The influence of grief on the deceased

- 15 - This was followed by a lengthy dissertation with literal citations from an earlier published brochure, everything was extremely cleverly put together. It is signed by a Dr. Wilhelm John , who is completely unknown to me. After reading through this article, Mrs. Reisch writes: “I cannot describe what happened inside of me when I read this article. I endeavoured to cry less after. My husband came to me himself about 10 to 14 days later, it was August, but I no longer remember the date. It was around 4am. I could hear the door opening, I woke up and thought that I had dreamt it, because I live alone in the house. At that moment, somebody sat on my bed, took me into his arms, squeezed me tightly and kissed me the way my husband had done before he went to bed when he was alive. I called out: ‘Darling, you are here with me! – But no, you are dead.’ – Even though it was dark, I could momentarily see his face. I reached for him with both hands and I also touched his cheeks. But he moved further and further away from me until he reached the end of the bed. I could see how the flesh on his face could be pulled off, the further he distanced himself from me . But there was nothing in my hands. He was suddenly gone and I sat on my bed with my hands stretched out. He didn’t say a word. I could not go back to sleep that night. I couldn’t calm down and I cried and I repeatedly asked my husband: ‘Why didn’t you take me with you? We always promised one another that when one of us goes, the other will come to fetch the other soon after, if it is at all possible. It also seemed to me that he had held onto to me so strongly as if he didn’t want to let me go and as if he had been very sad. But this was just a feeling inside of me. He never said anything.” Mrs. Reisch found it very difficult to get over her grief and to let her husband go, in spite of this experience and in spite of her newly acquired knowledge. 13. The Son embraced his Mother after his fatal accident The following report came to me from a lady that I have known for many years. She and her husband had three sons and the youngest of them had died when he was seven months old. The eldest son on the other hand died in an accident on the 5 th of April 1971. This lady writes: “Together with our two sons, were a very happy family. Everything ran according to plan and harmoniously until my eldest son was killed in the mountains by a falling slab of snow when he was 20 years old. My whole world had suddenly crashed around me. The fact that my son was no longer allowed to live caused me unutterable pain. I did not want to accept this fact and I couldn’t let go of him. During the time of my severe grief and desperation I stood one day at the foot of the stairs leading up to the hallway, it was about two months after the death of my son and I was alone in the house. This is when I saw my deceased son come walking down the stairs. He embraced me and he said: ‘Mother, I am so happy, I am so happy!’ I no longer saw him after that. I was suddenly filled with a wonderful consolation. This was exactly what I had wanted, his happiness and his welfare. I simultaneously thought that our son might not have happy in his life the way we hoped and imagined it. I began to let go of him and I became convinced that our fate is guided by a higher authority and that the things that are incomprehensible to us in this life are probably revealed to us only after our own demise. The painful stabbing in my heart is still there, even though my son has been dead for 24 years, but I do believe that people that were tied to one another with love here on Earth, will find one another with God’s help. This hope fills me with consolation and with joy.” After I made further inquiries, I was told by this lady that she had physically felt the embrace of her son, as naturally as the embrace of a living human being. The disappearance of her son after had been instantly. He therefore didn’t disperse slowly.