle aged and healthy. With him was the two dogs that they, and she, had grown up with – Emma and Sandy (think it was Sandy). Anyway, he spoke to her over the fence telling her that everything would be fine and that Jenny, my Granny, would be joining him soon and not to worry about her anymore. My mum said the strangest thing was the fence, neither my Grandpa or the two dogs attempted to cross it or get near my mother. There was also something about water that she mentioned – either she was standing in it or he was, sorry I can’t remember! Either way, I’ll never understand whether it was my Mum’s sub-conscience trying to help her through a tough patch or whether that house really is somewhere in the cosmos but either way it must of helped her and I enjoyed reading everybody’s other experiences!!

I doubt you will find any hard facts that can support or discredit the idea of spirits or an afterlife. I for one believe in both. I also believe that past family and friends will come to the aid of one who is passing on to help them thru the transition. My grandmother passed away recently after suffering a sudden brain anuirism. During her time in the hospital, she had brain surgery and came out ok, though unable to speak. She seemed lucid and was able to respond to our questions by head movements. Then one day i walked in and she greeted me very warly eith a loud "Hi Mijo! Sit down coffee will be ready soon." we chatted as long as she was able. That night almost all of our family had dreams of family members who passed away coming to look for grandma. The next morning she took a turn for the worse and never spoke again. She died the next day and as she took her dying breath a tear rolled out of her eye. I believe her sister, dad and other family came to take her.

My guess is that the 'Veil' opens slowly to those on their way to the afterlife. but that's only an opinion.
But remember back earlier this year when Steve Jobs died... He appeared to be looking ahead at something and said "Oh Wow" ....... then he passed. It would seem he saw someone that was there to meet him, or something ultimately magnificent, something he had possibly never imagined, as he seemed awe struck.