I can see VNMs if I pop them, then let myself get killed!
On the other hand though, even popping VNMs have been odd for me, I got faint light, but popped a t2..?
All you can really do with it now is see if someone killed a NM while you were afk if it's corpse winds up in another spot other than where you last killed it.
Might be a little more spiffy for placeholder/lotto NMs in a small spot.