We asked the BuzzFeed Community to tell us about their experiences being contacted by someone from the afterlife. Here are some of our favorite submissions:
1. The Light in the Castle
"My best friend's little sister had been struggling with cancer for a long time. She was almost five when she passed away about a month ago. Recently, I went to my BFF's house to hang out and there was this big toy castle that her sister would always play with. We were just sitting there when out of nowhere, one of the lights in the castle turned on and made a noise. We think it was her."
2. Grandma's Chanel No. 5
"A couple of weeks ago, I had a vivid dream that I was having lunch with my late grandfather. Before we departed, he handed me a box of Chanel No. 5 perfume and told me to make sure to give it to my grandma for her birthday. When I woke up, I told my mom about the dream. She asked me if I knew that my grandma's birthday was that week and that was her favorite perfume — I didn't. Apparently my grandpa always gave it to her on her birthday and I had no idea!"
3. The Necklace
"My best friend was killed in a car accident our senior year of high school and I truly believe he saved my life from beyond the grave. Six months after he died, I was in a car crash eerily similar to the one that killed him. I could have easily been killed, but I somehow walked away without a scratch even though my car was destroyed. Turned out his necklace had been hanging from my rearview mirror only for me to find it after my accident."
4. Bird Poop Is a Mood-Lifter
"Growing up, whenever I was pouting, my granddad would say, 'You better suck that lip in before a big black bird comes along and goes poo-poo!' Well, he passed away when I was in college. I was walking across campus a week later, mad about something stupid, and a bird legitimately pooped ON my lip. Now every time I see a black bird, I know he’s laughing and telling me to cheer up."
5. The Woman at the Door
"My mother died when I was five. I was raised by her twin sister, my Aunt Jean, who passed away several years later. Then 10 years to the day my Aunt Jean died, I dreamt that I was at home with her as she excitedly waited for something. Just then, there was a woman at the door. Aunt Jean ran up to the woman and hugged her. The woman took Aunt Jean's hand and said, "Let's go." I never saw the woman's face, only the back of her head. All I know is Aunt Jean was so happy to go with this visitor.
Later on, it dawned on me that the visitor was her twin sister, my mother. She was taking her onto the next stage of her journey."
6. Closest to Heaven
"I have a brother who passed away before I was born. After I graduated high school, I went on a trip to Europe. My friends and I climbed Mount Pilatus in Switzerland and decided to take pictures at the top. I took pictures of all my friends in the same spot, but when it came time for them to take my picture, they kept saying there was a weird glare in every shot. There was — nothing seemed to make it go away.
When I finally arrived home and showed my mom the pictures, she said she was convinced the light glare was my brother, connecting with me when I was the closest to heaven I’d ever been."
7. The Brightest Star
8. The Singing Teddy Bear
"My girlfriend has a chest of old blankets and toys at her house, one of the toys being a singing teddy bear that her grandmother gave her. One day as we were walking out the door, the song started playing from the inside the chest. My girlfriend rushed over, grabbed the teddy bear, and flipped it over to check for batteries. Nothing. The bear then stopped playing, and it hit her that her grandma had passed away eight years ago to the day."
9. The Family Monarch
"My great-grandmother's favorite animal was always the monarch butterfly. During the graveside ceremony, everyone present noticed a gorgeous monarch butterfly land in the middle of her casket flower spread. We all knew it was her last way of making us smile and to reassure us that we would be okay without her.
For weeks afterward, we would call each other every time we saw the same type of butterfly. We all saw her butterflies and felt her presence — they would land in such strange places too, like directly on our hands or in our hair, and even follow us into cars. Each butterfly experience was honestly magical, and I still think about her every time I see one."
10. The Pitcher
"Two years ago, my immediate family and I were visiting my grandparents to go through some things my great-grandmother left for my mom after she passed. While my mom was sorting through the stuff, she found a pitcher that she remembered pouring orange juice or tea from when she would visit my great-grandmother. Still, she didn't really have the space for it and so she made the decision to put it in the giveaway pile. But somehow, it just kept getting moved back into the keep boxes — My mom didn't do it, my brothers didn't, and neither did my grandpa or my cousin. Finally, my mom said, 'Okay Nano, you seem to really want me to keep this. I'll keep it.' After she said that, it didn't move again."
11. The Curious Case of McDaniel
12. Happily Ever After
"About two months after my grandma died, I had a dream that she told me how much she loved all of her kids and grandkids. Then my grandfather, who passed before I was born, came and tapped her on the shoulder and told her it was time to go. They walked off into the sunset together, with my grandpa walking my grandma’s beloved dog — who she was buried with — on a leash. It was a very special moment and I like to believe it was really her."
13. Bringing Him With You
"About a year after my uncle's death, his daughter had her first child. My dad, my aunt (my uncle's widow,) and I went to go see her new baby boy. As we were checking in as visitors, we were required to provide photo ID and have a photo sticker made. The clerk said that my dad and aunt still had their photos on file somehow.
Suddenly, I looked at my dad’s and shrieked: It wasn’t him in the photo, IT WAS MY UNCLE! We all burst into tears. My aunt gave my dad a huge hug and said, 'Thank you for bringing him with you!' My cousin nearly fell off the bed when she saw the sticker, and said that she had been praying that her father could meet his new grandson!"
14. Silence on the Other Line
"My stepdad passed away a little over two years ago. Last summer, my stepsister and I each received a phone call from him: One from his residence and one from the place where he passed. When we answered, there was no one there. After reaching out to those places, no one could account for the calls made to us."
15. Patty-Cake
"My great-grandma died when my mom was 12. They had been very close. My mom later told me that when she was older, she saw our grandma sitting at the end of her bed wearing her favorite dress and smiling at her. Fast forward to when I was 2 or 3 years old and my mom would take me to visit my great-grandma's grave...she said I'd laugh and play patty-cake by myself, but it seemed like I was playing with someone else. She thinks it was our grandma."
16. The Boyfriend's Messenger
"When I was 23, my boyfriend passed in a car accident. A year or so later, I was waiting tables when I saw a guy come in and eat alone. He asked me my name and got kind of visibly uncomfortable after. Then after he left, I got a phone call from a former co-worker saying a friend of his just left the restaurant and told me to walk outside to my car. When I did, there was a note on it about a guy in a red hat standing outside my car. My boyfriend always wore a red hat. The note briefly mentioned that my customer from earlier sometimes had spirits contact him and that a guy in the hat was trying to reach me. And what's MORE? The note said things that NO ONE ELSE besides my boyfriend would have known."
17. The Graduation Gift
"On my graduation day, I was upset because I couldn't find the necklace my late grandmother gave me. I was already upset that she wasn't there with me, and this necklace was the one thing that made me feel close to her after she died. I searched my room for hours, turning over every shelf, taking the mattress off my bed...my parents and I flipped the entire house upside-down looking for it.
I cried all the way through the ceremony thinking I had lost it. But when I got home, after hanging up my cap and gown, I saw a glimmer of my necklace in the mirror. IT WAS HANGING OFF OF A PORTRAIT FROM HER WEDDING DAY."
18. Speedos and War Medallions
"About five months after my grandfather passed away, my family went to a clairvoyant reading in town. My grandfather was the first person to come through, apologizing to his daughters for wearing Speedos and embarrassing them on the beaches in Portugal. He then asked to see his war medallion, which my aunt had brought without us knowing. It was kind of freaky/funny!"
19. The Kept Promise
"My brother developed a brain tumor in high school, but still was able to go to community college and live a fairly normal life. Because he had seizures almost every day, he became good friends with the college nurse. The nurse's son had died a few years before from the same kind of tumor my brother had, so they really connected. One day, my brother promised her that if he died first, he would come visit her. Eventually, his cancer progressed and he had to drop out of college.
About a year later, she suddenly felt like she should check up on him and see how he was doing. Her phone call came less than five minutes after he passed away. It was very comforting to my mother to hear that he had kept his promise."
20. Homeward Bound
"When I was a freshman in high school, my family made the tough decision to put our family dog down as she was having a tough battle with cancer. That same night, we all had the same dream of her walking down the driveway coming home. Not sure if this counts, but we all were convinced it was her telling us she was okay."
21. The Warning
"One night, I had the most vivid dream that I was at a birthday party and my late grandma was there. She was all dressed up, and she was younger and vivacious. My grandma was holding two little twins — a boy and a girl — both with curly hair. There was a #1 candle on both birthday cakes and everyone was singing "Happy Birthday." But then, my grandma kept asking, 'Where is he?' over and over again, referring to my now ex-husband. I woke up in tears.
Three months later, I found out I was pregnant with twins — a boy and a girl. They both have curly hair. My ex and I split up right before their first birthday, and he no longer has contact with me or the kids. That dream was an absolute warning. I still get chills."
22. Her Voice
"When I adopted my first child a few years after my mom died, I felt so alone. I felt like I had no one to help me 'be a mom.' It was then I realized that I couldn’t remember what my mom’s voice sounded like. It broke my heart.
A few days later, I was looking for my baby book so I could fill in things in my son's baby book. Just then, I found a cassette tape in the same box. The recording was of my mom talking to me and my brother...just silly nonsense talking, but it was her. Her voice. I had never seen the tape before and how it got in that box I will never know, but I got a piece of her back and I will never question that."
23. Pink Lilies From Mom
"A group of friends sent me some flowers after my mother’s death. They were white lilies: Most were closed or just beginning to bloom. A couple of the flowers that were the last to blossom were actually pink, but hadn’t appeared any different than the others before that.
My mom used to send me pink lilies on my birthday each year, so it was really comforting to me."
24. Expired Groceries
"In my entire 36 years on the planet, not a day had gone by in which I hadn’t seen my grandma or at least spoken to her on the phone. Well right after she died, I was at the grocery store because as we were planning her funeral, OF COURSE a huge snowstorm was in the forecast and I was sent out to stock up on groceries. I went to buy a bag of brown sugar, and the expiration date happened to be her birthday, 11/4. Then I went to buy some cookies and the expiration date was my grandfather’s birthday, 8/27. Okay.
THEN I went to buy some brownie bites and put them back because I noticed they had expired. I walked a few steps, stopped, then went back and picked up the bag again. The brownie bites had expired 1/26, which was the date my grandfather died. I took this as a clear sign that my grandparents were together again in Heaven."
25. Grandma's Bobby Pins
"My sister bought my grandma's house after she passed away. Slowly, she started changing things and updating rooms. Every once in awhile, she would find a bobby pin. Not in the carpet or under a shelf, but on the window sill or by their TV. They appeared where they hadn't been minutes earlier. We took it as a sign that grandma — who was always well-dressed and immaculately coiffed — appreciated and approved of her modern renovations.
My grandma's been gone for five years now and my sister STILL gets bobby pins from her!"
26. The Guardian Angel
"When I was 20, my friends and I got together and got drunk. When we were all driving home (we had a designated driver), none of us were wearing our seat belts and we got hit by a truck. The driver was drunk and speeding, but miraculously, nobody was hurt. This was around 2:00 a.m.
The next day, I had a gut feeling that my grandma died. My mom called me in the morning to tell me that, sadly, she did. Out of curiosity, I asked her what time she passed away. She said around 2:00 a.m.
I know it sounds crazy, but I firmly believe my grandma was my guardian angel that night and that she died in my place. I miss her every day and will always be grateful for her, and for saving my life."
27. Dad's Blessing
"A week before my fiancé Nick proposed after my birthday dinner, I had a dream in which my dad, who passed away seven years ago, was driving me to this birthday dinner. He kept asking if I thought Nick was going to propose that night! I took this as receiving his blessing."
28. The Facebook Notification
"My mom, Betty Jo, had just passed away and so I had been carrying her phone around with me after to get numbers and receive calls from loved ones. Later that day, after having been around the phone for hours, I got an update on my phone from Facebook saying 'Betty Jo was nearby.' Anytime when she had been near me before, I had gotten the notification immediately. So since it didn't go off for a few hours, it just felt like her way of saying, 'Yes I'm gone, but don't worry, I'm still nearby.'"