Life after death

[lars]

I know this sounds kind of strange but when my father passed away my sister and I had a strange experience, we both kept smelling fresh flowers every where we went, as if they were held under our nose and the smell was very strong. It lasted for a few days then stopped. I must say it was only my sister and I that could smell the flowers no one else could.
Has anyone else experienced anything like this and does it have any meaning?

yes Lars, I did when my father passed away on the way back from his funeral I smellt incense in the car, btw it was dark, there were no fires as I checked when got out of car..(The funeral had been in the church and the incense was very prominent)...also a few days afterwards I heard my name whispered 3 times, in succession (I was NOT imagining it) and a picture of him had moved when I got back from work...That's smell, sound and seeing...Have not had it since! I think it gave me the confidence to see that he was dead yes but still around and from that day believed in life after death, wholeheartedly! Sorry to hear about your father btw, I hope things are okay for you at the mo

Lars btw, were flowers special to him, or you at all, or were they prominent at his funeral?

Thanks 1avender1 I'm so glad to hear this has happened to someone else as my sister and I knew we were not imagining it. The answer is yes flowers are really specail to me and were prominent at his funeral. Sorry to hear of your lost too. Larsxx

lars mine was slightly different for a week i kept having this dream of my first son saying that the baby in my belly was the wrong way around (i lost my first at 20 weeks) and when i went for my scan they started panicing a bit because i was breach then the day before i gave birth i dreamt of my son again except he was saying the baby in your belly is fine now mummy and he's coming sooner than you want i wrote it of as a coincedence through fears and stuff but part of me still belives that my first baby was watching over me through the pregnacy until he was born because i never had a dream of my fist son before ad have never had one since

Lars i used to smell my dads aftershave in one particular place in the hallway for a few weeks after he died and my 18 month old son used to 'see' him out side the same shop most days on the way home for nursery. The shop he always used to say 'theres papa' was 2-4 doors from a sandwich bar my dad used to go to regularily. It became less and less frequent and stopped after about 9 months. My dp thought i was imagining it until one say our ds did it with him the car. Like others i actually found it kind of comforting.

I havent however had anything from my mum and i sometimes think that is because she did not pass on at peace. But who knows???

Actually thats not quite true on mothers day i went to visit my parents grave feeling slightly guilty that i hadnt been for a long time and i swear to go my mother sent me a hail storm whilst i was at the grave side. Not whilst walking to it or on the way but once i was there. She used to say she was a witch in this world and that day i was sure she was proving that she is still a witch in another world :0

I used to smell Baby powder after my mum died. It wasn't immediately after she died but sometimes when I'd be in the house by myself just watching tv or reading I would suddenly smell baby powder. We don't have any baby powder in the house as we've never used it, but my mum used it all the time. I found it nice and comforting to know that she's still around.

Oh and when I was first pregnant (this time around) I had a dream and my mum was in the dream and she told me the sex of the baby. A few weeks later I asked the dr's the sex of the baby and it was what my mum had told me it would be.

So I do believe that she is still looking after us all.

Just to say we had a big course on death and dying at theological college and all this kind of thing is very normal and much more common than you'd think as people don't tend to talk about it. The kind of temporary experience lars describes seems to mean a soul at peace and reassuring you. If you get repeated 'appearances'/ghosts, it can mean an 'unquiet' soul which apparently is best dealt with by saying a requiem mass for that person (but if it stops by itself thats great). So don't worry about it - it probably just shows your father's love for you reaching out to you beyond the grave to reassure you.

Dear lars...just reading your thread...about smells after someones death...I thought this had only happened to me!...My mother died very quickly after a heart attack...she was only 56!...a smell followed me around for weeks afterwards..a sweet strong smell...it would appear and become stronger then fade away...I did feel it was something to do with my mum..but she never wore any perfumes....I told one friend at work and that very same day it became very strong in a lift...I said nothing..as I thought maybe it was me that was only sensing it, but my friend reacted very strongly to it...it was very powerful....during those very sad early days it came often...even in the car with me!...as time went on it got less and less...this is twenty years ago now....the last time it happened was about a year ago...out of the blue...but there was no mistaking what it was....Last sept..I lost my father too but he had been very ill and his death was expected...I feel more at peace about his leaving, still upset but it wasn't such a shock and have not had the smells...I often wondered if it had been some kind of 'need' in me that created these smells...maybe I was wrong...maybe because it was such a shock for my mums soul to be taken..it stayed around for a while...where as my fathers was ready to leave....who knows...all I know is I will always miss them....as for an after life..I would like to think yes there is something.....It makes me happy to think others have had the same experiences with the smells...at one point early on I thought I might have been going mad.

....Miranda2....is it really common to get very strong smells after somones death?...I have never heard anything on this before lars posted her experience.

Apparently so. Interestingly, Medieval writers often talk about the 'odour of sanctity' which supposedly hung around the corpse of a saint or in places they had been,( a sweet odour not a stink of decay) and I've heard it suggested that this might be similar to this phenomenon which is recognised by modern students of near death/after death experiences. If so, that would suggest its a very standard thing thats always been happening, and we've just stopped talking about it since we got into science as it doesn't have a neat explanation anywhere.

..miranda2...I feel very comforted by that...I will be trying to find out more on the subject...thankyou very much...........I hope this has helped you too lars

I didn't have quite the same, my father was taken from us 5 years ago today 11th April, altho he was ill and we expected it to happen for years, it was still a shock.

I always feel as if my dad is in our bedroom at night when I turn the lights off, but I can't see anything.

I went to a friends house, who I know, but she know nothing about my past, her friend was there and we'd been doing tarot cards, when she suddenly said something that only myself and my father would have known (a nickname my dad used to call me). (I even asked my family and DH after if they remember my dad's nickname for me and no-one could)

The she asked questions that are not normal questions, i.e. did my dad smoke a pipe, (not did my dad smoke, but smoke a pipe), which he did thru my most of my life till I was about 18 anyway. When asked why she said he's tapping it out on her shoulder. She told me he was drinking a pint of Bitter (and my Dad's favourite brand of bitter too) wouldn't have been a guess.

I then got upset about the fact my Dad had never seen my son, and in my dads words, and only the way he would have said things, did she reassure me that I shouldn't worry about my DS as my dad is looking over & after him and will see he comes to no harm (as best he can), and how lovely he is,

He also told me to look after my mom, and when I explained something that had happened over his death bed, (my sister cursed him for dying before she got married, but she'd had 19 yrs to get married, and how could he be at my wedding and give me away (after 6yrs) and not hers, (my sister is very selfish), I just flew off the handle and laid into her about how dad had known her children and loved them and done things with them and that he'd never know mine or my 2 bro's kids, or even meet my younger bro's wife etc) my dad burst into tears (which my Dad would have done as he was very emotional) and said he hadn't realised it meant that much to me.

I would have given up getting married for my dad to have seen and met my kids. He had to leave the room, as he was too upset.

So I truly believe in the after life.

Let me just tell you this friend had nothing to gain from me, I wasnt paying her or anything and she or my friend had known nothing about this, so it wasn't a set-up or anything.

Thanks to everyone that has posted. Thank god I'm not going mad.
israel my dad died suddenly too ( heart attack ) and miranda2- how interesting this subject is.
I also heard a noise at my mom's house a bang on the landing and my mom heard it too the night before, happened the same time at which he died. The stange thing was that when my father died he fell down on the upstairs landing with a mighty thud. The bang happened a few days prior to the funeral. Not heard it since and my mom hasn't either. Larsxx