Source: “Seeing the Messiah: An Analysis of the Postmortem Appearances of Jesus Christ and the Lubavitcher Rebbe Against the Backdrop of Apparitional Phenomena”, By Jonathan Kendall, MD, 2025.
2. Crisis Apparitions - An Inquiry.pdf
2. Crisis Apparitions_Statistical_Proof_and_Mechanism.m4a
This topic explores the phenomenon of crisis apparitions, which are visual manifestations of individuals that appear to others at or near the moment of a significant crisis, most often death. Through various historical case studies, the author demonstrates that these encounters frequently provide veridical information, such as specific details about an accident or a person’s attire that the witness could not have known through normal means. To explain these events, the source highlights George Tyrrell’s theory that apparitions are subconscious creations or "idea patterns" resulting from a telepathic impulse sent by the person in distress and shaped by the witness’s own mind. Ultimately, the text argues that the statistical frequency and consistency of these sightings suggest they are a genuine, albeit mysterious, natural phenomenon rather than mere subjective hallucinations.
Visions of the departed and premonitions of disaster are culturally ubiquitous, but while many such tales belong to folklore, certain experiences have been the subject of systematic investigation for over a century. Among the most compelling of these are "crisis apparitions"—vivid, realistic visions of a loved one that occur at the very moment they are experiencing a life-threatening crisis, most often their death.
These are not vague feelings or shadowy figures in the dark. The archives of psychical research, compiled by meticulous investigators and published in peer-reviewed journals, contain numerous cases of people seeing, hearing, and even interacting with an apparition of a person they did not know was in peril. These encounters are often startlingly detailed and convey information the witness could not possibly have known through normal means.
This article explores four of the most surprising and counter-intuitive realities of crisis apparitions, drawing directly from the documented evidence. What this data reveals is a phenomenon far more complex and mysterious than a simple ghost story.