From earliest times, people have speculated about what happens when they and their loved ones die. Their views vary from certainty about life after death to utter disbelief. Today, many continue to believe in the survival of consciousness after physical death with some claiming actual experiences of the departed and contact with them of some kind. In an era which we think of as the enlightened era of science, education and widespread secularism, many people report contact with dead. In a survey at the end of the 20th century, 31% of people in the USA , reported they had felt that they had been in contact with some one who had died (Greeley 1975), and in Europe the number was 25% (Haraldsson and Houtkooper 1991).

Scientist, Erlendur Haraldsson, a native of Iceland, sought an answer to his question, “Have you ever been aware of the presence of a deceased person?” In the modern and educated society of Iceland, one of the Scandinavian countries; he conducted an extensive survey. During the following years, detailed personal interviews were conducted with over 450 people who responded with a yes to questions about personal experiences of the deceased while in a waking state. These accounts form the basis for this book. The results are fascinating and make compelling reading.

Praise for The Departed Among the Living

The Departed Among the Living is a profound challenge to the assumption that human consciousness is annihilated with the death of the brain and body. Dr. Erlendur Haraldsson’s meticulous, fascinating research will validate those who already believe in life after death, and should stimulate serious reflection in those who do not.  This book will almost certainly become a classic in the field of survival research.

—Larry Dossey, M.D. Author of Healing Words and Reinventing Medicine

With nearly three quarters of Icelanders stating a belief in some form of survival of bodily death, we might expect a substantial amount of evidence to be reported. Thanks to Erlendur Haraldsson, one of the outstanding field researchers of our time, much of this evidence is now available to us, in one of the most important books of its kind since the classic 1886 survey Phantasms of the Living.

—Guy Lyon Playfair, author of The Flying Cow and Twin Telepathy

“When you start thinking about the meaning of your life and the best way to live, the question of whether it’s all material, you die and everything is over, versus whether we continue on in some form as part of a spiritual existence, becomes very important.  Do I really care about meaning and the consequences of my actions since it all ends suddenly and I’m gone, no regrets, no real satisfactions? It would mean a lot to think you can plan for a long existence of spiritual evolution, but is that all a myth as we think science says, an opiate for the masses to keep them obedient while the smart exploit them?  Genuine science says investigate, not dogmatically affirm or deny survival, and while the survival question is generally ignored by those supposedly practicing science, a very few scientists, of whom Erlendur Haraldsson is a sterling example, search out and analyze the relevant evidence suggesting survival. You will, to put it mildly, be fascinated by what he presents in this book - and perhaps the plan of your life will be changed…..

—Charles T. Tart, Professor, Institute of Transpersonal Psychology in Palo Alto CA,
Professor Emeritus, Psychology, University of California, Davis and 
author of The End of Materialism: How Evidence of the Paranormal
 is Bringing Science and Spirit Together

The closed-minded skeptic will refer to the many interesting and intriguing stories collected by Dr Haraldsson for this book as anecdotal and dismiss them as the products of hallucinations, illusions, or wild imaginations, but the open-minded, discerning skeptic will see them as possible cumulative evidence of, as Haraldsson calls them, “afterlife encounters.”
                               
                —Michael Tymn, Vice-President, Academy of Spirituality and Paranormal Studies, and author of The Afterlife Revealed: What Happens After We Die and The Afterlife Explorers, Vol. 1.

Known as a worldwide respected researcher of deathbed visions and past life memories, Erlendur Haraldsson has now published a very well-documented, and a highly inspiring and convincing book about encounters with deceased relatives, again referring to the probability of a continuity of consciousness after physical death. Highly recommended.

                      —Pim van Lommel, Cardiologist.
                                    Author of Consciousness beyond Life

Erlendur Haraldsson (November 3, 1931 – November 22, 2020) was a professor emeritus of psychology at the Faculty of Social Science at the University of Iceland. Despite having retired from his former post at the University of Iceland, he continued to be an active academic until his death.

He published works in various psychological and parapsychological journals and worked with Ian Stevenson on reincarnation research and Karlis Osis on deathbed visions.

As well as doing research in Iceland, Haraldsson worked in the United States and at the Institute for Frontier Areas of Psychology and Mental Health in Freiburg, Germany. While in the United States, he worked with J. B. Rhine.

He authored and co-authored several books including Modern Miracles: Sathya Sai Baba: The Story of a Modern Day Prophet (2013), At the Hour of Death (1997), The Departed Among the Living: An Investigative Study of Afterlife Encounters” (2012), Indridi Indridason: The Icelandic Physical Medium (2015) and I Saw A Light And Came Here: Children’s Experiences of Reincarnation co-authored with Jim Matlock (2017).