Sip Salon: Why do we keep the dead alive?

We talk to dead relatives. We visit graves. We keep their clothes. We feel guilty when we stop thinking about them as much. But why?
About this Event

We talk to dead relatives. We visit graves. We keep their clothes. We feel guilty when we stop thinking about them as much.

Welcome to the Sip Salon where we gather to learn together through articles and discussion. Read the article, join the discussion. Just curious folks coming together to discuss topics. Whether you know a little or a lot, we hope to grow together in our understandings. With drinks.

Grief researchers call this 'continuing bonds theory', the idea that healthy grief isn't about letting go, but about finding a new relationship with the person who's gone. Research shows that between 25 and 50% of people report some form of after-death communication experience: hearing a loved one's voice, sensing their presence, or receiving what feels like a message.

And in 2026, the question has gotten stranger: AI companies are now offering to recreate deceased loved ones as interactive digital avatars, feeding algorithms with texts, emails, and voice recordings to simulate conversations with the dead. Is that grief support or something more troubling?

This October Sip Salon pairs beautifully with our Haunted Elegies Siposium and asks the quieter, more personal question underneath all of it: what does it mean to keep someone alive after they're gone and when, if ever, do we stop?