Idionecrophanies: The Social Construction of Perceived Contact with the Dead

Instances in which persons believe they are in with the dead occur quite frequently, but sociological research into these events has been minimal. In this analysis, a logistic regression model was developed to predict the odds of experiencing what has been called contact with the dead, post-death contact, and for the purpose of this research, an idionecrophany. The study examines how gender, race, and religious imagery influence the social construction of such experiences. When the effects of age, death trauma, and religious fundamentalism/liberalism were controlled, females were found to have higher odds of experiencing an idionecrophany than were males. An interaction effect between race and image of God was also discovered: Blacks had higher odds than whites of experiencing an idionecrophany when God was imagined as a Judge, while whites had higher odds when God was imagined as a Lover.