Birds, Death, and the Afterlife

That's the subject of another new Mysterious Universe article me. And here's how it starts:

"The first few months of 2010 were overshadowed by my mother’s increasingly worsening state of health. She was, at the time, suffering from one of the most horrific and destructive conditions around: Alzheimer’s Disease. Worse still, she had been diagnosed with it while she was only in her late fifties. Fourteen years after the diagnosis, my mom lost her fight with Alzheimer’s, dying from its effects in the summer.

"Just like almost everyone who has lost someone, my family and I mourned a passing and celebrated a life. There was, however, something very odd which occurred at the time of my mother’s death. It’s something I have never forgotten. On one particular morning, at my dad’s place in England, we were sitting in the living-room when our conversation was briefly brought to a sudden end. By a loud, single thump. It clearly came from somewhere outside.