Dying People in Hospices See Their Deceased Loved Ones or Pets Before Death
British nurse Penny Smith, who worked in hospices (care facilities for terminally ill and dying patients), has encountered many unexplained phenomena and wrote a book about what she witnessed. After everything she experienced, she became convinced that the afterlife exists and that the deceased can visit the living and convey messages to them.
One day, while on duty at the hospice, Penny was called into a room by the daughter of Mrs. Jones, one of her elderly patients. The daughter said that her mother needed some medication because she seemed to be having hallucinations. When Penny entered the room, she saw Mrs. Jones lying on her hospital bed, staring at the ceiling. The elderly woman was pointing upward and whispering something. At first, Penny couldn’t make out the words, but then she repeatedly caught the name “Vinnie.”
She turned to Mrs. Jones’ daughter and asked if she knew anyone by that name. The daughter looked puzzled, then became visibly emotional and said, “That was her sister… my aunt… Her name was Vinnie. But she died last year…”
At that moment, Mrs. Jones spoke again, this time much louder, looking at the ceiling and clearly exclaiming, “Mama! Papa, hello!”
Penny told the daughter that no medication was necessary because her mother was experiencing pre-death visions.
According to Penny, such “visions” do not occur immediately before death but can happen even weeks before a person passes away. She noted that, shortly before death, people often see their deceased loved ones and sometimes even their former pets.
One patient once asked Penny to find her cat, which she claimed to have seen in her room. It was only later that the woman realized the cat she had seen was her childhood pet, which had died long ago.
The Visit of a Deceased Wife
One evening, while Penny was at her nurse’s station in the hospice, typing her evening report on the computer, she heard a cry from a nearby room: “Ingrid! Ingrid!”
In that room lay a man named John, who was in his eighties and suffered from a terminal heart disease. A year earlier, his wife had died of cancer. He had spent several decades with her, and she had been his only family.
John called out “Ingrid! Ingrid!” several more times before Penny entered his room. She saw him lying on the bed, reaching toward the left corner of the room, with tears streaming down his face.
“John, is Ingrid your wife?” Penny asked.
John loudly exclaimed, “Yes! Yes! She’s right there! I see her!”
He shouted so loudly that it startled the nurse, but she had already encountered similar experiences before and believed that John was indeed seeing the person he was calling.
So Penny asked John if Ingrid knew when he would die and if she had come for him.
John cried out, “Yes! But not today. Tomorrow!”
However, the next day, he was still alive. But the day after that, he passed away.
A week later, when John’s longtime caregiver, Josie, came to the hospice to collect his belongings, Penny told her about the incident. Josie reacted immediately: “Ingrid was always late,” she said.
The Father in the Kitchen
On another occasion, Penny was visiting an elderly woman named Florence, who was dying of a severe lung disease. Penny often visited Florence, and they would drink tea together in the kitchen.
Penny asked Florence if she had seen anything unusual, as she understood that Florence didn’t have much time left and might already be experiencing pre-death visions.
“What unusual things are you asking about?” Florence responded.
“For example, have you seen any deceased relatives or former pets?” Penny explained.
“No, nothing like that,” Florence replied.
Penny reassured her, explaining that if she did see something like that, it was perfectly normal for a dying person.
Florence paused and then said, “Really? Well… then my father is standing right there,” pointing to the corner of the kitchen.
Penny knew she wouldn’t see anything, but she looked at the empty corner anyway.
“I was so afraid to tell you about it because I thought you would think I was crazy!” Florence exclaimed.
Florence passed away three weeks after this incident.
