AROUND half of Brits believe in an afterlife, research shows.
While many sceptics may raise an eyebrow, it turns out that there is evidence to support this line of thinking.
Mum-of-two Sophie Morrison, 42, works as a research assistant for the University of Northampton.
But since taking on the role in 2020 her daily work life is far from usual.
She tracks the nature, circumstances and impact of paranormal experiences – specifically After Death Communications (ADCs).
“The series of studies I’m working on kicked off in 2018,” says Sophie, whose job is to read through the lengthy questionnaire responses submitted by the public, deem whether or not they provide substantial evidence, and sort them into themes.
“Since then we’ve collected over a thousand stories from individuals around the world who have experienced an ADC.”
So far, 48 per cent have reported feeling physical contact, 46 per cent said they actually saw the deceased, 44 per cent had an audible experience, while 62 per cent believe they were contacted in their sleep.
“All of the evidence we collect is from people who have received an ADC spontaneously (i.e. they didn’t instigate the contact via a medium, seance or similar),” Sophie says.
“It’s always unexpected, direct and usually conveys a message.
“The message often falls under what we call the ‘four Rs’ – reassurance, resolving, reaffirming or releasing.”
The research suggests that at least 60 per cent of people have had some sort of ADC in their life, particularly women.
That number jumps to 80 per cent among those who were very close to the deceased, for example after losing a partner, parent or child.
These numbers are backed up by previous studies, such as one by the University of Iceland, which found 127million Europeans reported experiencing an ADC.
“We’ve received so many amazing stories,” Sophie says.
“There have been lots of cases of the departed helping people find things.
“One person shared that they owned a pharmacy and had lost a large pack of controlled drugs, which is quite a big deal.
“After searching high and low, her husband suddenly heard his deceased mother-in-law’s voice saying, ‘They’re behind the radiator’ – and there they were!”
Another very common experience is a ‘crisis case’ – a term coined by the Society for Psychical Research (SPR) in the 19th century.
This includes paranormal contact from the departed in the 12 hours after, or even before, death.
Across the board, these stories are often coming from very highly educated people with very good jobs, and not everybody’s bereaved
Sophie Morrison
“Crisis cases are seen as particularly evidential, as the person experiencing the ADC didn’t know the individual had died, yet still had the spontaneous experience,” Sophie says.
“An example of this was one from a woman who never knew her biological father, until he came to her in a dream.
“He told her that he had passed away, that he had met her children and that he felt he had a beautiful family, before saying goodbye.
“He also said he’d left her a small inheritance.
“Two days later she was contacted by the man’s family to say he had died and had left her something in his will.
“Everyone who has a dream experience says it’s not like a dream at all; it feels so real and can be vividly recalled decades later.”
Sophie says one of the sceptics’ main arguments is that this is all just wishful thinking on the part of bereaved.
“They say everybody’s looking for that little Robin on a fence that’s my mum sending me a message,” she adds.
“You know, ‘We’re all reading into a white feather, aren’t we?’
“Well, that’s not the case. Our data shows that, yes, there are instances like that of course, but there are many other cases that are evidential.
“For example, being witnessed by more than one person, or these crisis cases where they didn’t even know the person was dead.
“Across the board, these stories are often coming from very highly educated people with very good jobs, and not everybody’s bereaved.”
A 2023 paper by J.K.Penberthy and others, in collaboration with the University of Northampton, discovered that 27 per cent of research participants who had ADC experiences identified as not being in a state of grieving or mourning.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, electrical phenomena in ADCs has massively increased over the years, too, presumably due to the growing number of devices the average person uses now.
“If we’re to believe that the deceased live on somewhere, then they are seemingly more and more able to affect electronics and phones,” Sophie says.
“I’ve had evidence of things like, ‘My deceased husband sends me text messages every week’, ‘I’ve had a voicemail from my brother after he passed on’, and switched-off iPads suddenly playing the departed’s favourite song.
“Physical phenomena is very common.”
AROUND half (46 per cent) of Brits believe in life after death, according to a study by Kings College London.
Gen Z (51 per cent) and Millenials (53 per cent) have the highest rates of belief.
But the share of the British public who identify as religious has halved since the 1980s.
The UK public are now among the least likely internationally to believe in God.
Just under half (49 per cent) of Brits said they believed in God in 2022 – down from three-quarters (75 per cent) in 1981.
Of 24 nations in the study, only five are now less likely than the UK to say they believe in God, with China (17 per cent) by far the least likely to.
And the share of the British public who say God is not important in their life has doubled and is now at a record high, rising from 28 per cent to 57 per cent between 1981 and 2022.
Between 1981 and 2022, the share of the public believing in heaven fell from 57 per cent to 41 per cent.
Despite this, the idea of heaven is still more popular than hell, which 26 per cent said they believed in in 2022 – a figure largely unchanged since trends began.
While younger people have lower levels of religious belief and are more likely to identify as atheists, Gen Z (32 per cent) and Millennials (32 per cent) are in fact more likely than Baby Boomers (18 per cent) and the Pre-War generation (24 per cent) to believe in hell.
And by international standards, the UK is less likely to believe in hell, ranking 17th out of 24 countries – and far behind some peer nations such as the US (69 per cent) and Italy (39 per cent).
Views on life after death have held up well over the last four decades, with just under half of the public – including 46 per cent in 2022 – consistently saying they believe in it, the study found.
While it’s impossible to prove that there really is life after death, Sophie says it’s the impact of these experiences on the grieving process that is really important.
The ADC questionnaire has shown that the majority found the ADCs comforting (81 per cent) and helpful in their bereavement (84 per cent).
Only 12 per cent of respondents in the study reported their ADC as frightening.
“The main aim of this work is to show the public that the paranormal is normal,” she adds.
“And these experiences can have positive psychological effects.
“Real or not, these experiences mean the world to people who have them.
“Neurologist and founder of psychoanalysis Sigmund Freud described sensing the presence of the deceased as ‘hallucinatory wishful psychosis’, and he advised we cut emotional attachment to deceased loved ones.
“Well, now there are quite a lot of studies proving that being open to a connection with a deceased loved one is really beneficial to the grieving process and mental health.”
Another key impact of an ADC is of course a new belief in life after death, something 92.8 per cent of study participants now say they hold.
“Going by the messages we’ve received, it’s beneficial for the deceased, too,” says Sophie.
“Some people report being told that their departed loved one can’t go much further while those left behind are so sad.
“They invite them to let that grief go, so they can get on with the next chapter.”
To find out more and to contribute your ADC experiences to the study, visit adcrp.org or @after_death_communication, or buy a book based on the research on Amazon.
