Mediumistic Communications

Abstract

While out-of-body experiences (OBEs) and near-death experiences (NDEs) seem to provide data that support an account of consciousness that is amiable to the prospects of survival, more salient phenomena suggestive of survival would come in the form of indications that the consciousness of some persons who have actually died has persisted after their death. Phenomena associated with mediumship are one such class of potential evidence, for data collected from mediumship, if accepted at face value, suggest the continued existence of a person after biological death, sometimes long after death. In the prior chapter, I explained the importance of psychological criteria in identifying persons and therefore the importance of empirical phenomena that can be construed as offering evidence for the present existence of the psychological profile of some formerly living person. Many survivalists claim that mediumship provides evidence of this sort. In this chapter, I will look at prominent forms of mediumship—what survivalists regard as their evidentially significant features—and survey some of the more widely discussed cases. As in the prior chapter, I will conclude with an analytical description of the salient data drawn from these cases.