AFTERLIFERELATED HALLUCINATION

   Also known as hallucinatory near-death experience. The term afterlife-related hallucination was introduced in or shortly before 1977 by the para-psychologists Karlis Osis (1917-1997) and Erlendur Haraldsson (b. 1931) to denote a * deathbed vision, usually *visual or *compound in nature, depicting what they refer to as "a kind of otherworldly messenger". Often such 'messengers' are recognized by the dying person either as deceased loved ones or as religious or mythological figures. Because of their alleged role in summoning or escorting the individual from this world to the afterlife, such figures are also referred to as deathbed escorts, deathbed apparitions, or * take-away apparitions. They may be described by the dying person as *personifications, but also as * apparitions manifesting themselves in the form of an unusual light or energy. According to Osis and Haraldsson, the predominant reaction of dying individuals to afterlife-related hallucinations is one of serenity and peace, religious emotion, and * ecstatic feelings.

   References

   Osis, K., Haraldsson, E. (1977). At the hour of death. New York, NY: Avon Books.

   Augustine, K. (2007). Near-death experiences with hallucinatory features. Journal of Near-Death Studies, 26, 3-31.