Dying Visions

Visions of the dying
REBECCA McQUILLAN	March 13 2006
'Iknew something had happened to him – I just knew it"; "There was this light which seemed to come from him"; "She smiled, as if she was greeting someone – and then she died". Intimations of a loved one's death; warm, enveloping lights; visions of dead relatives – deathbed phenomena such as these have become a passion for Dr Peter Fenwick, a consultant in neuropsychiatry at the universities of London and Southampton. Typical among them is the account of a young woman and her father who went to tell a woman called Kate, a sheep farmer near Inverness, that her brother John had died. "Dad and I drove the 20 or so miles and up a hill track to the farmhouse, to be met by Kate who said 'I know why you've come – I heard him calling me saying "Kate, Kate" as he passed over'. She was quite matter of fact about it and gave us the time of death, which was exactly the same as that recorded by the hospital. I found it an amazing experience." Dr Fenwick has heard many such stories. "That deathbed coincidences occur is supported by accounts from different cultures throughout history," he says. Yet he is one of a very small number of researchers to study the phenomena – as he cheerfully admits, "to be a world expert, you only have to read three or four papers". It is still regarded as controversial by a scientific fraternity that baulks at its associations with beliefs in life after death, what Dr Fenwick refers to as its "black magic sort of feel". "It's not the sort of thing you'd be happy to give a lecture on at the Royal Academy," he says. So it has come down to a small, international group of doctors, nurses and neuroscientists to collect data.