I finished the revised edition of the book, Evidence of Animal Afterlife. It’s available on amazon. I put out the original book in May 2021. This revised edition is 2023. In terms of the changes I made, it’s a long list. I rewrote major portions of the book. I added footnotes to each chapter, so interested readers can track down sources. I fixed some typos and mistakes. I rearranged the contents so that they flow better. I excised some bits…
In my book, Evidence of Animal Afterlife, I reported finding 62 specific cases of animals in Near-Death Experiences. I noted that this number was “a vast underestimate of the actual number of NDE animal reports,” for several reasons, one of which was that the largest compendium of NDEs on record, nearly 5000 of them, exists on the nderf.org website, but the website is not searchable for stories specifically involving animals. Reading through 5000 detailed narratives in order to isolate animal…
In working on this blog, I’ve read a lot of books about animal afterlife. I’d like to highlight three of the best. Animals and the Afterlife, by Kim Sheridan. Animals and the Afterlife was clearly a labor of love. It spans about 400 pages and surveys a variety of areas of evidence. I’m grateful to Kim for doing all the work it entailed. Lo 15 years ago, it was the first book I ever read on animal afterlife. I…
I’m happy to say I finished writing Evidence of Animal Afterlife. I substantially rewrote all of the articles, added a bunch of new evidence, and wrote several new chapters. I am biased, but I think it’s a good, concise overview of the evidence for animal afterlife across about a dozen different areas, and it presents a number of good arguments for animal afterlife. It’s self-published, so it’s a humble effort, but I think that people who are interested in the…
In earlier articles, I’ve summarized the published evidence for animal afterlife provided by near-death experience, evidential mediumship, deathbed visions, after-death communication, ghost sightings, and other areas. What follows is a brief summary of evidence in each area, followed by strengths and weaknesses, then a verdict. After-Death Communication (ADC) I found 105 published cases of visual ADCs involving animals. In 37% of the cases, we just had the person’s word for it; few additional corroborating features was present. However, in about…
To wrap up my survey of the evidence for animal afterlife, I’d like to briefly cover three remaining areas of evidence: physical mediumship, astral travel, and spirit photography. These areas don’t warrant separate articles, because the evidence isn’t as robust as it is elsewhere, but they deserve mention, because they add incrementally to the case for animal afterlife. Physical Mediumship Physical mediumship is a specialized type of mediumship. In it, a medium reportedly channels “ectoplasm,” which shapes itself into something…
There’s a common idea in the afterlife literature on animals, which I want to spend a bit of time taking apart. It is often said that when animals die, they return to Group Souls. The idea first popped up in the channeled literature of the 19th century and has periodically resurfaced since then. It gets passed around without much examination. The basic idea is that when animals die, they get re-absorbed back into a humungous Group Soul, which…
“Ghosts are a part of our world. If you don’t believe in them, that’s because you haven’t personally met one or read the literature about them.” – Professor Stafford Betty I know there is skepticism surrounding ghosts, but consider that ghost sightings have been reported in every culture on Earth since the dawn of civilization. Ghosts have been reported across all societies, all educational levels, all social strata, all religions and no religion, across millenia. Are they all wrong, all…
Do animals appear in death-bed visions? Well, before I get to that, let me say a word about DBVs in general, since some people may not be familiar with the term. Death-Bed Visions Death-bed visions (DBVs) are very common. They have been reported throughout history, across many cultures. Here is an example of a typical DBV. A dying person — usually a few minutes or days before their death — will suddenly “light up,” express joy and excitement, and gaze…
Human beings love setting up “us vs. them” divisions, with us on one side and the animals on the other. Traditionally, we’ve done that in three ways – claiming either rationality, emotional life, or morality as our special province. We said, “Human beings are the rational ones; animals are just dumb brutes.” Or, “Humans have deep feelings; animals are just reflexive automatons.” Or, “Humans are the moral ones, made in God’s image. Animals are driven by instinct; they are amoral…