Not much research has been conducted on death, but one significant study focused on how widows and widowers perceive the presence of their deceased partners. With Halloween approaching, Ring, a home surveillance company, is offering a $100,000 reward for anyone who manages to capture supernatural activity on their Ring camera, with actor Finn Wolfhard from Ghostbusters involved in selecting the winner.
While this competition may largely serve as a PR move, many people who are grieving report genuinely feeling the presence of those they’ve lost. In the realm of death studies, while there’s a growing interest in the science of dying, there’s comparatively little research specifically about the experience of death itself. However, a noteworthy study published in the British Medical Journal back in 1972, titled “The Hallucinations of Widowhood,” explored this phenomenon. In it, Dr. Dewi Rees interviewed nearly 300 widows and widowers in Wales, asking whether they had sensed the presence of their deceased spouses. Astonishingly, nearly half of them reported such experiences, yet most kept these feelings private from friends and family.
When participants were asked how these encounters impacted them, the majority found them to be comforting, about a quarter felt neutral, and only 6% described their experiences as unpleasant. Unlike fleeting moments, these “hallucinations,” as noted in the study, often persisted for many years after the loss. Dr. Rees discovered that the rate of such experiences was not significantly influenced by the gender of the bereaved or their emotional state, such as depression or social isolation.
Interestingly, the key factor that appeared to affect these experiences was the duration of the marriage. Those who had been married for extended periods, experienced happiness together, or had children were more likely to report seeing their deceased spouse. This time factor might offer a potential explanation: the longer someone has known and loved a partner, the more likely their brain might convince them that the partner is still present.
Rees broadened his research by comparing two additional studies on widowhood—one in England, where half of the participants experienced sightings, and another in Japan, where an impressive 90% of widowers reported similar feelings. He concluded that this phenomenon is quite common, while also noting the cultural characteristics that might influence these beliefs, suggesting that the Celtic character is known to be particularly imaginative and perceptive.
Dr. Dewi Rees passed away in 2018, leaving behind a legacy of research in bereavement. His obituary reflected on his lifelong dedication to this field, his Christian faith, and poignantly mentioned that he died a widower, having lost his wife twelve years prior.
