A hospice nurse has shared an intriguing insight into the ‘death stare’, revealing the truth about the common phenomenon that signals when someone is close to passing away. 

Julie McFadden is a registered nurse in Los Angeles specializing in hospice care. She has built a social media following of millions by sharing insights to help destigmatize the process of ‘death and dying,’ as her website declares. 

Recently, she took to YouTube to share details about something that happens to dying people as they pass away. She revealed how their eyes can become ‘fixated’ on a single point. 

‘One of the things is called a death stare. It occurs when someone fixates on a certain part of the room and does not move their gaze, even if you snap your fingers in front of their face.’

Julie also mentioned that the ‘death stare’ is often accompanied by ‘end-of-life visioning.’ This is when the dying person claims to see someone they ‘usually love and know’ who has ‘already died.’

‘They sometimes have conversations with people we can’t see,’ she said of the eerie occurrence. 

She then shared a hair-raising story about an elderly man who was exhibiting both the ‘death stare’ and ‘end-of-life visioning’ when she checked in on him for a follow-up visit.

The man’s caregiver was his wife; they married for 70 years and were both in their mid-to-late 90s.

‘I instantly loved these two. They were so sweet,’ Julie said.

‘I noticed that he would look at me and smile. Suddenly, he would turn his head and fixate on another part of the room. Then, he would smile a huge smile, as if he was seeing something over there,’ recalled Julie.

She decided to call the man’s wife over, saying, ‘I wanted her to see this because, a lot of times, these end-of-life phenomena can give you a timeline of when this person may be dying.’

According to Julie, the man’s final moments usually begin a few weeks to a month before.

The wife wants family members to be aware of the situation.

The man had been giving the ‘death stare’ multiple times a day for about a week, and when asked what he was looking at, he replied, ‘Jesus,’ which doesn’t always happen.

Julie emphasized that the man’s happiness was the most important thing, regardless of what he saw. She said, ‘The story’s point is not that he was seeing Jesus.

But the great thing is that whatever he saw, he was very happy and smiling.

Things got stranger when the wife took Julie into the living room and showed her family albums.

She mentioned that her sister had recently passed away.

The wife, her sister, and the husband were all very close, and she didn’t want to tell him about the death, fearing it would make him too sad and that he would forget quickly.

After approximately a week, the wife felt guilty and decided to inform her husband that his sister-in-law had passed away.

However, he calmly revealed that he already knew about the death because his sister had informed him. The wife recounted this story.

According to Julie, the husband had said, ‘She came to me last week and said she had died,’ while smiling as if he was okay with it. 

The nurse admitted that she was giving chills to the listener while telling the story.

Julie has previously talked about the ‘end-of-life’ tendencies she has witnessed.

In the past year, she discussed ‘end-of-life visions’ and how the exchanges around them can be eerily ‘logical.’

Patients usually ask functional and logical questions, such as, ‘Why am I seeing my dead mom? Do you see her?’

Julie is set to release Nothing to Fear later this year. It is a comforting and informative guide that demystifies our end-of-life journey.