To give a little background prior to my experience on Oct. 17th 2012 first: 

My 22yr old son Riley passed away from a heroin overdose on the evening of Sept 26, 2012 at our home...He had struggled with substance abuse for almost 8yrs, with the past 5 being especially bad...We had put him out of our house about 18mo. prior to his death in a half-hearted attempt at practicing "tough love"...However, on occasion we would let him stay over and unknown to me at the time of his death his dad was slipping him in quite frequently undetected...( Our house is set-up in such a way that this wouldn't be a hard thing to do)...On the evening he died I didn't know he had stayed the night before ( Sept 25th) and had been in his old room the entire day of the 26th...His dad however did know he was in the house...When his dad came in from work on the evening of the 26th he went downstairs to his room just to check to see if he was still there and if he was to tell him he'd need to be moving on the next day before I realized he was staying there...That's when his dad found him at 11:15 that evening and he'd apparently been gone for 3-5hrs. 

I have very little reason to go to the lower level of our home where his bedroom was except to do laundry, which I was doing that evening, but never thought to open the door and look into his bedroom, ( although my guess is by the time I started doing laundry he may have already been gone anyway)...It was storming that night and we have a Shih Tzu who is afraid of storms and always goes downstairs when they start...We have 2 bedrooms downstairs, one my sons' room and the other a daughter's...She is currently in the Navy and not living at home, but our Shih Tzu always goes to the her bedroom door when scared and not to her brother's door...On this particular night he went to my son's door instead...Several times...At the time we just assumed the storm had rattled him and he didn't realize what door he was scratching at, but now we think he knew "something" was doing on behind the door. 

I'm telling this about the dog(s) because it sort of leads into the experience that you're interested in...We have 2 dogs, the other a cock-a-poo, and both acted strangely after our son passed away...But the Shih Tzu especially seemed bothered, to the point we took him to the vet because he began biting himself and going under a bed constantly, neither of which he'd done prior to Riley's passing...After taking him to a vet and getting medicine he improved. 

Fast-forward to the night of Oct. 16th...My husband and I went to bed and both dogs sleep in the bed with us...Normally it's the cock-a-poo who's more hyper, alert, and "barky", but after we settled into the bed, the Shih Tzu began a low growl which he hardly ever does and normally if he would the cock-a-poo would chime in even louder, but the cock-a-poo was paying no attention...Then the Shih Tzu jumps off the bed and takes off down the hall barking ( and again he's not a barker, but the other dog is)...The cock-a-poo did finally pay attention and jumped off the bed to follow him, but not barking...That has NEVER happened...It takes almost nothing to make him bark...I decided to go after them to see what was going on, but half-way down the hall I stopped because both of them were sitting side-by-side looking up and the cock-a-poo was wagging his tail as though he was acknowledging someone...The Shih-Tzu was still barking but not in a alarmed way and he appeared to be acknowledging someone too...I got my husband to go back down the hall with me and of course we couldn't see anything and we finally got the dogs to come back to bed with us...We laughingly said, "Oh, it must be Riley". :) 

Now to the evening of Oct. 17th and the incident...I was talking to my mom on the phone and at the same time watching my Facebook feed...I begin to tell my mother the story of the dogs from the night before and in the middle of it on my Facebook feed, ( this is on my main page and not the little feed on the right-hand side), appears the following: 

Riley "likes" Paranormal Activity 

At first I didn't quite realize what I was seeing...I guess at first I thought a friend had mentioned Riley liking Paranormal Activity...But, when I looked again I realized that this was coming directly from Riley's personal Facebook account, i.e. it was Riley saying he liked Paranormal Activity...I was stunned, especially considering I was in the middle of telling my mother about the incident with the dogs from the night before...I immediately got several screen-shots of it and after that began to try and figure out other possible explanations besides Riley using his Facebook account to communicate with us. 

First, in regards to Riley's Facebook account...He left it up on instant sign-in on a computer in our house...The day after he died, I went onto his account and changed the password to one I would know...We wanted to look at his messages for any clues as to what may have been going on in his head at the time and also to perhaps get a clue as to who he might have purchased the drugs from...( Nothing has come from any of that)...Anyway, I changed the password, because I didn't want to leave him signed indefinitely and also because I wanted to be able to go into his account on my own computer which didn't have his password stored...Hence the password change...Besides that I've not done anything else to his account...And I'm the only one with the password now, ( and it's not an easy PW). 

First, I wondered if someone had hacked his account, so I went to sign into it, knowing if someone had hacked it the PW would be changed, but the PW hadn't been changed and I got right into the account...Also, the account looked exactly as it had a couple of hours prior to this happening when I had been in it last...AND there was no new "like" showing up either. 

Then I wondered if possibly someone had set up a new "Riley" account, but when I clicked on what had appeared on my screen, it took me straight to his normal page, with the same posts, same mutual friends, etc...No one could have duplicated his page exactly...And honestly I can't think of anyone who would think that's even funny or have the time or reason to go to that type of trouble for a joke. 

Both of Riley's brothers use Facebook constantly and within 10 min of this happening, after the shock wore off, I asked them if they'd gotten the same feed from him and neither of them had...And both were online at the same time as I was...And both immediately began scrolling back just a little to look...And nothing...Then I began to wait to see if I'd hear from any of Riley's friends because I thought at the least if any of them had seen it they'd make some comment on it...Again, nothing...It seems my FB page was the only place this showed up. 

Riley's older brother went back to see if/when Riley might have ever "liked" Paranormal Activity and he had, but back in 2010...I don't know what the chances are of a "like" showing up over 2yrs later and in the middle of a conversation about another possible paranormal activity...But who knows. ????? 

As you can imagine it's been a very sad time for our family and while in some ways his death wasn't a total shock you still can't prepare for it...And the nature of the life he'd been living has caused me to constantly ask and try to reassure myself that he's finally at peace and hopefully happy...Something I've asked of him ( or someone) in both my mind and out-loud more than once, including the 16th and 17th of Oct...'Maybe" he was trying to reassure us via the dogs the night before, then realizing I hadn't totally tuned into that made it a little more clear the next night...?????...I have felt better since that night, but I also realize a grieving parent is probably prone to clinging to anything for reassurance...I don't know, but there's my story. 

Also, I think one of the initial questions was had you had more than one experience...That's the only experience I've had since Riley's death, but a month to 6 weeks before he died, I dreamed he that he had died and was appearing to me after his death...I've never had a dream give me the feeling that dream did...When I woke up I felt very strange and while I didn't share the dream with Riley, I did with several other people that day I had it...And there probably wasn't a day that went by between the dream and his death that I didn't think about it...It left me with a very odd feeling.

Was this experience difficult to express in words?          No

Did you ONLY sense an awareness of presence of the deceased without actually seeing, hearing, feeling or smelling them?            Yes

Did you hear the deceased or hear something associated with the deceased?          No

Did you feel a touch or experience any physical contact from the deceased?            No

Did you see the deceased?         No

Did you smell a distinct smell, scent, fragrance or odor associated with the deceased?      No

How long did the experience last?        Ongoing...I guess it's still on the Facebook somewhere.

Was the beginning and end of the experience gradual or more sudden?         N/A

Could you sense the emotions or mood of the deceased?           Uncertain

I perhaps got a feeling of Riley's "wit" in the way he might possibly be reaching out.

Did the deceased give you information you did not previously know?  No

How do you currently view the reality of your experience?           Experience was probably real

            Please explain why you view the reality of your experience as real or not real:           I believe it was real to me and I have no explanation for it...However, I do realize there could be another explanation for it, although I'm coming up short finding one...The more I think about it and the things that happened prior to it, I'm moving towards believing it 100%, ( but I do still have a small bit of skepticism, just because).

            Was the experience dream like in any way?   No

Describe in detail your feelings/emotions during the experience:           Stunned...Unsure of what I was seeing...Questioning what I was seeing...Searching for any other reason that would explain it...Happy, but also, a little uneasy or taken aback.

Was there any emotional healing in any way following the experience?           Yes

I do feel happier in a sense, but because I still question what happened, it's not complete.

What was the best and worst part of your experience?      The best is knowing that it's very possible he's reaching out so there is something after we die...The worst is still questioning myself about and not letting myself believe it 100%.

Has your life changed specifically as a result of your experience?         Uncertain                  Describe:            It only happened a couple of days ago so too early to say.  

Did you have any changes of attitudes or beliefs following the experience?   Uncertain            Becoming more of a believer.

Did the experience give you any spiritual understandings such as life, death, afterlife, God, etc.?            Yes     I've come closer to accepting that there is "something" after we go and if it was Riley it says to be that our loved ones still care and look after us once they're gone.

Death Compacts are when two or more living people promise among themselves that whoever dies first will try to contact the other(s).  Have you ever made such a compact?        Yes

After this happened I asked my mother when she passes to find some way, ( without scaring me), to let me know she's OK and so is Riley....Riley and I had no kind of pact however.

Did you observe or hear anything regarding people or events during your experience that could be verified later?          Uncertain I have pictures and the screen-shots...But, of course someone could say I did it myself.

What emotions did you feel during the experience?            My emotions during and following were very similar...Although, I've begun to let myself believe it was perhaps Riley reaching out and if that's the case I feel lucky that my child's been able to let me know he's OK and still around in some way.

Was the experience witnessed or experienced by others?           Yes

I was on the phone with my mother when this occurred and I yelled out when it happened with her asking me right away what had happened...I was able to keep my FB from scrolling down too far after it occurred to show the image to another son and to my husband( Riley's dad)...I also got a screen shot of it.

Did you have any sense of altered space or time?   No

Did you have a sense of knowing, special knowledge, universal order and/or purpose?    No

Did you become aware of future events?       No

Did you have any psychic, paranormal or other special gifts following the experience that you did not have prior to the experience?         Uncertain

My dream prior to Riley's death is all I can add.

Did you experience a separation of your consciousness from your body?     No

Did you meet or see any other beings other than the deceased?            No

Did you see a light?           No

Did any part of your experience seem to occur in a place other than the location described above?            No

Have you shared this experience with others?         Yes     We're a pretty no nonsense family and I've actually been quite surprised by how accepting family member's and close friends have been of this...I'm known to be pretty in control and level headed, so perhaps that's why.

Have you shared this experience formally or informally with any other researcher or web site?   No

 Is there anything else you would like to add regarding your experience?       That's pretty much it.

Were there any associated medications or substances with the potential to affect the experience?            No

Following the experience, have you had any other events in your life, medications or substances which reproduced any part of the experience?         No 

Did you ever in your life have a near-death experience, out of body experience or other spiritual event?           No 

Did the questions asked and information you provided accurately and comprehensively describe your experience?               Yes