Hello From Heaven!

A few years ago I read a book called Hello From Heaven! Many books have been published about near-death experiences (NDEs) and out-of-body experiences (OBEs), but Hello From Heaven! is about people who feel strongly that they were contacted by departed loved ones. The authors of the book call these contacts after-death communications (ADCs). According to the book, millions of Americans claim to have been contacted by a departed friend or relative. (The book’s authors have a website at www.after-death.com. There’s a music player near the bottom of the page … if you don’t like the music you can turn it off.)

The book covers the topic of ADCs thoroughly and is chock-full of anecdotes. There are various kinds of ADCs: sensing a presence, hearing a voice, feeling a touch, smelling a fragrance, partial and full appearances, and others. It may surprise some people that millions of Americans claim to have experienced an ADC. Though it surprises me, I do believe it. After all, I count myself among those millions.

My mom, who lived alone, passed away in June, 2003, and this was the first night after the funeral. Several out-of-town family members, including me, were staying at her house. The downstairs bedrooms were occupied so I chose an unfinished upstairs guest room for dressing and sleeping. During the night, I suddenly awoke in utter darkness. In my mind’s eye I saw my mother lying in the casket. I had a strong feeling there was someone else in the room. I turned on the lamp beside the bed and looked around, but there was no one else in the room. I turned off the lamp and went back to sleep. I didn’t give the matter further thought.

The next night, I again awakened in darkness. I lay in bed, waiting to fall back asleep, when the lamp beside the bed began flashing on and off: flash – flash – flash … pause … flash – flash – flash … pause … I reached over and turned the lamp on and then turned it back off. That fixed the flashing and the lamp stayed off. “That was strange,” I thought. I couldn’t explain it except as some kind of electrical defect in the lamp.  Again, I didn’t give it further thought, and I soon went back to sleep.

The next day the other house guests left and returned to their homes, leaving me alone in the house. Since the downstairs bedrooms were now empty, I chose to spend the night in one. I half expected something strange to happen during the night but nothing happened. The next morning I awoke and went to the kitchen and made some tea. I took the tea to the living room and sat down in front of the TV. I was about to turn it on when I heard a loud Bang! from the kitchen. I thought, “What the hell?” I went to the kitchen and looked all around it but found nothing out of place. It wasn’t until a little later that I realized what caused the bang.

The kitchen cabinets were the original 1940’s era sheet-metal cabinets. One cabinet had a broken latch and the door wouldn’t stay shut. In fact, the door was always open a few inches as though it had found its natural parking spot. If you pushed the door closed and let it go, it would glide back open a few inches to its usual spot. What I had realized was that the loud bang I heard was exactly the sound that would be made if you put your hand on the cabinet door and forcefully slammed it shut. It was an unmistakable sound. The cabinet door had been slammed shut, but I was the only person in the house and I was twenty feet away. I think my mom was saying goodbye in the only way available to her. She had to try three times before I took notice.