Observations placeholder

The Art of Dying – Drs Peter and Elizabeth Fenwick

David Watson says that although he has always been very sceptical of claims of supernatural phenomena, he experienced something at the time of his father's death that he could not explain and has remained with him. His father suffered the first of a series of devastating strokes when David was 11, and died when David was 15 or 16 years old.

On the evening of his death, I was in my bedroom adjoining the room where my father was lying. We knew he was seriously ill and expected him to die in the short term - within days or possibly weeks. I became aware at some point of a very high-pitched sound - almost too high to actually hear really, more a sensation of pressure on the eardrum. It didn't pass and became more intense. For reasons I cannot explain, I felt compelled to go into my father's room where I found that the sound was even more intense. At the same time I became aware of what I would describe as a living 'presence' and the room seemed to be full of an over bearing pressure, such as one might experience before a violent thunderstorm.

Just at that point I noticed that my father's breathing was becoming laboured, and a few moments later he passed away. The sensations also ceased at that point and the room became calm again.

The whole episode lasted about five minutes, if not less.

The thing that has always struck me was that although I knew he was dying, the urge for me to go into his room at that specific point was overwhelming and coincided almost exactly with the moment of his death. I cannot fully articulate the feeling I had of a 'presence' in the room, just that it was very intense, but not scary.