Ghosts, Meaning, and Faith: After-Death Communications in Bereavement Narratives

Abstract

After-death communications (ADCs) are reported encounters with a deceased loved one, a contemporary type of ghost experience heralded as therapeutic in coping with bereavement. Pertinent literature generally illustrates the healing power of ADCs with brief, self-contained episodes. The functions of ADCs over the course of grief need exploration. To that end, this article analyzes 20 published book-length autobiographical stories of bereavement in which authors report ADCs. Two functional patterns are identified—instantaneous relief from painful grief symptoms and reinforcement of a consoling religious worldview. The second dynamic links ADCs to meaning-making and religious coping within Christian and Spiritualist frameworks.