Creative Habits Podcast

Studies

University of Virginia, Jim Tucker. 

“Some young children, usually between the ages of 2 and 5, speak about memories of a previous life they claim to have lived. At the same time they often show behaviors, such as phobias or preferences, that are unusual within the context of their particular family and cannot be explained by any current life events. These memories appear to be concordant with the child’s statements about a previous life.”

In many cases of this type, the child’s statements have been shown to correspond accurately to facts in the life and death of a deceased person. Some of the children have birthmarks and birth defects that correspond to wounds or other marks on the deceased person whose life is being remembered by the child.  In numerous cases, postmortem reports have confirmed these correspondences. 

Older children may retain these apparent memories, but generally they seem to fade around the age of seven.  The young subjects of these cases have been found all over the world including Europe and North America.

For the past 20 years, Dr. Jim Tucker, now the director of the Division of Perceptual Studies, has focused mainly on cases found in the United States. His book Return to Life offers accounts of very strong American cases of young children who remember previous lives. In this book, Dr. Tucker writes about the now well-known cases of James Leininger, a young boy who had verifiable past-life memories of being a WWII pilot, and Ryan Hammons, who had verifiable memories of being a Hollywood extra and talent agent.

Types of Statements a Child Might Make

Quick discussion : between Phil and Handi 

Main topic 

Topic :Reddit user u/TapiocaTuesday asked the AskReddit community: "Parents, what spooky 'past life' memory did your kid utter?"

eplies :

1. "Back pre-pandemic, I was watching my friend's then–3-year-old for her and he saw a big military ship and he got this kind of faraway look, and said, 'I remember when my boat sank. There were so many sharks.'"

"I said, 'What?' He blinked and, said, 'What?' and then started asking questions about the boat. I mentioned it to my friend and she said, 'Yeah, he does that sometimes.'"

—Planksgonemad

2. "When I was very young and still unable to string sentences together, my mom and I were sitting at the dining room table. She was crying and I comforted my mother by telling her without any babbling or hesitation: 'It’s okay, I used to be your great grandmother, I’ll take care of you.'"

"I have no memory of this and my mom said I went back to my baby-like talk immediately after. She stopped crying, probably because it scared the shit out of her."

—AceTrainerEmily

3. "I used to watch my nephew when he was about 3 or 4. One day, he was at my house and pointed to a magnet of Arizona — it had a picture of the desert with rock formations. Kid pointed at it and asked where it was. He said he used to live by 'red rocks like that' with his first family."

"(The first family) all had straight, dark hair (his is blond and curly) and that he had a mom, a dad, and a brother, that is until he went too far into the desert, too close to dark, and got eaten by 'not dogs, not wolves, but smaller.' I said, 'Coyotes?' And he kind of mouthed the word and said, 'Oh, that's what you call them.' Then he was sad and didn't want to talk about it anymore, so we had lunch and that was the first and last time he mentioned it."

—auntiepink