They don’t know yet that they’re dead

“I AM still in a state of shock,” said Nica, a nurse in a Quezon City hospital. “I hope you can explain this thing that happened to me a few days ago.”
Nica wrote in her letter to this column:
“Three days ago I met a patient in the hospital named Sarah. I noticed she was always alone. And so I befriended her. Sarah was different from an ordinary 12-year-old child, because she talked like an adult.
“She told me she wanted to be a ballerina when she grew up, but she lost her leg in an accident. Whenever I had free time, I would see her in Suite no. 4.
“Whenever I was there, she would always ask me to get her music box inside a side drawer and play it for her.
“This evening, at exactly 7, a woman came and asked a male nurse if she could get something her daughter had left in Suite no. 4 which was very important to her. The male nurse instead requested me to accompany the woman, since I often visited that room.
“I thought the occupant of that room would not mind if we just went to check something that was left behind by another patient.
“When I opened the door, I was surprised that Sarah wasn’t there anymore. The room was clean, as if unused. The woman who followed me went directly to the side drawer, opened it, and found the music box. She said it belonged to her daughter, who was released from the hospital on May 14.
“She said her daughter had an accident while riding with her uncle on his motorcycle, which hit an electric post.
“When I heard that, I couldn’t speak. As the woman left, I rushed to the morgue downstairs and asked the man in charge if there was a 12-year-old girl named Sarah who was brought there. I was shocked when I saw the file that Sarah was declared dead at 2:30 p.m on May 12.”
Nica, what happened to you is not really strange or impossible. I would not even say that it is rare. Similar things have been experienced by many people, but they don’t talk about these things for fear that people might think they are making things up or imagining them.
Catapulted
People who die suddenly and unexpectedly also get into a state of shock. They are suddenly catapulted from the physical to the spiritual world without any warning or preparation. They are not aware that they are already in the spirit world. They still act and behave as they did when still alive.
They may visit the usual place where they used to live, work, or play. It would take some time for them to realize and accept that they have already left their mortal bodies, and that they are no longer on the physical plane.
It is not true that the spirits of the dead stay for 40 days on earth, then go elsewhere. This period varies from person to person, depending on his state or level of consciousness. Some may linger on the earth plane for years, like Elvis Presley, who was still being seen in Memphis more than 20 years after he died. Some spirits ascend to the higher planes immediately after death, and are seen or heard no more.
The fact that you saw and talked to the dead Sarah as if she was alive and in a solid form means that your clairvoyant vision, or what is popularly called the Third Eye, is open. You are a medium or channel of the spirit, whether you believe this or not.
My opinion is bolstered by the story you related in your second e-mail to me before I could even answer your first one. This was about the time you were on a bus on your way home, when you blacked out (actually you went into a trance state) and found yourself in a strange place with horse carriages. Then a man approached you and called you Corazon. Immediately you went back to your normal self in the present time, still on the bus riding back home. You had a glimpse of your past life.

Source: http://lifestyle.inquirer.net/2297/they-don%E2%80%99t-know-yet-that-they%E2%80%99re-dead