Hinduism and Buddhism call it Samsara. Ancient Greek philosophers like Plato called it metempsychosis. Western Civilization knows it as reincarnation.
Many people have claimed to remember past lives, including small children.
General George Patton, the American WWII military man, claimed to have recalled several past lives. He was a soldier in all of them. In one previous life, he claimed to have fought with Alexander the Great. In another, he fought at Gettysburg. During WWI in France, Patton arrived at Roman ruins for the first time and was able to point out the location of the forum and temples… even though they had disappeared ages ago.
Famed artist Salvador Dali vividly recalled his past life as a 16th century monk called Saint John of the Cross.
Tina Turner believed that she was once an Egyptian pharaoh named Hatshepsut. She wrote a song about it titled “I Might Have Been Queen.”
Singer Phil Collins believed that he might be the reincarnation of John W. Smith who died at the Alamo.
In the mid-1950s, a Swedish toddler named Barbro Karlen told her parents that she was Anne Frank. She could describe details of Frank’s life despite not being old enough to read. At age 10, Barbro’s parents took her to Amsterdam. The girl gave directions to the house where Anne Frank had hidden. (Contrary to popular belief, she did not hide in France.) Barbro even pointed out where Anne Frank hung movie star photos on a wall.
Four-year-old Ryan Hammons woke up one morning in 2009 complaining of chest pains. The little boy claimed to recall a former life in Hollywood. He said he had three sons, knew someone named “Senator Fives,” and lived on “Rock” street. Upon seeing an old photo of actor George Raft with his show biz agent Martin Martyn, the boy claimed he was the man in the picture. Martyn died in 1964 of a heart attack. He was father to 3 boys. He lived on Roxbury Drive. And he knew Senator Irving Ives.
In 1992, a security guard named John McConnell interrupted a store robbery. He was shot in the heart and died. Five years later, his daughter gave birth to a son. The child was born with heart defects nearly identical to his grandfather’s fatal wounds. At age three, the boy started recounting details for his grandfather’s life, and he knew the name of his mother’s long-deceased childhood pets.
At age 3, a boy showed extraordinary skill at golf. While watching television one day, he pointed at a man shown on the screen at declared that it was him — legendary golfer Bobby Jones. As the boy grew up, strangers who knew nothing about the claim observed that his golf swing looked just like that of Bobby Jones. Later, the boy won numerous tournaments, and he’s now a golf prodigy.
Other accounts of past lives have been claimed throughout the years, many of them recounted by preschoolers.
Dan is the author of over a dozen novels. His latest is Tight Five.
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