James G. Matlock, PhD, an anthropologist, is coauthor (with Erlendur Haraldsson) of I Saw a Light and Came Here: Children’s Experiences of Reincarnation. He is a regular contributor to the online Psi Encyclopedia sponsored by the Society for Psychical Research in London. He has authored dozens of academic papers concerning reincarnation and related areas.

Here he describes the research approach initiated by Ian Stevenson at the University of Virginia. This method focuses on young children who report spontaneous memories of having a previous life. Some 2,500 cases of this type are now in a computer database. Approximately 1,700 of these cases have been “solved” – meaning that the identity of the previous person has been corroborated, base on the child’s statements.

New Thinking Allowed host, Jeffrey Mishlove, PhD, is author of The Roots of Consciousness, Psi Development Systems, and The PK Man. Between 1986 and 2002 he hosted and co-produced the original Thinking Allowed public television series. He is the recipient of the only doctoral diploma in “parapsychology” ever awarded by an accredited university (University of California, Berkeley, 1980).

(Recorded on November 12, 2017)

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