This experience happened to me when I was living in student housing in Nebraska late 1960's.  I was home caring for my four year old daughter and my neighbor lady came over for coffee so our children could play together.  We were sitting at the kitchen table discussing whatever and alone as the kids were playing in the yard.  All of a sudden I felt a hard poke three times on my right shoulder and jumped from the kitchen chair.  The neighbor asked me what was wrong and I told her Geez, it felt like someone just punched my shoulder.  We just stared at each other in amazement as no one was in the room but she and I.  I sat back down and dismissed the incident and we shrugged it off when not five minutes later the phone rang.  I got up and answered it and it was my aunt in Michigan telling me my grandmother had just passed away.

Was this experience difficult to express in words?  No

Did you ONLY sense an awareness of presence of the deceased without actually seeing, hearing, feeling or smelling them?            No

Did you feel a touch or experience any physical contact from the deceased?            Yes

Sitting at the kitchen table talking to my neighbor over coffee.

            Was the touch familiar or unfamiliar?   A surprise and unfamiliar.

            Was anything communicated by the touch?  No.

            Is there any possibility what you felt was from any other source present in the surroundings at the time of your experience?  No

Did you see the deceased?         No

Did you smell a distinct smell, scent, fragrance or odor associated with the deceased?      No

How long did the experience last?        Less than a minute for the poking.

Was the beginning and end of the experience gradual or more sudden?         Sudden.

Could you sense the emotions or mood of the deceased?           No

How do you currently view the reality of your experience?           Experience was definitely real

            Please explain why you view the reality of your experience as real or not real:           There is no way the experience wasn't real. I jumped a foot after being poked.

            Was the experience dream like in any way?   No

Describe in detail your feelings/emotions during the experience:           What's going on is how I felt.  Confusion as to what had happened until the phone rang.

Was there any emotional healing in any way following the experience?           Yes

I was happy that my grandmother thought of me during her transition.  It meant allot to me and still does.

Has your life changed specifically as a result of your experience?         No        

Did the experience give you any spiritual understandings such as life, death, afterlife, God, etc.?            Yes     I feel there is a constant connection with family always even though we may be in different realities.

Death Compacts are when two or more living people promise among themselves that whoever dies first will try to contact the other(s).  Have you ever made such a compact?        No

What emotions did you feel during the experience?            Amazed. Grateful as my maternal grandmother had not been able to visit or interact with my sister and I as she was the sole caregiver for my grandfather who had Parkinson's for 15 years before he died.  They had lived in a town about 40 miles from my hometown. My mother died when I was two and my father remarried thus we didn't visit my mother's parents.  What a loss to not know them growing up.

Was the experience witnessed or experienced by others?           Yes

My neighbor witnessed my jumping and the phone ringing and was very surprised as I was.

Did you have any sense of altered space or time?   No

Did you have a sense of knowing, special knowledge, universal order and/or purpose?    No

Did you become aware of future events?       No

Did you have any psychic, paranormal or other special gifts following the experience that you did not have prior to the experience?         No

Did you experience a separation of your consciousness from your body?     No

Did you meet or see any other beings other than the deceased?            No

Did you see a light?           No

Did any part of your experience seem to occur in a place other than the location described above?            No

Have you shared this experience with others?         Yes    

Have you shared this experience formally or informally with any other researcher or web site?   No

Were there any associated medications or substances with the potential to affect the experience?            No

Following the experience, have you had any other events in your life, medications or substances which reproduced any part of the experience?         No 

Did the questions asked and information you provided accurately and comprehensively describe your experience?               Yes