The afterlife will always be a subject of human fascination. We all wonder what happens when we die. Stories of reincarnation give believers hope that their consciousness continues after death, but sometimes leave skeptics rolling their eyes. Some reincarnation stories, however, are not so easy to dismiss. When past-life memories come with unnerving precision, even the most hardened skeptics may become believers.
In these potentially true reincarnation tales, individuals are able to recall intricate, eerie memories of lives they never lived. Their stories are rich with details that seem too exact to be drawn from imagination alone. People who have been reincarnated may remember information that is later verified, such as former addresses, old family members, and deadly accidents.
While some past life recollections can be easily dismissed, these stories are rich with haunting details that defy logical explanations. Such chronicles will leave even staunch skeptics wondering, “Is reincarnation real?”
A Four Year Old Recalled Life As A Hollywood Agent
In 2009, at the age of four, Ryan Hammons began waking up, clutching his chest, and screaming about how his heart exploded in Hollywood. His mother, Cyndi, became intrigued when Ryan revealed more details from a former life. He insisted he once lived in a house in Hollywood on a street with the name “Rock” in it where he had three sons and a friend named “Senator Fives.”
One day, Cyndi was going through a book featuring photos from old Hollywood. Ryan peeked over her shoulder and excitedly identified one man as George and another as himself. Cyndi contacted a psychiatrist from UVA Medical Center who conducts research on reincarnation. The psychiatrist verified the man in the photo was a film star named George Raft and the other man was Martin Martyn, who died in 1964. Upon contacting Martyn’s daughter, she confirmed Martyn was a Hollywood agent, lived on North Roxbury Drive, had three sons, and once met with New York Senator Irving Ives.
After meeting with Martyn’s daughter, Ryan lost interest in his Hollywood memories. He was standoffish at the meeting and told his mother afterward his daughter’s energy had changed. The psychiatrist’s explanation? Upon seeing people from their past have moved on, reincarnated children gain closure and forget their former existences.
A Chicago Fire Victim Was Reincarnated As A Five-Year-Old Boy
At first, Erica Ruehlman laughed off her five-year-old son Luke’s odd tendency to call toys and objects “Pam.” She was also unconcerned by his comments about having once been a girl. He would say he had black hair when he was a girl, or that he wore the same earrings as his mom when he was a girl. Out of curiosity, Erica eventually asked Luke who Pam was.
“I was,” he said, “Well, I used to be, but I died and I went up to heaven. I saw God and then, eventually, God pushed me back down and when I woke up I was a baby and you named me Luke.”
After pressing him for more details, Luke told his mother he lived in Chicago, took the train a lot, and died in a fire. After mentioning his death, Luke made a hand motion indicating someone jumping out a window. When Erica punched the information into a search engine, she discovered a news story about a fire in the Paxton Hotel in Chicago. In March of 1993, 19 people died in a fire at the building and a woman, Pam Robinson, perished when she jumped out a window.
Erica couldn’t explain how Luke would have known about a fire in Chicago. He had never been to the city, and she never discussed it with him. While the haunting story of Pam Robinson could be a coincidence, it was enough to make Erica believe.
Two Sisters Killed In A Car Accident Were Reincarnated As Twins
John and Florence Pollock were devastated when their twin daughters, Joanna and Jacqueline, died in a car accident on May 5, 1957. The following year, they were thrilled to hear they were expecting and, once again, Florence was carrying twins. The twins, Gillian and Jennifer, were born identical except for Jennifer’s birthmarks. She had a birthmark on her waist, similar to a birthmark Jacqueline had, and a birthmark on her forehead that resembled one of Jacqueline’s scars.
John and Florence moved away from their old home when their daughters were three months old. John and Florence told Gillian and Jennifer very little about their late sisters, but the girls seemed to share Joanna and Jacqueline’s memories. They would request old toys that had belonged to the deceased twins, recognized landmarks when traveling to their parents’ former home, and were inexplicably terrified of cars. Upon seeing oncoming traffic, they would shriek, “The car is coming to get us!”
Luckily, by the age of five, these frightening memories mostly faded away. The girls went on to live relatively normal adult lives. However, their story is still frequently cited as evidence of reincarnation.
Mahatma Gandhi Investigated A Girl’s Reincarnation Claims
Shanti Devi of Delhi, India, was born in 1926 and barely talked until she was four years old. She then began insisting she lived with her husband and son in a town called Mathura, where she had died 10 days after giving birth. Eventually, a teacher in Devi’s school asked for her former husband’s name and she replied, “Pandit Kedarnath Chaube.” The teacher identified a man of this name in Mathura and wrote him a letter.
Chaube confirmed his wife, Lugdi, died during childbirth nine years prior. When Chaube traveled to meet Shanti, he introduced himself using his older brother’s name. Shanti immediately caught the bluff and recognized Chaube as her husband. She recalled details of Lugdi’s life, such as Kedarnath’s favorite food and how Lugdi bathed in a well in their courtyard. She also chastised Chaube for remarrying, as he had promised Lugdi he would not.
Mahatma Gandhi eventually heard of her story. He met with Devi and set up a committee of 15 people to evaluate her claims. The committee, surprisingly, could not debunk the story.
A Grandfather Was Reincarnated As His Own Grandson
University of Virginia psychiatrist Jim Tucker, who studies reincarnation professionally, met a boy identified as Sam who he believes to be the reincarnation of his own grandfather. Until he was four years old, Sam had never seen a picture of his grandfather. After his grandmother’s passing, his parents brought out an old photo album. Upon seeing his grandfather’s car, he exclaimed, “That’s my car!”
It would be easy to attribute this to an overactive imagination. This is what Sam’s Baptist mother did at first, as her religion does not believe in reincarnation. However, she became a believer after she asked Sam if he remembered anything else from his past life. He said his sister had been “turned into a fish” by bad men.
Sam’s mother was astounded. His grandfather’s sister had been murdered and her body was dumped in a river. Due to the frightening nature of the story, Sam’s parents never told him about his great aunt’s murder.
A Midwestern Toddler Recalls Writing Gone With The Wind
From the time he was two years old, a Midwestern child named Lee insisted he had another house and another mommy. By the age of three, he began saying he was born on June 26 rather than his actual birthday, June 21. Lee claimed his middle name was Coe, he wrote movies for a living, and had a daughter named Jennifer. His sister asked him how old he was when he died and he promptly replied, “Forty-eight.”
Lee’s curious parents relayed the titles of several movies to Lee, asking if he had written them. When they mentioned Gone With the Wind, Lee became enthusiastic. He eagerly claimed he wrote the film.
After a quick Google search, Lee’s parents learned the writer of Gone With the Wind was named Sidney Coe Howard. Howard was born June 26, had a daughter named Jennifer, and passed away at forty-eight. As these details of Coe’s life were unknown to Lee’s parents, it’s unclear how he knew them. This leaves reincarnation as a possible explanation.
A Reincarnated Murder Victim Returned To Confront His Killer
When Karanfil Tutusmus of Turkey was pregnant with a son in the 1950s, she dreamed a man named Selim Fesli appeared to her with a bloody face. She went on to give birth to a boy, Semih Tutusmus. As soon as Semih began to talk, he insisted he was the reincarnation of Fesli. He said he lived in a nearby village and had been murdered by a neighbor.
At the age of four, Semih walked to Fesli’s old village and talked with Fesli’s widow. He was able to recount their life together in great detail and his murder claims were somewhat corroborated. Fesli had indeed been shot by a neighbor, but the neighbor claimed it was a hunting accident. Semih, on the other hand, insisted his past self had been killed due to an argument over Fesli’s mule grazing in the neighbor’s field.
Semih returned to Fesli’s village throughout his life, visiting his widow and adult children. When he encountered his murderer, he would throw stones at him. He did not enact more violent revenge out of concern his neighbor would also be reincarnated. Semih stuck to stone throwing to avoid perpetuating a cycle of murder across multiple lifetimes.
A Six Year Old Claimed To Be The Reincarnation Of Nearby Family Man
At the age of one-and-a-half, Nazih Al-Danaf of Lebanon shocked his parents. He declared, “I am not small, I am big.” He insisted he had many weapons, including grenades, and lived in a nearby village.
As time went on, Al-Danaf continually requested to be taken to his old home in Qaberchamoun, about 10 miles away from his village. When he was six years old, his parents granted this request and Al-Danaf located Najdiyah Khaddage’s home. Khaddage spoke with Al-Danaf at length and became convinced he was the reincarnation of her husband, Fuad Assad Khaddage. She was astounded when Al-Danaf answered her questions correctly. He remembered who built the foundation of their home, the specifics of an accident when she dislocated her shoulder, and an incident when their daughter became ill by ingesting medicine.
Even more astonishing? When Al-Danaf’s alleged former wife invited him into her home, he quickly ran to a cupboard in search of his weapons. This was the exact cupboard where her deceased husband had kept his guns and grenades.
A Child’s Birth Marks Match A Bicyclist’s Deadly Injuries
Purnima Ekanayake of Sri Lanka was born with unusual birthmarks dotting her lower ribs and chest. At a young age, she began speaking of a past life. After a school trip to a temple 145 miles away, Ekanayake insisted she lived in the town across the river from the temple. She claimed she was once a male incense maker who died in a traffic accident.
Ekanayake’s father traveled with his brother-in-law to the town in question, Kelaniya. They asked around about local incense makers and found the name Jinadasa. Jinadasa had been an incense maker who died when he was hit by a bus while riding his bicycle. Ekanayake’s family took her to Jinadasa’s home, where she was able to identify his wife and daughter and name the school Jinadasa attended.
Ekanayake’s family had no prior contact or connections with Jinadasa’s family. It is difficult to explain how she got such specific information correct. Then, there were the birthmarks. Jinadasa’s autopsy report showed several fractures and bruises from the accident that ran along his lower ribs and left side.
A Retired Fire Chief Felt An Emotional Link To A Civil War General
When retired fire chief Jeffrey Keene and his wife vacationed in Maryland, he was caught off guard when visiting a Civil War battlefield called Sunken Road. Keene became inexplicably emotional as he entered the field, to the point he thought he may be suffering a heart attack. While the physical pain passed, he felt an uncanny connection to the area.
Later, he recounted the incident to a psychic at a party. She asked if he believed in reincarnation. He felt the instinctive urge to say the words, “Not yet.”
While reading a Civil War magazine in his home, he found an article about a Civil War general identified as General Gordon. Gordon had fought in Sunken Road during the Battle of Antietam. During this battle, he was best remembered for repetitively shouting the words, “Not yet.”
Upon researching Gordon’s life, Keene found more connections between himself and Gordon. Keene had marks on this body similar to wounds Gordon suffered in war. On Keen’s 30th birthday, he was emitted to the hospital with a terrible pain in his jaw. When Gordon was 30, he was shot in the face.
A Reincarnated Boy Solved His Own Murder
While this story is largely based on rumors, it’s nonetheless chilling. Allegedly, a three-year-old boy from Golan Heights (near Syria) was born with a red birthmark on his head. He claimed this was from being murdered in a past life.
Physician Dr. Eli Lasch claims to have investigated the story. Lasch took the boy from city to city in Israel until the boy recognized a village. He walked around the town for quite some time before approaching a strange man and saying, “I used to be your neighbor. We had a fight and you killed me with an axe.”
Then, the boy led Lasch and the accused man to a spot where he claimed to have been buried. A skeleton was found in the ground with a wound in the skull corresponding to the boy’s birthmark. The man he accused eventually confessed to having murdered his neighbor four years prior.
An Elderly Man Shocked Archaeologists With His Knowledge Of An Ancient City
For his entire life, Arthur Flowerdew was haunted with inexplicable and vivid memories of a city surrounded by a desert and a temple carved into a cliff. One day, while watching a BBC documentary on television, he saw the city of Petra, Jordan. To his amazement, the city matched the one in his head.
After Flowerdew shared his story with several people, BBC reporters contacted him asking to put his story on television. Several archeologists flew to Petra with Flowerdew. He recognized landmarks with ease, including sites that had not been excavated yet. When presented with an ancient device, the purpose of which had baffled scholars for years, he offered a plausible explanation regarding its use. After seeing a guard station, Flowerdew recalled that he had died there when he was stabbed with a spear.
The experts who accompanied Flowerdew believed his claims of reincarnation, doubting someone would be able to fake or fabricate the breadth of knowledge he displayed. Flowerdew maintained he had never studied the city previously and only heard of it upon seeing it on television. While Flowerdew could possibly have withheld information regarding his education, many believe this is a true reincarnation story.
Swedish Woman Claims To Be The Reincarnation Of Anne Frank
Barbro Karlén was born in Sweden in 1954. From the time she could talk, Karlén began telling her parents strange stories about someone named Anne Frank. Karlén claimed she was Anne Frank, that she had nightmares of men kicking in the door of her home and taking her away.
Her parents were perplexed, not least because they had no idea Anne Frank was a real person. Frank died in 1945 in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp after Nazis discovered her and her family hiding in an attic in Amsterdam. They were trying to avoid persecution for being Jewish.
Karlén’s parents took her to Amsterdam when she was 10 years old. She quickly led them to Frank’s house with no directions, correctly identified a spot on the wall where Frank had hung photos of movie stars, and noted that the steps were different than she remembered them. All of this was enough to finally make her parents believe she really was the reincarnation of Anne Frank, and she’s been writing books about her experience ever since.
