Studies in hospices and nursing homes have shown that a number of different phenomena are associated with the mental states of the dying. In the days or weeks before death, the dying person may have premonitions, often unrecognised, of their impending death, or visions of dead relatives who they say have visited them. Relatives who may be spatially distant from but emotionally close to the dying person may experience an inexplicable awareness of them at the time of their death. Other phenomena reported at the time of death are clocks stopping, mechanical malfunctions, strange animal behaviour and shapes seen leaving the body or light seen surrounding it. Although these phenomena are well recognised by both carers and relatives, they are seldom discussed because they are difficult to explain in terms of any recognised medical model. A possible alternative hypothesis involves non‐local effects, which would require a quantum mechanical explanation. This is supported by parapsychological findings, which are not always accepted by mainstream science. The hypothesis suggests that as death approaches consciousness becomes loosened from the brain‐mind structure and this is the prime mover for the non‐local effects that are noticed at this time.

death bed visions, deathbed coincidences, non‐local effects, numinous reality, telepathy