NDEs & Contacting the Dead
Best-selling author Dr. Raymond Moody returned for a discussion on near-death experience (NDE), and his work contacting departed spirits via a room with a mirror. He noted that NDE reports have a "remarkable uniformity" around the world, as studies have shown in Holland, Great Britain, Japan and Africa. Some of the nine common experiences: traveling out-of-body, drifting into a tunnel, meeting relatives that have passed away, and a life review or panoramic memory (an "instantaneous hologram" of all one's memories). 

Moody studied the ancient Greek's Oracles of the Dead in which people were kept in darkness for 29 days before attempting contact with deceased loved ones. He set up a room, illuminated by candles, with a mirror placed high (so that one's reflection isn't seen in it) and a chair that a person sits in for 60 – 90 minutes. About 50% of the subjects who went into the room (such rooms are often referred to as a Psychomanteum) saw and communicated with the desired departed person, and 30% heard an audible voice of the deceased, Moody reported. 

The Psychomanteum can be a useful tool for dealing with grief, and researchers such as Arthur Hastings of the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology have successfully replicated these types of experiments, Moody detailed. 

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NDE Sounds
 In Raymond Moody's classic book Life After Life he explores the similarity of experience among those who have returned from near-death. During the early stages of the experience, many people report unusual auditory sensations (often concurrent with the appearance of a dark tunnel). One man described "a really bad buzzing noise coming from inside my head," while a woman heard "a loud ringing." Others have reported more pleasant sounds-- such as the tingling of bells, and a majestic kind of music.