InPresence 0085: Lucid Dreams of The Deceased

InPresence host, Jeffrey Mishlove, PhD, is author of The Roots of Consciousness, Psi Development Systems, and The PK Man. Between 1986 and 2002 he hosted and co-produced the original Thinking Allowed public television series. He is the recipient of the only doctoral diploma in "parapsychology" ever awarded by an accredited university (University of California, Berkeley, 1980). For many years he served as president of the non-profit Intuition Network, an organization dedicated to creating a world in which all people were supported and encouraged in developing inner intuitive abilities.

Here he focuses on a research study published in the Journal of the Society for Psychical Research, titled "An Exploratory Study of Lucid Dreams Concerning Deceased Persons" by Annakatrin Puhle and Adrian Parker. Ninety participants were asked to practice a technique for inducing lucid dreams. Of these, 28 reported lucid dreams of deceased persons. A few of these dreams seemed evidential of post-mortem survival, although this was not the purpose of the study.

(Recorded on May 17, 2018)

To download an edited English transcript of InPresence 0085, go to

[KittyKate]

My father was an alcoholic and he chose his own life path without my family. It's been 10 years since his death and I've never thought much about him. I never knew the man, my logical brain always pointed out, so how can you miss something you've never had? But until he appeared in a dream a few months back, I didn't realize how much anger and pain I was holding onto that was attached to his memory. In my dream I was having a birthday party, strangely enough for a recently deceased friend, when there was a commotion in the back of the room and I knew my father had arrived. My friends shielded me from view so I never saw his face, but I knew it was him. To say I was...livid is an understatement. The pure rage I felt for him to crash my friend's party was...something I didn't expect. The emotions were so intense, I think I almost became lucid. But because of this dream, and his appearance, I've been able to come to terms with his decisions and realize how necessary they were for me to be the person I am today. And after 27 years, I was able to forgive him. Thank you so much for doing a segment on this topic Dr. Mishlove, for it is near and dear to my heart.

[cynthiabeanez]

This happens to me often. I feel so blessed and grateful to be able to really see my loved ones and still know it's in the dream state. I revel in their presence taking in all of their beauty in great detail, sometimes even yelling out "nobody better wake me up"

[JulieTasker]

Life is so much more than we might think in this physicality. I believe most people actually shut down - close off - really experiencing life beyond the physical. I know I must have as a child and young adult. Thankfully I’m starting to allow myself to acknowledge and live with more conscious awareness

[TheTalkWatcher]

I would love to see Jeff interview Robert Waggoner. Waggoner wrote a book on lucid dreaming and was forced to remove a chapter dedicated to using the lucid state to discover past lives. Dreaming shows there is much more to our reality than we care to admit. Every night we all enter a parallel world. It is a great space to explore and it is even better when we bring back gifts.

[johnpaul]

Live lucidly and you're likely to dream lucidly, I suppose. Since I reached 60, and lost several friends, I've dreamed of them often, almost to the point of spookiness. I do keep a dream journal, and have for decades, but haven't paid much attention to them.
When I was younger, I took dreams more seriously; now, I'm mildly depressed, and my dreams are dull. Thus, my initial point. Although I consider myself strongly introverted, the alarming condition of the world now has distracted me.
Meditation would probably help me in all of this. Thanks.

[clintlovewinds]

This is great! Yesterday I was recalling and sharing to a friend a dream that I had over a couple of years ago that involved me gaining legal advice from an attorneys deceased father who was also an attorney in the same office as his son many years prior. He told me not to hire his son but instead hire his good old friend who worked in the office next door. So the next morning I awoke and went down to hire his good old friend and sure enough it was the same older man that I seen in my dream and everything worked out better than expected! I love lucid dreaming/dream yoga now so much that I dedicate every early morning for it. There is much we can learn of ourselves and our world through our dreams it's like an endless school of everything always gaining new insights and knowledge. Thanks again Jeffrey and God bless you!

[purpleskies]

My younger sister recently tragically passed and I was really missing her so much that I asked her to come visit me and she did. She spoke to me and interacted with me AND kept eye contact with me. She has visited twice now when I’ve asked her too.
I tell myself before I go to sleep I will lucid dream and as I am falling asleep I repeatedly touch my palm and say I am awake I can feel my touch and eventually I fall asleep. I also repeat the “Mind awake body asleep” phrase sometimes.
When I want to test if I’m dreaming and that it’s lucid, I will, in my dream, touch the center of my palm and if I don’t feel it I know I am dreaming. I then fully realize I’m in dream state and from there I have control of my dream. I to relate to asking higher power to STOP my dreams because they could be terrifying and they did. I am now working on it coming back full swing.

[TheMoonKingdom]

I was always a natural, spontaneous lucid dreamer as a child. It was after my mother passed away about 10 years back, that I became a serious & disciplined practitioner. I so strongly wanted to see her again, that I remained driven to make it my reality. I'm happy to report that I see my mom quite regularly in the dream world. We've had many in depth conversations, & she is often the lucidity trigger. I am no longer grieving the loss, & enjoy other kinds of lucid dreams, but the strong desire to visit my mother definitely helped me to become a skilled lucid dreamer:)

[jhnndrs]

Both me and my friend meet one of our deceased friends in a dream, the same week, about a year after his death. And both of us had a conversation with him, and we both of us recognized him as being dead when we met him in our dreams.

[DanielofSparta]

It was really synchronistic for me to find this video in my feed cause last night I had a dream with my deceased father. I read a lucid dream book and tried for a few weeks. It didn't work so I sort of gave up but this rekindled my desire. I will continue practicing. Thank you

[kimahiamyahudahjudah]

Hiii, every dream I have is a Lucid dream. And I have deceased loved ones in them All the Time, I will start a journal today and see what I get from it.. I wish i could've been apart of the Study...

[moonlightskier]

Dreams have been an important part of my life. They've shown me in advance many pivotal occurences along my journey which helped me. I've been present at the time of death of several close relatives though I was sleeping, been visited by deceased loved ones in dreams. Twice my life has been saved by a precog dream. I've occasionally sat with a spirit guide or "angel" friend named Oasis in a bare white room. We sat in front of a wall size fountain which a solid sheet of water cascades down the face of a copper wall. We talk of my future, of which I only remember  his smile and his chuckle as I protest the wiping of my memory before I awaken. I happened upon how to do Lucid Dreaming in the early 80's from an article in OMNI magazine. It was what I prayed for as I needed relief from a haunting or invasion of my dreams by some dark force. Somehow I believe I had tapped into a serial killer in my dream state and I prayed for the dreams to go away. Lucid Dreaming helped me end that cycle of nightmares for good. Love your episodes, Jeffrey and my husband and I are journeying along with you, looking forward to each new episode. You enrich our lives with thought provoking topics and we really love you. God bless you always.

[joanchaffinbawcom]

I read the Stephen LaBerge book back in the 90's and was surprised at how quickly I was able to experience a lucid dream. I was a mother of young children at the time so I didn't have time to pursue it. I have had many, many dreams of my older sister who passed away in 1984. Sometimes she is a passive part of the dream, and sometimes we interact. Thanks for reminding me of lucid dreaming. I'm going to try it again!

[lindawhitehead]

Do you know of Robert Moss who does dream workshops? He is an amazing dreamer. My son was able to visit my deceased mother dying a workshop . He reported she was working in a garden. She needed a lot of healing so this felt very positive.

[wisewordings]

Commenting very late here but . . . I have had three such experiences that I can recall. One was when I was very young, five or six I think, where I dreamed my deceased uncle Ralph was at my grandparents house with us. I knew in the dream that he had died, and this realization in the dream seemed to produce a pseudo lucidity at least, as I remember choosing to fly around the room. (Many lucid flying dreams were in my future. :-)) I had a "visitation" type dream of my grandfather after his death in which he was hugging me as we watched a sunset together. I think I was semi-lucid in this dream, aware enough to savor this experience as a resolution of sorts to my grief. Finally, many years ago i was working with a therapist (with a Jungian bent) who died suddenly of a heart attack days before I had a scheduled session with him. It was very shocking and upsetting, naturally. Fairly soon after I had a dream that started off as a regular one, in which we were having a session. Then in the dream I remembered that he had died, and the dream took on the hyper real and fascinating qualities that my lucid dreams almost always do, with the added emotional intensity of the realization that this was perhaps my actual therapist who was with me in a bardo state, but unaware that he was dead and I was visiting from the physical realm. As he was talking I was pondering what to do and say. I chose to not remark on my lucidity or his death, and went along with the session. At the end of it, I make a very deliberate, heartfelt statement of my appreciation for all he had done for me, which he responded to in a slightly shocked but very grateful way. I woke up feeling so relieved that I was able to have this closure with him. This dream remains one of the most significant of my life thus far. I would love to participate in research if there are any upcoming studies afoot, and I may take up a lucid dreaming writing project that is on the proverbial shelf in my life right now. Thank you Jeffrey for all your dedication and hard work bringing us these posts and interviews, they are so enlightening and inspiring.

[Johnsamar]

I was keeping a dream journal and meditating which gave me extremely lucid dreams, almost too much so. I would have 2 or 3 lucid dreams every night, this lasted for about 3 weeks before I quit keeping a journal and the number of lucid dreams have dropped down to about 1 a week

Love the show Jeffery

[marcelovalves]

Hi Jeffrey,
it is my belief that the Akashic records are available to all of us to consult when it is needed and to provide advances in the human race development.
With that in mind, I would like to congratulate you for your excellent work in making the study of the "unusual things in life" to be more accessible and to promote the development of the human race. The development of the first Quantum computer and the portals of communication that such technology had open are concerning at it best, since the date that the human race will face the challenge of its singularity has been set and it is my optimistic hope that we will be ready for it.

[adc]

Have not thought over till date but certainly now

[jamenta]

The most powerful dream in my life was a visitation dream, which was positive and affirming. It was also accompanied by synchronistic phenomena in my non-dream life afterward. It seems hard to believe it was all an accident - just as it is hard to believe life itself is just meaningless and brief.

[marthaadf]

I am interested to have lucid dreams and develop to live in multidimensional realms like I used to do before.