Do you see dead people?

Preface: I am not a religious person. I just say that all I know about God is that I don't know. I like to think there is some thing bigger and smarter than the human race somewhere in the universe and he/she is keeping a list of who has been naughty or nice, but I have no evidence either way. I like to think that death is not the end, just a transition to something different. That said...

I have a friend who is in hospice and will probably die within the next few weeks. Her body is falling apart, but her mind is still working. She speaks clearly and her memory is fine. The odd thing is that twice now she has mentioned to me that her mother and her mother's sister have visited her. Her mother died at least 10 years ago and she never met her mother's sister (her aunt) because she died in a concentration camp around 1942. She says they don't actually speak to her but stand at her bedside and make her feel loved. She says both of them look to be in their 20's, but she knows who they are and she is comforted by their presence. I just tell her she is lucky to be having such an experience.

I had one such odd experience a few of years ago while house sitting. The oldest part of the house was built in 1789 and had been in the same family for generations. It was rumored to be haunted. It was sold to two male friends of mine who did some respectful restoration, especially in the old keeping room that had a walk in fireplace complete with cooking apparatus. I was in a little room that had been turned into a pantry and was connected to the keeping room by a narrow hallway. I could see the fireplace when looking from the pantry down the little hallway. I was getting some food for the cat when I suddenly saw an elderly black man standing in profile next to the fireplace smoking a pipe. He had on dark brown pants and a white shirt with yellow stains. I froze and I wanted to scream but my throat closed up. I couldn't imagine how he got into the house - and then it was like I blinked and he was gone. I told my friends what happened when they returned and they informed me that the house was owned for years by the same black family who had farmed it from the late 1700's until the depression of the 1930's. They said they had never seen anything, but the electrician who worked on the place said he saw a black man walking into the barn one day at dusk and when he went in to confront him he couldn't find him. I have no idea if what I saw was a ghost (I do not claim they exist), but I do know I saw something or someone.

So do you see dead people?