By Nancy K. Crevier

The appearance of those to whom we are close as they exit the world we know, or following their deaths, is not uncommon. The visits may take on a visual appearance, or be more subtle in nature, as was Mary Maki's experience.

"When my mother was in Hospice, and sedated, we realized that although she appeared unconscious, she could actually hear. My husband leaned near, held her hand and whispered, 'Let us know when you get there.' My mother squeezed his hand," recalled Ms Maki. Her mother died the following day, and arriving back at her mother's home afterward, she was seized by the urge to prepare a meal.

"As I stood at the stove, the electricity went off, then on, then off, then off, on, off," she said, an abnormality that put the appliances and computer in the home in flux. "'Mom, stop it! You are ruining the appliances,'" shouted Ms Maki. The power went back on, and stayed on.

"Since we had never experienced anything like that before or since, we can only assume Mom was telling us that she had arrived," Ms Maki said. Believing that has been a great comfort to her and her family.

Ms Maki is not the only one in her family to have received messages from the other side of life. Her sister-in-law, Bev Johnson, shared this story:

"I was married to a wonderful guy. On September 23, 2010, my husband had a massive heart attack and died within five minutes. It was a Thursday afternoon. By the time the ambulance arrived and I was able to see him, he had been down for 60 minutes. Every morning after our breakfast and coffee, we would kiss each other good-bye as we went our separate ways, and would always say, 'Have a good day!' to each other. I regretted very much not being able to say 'Good-bye' to Steve. We had shared our lives together so completely," said Ms Johnson.

"On Saturday morning," she continued, "I felt Steve's presence unmistakably. He told me that he was all right and that he had something really important he had to do now." She could neither see nor hear her husband in the conventional way, but rather received a clear message through what she can only describe as "mental telepathy. I felt a hug and afterwards," she went on, "a very serene, peaceful feeling."

The next morning, at 2:30 am, she received her next and last message from her husband. "I woke from sleep, and sat on the edge of my bed. I felt like I was in a trance. I never saw Steve's face, but I saw his body and it was definitely him. He was making a gesture, kneeling on the floor, like he was gathering up sawdust and putting it in to a pile. Then I saw him stand up and open his wallet and show me there was nothing in it," said Ms Johnson. She was confused, but then the action repeated itself. "Steve was conveying words to me without speaking. He said, 'I have been very busy gathering information and putting it together. I am spent — have nothing left and this message is at great expense. I need to cross over the bridge." Her husband continued his message: "I will be helping you with things as they come up and things will come out okay. You will be okay. I love you." It was the last communication she had with her husband.

She had been writing as she listened, and when she looked, it was 3:30 am. "It was wonderful that he went through the message twice," she said. "I have no idea how wonderful and special the place is on the other side of the bridge. I sense that he is happy and at peace. He took the time to say goodbye to me. I can't wait to see him again," said Ms Johnson. The visions have given her a sense of peace, she said, and an assurance that life continues in another place, another dimension.

'Something' After Life

Author and paranormal researcher Jeff Belanger has studied the spirit phenomenon for many years, and concludes that there is "something" after life. "That is actually quite a thing to say," said Mr Belanger. Gravitating toward atheism as a college student, his science studies led him instead to believe that there had to be a "grand master" of all that was around him. "I have come to believe that there is some continuation," he said.

Mr Belanger is the author of books on the paranormal, host of a web talk show, 30 Odd Minutes, and the series writer for Ghost Adventures on the Travel Channel.

"The most frustrating thing for those who have gone through the experience [of a vision or sign from someone who has died] is when someone, who was not there, says, 'It's your imagination' There are as many reasons for ghosts as there are ghosts. We don't really know why this occurs," he said. He has had three experiences himself in 15 years of researching the subject that he cannot explain any other way, than as seeing ghosts.

He does not discard the idea that there are people who grieve so deeply that they hallucinate, or who grieve so deeply that they hold a spirit to this world. If a person is not on medications, and does not have a history of seeing visions or hearing voices, he is loathe to discredit the experience. "You can tell when someone is sincere or has been rocked by an experience. If it is a one- or two-time thing, or multiple people experience it, it is most likely not a hallucination," said Mr Belanger.

"Call it what you want, but it is not for us to judge. Most people find [the appearance of an apparition or a sign] a moment to be cherished," he said.

Never in a million years did Cheryl Stenz think she would ever receive a message from the other side. "I never took this kind of thing seriously," she said.

Her husband, Chris Stenz, died a year ago, suddenly. "It was a Thursday, and on Sunday I woke up early and was just lying in bed wondering 'How do I get through this day?' I felt a tap on my lower back," she said. She had no kids and no pets in the bed with her. "I thought it was weird, and at the same time, the air all around me felt different. I can only describe it as thick," said Ms Stenz.

Immediately, though, she felt better, and thought that it had to be a sign from her husband. "I felt all of a sudden that I can get through this. I fell back asleep and when I woke up again, I knew that this day would be okay."

If it was the only occurrence, she might have brushed it off, said Ms Stenz. But more than once since then she has awoken at exactly 3:42 am to that same "thick" feel in the air. "I feel a sense of calm, and I sense Chris's presence," she said. Plus, her late husband leaves things around for the family to find, particularly pennies.

It started just before her husband died. "He was coming home from the hospital and I was freaking out about him being exposed to germs here. I threw some sheets into the drier to sterilize them and when I took them out, there were two tiny, tiny pennies," said Ms Stenz. She quizzed their three children, but no one had any idea where the pennies had come from or had ever seen them before.

Then about a week after her husband was buried, her 10-year-old was hurt in a football game. Her in-laws, who were with him, took him to the Danbury Hospital emergency room, where Ms Stenz met them. After the exam, as they were leaving, her son looked down and saw a brand new, shiny penny placed perfectly in the center of the doorway. "He picked it up and said, 'This is from Dad. He's saying 'I'm all right.'"

Pennies show up so often now in odd places, or at significant events, that her three children have come to associate them with their dad's "appearance." One child even found a penny tucked into the cuff of his sock after a day at Disney World last fall. Friends and others who knew her husband, who was very involved in youth sports activities in Newtown, have found the oddly placed pennies, and now connect them with her husband, she said.

Butterflies seem to be her husband's other way of reaching out to them. It was her son who seems to be most in tune, who observed at Disney World that the same butterfly had followed them all over the park that day. And it was that son who found an unusual butterfly pendant tucked into the hood of his sweatshirt one day at sports practice. Other family members also see butterflies where they would not expect to see them.

The experience that really turned her into a believer, though, was that of her youngest son's. "He came home from school one day and said, 'I saw Dad and Zeus. He was by the backpacks.'"

Zeus was their dog that had died, and been cremated. The dog's ashes had been buried with her husband. When she asked her son what his dad had been wearing, "He described head to toe what I had buried Chris in. The kids never knew. It was a closed casket," said Ms Stenz.

Her son told her that his dad and Zeus just watched him for a bit. He mentioned it to the friend he was working with at school at the time, and she acknowledged that her dead grandfather visits her, he told his mother.

"All of this is comforting to us," said Ms Stenz. "It's never a scary thing, and it makes us feel a little better for the moment."

Messages For The Living

Diana Baxter has been dealing with the dead since her first vision when she was 5 years old. She believes that at times she is visited by spirits who use her to bring messages to the living. Some of the experiences are more pleasant than others, and the reception she receives from those to whom she carries messages is mixed, as well. She has no doubt, though, that the visions and conversations she has are not her imagination, as the spirits usually give her information or words that have meaning only to those who knew the person well.

For example, she said, visiting a new friend in her home one day, Ms Baxter was seized with a tremendous headache. "I heard someone say, 'Seizures. I had seizures.' When she said that to her friend, the friend burst into tears. Her brother had recently died — a fact Ms Baxter did not know — of seizures. What the voice also said, and what she did not share at the time, was that the death was murder. A later conversation with her friend revealed that the brother had been a drug addict, and it was suspected that his roommate had overdosed her brother, bringing on the seizure that killed him. Knowing that her brother had tried to communicate this to Ms Baxter did bring the friend a feeling of closure, she was told.

Another time, she felt a "strong, pushy presence" in her office. She saw the face of a friend, and felt intense grieving, then love. This woman's mother had died some time before, and was not someone that Ms Baxter knew. But she knew it was the mother. "The presence stood in front of my desk," Ms Baxter said. "She started to ramble about trips they had taken, about plants she loved, a dog, the car they owned," she said. Later, she told her friend about the appearance, and the woman was moved to tears of relief and happiness. "What I felt was my friend's grief, and the mother showed it to me. She wanted my friend to stop being sad. Her messages helped her to move on, knowing she was not alone," she said.

A more blunt order came from a man who turned out to be the deceased father of an acquaintance. "Tell him to get my watch fixed and stop putting it back in the drawer!" the fisherman demanded of her. She conveyed the message and the amazed friend told her that his father had been an avid fisherman, and had left him a watch that he sometimes thought of wearing — but it needed a battery.

Ms Baxter's mother died more than 30 years ago. "The night she died, she appeared to me and said 'You will all be okay. Watch out for your sisters.'" Because she finds it too disturbing, Ms Baxter has asked her mother not to materialize to her. "But I ask for signs, and I talk to her, and ask her for guidance. Whatever sign I specifically ask for, for example, a rainbow, she brings to me," said Ms Baxter.

"Do I think people want to hear a message, or know that loved ones are okay?" asked Ms Baxter. "Yes, but [people have to know] not all visits are happy. People who had damaged relationships don't find comfort in visitations," she cautioned.

Everyone is given a gift in a different way, she believes, and her gift of clairvoyance is more pronounced than for others. Still, she believes that the messages from loved ones are out there for people who are open to receiving them. "You have to accept it or you'll think you are crazy. If you are quiet and listen, and talk to them, they will leave a sign," she said. "I don't have the answer, but there is definitely something out there."