A hospice nurse has become a TikTok star sharing stories of her work in end-of-life care – including visitations from pets and dead relatives to her views on the afterlife.
Penny Smith, 59, from Washington, USA, regularly uploads videos of her experiences to TikTok (@hospicenursepenny), where she has 432,000 followers.
The clips have left social media users stunned, racking up millions of views as the nurse gives an inside view into death and what dying patients say to her.
Being around death so much, Penny has been through so many unusual experiences that it has lead her into believing in the afterlife.
“I didn’t believe in the afterlife before I became a hospice nurse but I do now,” she told NeedToKnow.online.
“The most profound thing is when a dying person tells you they are being visited by someone who has died.
“This can happen when a person is completely lucid and clearly able to state who they are seeing.
“Seeing people visioning ‘spirits’ or whatever entity it is they see has affirmed a belief in me that there is something more, that helped me cope with my dad’s death myself.
“Once a lady was searching for a cat in her room, then she realised it was one of her previous pets.
“Another time, a gentleman patient of mine saw his wife in the ceiling in the corner of the room.
“He told me she was coming to get him ‘but not today, tomorrow’.”
Many dying people also share their regrets and final thoughts with the hospice nurse.
She said: “Generally speaking, people [who are dying] talk about wishing they had worked less, spent more time with family, that sort of thing.
“But the one I’ve never forgotten was the man who told me one morning that he regretted doing chemo for his lung cancer.
“He died the same afternoon he said that to me.”
Unfortunately, the job also comes with some very difficult situations including family tensions.
She said: “There’s nothing worse than having a patient who hasn’t put their wishes in writing or designated someone to speak on their behalf.
“Or, sometimes a person is designated as the decision-maker and they weaponise it by withholding visitation rights.
“I had a young patient whose wife wouldn’t allow his mother to visit anymore, it was heartbreaking.”
The hospice nurse also claims she’s had family members withhold pain medication.
Despite some of the negative experiences, Penny loves her job and has also had many positive moments with her patients.
She said: “My favourite was finally managing my 42-year-old lung cancer patient’s pain to the point where her young daughters and I could give her a bed bath and dress her in her favourite t-shirt and leopard print panties.
“It was such a special and meaningful experience for her girls and I.”
In one of her most popular videos, which has racked up 7.8 million views and over 331,000 likes, she reveals her beliefs while someone is dying.
In the clip, she re-enacts someone holding up their arms while they are slipping away, before implying that this could mean a spirit is hugging them.
Users took to the comments to share their unusual experiences after someone close to them passed away.
“The night before my dad passed away – he asked me if I’m pregnant. A week later I took a test and it confirmed that I’m pregnant! It’s amazing,” one viewer commented.
Another person added: “Heaven is real. This life is just a trial. Be kind to others,” followed by a thumbs up emoji.
In a second clip, which has over 4.7 million views and 262,000 likes, she shares another belief about a different spirit welcoming someone into the afterlife.
In the video, she re-enacts someone stroking the air above their chest as they peacefully “pass” away while in bed.
Shortly after, she shows a cat’s spirit on the screen being caressed by their owner.
One viewer wrote: “My dad passed last week. One of the last things he said was ‘good boy Randy.’ He was our dog who passed away 35 years ago.”
“I hope this is true. I can’t wait to see my pitty again,” another person added.
Someone else said: “This made me cry, I really hope our pets are waiting for us.”
In another clip, which has racked up 1.3 million views and 52,000 likes, Penny reveals why we don’t want to eat near the end.
In the video, she explains that while we love food, it acts as “fuel” for our body – which we don’t need upon dying as our bodies are “shutting down.”
As a result, our body sends the message that we don’t need to eat – leading to a loss of appetite.
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Do our pets wait us up there?? I miss my dear kitty so much..I lost him 2 days ago..he was with me for 7 years..I really want to see him..😔
Sitting here with my beautiful cousin in home hospice trying to get info on what to expect. She's constantly raising her arm, being that her other is swollen from breast cancer. Guess I'm responding just to get things off my chest. I'm comforted knowing that she'll be with other family members who've transitioned, and believe every time she lifts her hand she's hugging her mom. Thanks for your content 🙏🏾
When my 56 year old aunt was dying at the hospital, she would say she was seing her mom. Her mom jad passed 10 years ago.
My grandmother is seeing her mom and my grandfather that passed away 20 years ago. Right when she started seeing them her health rapidly declined. It's touching and comforting and heartbreaking at the same time.
I have always believed that we are created by our mothers & fathers & when we die we no longer exist… but watching this video makes me hope my son, Dad, brother & grandparents will be waiting for me to join them. ❤️👼🪦
My father called out the names of many family members that transitioned before him. I gave up hoping then.
I love this
Love her sense of humor!
my grandma was close to passing on and she looked kind of up and through the space we were in and had the look of pure joy on her face for a good 10 seconds… she wasnt talking at this point and the morphone was def working but I asked her a few times what she see's and I felt kind of bad because it snapped her out of whatever she was seeing and had the look of pure disgust when she looked at me. it was almost like she saw God and felt amazing and then realized she was still here on earth and it made her upset. I know for a fact that she is in heaven smiling down. she is my hero in many aspects and i will always love her with every single beat of my heart! LOVE YOU MOM MOM !!!
Can't stand her….all she does is stand there, smile, and nod her head! PLEASE…abd she's acting. Not a real patient. Just an act.
I hope I see my cats running to me when I die or am near death that’ll bring me so much comfort. They are alive now but we all die eventually so I wanna reunite and be with them forever if it really exists
i was sometimes beside my grandfather in his final days and yes he has hand gestures while asleep. he joined our creator at the age of 93 in march 2024. i miss him so much but i know he is now happy because he is with our grandmother now and his love ones that went ahead before him.
Don’t worry God is good we gonna see our loved ones soon ! ❤God is good !
Have you had any near death experience patients 😂that come back saying they saw God !?
I love seeing things like this by doctors and nurses because there most be a big God on this planet 🌎 I was just watching a video that said we evolved from fishes 🐟 imagen I how I feel then we evolved from chimpanzees! Imagen how I feel write now !
I wish for this feeling to happen to me:/ tired of being here
The weird smiling at the beginning is a bit odd
Death is not the end ,I have had so much validation from my past parents , kettles boiling on there own ,TV turning off and on , channels changing,lights being on when turned off ,and going shopping to get back to my car ,car radio on with no key in it .hearing my name being called .
My grandfather had a stroke. We all thought he is getting better but then one day he stopped eating food and then liquids too. After that, he started asking me about my ex best friend. He used to interact with her when we were little. He then kept talking and looking towards the roof and talked to his other friends then called our family to say goodbye and told he will leave tomorrow. He really died tomorrow and we were all there in the room. It’s been 2 weeks.
I am grateful that he met everyone when he left.
When it’s time, we just know.
Bullshit plus Bullshit still equals Bullshit!! Just keep in mind that….. it's all Bullshit!! There's nothing to see!!
Communication with the dead. That's a good one.
Dear Hospice workers. Thank you for the compassionate work you do. Please check out the book "The Art of Dying Daily – A gentle guide to navigating Life's ultimate transition", offering optional practices oriented toward direct personal experience of continuing awareness beyond waking reality. N joy
The spirit world is real, and The Lord Jesus Christ is the only way to Heaven. You must be born again. 🙏✝️
Cultural Christianity is false, obeying the 10 commandments and trying to be a good person is NOT the way to Heaven, and it's not how people are saved.
People are saved when they accept The Lord Jesus Christ as both Lord and Saviour, and are sealed with the Holy Spirit. You must be born again, it's the most important thing you will ever do in this life.
Eternity is an incredibly long time and God doesn't want you to suffer, He has made a way through the Lord Jesus Christ, but you must choose and accept Him. You must be born again 🙏✝️
How comforting ❤❤❤
My step mom(mom) , has been doing this and calling for her deceased kids..shes 91..almost like shes talking to them at times too, calling for her parents.. not realising shes old, and her parents would be way older. I know its just a matter of time
Crying ❤ sending love and peace in your heart
Omg i can relate to all these comments im 😢😢😢 to all of them i lost my father ,my sister then my mother 5o cancer 😢😢😢😢😢 my father met mt husband's father b4 he passed away and my husband's father passed away 8 years b4 him 💔
😊😊😊
She's a HORRIBLE HATEFUL person… I used to follow her until she started giving her UNWANTED opinions about politics… And it wasn't in a classy way either.. 👎🏻🚫 Awful hateful woman…👿
My girlfriend randomly started to see her father, who passed away years earlier. I would come into the room, and she'd be having a full-blown conversation looking at the chair as if simeone was sitting there. And would pet the air insisting we had our old cat who passed away in the room. This went on for 3 days until finally she looked at me and told me "It must be time baby" that "Her daddy was thereto take her" and she closed her eyes after about 5-10 minutes she gasped a little and let out a very mello moan and that was it, the machine alarms started going off in the room. Ever since then, I've never been even the littlest scared to die now.
Bulls hit mostly. People always dream about and think about their loved ones, especially the ones that are gone. My grandma who's had two strokes constantly calls out to her long gone husband and keeps seeing our old cat under the table, but she's been holding on for almost a decade
You're doing stuff and it's not appropriate.
Ohh wow! I just got chills.
My mom was dying at home and a day before she became uncommunicative, I was feeding her in her bed and she pointed straight ahead and said, Give some to Max! Max is my dad who had passed 14 years earlier.
Also, when you showed the person doing a petting motion, I teared a little thinking of this because 3 of my cats have passed away.
As a hospice nurse I have seen the arriving of their angels countless times. Typically, death occurs within two weeks
according to Islamic sources sometimes Devil comes to you when you're dying in in shape of your dead relatives to convince you of becoming a heretic
It means that the departed are there all along. Eternity exists NOW. Mortal time exists within eternity. You are perceiving eternity as you detach from mortality.
My husband died in November 2025. He had severe Alzheimer’s but his physical health was fairly stable so I wasn’t expecting to see any indications of imminent death. He began having visions, first reaching out, and one time both hands up as you show. However, what truly convinced me regarding visions was the three occasions where I witnessed him sitting in his wheelchair “petting” what appeared to be a large dog sitting next to his chair.
I adopted and fostered retired racing greyhounds for 25 years, and he was always close to my dogs. These episodes were of enormous comfort to me, as I believe one or more of my deceased greyhounds visited him. He unexpectedly died sooner than we’d realized he was going to. I take so much comfort from my dogs’ visits to him that I was so privileged to witness.
I'm a person of small words. But your absolutely amazing. Thank you for helping us through the hardest time of our lives.
My little dog would not leave my mom before she passed. Animals know.
I hope I meet my pets again..they were my friends,
I think one of the reasons our brains will do this is to provide comfort and it is proven that shortly before death you go through a state of almost euphoria, and about 60 seconds of playing through your life like a movie.
Pets? Oh my gosh, that’s sooo amazing. I have fostered cat and kittens for 25 years. I hope I see them. I have shed so many tears when I lost them.
When I will die I want to see my parents come to take me with them at the last moments of my life
The music feels so out of touch and makes this feel almost comedic oh my god…