Over half of Americans report being visited by dead family members. Here’s what they do

The dead may be dead—but for most Americans, that does not mean they’ve departed from our lives. According to a new study from Pew Research Center that surveyed over 5,000 adults in the United States, a surprising number of Americans interact with their dead family members. Here are the key findings:

• Overall, 53% of Americans said dead relatives visit them in dreams. Moreover, 34% of Americans reported feeling the presence of a dead family member in the past year, 28% told dead family members about events in their life, and 15% reported having dead family members communicate with them.
• Demographically, women (53%) were more likely than men (35%) to report having one of those three experiences with the dead.
• People who are members of a religion were also more likely to report having one of those experiences. Only 15% of atheists reported having such an experience, compared to 48% of people who don’t have any particular religion, 58% of Catholics, 52% of mainline Protestants, and 35% of evangelical Protestants.