Dreaming about the smell of somebody who has died
What does it mean to smell somebody in a dream?
Reported, and among the more affecting experiences in this database: dreamers describe it as more convincing than any image.
That is a striking claim and it recurs. People who report a smell connected to somebody who has died describe it as the part that made the dream feel real, over and above seeing or speaking to them.
Olfactory memory is unusually durable and unusually tied to particular episodes, which may account for it. This database cannot establish that from reports.
Whether such a dream is contact with the dead is not a question this site can answer and it will not pretend to. That the experience is real, is reported, and matters enormously to the people who have it, can be said plainly.
Where this reads well
Among the dreams people are most grateful for, and the reports hold up over years.
Where it is harder
Waking is hard, and the smell is the part people most want back.
Worth asking yourself
What was the smell? Whose was it? Did it feel more real than the rest?
Dream interpretation is subjective. Nothing here is a diagnosis, a prediction, or medical advice.
Sources and reviewed references
No sources are attached to this page yet. It has not been through editorial review. How we review material