We always hope and pray that our loved ones will die well and in peace. While that occurs most of the time, there are occasions when that is not the case. Although somewhat unique in nature, the following describes an experience in which darkness rather than light appears. I share this daughter’s letter in the hope that it brings comfort to others in similar situations.
Dear Trudy,
I have a question for you that is not as positive as those normally associated with your column. My dad died of lung cancer and during his life he was far from a nice person. We had a very rocky relationship but, in the end, I tried to help him the best I could.
During the week I cared for him at home, he attempted to break everything in his room. I had to take out everything but the bed. He tried to break out the windows and escape, he yelled incessantly, he had delusions and visions. He was so destructive that I had to lock him in his room. I feared going in to feed him, give him water or his morphine. When I did, I’d open the door slowly to peek in and make sure he hadn’t made it over to the door to wait for me, though by this time, he’d lost the use of his legs.
One day I cracked open the door and peeked in. The room was dimly lit and he lay staring at me from the bed with a sinister smile on his face, glowing eyes, saying something to the effect of, “I see you trying to come get me.” Then suddenly I saw what looked like one of those stone garden gargoyle statues leap up from his body, in ghost or spirit form, and fly through the door I had open.
I’ve never heard of anything like this. I have relived this moment a few times since his death; it is always scary. The glow was not like the kind people speak of when someone dies gently and well. It was dark and scary and very real. I do hope to hear from you.
Name Withheld
I am so sorry to hear of your distressing experience with your dad’s death. While it is not very common, I have heard about and seen such things before.
I had in my care a man who, by his own admission, had lived a very evil life. One day while I was visiting with him, he threw his head back, after making a very obscene gesture with his mouth, and let out a guttural scream that was not of this world. At the very same moment, a hard, ice cold wind blew open the front door, in the middle of a warm spring evening. I was with him as he died and I must admit I have never seen a more hellacious struggle between good and evil in my life. While visiting my pastor later that evening, he explained to me that the struggle for a soul at the hour of death was something very real.
On another occasion, I saw a very ugly gargoyle face hang between two beds, and the look of glowing red eyes has never left me. We like to think that the concept of a devil is old-fashioned and that evil is not a genuine entity. I am sorry to say that both exist and that nothing would make the devil happier than winning a soul away from God. We must pray hard for a person who is in such distress and rely on the all-powerful, compassionate and loving heart of God to rescue them.
Trudy
