My Journey

By this stage in my literary journey, I had already penned, apart from On the Other Side of Life, a fair number of scientific articles and contributed to collective works. Yet their audience remained largely confined to the academic sphere, and I felt something was missing—a way to reach beyond that circle.

How could one speak of near-death experiences, or more broadly of death itself, and the delicate, almost ungraspable task of preparing for this final passage that awaits us all? I came to see that writing a novel—or even just a simple story—might offer a unique path: a space where questions could breathe, where imagination could probe the unknown, and where readers might meet these mysteries not as distant observers, but as companions on a shared journey.

This book had long lived in my heart until the day I brought it to life on paper. I wrote it with the hope of making existing knowledge about experiences related to death both accessible and meaningful—not only for those facing a major life crisis, but for anyone who wishes to reflect on death and what may follow. At the heart of the book lies a detailed account of a near-death experience (NDE).

About the book

Talking with Angel about Illness, Death, and Survival tells the moving story of a young girl battling leukemia. As she comes to understand that her life may be ending, she finds solace and hope through nightly conversations with her beloved doll, Angel. Through these gentle dialogues, she learns to embrace a new perspective on dying, opening herself to the possibility that consciousness may continue beyond the body. Her fear of death gradually dissolves, lifted by the spiritual wisdom she discovers, the account of an NDE shared by a young companion, and a death-bed vision of her departed grandmother—moments that illuminate a path from fear to understanding, from uncertainty to peace.

This book tells a delicate yet powerful story about the closeness of life and death, about pain and comfort, about fear and trust. It opens a space for a spiritual perspective in which illness can be understood not only as a loss but also as a path to inner growth. A touching work for readers of all ages—whether healthy, affected by illness, or in mourning—who are interested in a new understanding of the survival of consciousness beyond physical death. Written with sensitivity and clarity, the narrative offers comfort, hope, and a lasting sense of calm in the face of life's greatest challenges.

Excerpt from the Preface by Kenneth Ring

"On the surface, Talking with Angel is the story of a young girl, told in the first person, who has contracted a serious disease. We, the readers, are in the mind of the narrator, the young girl, and from the outset, we are gripped by the drama of her illness. We enter her mind stream, her thoughts and feelings, as her illness develops. It is as if we become her diary – she is writing, she is confiding her innermost thoughts, to us. She draws us into her illness and its vicissitudes, and thus it is that we find ourselves sharing her journey and become intimately connected with her – and with the people in her life.

Ultimately, her anguish becomes our own – but so, too, are the things she learns during the course of her struggle to understand and come to terms with what has happened to her. And these insights, the knowledge that comes to her, we come to see are the most important thing. They are really what the book is about and what it is designed to teach us. […]

At the beginning of the story, she is seemingly quite ordinary, but as her illness progresses, so does she – in her knowledge, in the depth of her character, and, ultimately, in the profound degree of spiritual wisdom she attains as she confronts the possibility of "the end of everything". In short, this young girl goes through an accelerated course of personal and spiritual maturity so that by the time the book closes, she reminds of someone like Anne Frank and we realize that we have been privileged to read another young girl's diary we will not soon forget. […]

This is essentially a book of wisdom teachings – specifically, teachings about death and the possibility that something profound transcends death and can cast its light back on the living so as to transform them. And, just as with Plato's dialogues, so Talking with Angel is at bottom a mind-stretching philosophical undertaking dealing with one of the great perennial issues, but from a completely new contemporary perspective."

Talking with Angel about Illness, Death, and Survival has been published in ten languages. Interestingly, the Turkish edition has been the most successful, with 14 editions released to date.

Following my trip to Connecticut to record an in-depth interview that was later published in On the Other Side of Life, Ken Ring and I remained in close contact. What began as a single collaboration centered on that extended conversation gradually evolved into an ongoing professional relationship. Over time, our exchanges became more substantive, leading to collaboration on various projects grounded in the shared interests and intellectual framework that had initially brought us together.

One of the outcomes of this collaboration was Lessons from the Light, for which Ken Ring graciously listed me as co-author. It is important for me to state clearly, however, that this is fundamentally Ken's book—his ideas, his research, and his writing. My contribution, while meaningful within the context of our collaboration, did not in my view rise to the level of true co-authorship. Ken nevertheless very generously insisted on acknowledging me as such.

"No other researcher has been able to transmit to the rest of us the true meaning and impact of near-death phenomena for the planet."
—Bruce Greyson, MD, bestselling author of After

"A major contribution that offers a wealth of case materials together with balanced and insightful commentary."
—Raymond A. Moody, PhD, bestselling author of Life After Life

About the book
While providing many remarkable accounts of near-death experiences (NDEs), Lessons from the Light is much more than an inspiring collection of NDEs. In clear language, the practical lessons for living and dying are to be found from the study of these experiences. Lessons from the Light is a book for those looking to gain knowledge and wisdom to enhance their own lives by incorporating the insights stemming from what many people have come to believe is the ultimate spiritual experience.

Although Lessons from the Light recounts many moving stories of NDEs, it is not just another book filled with inspiring testimonies—it includes helpful guidance and practical exercises concerning how readers can make use of this knowledge to live with greater self-insight, self-compassion and concern for others, as well as be better prepared for death, dying, and bereavement. Readers can easily apply what they have learned to their own lives and absorb and internalize these lessons from the Light in such a way as to lead to deep personal and spiritual transformation.

Lessons from the Light has been published in nine languages, including Chinese.

                                                                                       

I am departing from my decision to present only my own books in this section, as the translation I completed of Hello from Heaven marks the starting point of my activities in the decades that followed.

About the book

Hello from Heaven is a ground-breaking study into a phenomenon the authors call after‑death communication (ADC)—spontaneous and direct contact with deceased loved ones. Over seven years of research, Bill and Judy Guggenheim interviewed more than 2,000 people across the United States and Canada and collected over 3,300 first-hand accounts of these experiences, of which 353 are presented in the book as complete personal narratives.

The book explores these experiences as evidence of a continuity of life and love beyond physical death, offering comfort, hope, and spiritual insight to readers dealing with loss or fears about death. Upon its publication in 1996, Hello from Heaven! helped establish ADC as a recognized field of inquiry, was featured on American television and radio programs, and appeared on bestseller lists in the United States, where it found a wide audience among readers interested in spiritual experience, grief support, and the possibility of life after death.

http://www.billguggenheim.com/

As has so often been the case on Journey Through My Books, translating Hello from Heaven into French proved essential for the continuation of my activities. I had known Bill Guggenheim for years by email before finally meeting him in person at an International Association for Near-Death Studies (IANDS) conference in Houston, USA. During our conversations, he asked whether I might consider translating Hello from Heaven—already published in several languages—into French and finding a publisher in France.

Against all reason, I immediately agreed, as if I didn't know what it truly meant to translate a 398-page book, without any of the translation tools we take for granted today. I'm glad I did.

The translation, of course, consumed a great deal of my time, but it also opened up a whole new world to me—the world of spontaneous contacts with the deceased. By translating the 353 ADC accounts, rereading them, and checking my work repeatedly, I came to know nearly all of them almost by heart. In doing so, I realized that this would become my new field of research. I had made my decision.

Once the translation was complete, I wrote an introduction and quickly found a French publisher (Editions Exergue) who released it under the title Des Nouvelles de l'Au‑delà.

Translating Hello from Heaven into French sparked my interest in spontaneous and direct after-death communications (ADCs) that appear to be initiated by the deceased. What is the nature of these experiences? Who reports them, and under what circumstances do they occur? What do the deceased purportedly "say"? What is communicated, and with what intention? More broadly, how might we understand the meaning and phenomenological characteristics of such experiences? How do individuals respond when they undergo these experiences? Are they surprised, frightened, comforted, stunned, or intrigued by what appears to be an entirely inconceivable event? What impact do these experiences have on recipients—particularly with regard to their grieving process and their understanding of the possible survival of consciousness after physical death?

All these questions intrigued me. I decided to study this phenomenon in greater depth and to write a book.

Having translated the 353 American and Canadian testimonies presented in Hello from Heaven, I already had a good understanding of the phenomenology of spontaneous after-death communications (ADCs). Yet, in order to write my own book, I wanted to collect first-hand testimonies from individuals in my own part of the world. To this end, I published an article entitled "VSCD: Hallucinations ou Réalité?" (ADCs: Hallucinations or Reality?) in Inexploré, le magazine de l'INREES (Inexploré, the magazine of INREES) in 2013, in which I called for testimonies. An impressive number of accounts were sent to me, forming the basis of the book I was about to write.

About the book

Quand les défunts viennent à nous: Histoires vécues et entretiens avec des scientifiques explores a little-known yet widespread phenomenon: spontaneous after-death communications (ADCs), in which a person may unexpectedly feel, see, hear, or perceive the presence of a departed loved one. Firmly rooted in real-life testimonies, the book examines these experiences through first-hand accounts, approaching them from a psychological perspective to understand their meaning and impact rather than to prove or disprove the existence of an afterlife.

Evelyn Elsaesser goes beyond collecting personal stories by conducting interviews with experts from multiple disciplines, shedding light on ADCs from diverse scientific and human perspectives. She also examines cross-cultural aspects, highlighting how these experiences are understood, interpreted, and integrated differently across societies. This multidimensional approach allows for an in-depth reflection on the nature and consequences of these experiences, particularly in relation to the grieving process. Elsaesser demonstrates that contact with the deceased can be studied rigorously while still respecting its emotional and subjective dimensions, rather than being dismissed as mere hallucinations or superstitions.

Preface by Stéphane Allix

Evelyn Elsaesser is one of the most renowned experts in the world of experiences related to death, and more specifically those that are extensively described in this book.

As I began my investigation into these extraordinary phenomena in the summer of 2003, the eminent American psychologist Kenneth Ring, whom I had contacted, recommended that I reach out to Evelyn Elsaesser in Switzerland. The two had recently co-published a book on near-death experiences, and Kenneth Ring was full of praise for Evelyn. I called her and I was instantly seduced by this researcher in the soul who knew how to combine great attention and a formidable listening capacity with a remarkable rigor.

Immediately a relationship of respect and friendship was established between Evelyn and me. So, when I founded INREES a few years later, Evelyn naturally became one of its pillars and one of the active members of our scientific committee. In particular, she took an important part in the research we began to centralize the clinical knowledge available on near-death experiences, as well as all types of accounts related to contacts between the living and the dead. Evelyn then devoted herself with rare energy to the writing of three central chapters of the Clinical Handbook of Extraordinary Experiences (link Manuel Clinique des Expériences Extraordinaires - 2e éd., 2022), including the one dealing with after-death communications (ADCs).

These experiences of alleged contact with the deceased are not anecdotal. They occur by the tens of thousands around us. Bereaved individuals who perceive, in various forms, a contact or even a communication from a deceased loved one are often deeply moved and comforted, but also unsettled, as these experiences do not fit within the prevailing understanding of reality. Quand les défunts viennent à nous offers tools for better understanding these experiences and for integrating them into the grieving process—drawing on numerous ADC testimonies, the informed perspectives of interviewed scientists, and the author's reflections.

Evelyn devotes a chapter to a specific type of ADCs: end-of-life visions, or death-bed visions, in which individuals on the threshold of death perceive deceased family members or friends who appear to come to "accompany them into the other world," instantly relieving them of fear of death. These experiences are reported by nurses, doctors, and other healthcare professionals, who clearly distinguish them from any known hallucinatory phenomena.

The originality and great strength of this book lies in placing after-death communications (ADCs) within a broader context of other death-related experiences—including near-death experiences and communications from the deceased reported by mediums—and in comparing their modes of expression as well as the messages they convey.

Countless people have experienced these types of phenomena, yet do not dare to talk about them, not even to those close to them. This is undoubtedly one of the first merits of this indispensable work: to bring these widespread and significant experiences out of the shadows and out of denial. This is the remarkable richness of Evelyn Elsaesser's synthetic work.

Quand les défunts viennent à nous is the result of a long-term undertaking and is probably the most well-documented work to date on the subject. This book, both rigorous and highly accessible, makes it possible to consider life after death as a rational hypothesis.

Quand les défunts viennent à nous has been published in four languages.

Quand les défunts viennent à nous quickly found its readership. Thanks to the call for testimonies I included in the book, accounts came pouring in.

The messages from my correspondents often began in much the same way:

"I have just finished your book and would like to share my ADC, which occurred some time ago (ranging from a few months to several decades back). I have never spoken about it to anyone, as I was afraid I would not be believed or might even be ridiculed."

Others had shared their ADC with a few people: some found that they were believed, while others were told they had been deeply shaken by grief and had most likely imagined the contact with their loved one.

Many had never spoken of it again. "I have kept this experience quietly in my heart, as a cherished and precious memory," they wrote. Writing to me was often the first time they had dared to put into words to something so intimate and deeply meaningful—an encounter that had helped them heal, even if they had carried it alone for years.

Another striking and surprisingly common pattern was that many of my correspondents were unable to name their experience. For a long time, they believed they were the only people in the world to have had a spontaneous contact with a deceased loved one. They expressed a profound sense of relief upon discovering that this phenomenon not only had a name, but had also been experienced by countless others—offering them reassurance that they were not alone in what had once felt like an intensely private and extraordinary encounter.

Having read all these correspondences, I decided that the time was ripe to undertake a large-scale scientific investigation into the phenomenology and impact of ADCs, with the aim of giving visibility and credibility to this experience—so beautiful, so common, so comforting, and transformative for recipients. I submitted a research proposal to a foundation that prefers to remain anonymous. They placed their trust in me and awarded a generous grant to support the project's implementation. I assembled a team, and we launched our long-term international research project in February 2018, which is still ongoing. For more information, see the "ADC Research Project" section (link).

From the second phase onwards, we were also fortunate to receive financial support from the Bial Foundation and the Society for Psychical Research (SPR).

                                       

About the book

I published the results of our surveys in English, French, and Spanish, based on the responses of 1,004 participants in the largest international scientific study ever conducted on subjective experiences of contact with the deceased (ADC). These findings, richly illustrated with first-hand accounts, offer a vivid and nuanced insight into the circumstances, nature, and consequences of these spontaneous experiences — lived by a large number of people, particularly those who are grieving, and often described as both comforting and meaningful.

The findings of these surveys are presented in my book Spontaneous Contacts with the Deceased: A Large-Scale International Survey Reveals the Circumstances, Lived Experience and Beneficial Impact of After-Death Communications (ADCs), which not only describes how these experiences manifest, but also highlights their beneficial impact on the grieving process, enabling recipients to perceive the apparent desire of the deceased to continue expressing love and support.

The book was Awarded a

2023 Scientific and Medical Network Book Prize.

Excerpt from the Preface by Christophe Fauré

At first, I didn't believe it.

During my young years as a psychiatrist in the field of palliative care, I accompanied people in mourning after the loss of a loved one. They shared with me their suffering, their pain, their anger, their guilt… and I walked with them on the painful path of mourning. I saw it as the unfolding of a process of which I initially perceived only the psychological dimension.

But, over the years, curious experiences have begun to emerge in my patients' narratives. They were so constant and recurrent that it became impossible for me not to seriously consider them.

They told me about "signs". Signs interpreted by these persons as a manifestation of their deceased loved one, but about which they kept silent, sometimes for years, for fear of being considered "crazy" if they revealed them to those around them! Moreover, many of them, a little embarrassed to talk to a psychiatrist in those terms, said to me, "Doctor, I am a very rational person, but…" and there emerged the narrative of that unsettling "something" that happened after the death of their loved one. "Something" that I later learned to call "ADC".

ADC: After-Death Communication.

After more than 25 years of bereavement counselling, today I systematically ask this question, in a more or less direct way: "Since the death of your loved one, do you feel that you have had any 'signs' or specific perceptions?" I can't count the number of people who, relieved by my question, immediately tell me about one or more ADCs!

There is therefore a real subject here that deserves our full attention, as its implications are considerable, and I am pleased that my own years of observing and listening to patients in my practice find a powerful echo in the contents of this book.

We must be aware of this: publishing such a book is not anodyne and I would like to salute the integrity and genuine courage of these authors, researchers and university professors of international standing who dare to put their professional credibility at stake in order to venture, as true pioneers, into the mysterious territory of the ADCs.

Make no mistake: we are not here in the realm of belief, beliefs that one would cling to, in a desperate move to suppress the fear of death and the anguish of nothingness. No: the approach of these researchers is quite different. It is based on listening, observing, collecting and analyzing data. It is rooted in a scientific methodology that observes and establishes the facts. Thus, even if the subject of ADCs seems to be the opposite, one could not be more Cartesian in this way of approaching them! The authors of this survey rely on tangible information and this is what makes their work so relevant and intelligent.

It is all the intelligence and finesse of this book not to answer this question directly. Indeed, Spontaneous Contacts with the Deceased describes the phenomenon of ADCs, based on testimonies. However, it does not venture to interpret the data collected. It leaves the reader to his or her own conclusions, simply offering some avenues for reflection: what meaning should be given to these experiences? What do they tell us about existence beyond this life? Would they suggest a continuity of consciousness after death? Here we enter the spiritual dimension of ADCs, which is not the subject of this book.

Which direction? It is up to you to define it. It is up to you to form your own opinion on the basis of your investigation and reliable reading on these various subjects to which you will give yourself access.

And this is where Spontaneous Contacts with the Deceased can really help you.

Whether it reinforces your feelings if you yourself have experienced an ADC, whether you have not experienced an ADC even though you are grieving, or whether it stimulates your curiosity, inviting you to investigate further and explore the meaning and implications of this phenomenon, you hold a precious companion in your hands. It is able to nourish your reflection in depth.

Who knows where it will take you?

I wish you a good and fruitful reading.

Dr. Christophe Fauré

Author of Vivre le deuil au jour le jour, Editions Albin Michel

 

Spontaneous Contacts with the Deceased has been published in five languages.

For 30 years, I have been giving lectures in Switzerland and abroad on death‑related experiences, namely near‑death experiences (NDEs), death‑bed visions, and after‑death communications (ADCs). I deliver my lectures in French, English, German and Spanish. Conférence à Hong Kong