Reincarnation Research

Reincarnation Cases of George S. Patton | US General James Mattis and Teacher James McColl: Karma and Split Incarnation

George S. Patton | James Mattis Reincarnation Case Proposed by: Walter Semkiw, MD

George S. Patton | James McColl Reincarnation Case Proposed by James McColl, Derived through: Past Life Memories in Childhood and Adulthood

Cases Affirmed By: Spirit Being Ahtun Re in Kevin Ryerson Sessions

From: The Past Lives and Reincarnation of General George S. Patton Jr., by James McColl

Note: Click on Images to Enlarge Them

Preface to James McColl’s Book on His Past Life as George S. Patton, by Walter Semkiw, MD

James McColl contacted me a few years ago and shared that he has memories of being United States World War II General George S. Patton.

As reincarnation research has revealed that people can have very similar facial features from one lifetime to another, I asked James to send images of himself to me. I found that as an adult, James is rotund and has a jolly face, quite opposite to the visage of Patton. On the other hand, in a photo taken when James was a child and one when James was in high school and dressed in his ROTC (military cadet) uniform, he looks very much like a young George Patton.

I also asked James what he did for a living, as people generally pursue similar careers from one lifetime to another. He explained that he is a special education teacher. In this capacity, he instructs individuals with various disabilities. This seemed opposite to the type of work that a reincarnated Patton would do.

The Reincarnation Research of Ian Stevenson, MD at the University of Virginia

A primary mission of mine is to disseminate evidence of reincarnation and in particular, the work of Ian Stevenson, MD, as this research can help create a more peaceful world.

Stevenson was an academic psychiatrist at the University of Virginia who, over a period of 40 years, studied young children who had spontaneous past life memories that could be objectively validated. In the series of 2500 children that Ian Stevenson researched, in approximately 1500 of these cases, past life memories were objectively validated. Stevenson’s cases do show that facial features and behavioral traits can remain consistent from one lifetime to another.

In addition, this research demonstrates that souls can change religion, nationality and ethnic affiliation from one lifetime to another. Most wars and conflicts are based on differences in these cultural markers of identity. Understanding that these factors can change from one incarnation to another will lead to a more peaceful world. A powerful example of change in religion and nationality involves:

Reincarnation Case of Anne Frank | Barbro Karlen

Other change of nationality and religion cases can be reviewed at:

Reincarnation Cases with Change of Religion, Nationality and Ethnic Affliation

Ian Stevenson’s research is featured in my book, Born Again, and can be reviewed at:

Children’s Verified Past Life Memories at the University of Virginia

Ryerson-Semkiw Reincarnation Research

In addition to promoting the work of Ian Stevenson, I have worked with trance medium Kevin Ryerson, who has been featured in several of Shirley MacLaine’s books. Kevin channels a spirit being named Ahtun Re who has demonstrated to me that he has the ability to make past life identifications with a high degree of accuracy. I have worked with Kevin and Ahtun Re since 2001 and our findings are found in my books Born Again and Origin of the Soul and the Purpose of Reincarnation.

After James McColl contacted me with his story, I asked Ahtun Re if James is indeed an incarnation of George Patton. Ahtun Re told me that he is, and he encouraged me to work with James.

The Past Life Karma of General George S. Patton

I then asked Ahtun Re if James McColl’s vocation as a special education teacher is related to the famous scene in the movie, Patton, in which George Patton slaps a soldier in a medical tent who was having some sort of mental or emotional breakdown related to the horrors of war. Patton had no sympathy for this soldier, calling him a coward. Ahtun Re confirmed that James became a special education teacher to atone for the karma incurred by Patton in striking and humiliating the mentally disabled soldier.

Split Incarnation in the Patton Reincarnation Cases of James Mattis and James McColl

Reincarnation research, including the work of Ian Stevenson, MD, demonstrates that souls can animate or inhabit more than one human body at a time. I call this phenomenon “split incarnation,” while Stevenson called these “cases with anomalous dates,” as lifetimes overlapped in time.

Knowing this, I also asked Ahtun Re if there was a split of Patton who was pursuing a military career. Ahtun Re told me that this was true and shared that this split was a prominent officer in the US military, though he did not tell me specifically who this person was.

About three years later, President Donald Trump appointed Marine General James Mattis as US Secretary of Defense. When I first saw Mattis on television, I immediately had the intuition that Mattis is the other incarnation of George S. Patton, which Ahtun Re later affirmed. The physical remembrance between Patton and Mattis is striking. View the:

Reincarnation Case of George S. Patton | James Mattis

The Past Life Memories of General George S. Patton and James McColl

One of the most common questions that I am asked is: “Why don’t more people remember past lives?” I, in turn, posed this question to Ahtun Re. His answer was that past life memories can be considered as a type of psychic gift.

George Patton had this aptitude. In his well-known poem, Through a Glass, Darkly, Patton describes multiple past lives as a soldier, warrior and killer. Does this mean that the soul of Patton will continue to reincarnate as a soldier? The answer is not necessarily. Leadership can be used for both destructive and constructive purposes.

James McColl has the same psychic gift of recalling past incarnations and in fact, the scope of his past life recall is amazing. In this lifetime, James has been a positive influence on many. Hopefully, in the future, due to lifetimes like that of James, the soul of Patton will look back and reflect through a glass, brightly.

Excerpts from The Past Lives and Reincarnation of General George S. Patton Jr., by James McColl

My earliest memories extend back to a time before my birth. As a preschooler, I could vividly recall these memories of my existence in the spiritual realm, between earthly incarnations, but over the years, they have gradually faded, and now only fragments remain. However, there is one specific pre-birth memory, which I’m able to recall in great detail. This is the memory of choosing my parents.

I recall travelling in the company of another being to observe several families from whom I was to make my selection. The only time I ever saw my paternal grandfather, James E. McColl, was on this occasion. He died shortly afterwards of a heart attack on December 14, 1968, while a patient in the hospital in Marion, South Carolina. I was not born until August 1969.

As a child, I was able to recall details of my life between lives and the preparations for my return to this world. I remember not being in any hurry to return, but knowing I needed to eventually. I also recalled visions of battlefields, destruction and smoldering ruins, and the accompanying feeling of wishing not to return to such scenes.

However, as a child I did not understand this particular memory or its significance. At some point, I became aware of the need for an individual to return to the physical world to perform a mission, which excited me enough to volunteer to go. As a child, although I tried, I never could recall what the mission was for which I had volunteered.

The Christian Upbringing of James McColl Conflicts with His Past Life Memories

I was born in Laurinburg, North Carolina and raised in a Southern Baptist home, so from an early age I was taught that death resulted in either Heaven or Hell with no mention ever of the possibility of returning to life on Earth. It was not until about my fourth-grade year in school that I was exposed to the concept of reincarnation.

My sister mentioned it at supper one evening as a subject she had studied at school in either her geography or world history class. Over the course of the dinner conversation, it was dismissed as a non-Christian belief held largely by the population of India. Long before this conversation, I was aware that I had lived before, but I believed I had only been sent back into this world to perform a mission. I believed my return was an exception and not the rule.

For this reason, I assumed I should never mention what I remembered of the time before my birth. As a child I would occasionally think about the fact that I had made it to Heaven once before, and sometimes wonder if I possibly ran the risk of being condemned to Hell upon my death for any of my actions in my present lifetime. These thoughts contributed to my strong desire to know what happens to a person, at death.

Although I was born in a Southern Baptist home, it was through a combination of my own pre-birth memories, and my mother’s influence, that I came to have a broader view of spiritual matters. Every morning at breakfast, my mother would read aloud the daily horoscope from the newspaper, and my father would often respond by saying that there was no validity to astrology. I still remember how fascinated I was when about the time I was in second grade my mother read to me an article from the newspaper concerning Dr. Raymond Moody and his pioneering research concerning the near-death experience. It was about this same time she told me an elderly man named Percy Covington (1882-1961), from her hometown of Mt. Gilead, North Carolina had used a Ouija board to receive messages from the spirit world.

Among the metaphysical experiences that I had during childhood, one in particular made a lasting impression, because of the unique way in which it occurred. Although I didn’t understand its significance at the time, as an adult I discovered that what I saw that day was a scene from my past life as Lovick William Rochelle Blair, (1821-1882), which was preserved in a photograph. Upon his death, Blair reincarnated as George S. Patton Jr. (1885-1945). The following is my account of the experience.

A Child’s Vision of Past Life Memories

One summer day in 1972, when I was about three years old, I had been playing outside in the swing; being a warm sunny day, after a while I felt hot and thirsty. I went inside the house and asked my mother for something to drink. She fixed a bottle of Tang, and I carried it into the den, lay down on the cool linoleum floor, and began drinking it.

As I lay there I gazed up at the walls, and ceiling; and as I relaxed, I observed the details of the horseshoe designs on the light fixture, and the patterns in the grain of the knotty pine paneling. In the background I could hear the antique Ansonia shelf clock; which rested on the mantle, tick tock away the minutes. My focus then shifted to the pictures on the walls. First, my eyes rested upon the large picture, which hung above the back of the sofa; a depiction of a Swiss mountain range. Then I shifted my eyes to the picture on the wall to my left, an Otto Kuhler print Big Mountains, Little Engines. I gazed at it awhile, absorbing its colors and details.

A Painting of a Train Comes to Life

All of a sudden; as I was looking at it, the image came to life, the wheels on the engines began to turn round, and the train began moving down the track; smoke puffing out of its smokestack. The space behind the glass of the picture frame began to fill with the smoke; like a thick fog rolling in, eventually concealing my view of the train. Even at such a young age, I knew I was seeing something out of the ordinary, so with intense interest and curiosity, I continued to watch without moving, or blinking an eye. Then; like fog, it gradually lifted, but what was revealed was no longer a scene of a train passing through the mountains.

The image had transformed into a period room furnished in what, years later, I would recognize as the American Empire style. At first, the room was devoid of people. Then a group, dressed in mid-nineteenth century apparel entered the scene. They gathered around a center table, which stood before a large mahogany secretary bookcase. When everyone was in their place, all movement ceased, and the image froze as if it was a photograph.

I wanted someone else to witness this phenomenon besides myself, so I called for my mother to come see it. I had a feeling these people were my ancestors, and hoped she could identify them for me too. She was in the kitchen, and answered that she was in the middle of doing something, and couldn’t stop at that moment.

Thinking my sister might be in her bedroom, I asked my mother: “Where is Trudy?” She answered saying Trudy had gone to play at the home of her friend Phillip Tucker.

Curious, to see what might happen next, and not wanting to miss anything, I continued to lie there with my attention focused on the picture. Within a few minutes, what appeared like fog, or white smoke, began to form and swirl behind the glass of the frame, until I could no longer see the people assembled around the table. As it swirled, colors began to emerge. When the blurry swirl of colors solidified, I was once again looking at a picture of a train passing through the mountains.

Within seconds, my mother walked into the den and asked, “What do you want me to see?” I tried to describe what happened, but with my limited vocabulary, it was difficult. The best I could do was tell her the picture had changed from a train to a picture of some people dressed in the manner of the characters on the television programs Bonanza and Gunsmoke; the only frame of reference to the Victorian era that I was familiar with at the time.

The image, which had been revealed to me, didn’t seem significant at the time. What impressed me was seeing the picture come to life, and transforming from one scene to another. Briefly, I wondered if all pictures could come alive and transform from one scene to another, when nobody was looking, similar to the way the toys in the movie Toy Story are depicted. Finally, I decided that this phenomenon was unique to the Otto Kuhler print. I believed that it was a magic picture. Over the next few years, I would occasionally sit and watch it for a couple of minutes at a time, hoping that I might see it transform itself again, but it never did.

Throughout childhood, I experienced a phenomenon that for the lack of a better term, I thought of as watching television in my mind, but today I know it is called spontaneous past life recall. During that same time in my childhood, I was having dreams in which I now realize I reexperienced events from multiple past lifetimes. By the time I was a college student, I had begun to read books on near death experience and would occasionally discuss what I had read with my father.

A Longing to Find a Past Life Family

It was during one of our conversations that he suggested that I might enjoy reading about Edgar Cayce. This is how I came to have a better understanding of my childhood experiences, and it, along with the book, Across Time and Death, by Jenny Cockell, reawakened in me the desire to discover my identity in a past life. In the summer of 2002, remembering a promise I had made to myself as a child, that as an adult I would someday find my past life family and let them know that I was alive, I set out to discover my past life identity.

By the end of the summer, I had not had any luck and was beginning to think I never would. Finally, in October, I had an unexpected breakthrough and discovered my identity in a past life. Another few years passed by and one day while browsing in a bookstore I happened to come across a book by the title of How to Uncover Your Past Lives. This book inspired me to continue my search for my identity in additional past life incarnations, ultimately resulting in my discovery of my past life as General George S. Patton Jr.

Childhood Past Life Memories of Being George S. Patton

George S. Patton speaking in Los Angeles

As I began to research the life of General Patton, the first thing I happened to recognize was the film clip of the speech he made in Los Angeles on June 9, 1945. I experienced this exact scene in a vision I had in childhood, as I sat at the dining table one evening waiting for my mother to finish preparing the meal and call the rest of the family to the table for dinner. However, as a child, I did not have any idea as to what it was that I was experiencing/remembering/reliving.

From the vision I remember being introduced by a man that I am now able to identify as General Jimmy Doolittle, and then standing, approaching the microphones and looking out at the large crowd as I spoke. Listening to the speech on YouTube, I believe that General Patton’s voice and my own voice are similar; the difference, perhaps, being the accent, due to Patton being a native of California and the fact I have always lived in the Carolinas.

Past Life Memories of a Ship Attack and Being Splattered with Yellow Paint

As a young adult, I had a dream, which I have discovered, was an experience from General Patton’s life. The dream occurred sometime in the mid to late 1990’s. At that time, I was in my twenties. As the dream began, I was in a small boat or landing craft on a rough and choppy sea. The little boat is being tossed about, and I felt like at any moment I could easily be tossed out of the craft and into the sea. A battle is underway and there are numerous little crafts and large ships. The waters seem almost crowded with them.

George Patton on the left, wearing a helmet, with Admiral Hewitt on the USS Augusta

The little boat I’m on pulls up next to a large ship, and despite the conditions, I’m able to make my way up rope netting on to the ship. A short time later, I’m standing on the deck of the ship, along with a few other men. We were standing next to the rail looking towards the coast, watching the battle. I recall having binoculars, through which I would occasionally observe the action.

As we stood there, we were surprised when a large ship that was moored in the harbor fired a shell directly at us. We had thought that the ship was unable to engage in the battle and thus not a threat. We heard it fire and saw the smoke coming from the mouth of one of its large guns. This was the most frightening part of the dream. I still recall thinking that I was about to be killed when the shell reached its target. There was enough time to think I’m going to die, but not enough time to actually move from where I was standing, between the time the shell was fired and the moment it made impact.

The shell hit the side of the ship, directly below the spot where I was standing. When it did, I was splashed with seawater and what appeared to be bright yellow paint. Thinking that it was going to be my last moment alive, I was surprised and relieved to have been only splattered. A young man approached and offered to help me clean and dry the paint and water off my clothes, but I politely declined and laughed off the mess. Then I proceeded back to my cabin to clean myself up. It is at this point the dream ended and I woke up. I still remember feeling rattled the entire day after awakening from this particular dream. I felt as if I had actually had a close brush with death.

Afterwards, I replayed the dream over and over in my mind, trying to determine why I would have had such a dream. It was such a realistic and detailed dream, except for when the shell exploded and rather than being killed, I was splattered with yellow paint, which seemed to me like something that would occur in a Looney Tunes cartoon.

The only possible answer I found was an experience I had in Navy ROTC when a student in the 9th Grade. I had once gone on a field trip to Patriots Point in Charleston, South Carolina, which is a naval and maritime museum that features two actual World War II era ships; the aircraft carrier USS Yorktown and the destroyer USS Laffey. The ship upon which I was standing in my dream when I thought I was about to die reminded me of the USS Laffey.

As I was researching General Patton, I was surprised to discover that this was an actual experience from his life. It occurred on November 8, 1942 as General Patton’s troops were making an amphibious assault on Northern Africa. General Patton was standing on the deck of the USS Augusta when the French ship, Jean Bart, fired upon it, resulting in Patton being splattered with yellow paint. France at that point in time was not part of Western Alliance

Past Life Memories of Slapping Soldiers

General Patton’s career was almost brought to an end by two slapping incidents that occurred in August 1943 during the Sicily campaign. For the rest of his life General Patton was haunted by the dark shadow cast by these two incidents where he had lost control of his temper and slapped and verbally abused two soldiers, who were suffering from battle fatigue. It wasn’t until after I discovered my past life as George S. Patton Jr. that I realized I had actually witnessed one of the slapping incidents in a spontaneous past life recall vision I had during my childhood. I experienced the vision sometime between August 1973 and December 1975.

It occurred one day, while I was playing in the kitchen of my parent’s home when we lived in Garner, North Carolina. Instead, of viewing the scene through Patton’s eyes, I experienced it in the third person, as if I was watching television in my mind. Now as an adult, having since seen the slapping incident in the movie Patton, I can say it was portrayed very well, because it closely matched what I experienced in my vision.

At the time I experienced the vision I had no idea I was witnessing an experience from my past life. As a child, I thought I was seeing something that was actually occurring somewhere around the world at that very moment. I failed to realize that it had occurred thirty years earlier. It did not have in any way a historical feel to it.

My father watched the CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite every evening and I thought what I had seen might appear on the news that day. As I remember watching the news as a young child, it seemed to me that Walter Cronkite was always talking about Vietnam and Watergate. The images I had seen in my vision were of soldiers, so they matched up in my mind with the scenes of Vietnam I saw on the news. I remember the vision scared me, because the man had been so angry yelling, slapping the soldier and pulling his pistol on the man and threatening to shoot him.

In hindsight, I guess I was allowed to experience it in the third person, since I was a young child and it had been such an intense and frightening scene. I still remember when the vision ended thinking that the man I had seen was extremely angry, and wondered why I had been shown that particular scene.

Past Life Relationships

One piece of observable evidence, useful in establishing past life identity, is the appearance of members of one’s soul group the people with whom an individual has shared a close association over multiple lifetimes.

Based on the consistency of facial architecture from one incarnation to another, I believe my mother is the reincarnation of Annie Wilson, who was the sister of General Patton’s mother. She was like a second mother to Georgie. Annie Wilson died on November 26, 1931 and my mother; Margret Frances Parsons was born December 27, 1937. Notice in particular how closely the shape of the ear carried over in addition to the other facial features, when Annie Wilson reincarnated as Margaret F. Parsons. Kevin Ryerson has confirmed that my mother is the reincarnation of Annie Wilson.

Past Life Talent as a Rifle Marksman

General Patton was known to be a great marksman. Growing up my mother always cautioned me concerning the danger of guns. As I approached the age of twelve, I wanted an air rifle. By then many of my good friends either had, or were getting one. My parents were slow to allow me to have one, thinking I might shoot my eye out, or the neighbor’s window. Finally, I was allowed to purchase one. I was excited when the day arrived.

My father took me to the local K Mart and I bought a Daisy BB and a pellet air rifle. What amazed me was I discovered that I was a better marksman than my friends who had been shooting longer than I had. It seemed to come natural to me. I remember it crossed my mind at the time that perhaps it was a skill I had developed in a past life, maybe as a pioneer in early America when the country was being settled. This was the first times I gave the idea of reincarnation any serious consideration.

A Past Life Dream of an Exploding Lamp in the Life of George Patton

General Pershing and George Patton inspecting troops in the Punitive Expedition in Mexico

One of the parallels between my present life and my past life as General Patton involves a pressurized gasoline lamp. When I was around five or six years old, I had a dream, which I now know was of my experience as Patton during the Punitive Mexican Expedition of 1916. In the dream, I enter a tent. It is dark, so I light a lamp and it explodes in my face and sets myself as well as the tent on fire. I then quickly exit the burning tent and put out the fire.

In my present life I collect antiques and have been doing so since I was in the eighth grade. As a student in high school and college, I enjoyed going to the Florence Flea Market and looking for antiques. On one such trip, I purchased an antique Coleman Quick-Lite gasoline lamp. Shortly afterwards my father and I learned that it could be sent to the Coleman Company and restored to work. We sent it off and it came back with the pump to pressurize it. My father asked me if I wanted the honor of pumping it up and lighting it. I declined and asked him to do it.

The dream did not enter my conscious mind at the time, but I had a fear of the lamp exploding in my face, which kept me from lighting it. Years later when I began to research my past life, I came across Patton’s description of the lamp exploding in his face. I recognized it as matching detail by detail my dream. However when I purchased the lamp and later could not bring myself to light it, I didn’t connect it with the dream. It wasn’t until I read General Patton’s description of the incident that I finally realized it was interconnected. Patton recorded the following details in a letter to his wife.

I came back from the movies and having some work to do I pumped up my lamp and lit it. It did not burn well so I started pumping again while it lit. There was too much gasoline in it so when I stopped pumping a lot of gasoline flew out of the hole instead of air and caught fire. As it came it hit me in the face and got in my hair. I ran outside and put myself out. Then came back and put out the lamp and tent. Then I reported to General Pershing that I was burned and went to the hospital.

James, as a Child, Asks for a Antique Car Resembling One Patton had used in his Mexican Campaign

I have always liked antique automobiles. When I was around three years old, my Grandmother McColl asked me what I wanted for Christmas. I replied a Beverly Hillbillies’ car, which at such a young age was my best description of an old timey car from the early years of the 20th century.

She understood what I wanted and gave me a battery powered Model T styled toy car. I have come to realize that the antique style toy automobile my grandmother gave me resembles the 1915 Dodge touring car in which Patton, on May 14, 1916, led the first motorized attack in the history of US warfare. The incident concluded with the killing of Julio Cárdenas and two of his guards. It also resulted in Patton receiving widespread media attention and earning the good favor of General Pershing.

The Fatal Automobile Accident of Patton Replicated in the Life of James McColl

General Patton’s fatal car accident of December 9, 1945 appears to possess a number of similarities to my own car accident of November 8, 1988. In both cases, the accidents occurred in an identical manner. A truck approaching from the opposite direction made a sudden and unexpected left turn, bringing it directly into the path of the car in which General Patton was a passenger.

Likewise, my accident was caused by a truck approaching from the opposite direction making a sudden and unexpected left turn, bringing it directly into the path of my car. Just as General Patton’s driver had done, I immediately stepped on the brakes, but still collided with the truck. In both cases, the right front fender of the truck struck the front of the car. The front end of General Patton’s 1938 Cadillac was demolished in his accident. Likewise, the front end of my 1968 Falcon was demolished too.

General Patton was not wearing a seatbelt since they were not a standard automotive safety feature until many years later. Patton was thrown forward, struck his head and broke his neck. I was wearing a lap belt without a shoulder strap and was thrown forward striking my head on the windshield, but the lap belt restrained me enough it prevented me from sustaining a serious injury. The impact broke my skin causing it to bleed where my head made contact with the windshield, just as General Patton bled from the head wound he received in his accident.

The impact of the collision pushed the fenders against both of the Falcon’s front doors, so that I was unable to open either of them. This caused me to have to cross over the front seat and exit the car through one of its back doors, similar to General Patton having to be removed from the Cadillac after his accident through one of its back doors. It is interesting to note that the color of the staff car in which General Patton had his fatal accident was army green and my 1968 Falcon was dark green with a white top. The two large white stars painted on Patton’s car correspond with the white color of the top of my car.

For the full story of the discovery and verification of my past life as General Patton, as well as six earlier past lives, please read my book, The Past Lives and Reincarnation of General George S. Patton Jr.

Principles of Reincarnation and Understanding Past Lives

By Walter Semkiw, MD

Physical Resemblance in Reincarnation Cases: James McColl, in his youth, looked very much like a young George Patton.

Past Life Talent: Patton and James McColl both have demonstrated the gift of remembering past lives.

Planning Lifetimes and Relationships Renewed through Reincarnation: James McColl has identified his mother as the reincarnation of Patton’s maternal aunt, Annie Wilson, was like a second mother to Patton.

Split Incarnation or Parallel Lives: James McColl and James Mattis derive from the same soul, a phenomenon I term “split incarnation” and which Ian Stevenson, MD called “cases with anomalous dates,” as lifetimes overlapped in time. James Mattis was born in 1950, while James McColl was born in 1969, so an overlap of 19 years exists.

The Power of Souls: Twins are Murdered and then Reincarnate as Twins Again-Planning Lifetimes and The Past Life Cases of the Tripathi Twins and Ramoo and Rajoo

How derived: Past Life Memories in Childhood

Researchers: Ian Stevenson, MD, Erlander Harraldsson, PhD and L.P. Mehrota, PhD

From: Cases of the Reincarnation Type, Volume I, India, by Ian Stevenson, MD (pages 337-360)

Article by: Walter Semkiw, MD

The Lives of Bhimsen and Pitamah

The Tripathi twins, Bhimsen and Pitamah, were born in the village of Uncha Larpur in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, in 1935. Their father was Pandit Kali Shanker, a farmer, and their mother was named Ram Devi. The twins had an older brother whose name was Chandra. The family were Brahmins, the highest caste or social class of Indian culture. The twins very close to one another and went everywhere together.

Bhimsen was the more intelligent twin, who advanced in school up to the sixth grade. As he could read and write, in adulthood, he worked part-time as the secretary of the village of Uncha Larpur. Bhimsen was considered the more aggressive of the boys.

In contrast, Pitamah was considered more simple. He never went to school.

Though both twins were good-natured, they were known to be strong, brave and would not run from a fight when provoked. They kept a licensed gun in the home of their mother, Ram Devi, which was hung on a peg on a wall.

Like their father, Bhimsen and Pitamah became farmers, along with their older brother, Chandra. When their father died, his will specified that his land be divided equally between his three sons.

Bhimsen married first and had 3 children. Pitamah married a year later and had one child.

The Murders of Bhimsen and Pitamah

In 1964, when the twins were about 40 years old, a land dispute erupted between them and men named Jagannath and Raja Ram, who lived in the neighboring town of Kurri, which was a 1 kilometer or about a half mile away from Uncha Larpur.

Jagannath had built an earthen dike on land that the twins considered their own. In retaliation, the twins knocked down the dike and then dammed up a stream that irrigated land owned by Jagannath and Raja Ram.

Jagannath and Raja Ram planned revenge on the twins. They pretended that they forgave Bhimsen and Pitamah for destroying their dike and blocking the stream that irrigated their land. Under the pretense of wanting to settle a separate financial matter, Jagannath and Raja Ram invited the twins to the home of Jagannath, in the nearby town of Kurri.

When Bhimsen and Pitamah arrived, their hosts were affectionate and gave the twins milk to drink. Suddenly, a number of men came into the room and attacked the twins. First, they threw a corrosive liquid, likely acid, into the eyes of the twins to blind them.

They then subdued the twins by tying them up with ropes. While the twins were on the floor, the men pressed down on their chests and stomachs with wooden poles. Poles placed across the twin’s necks were used to strangulate them.

The Bodies of Bhimsen and Pitamah are Thrown into a Well

The attackers then threw the twins, Bhimsen and Pitamah, still bound with ropes, into a well. The twins were last seen on April 28, 1964.

Four days later, on May 2, 1964, the decomposed bodies of the twins were discovered in the well. The police who pulled the bodies out of the well determined that the twins were killed by strangulation. By the time an autopsy was done, the bodies, exposed to the heat of India, were too far decomposed for a cause of death to be determined by the coroner.

The twins, Bhimsen and Pitamah, were thought to have been killed on or about on April 28, 1964. Jagannath was about 45 years of age when of the the twins were murdered.

The Murderers are Aquitted for Lack of Testimony and Evidence, then Brag About Their Deeds

Police arrested 9 known enemies of Bhimsen and Pitamah, who stood trial for the murder of the twins. Because these 9 defendants were likely involved in the murders, none would testify against each other. As such, without willing witnesses or other evidence, the 9 defendants were acquitted and went free.

Encouraged and emboldened by their acquittal, the participants of the murders of Bhimsen and Pitamah started to talk about their crime. They admitted that they had thrown a corrosive liquid into the eyes of the twins. They also revealed that they then used wooden poles to pin the bodies of the twins onto the floor. Wooden poles were then used to press on the throats of Bhimsen and Pitamah to suffocate them. The murderers then bragged about throwing the bodies of the twins into a well.

Bhimsen and Pitamah Reincarnate as Another Set of Twins-Ramoo and Rajoo

4 months later after Bhimsen and Pitamah were killed, in August 1964, another set of twins were born in the village of Sham Nagara, which is 16 kilometers or about 10 miles from Uncha Larpur, the past life home of Bhimsen and Pitahmah. There was a primitive road that ran between the villages of Uncha Larpur and Sham Nagara, that could only be traversed in good weather.

Sham Nagara had a population of only about 100. The twins’ father was Pan Ram Swaroop and their mother was named Kapuri.

Announcing Dreams involving Two Children

Kapuri had 2 dreams prior to the birth of her twin sons, in which 2 children were involved. Though Kapuri did not place much importance in these dreams, they may have been predicting that she would have twins.

Ramoo and Rajoo Want to Go to Their Past Life Home, Uncha Larpur

Their parents named their twins Ramoo and Rajoo. When they were 2 years old, they began to speak in an organized manner.

In the first indication that they remembered past lives, Ramoo and Rajoo ran off to the main highway in their town. When they were brought back to their house, their parents asked why they ran off. The twins answered that they were trying to get back to their home. The twins expressed a strong desire to go to Uncha Larpur before they said anything about their past lives.

Past Life Memories are Stimulated by the Twin’s Recognition of an Acquaintance from Uncha Larpur

At 3 years of age, the twins, Rajoo and Ramoo saw a man from the village of Uncha Larpur whose name was Shiv Narain. The young twins touched his feet in a sign of respect. The twins’ uncle chastised them for this act on an unknown stranger. They replied that they recognized this man from their past lives in Uncha Larpur.

The recognition of this man stimulated past life memories in the twins. In discussing their past incarnations, Rajoo and Ramoo often spoke together. When one started to make a statement, the other twin would finish the sentence. As such, it was often difficult to distinguish which twin said what.

Past Life Statements

Ramoo and Rajoo made the following statements regarding their remembered past lives as Bhimsen and Pitamah:

Rajoo and Ramoo said that in their past lives their names had been Bhimsen and Pitamah. More specifically, Ramoo said his name was Bhimsen, while Rajoo said that his name had been Pitamah.

Though Pitamah | Rajoo was considered the less intelligent twin in both lifetimes, Rajoo was the one who offered the most details of the twins’ past lives.

The twins said that in their past incarnations they had a brother named Chandra and that they lived in the village of Uncha Larpur.

The twins said that they had studied up to the sixth grade under a teacher named Thakur Tilak Singh, in village of Marhana. These statements were true for Ramoo, who was Bhimsen in a past life.

The twins said one of them had married a girl from Bahawalpur and the other had married a woman from Atrauli. Bhimsen | Ramoo had indeed married a woman from Bahawalpur, while Pitamah | Rajoo had married a girl from Atrauli.

The twins said that one of them had son named Netra Kishore, which was true for Bhimsen | Ramoo.

The twins said that one of them had a son named Drona, short for Dronacharya, which was true for true for Pitamah | Rajoo.

The twins said that they owned 60 bighas of land (there are about 7 bighas to an acre), which was essentially correct for the amount of land Bhimson and Pitamah had owned.

They said that one of them wore a ring, which was true of Bhimsen | Ramoo.

The twins said that they owned a licensed gun. Further, Rajoo said that the gun was placed on a peg on a wall in the room of their past life mother, Ram Devi. Rajoo added that a belt with bullet cartridges was also kept hanging on the wall near the gun. These statements were accurate, as the gun and cartridge belt owned by Bhimsen and Pitamah were indeed kept in the room of their mother, Ram Devi.

Rajoo and Ramoo Remember their Past Life Murders

Rajoo was the first twin who spoke about their past life murders, stating that a village leader in Kurri named Jagannath, with his friend Raja Ram, killed the twins in their past lives.

Rajoo said that in their past lives, they dismantled an irrigation trough that watered the fields owned by Jagannath and Raja Ram.

Rajoo said that Jagannath was angry at first about the destruction of the irrigation trough, but later became friendly. When the twins were invited to the home of Jagannath in Kurri. Rajoo said when they arrived, Jagannath sent the women of the house away. Rajoo said Jagannath was initially affectionate to the twins and gave Bhimsen and Pitamah milk to drink.

When they twins started to drink the milk, they were surrounded by a group of men who grabbed them. Rajoo added that the men threw acid into their eyes to blind them. The attacking men and then tied the twins up with ropes.

Rajoo said that his past life brother, Bhimsen, got loose from the ropes and escaped from the house, but returned when Bhimsen realized that his brother, Pitimah | Rajoo, was still in the house and was being killed. Rajoo added that another assailant was named Hori Lal.

These statements regarding the murders of the twins were accurate, based on what the murderers themselves told others after their trial ended in acquittal. Recall that there were 9 men who stood trial for the murder of the twins, including Jagannath, Raja Ram and Hori Lal.

Rajoo added that they, the past life twins, were then placed into sacks and were subsequently thrown into a well. Ian Stevenson noted that when the bodies were found in the well, they were not in sacks. Stevenson thought it was plausible that sacks were used to hide the bodies while they were being transported from Jagannath’s home in Kurri to the site of the well.

Most sacks in the area, used for transporting crops, have the name of the owner printed on them. In disposing the bodies of Bhimsen and Pitamah, it would be necessary to remove the sacks to avoid incrimination.

The twins continued to talk about their past lives at least up to 9 years of age.

The Twin’s Parents Repress Ramoo and Rajoo’s Past Life Memories

The parents of Ramoo and Rajoo made no attempts to verify their twins’ past life memories and never took them to Uncha Larpur, as there is a superstition in northern India that predicted grave misfortune to children who remember past lives. One such consequence included that these children would die young. As such, parents would repress children’s past life memories by gentle suppression or even by physical punishment, such as beating the child.

The parents of Ramoo and Rajoo thought it was appropriate to beat the twins whenever they started talking about their previous lives. When this did not work, they switched to the lesser demand that the children not talk about their past incarnations outside of the family. In addition, the twins’ parents and told them to deny remembering past lives if strangers asked. They made an exception for Ian Stevenson’s interviews

Another reason that the parents of Ramoo and Rajoo suppressed their sons’ past life memories was concern that the murderers of the past life twins could intervene and harm Ramoo and Rajoo to suppress testimony regarding the killings.

Ramoo and Rajoo Spontaneously Recognize their Past Life Mother and Brother

Verification of the twins’ past life memories only occurred when those who knew Bhimsen and Pitamah heard about the past life recall of Ramoo and Rajoo. For example, Ram Devi, the past life mother, came to see the reincarnated brothers in Sham Nagara. Ramoo and Rajoo recognized her on sight and both the twins and Ram Devi wept when they met.

The older brother of Bhimsen and Pitamah, Chandra, also came to see Ramoo and Rajoo, who the twins also recognized on sight. In fact, Chandra was a primary source of verifications of the reincarnated twins’ past life memories.

Ramoo and Rajoo Confront their Past Life Murderers

Just as their parents feared, a number of the alleged murderers came to Sham Nagara to meet Ramoo and Rajoo, who the twins did recognize. Stevenson speculated that the murderers must have been lured by a combination of curiosity and anxiety. Stevenson was not able to get information on how this meeting between Ramoo and Rajoo and their past life murderers went, but Stevenson noted it could not have been pleasant.

Past Life Behaviors and Abilities

Ramoo was considered the more intelligent twin. In contrast, Rajoo was assessed to be simple. This corresponds to the natures of the past life twins, as Bhimsen | Ramoo was more intelligent and went to school, where he learned to read and write. Pitabah | Rajoo, on the other hand, never went to school. It is interesting that that the twin who was considered less intelligent, Rajoo, was on the one who first accessed past life memories.

Ramoo and Rajoo were constantly together, just as were Bhimsen and Pitamah, and they showed much affection for each other. One would not eat unless the other was also present to share the meal. If one twin went somewhere by himself, the other would call him to come back.

Ramoo and Rajoo also had the tendency to confront a situation aggressively, much like Bhimsen and Pitamah did. As an example, when a low-caste person, who knew Bhimsen and Pitamah, traveled from Uncha Larpur to Sham Nagara meet these reincarnated twins, this low-caste person taunted the twins regarding their defeat in a past life brawl or dispute. Ramoo and Rajoo then became furious and rushed towards their antagonist and exclaimed: “God has made a small, but we can still devour you.”

Another incident in which the young twins showed bravado occurred when a villager from Uncha Larpur came to Sham Nagara to meet the brothers. Ramoo and Rajoo recognized this person, who they apparently had a past life quarrel with.

Ramoo ran up to this person and shouted: “Why have you come here?” The visitor replied with an insulting remark and Ramoo then picked up a brick to throw at the visitor, but someone intervened and prevented Ramoo from launching this weapon. Recall that Bhimsen | Ramoo was the more aggressive of the past life twins, demonstrating a parallel in temperament.

Ramoo and Rajoo Meet their Past Life Sons and Act in a Paternal Manner

When the reincarnated young twins met their past life sons, they took on a paternal attitude.

Their past life children were addressed by the reincarnated twins as “sons.” They also said that Bhimsen’s son should occasionally pay a visit to the native village of Bhimsen’s wife.

When the past life sons told the reincarnated twins that their past life house had decayed and had become decrepit, the twins instructed their past life sons to rebuild the house with proper care.

Past Life Birthmarks

Ramoo and Rajoo had pigmented or dark streaks, about 2 millimeters wide, that ran horizontally across their lower chests and abdomens. Ramoo had 5 such marks, while Rajoo had 2 marks. Their mother, Kapuri, said that these dark, horizontal streaks were present from birth.

Ian Stevenson speculated that these birthmarks could have been due to the ropes used to tie up Bhimsen and Pitimah. Alternately, the birthmarks could have resulted from the poles used to press the Bhimsen and Pitimah against the floor and suffocate the twins.

Ian Stevenson, MD Determines the Families in these Reincarnation Cases Had No Prior Contact

Stevenson noted though the village of the past life twins, Uncha Larpur, and that of the reborn twins, Sham Nagara, were only 10 miles apart, he found that there was no social connection or any interactions between the two families before Ramoo and Rajoo spontaneously started talking about their past lives.

Chandra, the older brother of Bhimsen and Pitamah, told Stevenson that he and his family had never been to Sham Nagara prior to the emergence of the past life memories of Ramoo and Rajoo, and that they had no friends or family members in Sham Nagara.

In sum, Ian Stevenson concluded that Ramoo and Rajoo had no way to know about Bhimsen and Pitamah through normal means.

Principles of Reincarnation and Understanding Past Lives

Planning Lifetimes and Relationships Renewed through Reincarnation: The twins Bhimsen and Pitamah reincarnated as the twins Ramoo and Rajoo. These cases demonstrate the extraordinary ability of souls to plan lifetimes to be reincarnated with loved ones.

Birthmarks Associated with Past Lives: Ian Stevenson hypothesized that the horizontal pigmented lines that Ramoo and Rajoo were born with on their chests and abdomens reflected marks made by ropes used to tie up Bhimsen and Pitamah, or the poles used to pin them to the ground.

Spirit Beings in Reincarnation Cases: The mother of Ramoo and Rajoo, Kapuri, had dreams before they were born in which two children were involved, possibly foreshadowing the birth of her twins. It appears that from the spirit world, Bhimsen and Pitamah where announcing that they would be reborn as the children of Kapuri.

Split Incarnation or Parallel Lives: Ramoo and Rajoo were born only 4 months after Bhimsen and Pitamah were murdered. If souls are involved in the process of conception, which I believe is true, then the souls of Bhimsen | Ramoo and Pitamah | Rajoo were animating two bodies at a time.

An Ian Stevenson, MD Childhood Past Life Memory Reincarnation Case with Physical Resemblance: Nawabsingh Reborn as Manoj Kumar

How Derived: Past Life Memories in Childhood

Researcher: Ian Stevenson, MD

From: Reincarnation and Biology by Ian Stevenson, MD (pages 1920-1921)

Article by: Walter Semkiw, MD

Ian Stevenson’s Documentation of this Past Life Story with Physical Resemblance in Reincarnation Cases

Though Ian Stevenson indicated that he researched this reincarnation case in 1971 and 1973, he provided few details of his findings. Stevenson included this case in his book, Reincarnation and Biology, as an example of how facial features can remain the same from one lifetime to another. Click on the images to enlarge them.

Nawabsingh Reincarnates as Manoj Kumar

Manoj Kumar was born on August 30, 1964 in the village of Bhaderi in Uttar Pradesh, India. When he was 5 years old, he began speaking of a prior lifetime in which his name was Nawabsingh.

Ian Stevenson was able to find information on the person Manoj claimed to have been. Nawabsingh had served in the army of India and after he was discharged, he turned to a life of crime. He was killed in February 1964, in a shootout with police.

Stevenson, in his report of this case, noted that Manoj had made numerous correct details regarding the life of Nawabsingh, though Stevenson did not elaborate. In addition, Stevenson noted that he was convinced that the families of Nawabsingh and Manoj Kumar were not related to one another, nor did the families know each other.

Evidence and Principles of Reincarnation-Understanding Past Lives

Physical Resemblance: Ian Stevenson was able to obtain photographs of Nawabsingh and Manoj, which do show similar facial features. One must keep in mind that the photo of Nawabsingh was taken in adulthood, while the photograph of Manoj was taken in his teenage years. As we age, skin loses its elasticity, so that as we become older, one’s face becomes more puffy or swollen. I believe this factor accounts for differences in facial appearance in this case, as do differences in the poses in theses images.

Split Incarnation or Parallel Lives: Manoj was born about 7 months after Nawabsingh was killed by police. If the soul is involved in the process of conception, which I believe it is, then the soul Nawabsingh | Manoj was animating two physical bodies at the same time for about 2 months, assuming that Manoj was delivered after a normal 9-month pregnancy.

Ian Stevenson termed these “Cases with Anomalous Dates,” as lifetimes overlapped in time.

Split Incarnation: The Soul of Daw Soe, a Burmese Woman, Begins a New Life as a Man, While Daw is Still Alive: Reincarnation Case of Daw Soe | Maung Tun

How Derived: Past Life Memories in Childhood

Researcher: Ian Stevenson, MD

From: Reincarnation and Biology: A Contribution to the Etiology of Birthmarks and Birth Defects, by Ian Stevenson, MD, pages 1906-1911

Article by: Walter Semkiw, MD

Friendship of Daw’s Mother with Tint, Who Will Become Daw’s Mother When She Reincarnates

Daw Soe, a girl, was born in Burmese city of Mandalay in about the year 1887. Burma is now known as Myanmar. The Buddhist temples of Mandalay are featured in the image to the right. Click on it to enlarge.

Daw grew up in Mandalay and as a young woman, she married and then had five children. Daw and her husband earned their living through a trading company that they had founded. Daw also enjoyed doing meditation.

Daw had a younger female friend whose name was Khin San Tint, who we will refer to as Tint. Though Tint was not a relative, there was a close connection between her and Daw. In fact, Daw kept a photograph of Tint at her home and conversely, Tint kept a photo of Daw at her home.

When she was in her early 60’s, Daw developed cataracts or opacties of the lenses of both eyes, which led to her becoming blind. When she was 64 years old, she had an operation on one of her eyes to remove the cataract. Surgery was successful, though Daw had to wear eyeglasses with thick lenses for the rest of her life to see well through the eye that was operated on.

Daw’s friend, Tint, married and became pregnant at the end of 1964. Daw died shortly afterwards, on February 22, 1965 at the age of 78.

Daw Reincarnates as a Boy, Tun, with Tint as his Mother

About 6 months later, on August 28, 1965, Tint gave birth to a baby boy, who she named Maung Soe Tun. For simplicity, we will refer to him as Tun.

Tun was born in the Burmese city of Magwe, which is about 60 kilometers or 37 miles west of Mandalay, where Daw Soe had lived.

Tint worked as a schoolteacher. As she was absent from the family’s home during the day, Tun was raised by Tint’s aunt.

Tun Recognizes His Past Life Photo

As noted, Tint kept a photo of Daw Soe at her home. When Tint’s son, Tun, was 7 months old he would point to the photograph of Daw Soe. While looking at this photo, he would pat himself on the chest.

This behavior stimulated his family to ask him: “Are you mother Soe?” In response, Tun seemed to be pleased by this identification.

When Tun started to speak at 18 months of age, he made more direct references to his previous life as Daw Soe. For example, Tun talked about the relatives of Daw Soe who lived in Nga-Zun, Burma, though Tun had never been there.

Tun Makes Past Life Identifications at Daw’s Home

When Tun was 4 years old, he was taken to Daw Soe’s home and he recognized people that Daw Soe had known, who Tun had never met in his lifetime. For example, Tun recognized Daw’s brother, U Shwe Gaing, who Tun correctly called by a nick-name that Daw had used for her brother.

Also at Daw’s home, Tun pointed to a room, which, it turned out, was where Daw Soe had always slept.

Daw Soe’s family, as a past life test, mixed up clothing and jewelry that had belonged to Daw with apparel and jewelry that belonged to other family members. Tun then correctly identified clothing and jewelry that had belonged to Daw and rejected items that did not belong to Daw.

At 7 years of age, Tun pointed to a photo of Daw Soe and stated that she was him. Tun also reported that as Daw, his right eye had been operated on. Like Daw, Tun developed an interest in meditation.

Split Incarnation

Ian Stevenson, MD noted that Tun’s mother, Tint, was 3 months pregnant when Daw had died. As such, Tun was conceived three months before Daw had died.

If the soul is involved in conception, which I do believe it is, then the lives of Daw and Tun overlapped by 3 months. Ian Stevenson, MD documented a number of cases in which lifetimes overlapped. Stevenson termed these: “Cases with Anomalous Dates”

I call these types of cases “Split Incarnation,” as the soul inhabits or animates more than one human body at a time. An older term for this phenomenon is “Parallel Lives.”

A split incarnation case that Stevenson documented involved Ruprecht Schultz. Ruprecht was born 6 weeks before his past life personality. Helmut Kohler, had died. Stevenson considered this reincarnation case as one of strongest he had ever researched. The setting of this story is World War II in Germany. To learn more, please go to:

Suicide and Reincarnation Case of Helmut Kohler | Ruprecht Schultz

Evidence and Principles of Reincarnation-Understanding Past Lives

Planning Lifetimes and Past Life Relationships: Daw Soe had a close relationship with a younger female friend named Tint. Daw reincarnated as Tint’s son, Tun.

Reincarnation and Gender Change: Daw Soe was a woman, but reincarnated as Tun, a male.

Split Incarnation or Parallel Lives: Tun was conceived three months before Daw died. If the soul is involved in the process of conception, then the soul of Daw | Tun was animating two human bodies at a time. Ian Stevenson, MD of the University of Virginia called these “Cases with Anomalous Dates,” as lifetimes overlapped.

Split Incarnation or Parallel Lives-Introduction

Evidence that a soul can animate more than one body at a time. The symbol for split incarnation is two individuals arising from a central soul.

Article by Walter Semkiw, MD

Split Incarnation or Parallel Lives Defined

Independently researched reincarnation cases, including many studied by Ian Stevenson, MD, demonstrate that a soul may animate more than one physical body at a time. Ian Stevenson called reincarnation cases in whIch lifetimes overlap as “cases with anomalous dates.”

I term this phenomenon as “split incarnation.” I refer to two people who derive from the same soul, who are incarnate at the same time, as “splits”. “Parallel lives” is an older term that has been used to describe the phenomenon of splits incarnated at the same time. I coined the term “split” in the year 2000.

A variant of split incarnation is when a person is alive and at the same time, that person’s soul has animated a fetus which will be born in the future. In this case, a person and that person’s fetus for an upcoming incarnation exist at the same time.

How does split incarnation work? Though we don’t know for sure, we can imagine split incarnation as similar to how a mirror can split a beam of light into two or more beams of light. Similarly, the soul can project more than one beam of light or energy template into physical incarnation at a time.

We can imagine two splits as two arms of a human being. Each arm has its separate existence, yet both arms are controlled by one brain or mind. In split incarnation, we can see two splits as two appendages of the soul. How many splits can a soul project onto the physical world at a time? As is discussed in the section, Soul Evolution, it is believed that the maximum number is about seven, though having this number of splits at the same time is rare.

Reincarnation Cases with Split Incarnation

Reincarnation Research Home Page

Split Incarnation or Parallel Lives: The Reincarnation Cases of Charles Parkhurst | Alice Cary | Penney Peirce: Spiritual Communication in Past Life Cases

Through series of three lifetimes as Penney Peirce, Charles Parkhurst and Alice Cary, similarities in physical appearance, writing talent, interests and passions are observed. Change in gender and the phenonmenon of split incarnation or parallel lives are evident, as Penney’s past lives as Alice Cary and Charles Parkhursrt overlapped by 29 years, showing how a soul can animate more that one physical body at a time.

How Derived: Past Life Identifications made by a Spirit Being

Researcher: Penny Peirce

Article by Walter Semkiw, MD From: Born Again and Return of the Revolutionaries

Introducing Penney Peirce

In 1999, I joined an e-mail discussion group called Inpresence, which is made up of published authors whose works focus on the development of intuition and related topics. At one point, I sent an e-mail describing the reincarnation research that I was doing and I asked if anyone in the group knew of other cases that I could study. One person who responded was Penney Peirce, who related that she had a past-life story.

Penney is a professional intuitive, counselor, perceptual skills trainer and lecturer who works throughout the United States, Europe and Japan. She is the author of Frequency, The Intuitive Way: A Guide to Living from Inner Wisdom, The Present Moment: A Daybook of Clarity and Intuition and Dreams for Dummies. I met with Penney in her Novato, California home, north of San Francisco, to learn more about her case. Let me share her story with you.

Penney moved all over the country growing up, with much time spent in the Midwest and some on the East Coast. She moved from New York City to California in the early 1970s. She worked as a corporate art director and graphic designer, but pursued meditation and clairvoyance development in her spare time, in California’s then-burgeoning self-help movement.

Penney has a Session with a Trance Medium, Bobby Jo, and receives Past Life Information from a Spirit Being or Spirit Guide

During that period in the 1970’s, a medium, who I will call Bobby Jo, regularly visited the San Francisco Bay area. In her work as a medium, Bobby Jo let non-physical spiritual beings speak through her to provide clients with information about past lives.

Bobby Jo, who remained in a meditative state during this process, would have no memory of the information conveyed. This type of channeling of spirit beings is typical of how a trance medium works. I myself have worked with a trance medium, Kevin Ryerson, since 2001. Kevin channels a spirit being named Ahtun Re, who has demonstrated the ability to make past life matches with a high degree of accuracy.

Past-life information is reportedly accessed from the Akashic Records, a set of memory banks or a library of the planet’s history, found in the spirit realm. Peirce describes Bobby Jo as a dramatic character, with a jovial nature and a naïve faith. Bobby Jo knew nothing about Penney when they met, nor did Penney reveal information about herself at the time of their private session.

Given this background, Penney was shocked when in her reading, Bobby Jo started to rattle off facts regarding a past lifetime as if she were reading out of an encyclopedia.

Spiritual Communication: With Startlingly Specific Information, Penney Peirce is told by a Spirit Guide that She is the Reincarnation of Charles Parkhurst

Bobby Jo related that in a past era, Penney’s name was Charles H. Parkhurst, that he had been born on April 17, 1842, in Framingham, Massachusetts, had lived on a farm and then become a prominent minister. Parkhurst enjoyed mountain climbing and used the pulpit to fight crime.

Bobby Jo then reported that Parkhurst had written many books, among them: The Sunny Side of Christianity; A Little Lower than the Angels; Analysis of the Latin Verb Illustrated by the Sanskrit; What Would the World Be Without Religion?; The Blind Man’s Creed and Other Sermons; The Pattern in the Mount; The Pulpit and the Pew; Talks to Young Men; Talks to Young Women; and My Forty Years in New York.

Bobby Jo told Penney that Parkhurst had died on September 8, 1933, at the age of 91, and Bobby Jo then exclaimed in a drawl, “And honey, you died sleepwalking off a roof!”

Given this degree of specific information, Penney tried to verify the past-life detailed by Bobby Jo. In her investigation, she found that there was a record of Charles Parkhurst and that Bobby Jo’s description of him was accurate in every detail, including the long list of books Parkhurst had written.

Reincarnation and Personality Traits: Similarities Between Charles Parkhurst and Penney Peirce

Penney realized that there were many similar personality attributes between Parkhurst and herself, and that there was even a physical resemblance. In assessing this proposed past-life match, Penney reflected that there was no way that Bobby Jo could have memorized all that data on Parkhurst. Further, in Parkhurst, Bobby Jo had identified an individual with character features that matched closely with her own. Penney reflected that this was particularly impressive, given that Bobby Jo knew next to nothing her. Further, this session with conducted in the 1970’s, long before the Internet was in place. Let us review some of these common traits.

Past Life Writing Talent

First of all, Parkhurst and Penney share the distinction of being published authors. Penney, as a writer, demonstrated talent at an early age, winning a National Scholastic Magazine award for a short story.

Peirce has had three books published, as noted above, and in addition she has contributed to a number of other titles, such as The Celestine Prophecy and Tenth Insight Experiential Guides by Carol Adrienne and James Redfield; The Purpose of Your Life by Carol Adrienne; Intuiting the Future by William Kautz; and Channeling: The Intuitive Connection, also by Kautz.

In addition to his scholarly works, Parkhurst also wrote for young people. Similarly, Penney has been writing children’s books since college, incorporating spiritual themes into these stories.

Past Life Traits of Spirituality and Service

Parkhurst and Penney have shared an interest in spirituality and providing service through the ministry. Parkhurst earned his undergraduate and graduate degrees from Amherst College, then studied theology in Halle, Leipzig, and Bonn. He returned to teach at Williston Seminary, in Massachusetts, and went on to become a Congregational Minister in Lenox, Massachusetts, where he spent six years. He then became the pastor at Madison Square Presbyterian Church in New York City and earned a Ph.D. and a doctorate in divinity (DD) from New York University and Columbia.

Penney Peirce also has had a lifelong affinity for spiritual studies. Ever since she can remember, Penney says that “Why” was the word that motivated her behavior. She voraciously read books on world religions, psychic phenomena, and philosophy. Penney was in search of the core truths contained in all religions and became a licensed minister as a result of this interest. She has even served as a substitute minister at a Unity Church.

Past Life Talent in Latin

Like Parkhurst, Penny has had a natural affinity for ancient languages. Parkhurst taught Greek and Latin and wrote a book called Analysis of the Latin Verb Illustrated by the Sanskrit. Peirce took advanced Latin in high school and scored highly in a state Latin competition. She has also had a fascination with Sanskrit and Egyptian hieroglyphs. Peirce relates that she once had a series of dreams that featured ancient Greek words, words that she had no knowledge of in her waking consciousness.

Past Life Social Activism: Tammany Hall and Whistle Blowing

Charles Parkhurst used his pulpit to right social and spiritual wrongs. Parkhurst lived in New York City at a time when political corruption was a major issue. Tammany Hall, the political regime that held power in the late 1800s, was in collusion with crime bosses. Tammany Hall police officials routinely took bribes, while the general populace stuck their heads in the sand and said nothing.

Parkhurst, who served as President of the Society for the Prevention of Crime, preached perhaps one of the most famous sermons in American history in which he denounced the corruption.

Parkhurst described New York City as “hell with the lid off” and challenged the public to do something about it. A roving reporter happened to be in the audience and the story made the news, arousing much public excitement and a vehement backlash from officials. Parkhurst was attacked and challenged to prove his accusations. He launched his own investigation and soon appeared before a grand jury with facts in hand.

As a result, there ensued the Lexow Investigation and the election of a reform government, the Strong Administration. The appointment of Teddy Roosevelt as the new Police Commissioner followed.

Like Parkhurst, Peirce also has the inclination to act as a whistle-blower and reformer. In her college newspaper, Penney published articles protesting departmental and curriculum changes that she thought were to the detriment of students. When she worked for a large corporation, she launched a letter-writing campaign to warn of unethical practices she observed taking place in her department.

Reincarnation & Love of the Land

Charles Parkhurst and Penney Peirce both grew up on farms and have shared a love for agriculture. Parkhurst, in his autobiography, wrote: “Agriculture is the physical basis of all civilization. It stands to civilization as the body stands to the soul.” (1) Parkhurst went on to say that, “working the soil is the great original art.” (2)

Penney began keeping a journal at age seven and much of her inspiration stemmed from nature and the farm. Further, the National Scholastic Magazine award she won was for a short story about the wheat fields of Kansas. Penney has also loved “working the soil” and has planted a vegetable garden every year since she was twenty.

Past Life Love of Climbing

Parkhurst and Peirce also have shared a love of climbing. Parkhurst was an avid mountaineer, who vacationed annually in the Alps, climbing the Matterhorn, Weisshorn, and other great peaks.

Peirce demonstrated an early affinity for climbing also. At the age of three, she climbed a cedar tree adjacent to her home and peered into the family’s second story bathroom, where her mother was applying makeup. When Penney’s mother looked outside and witnessed her three-year old daughter waving to her from a tree, she almost had a stroke!

The Sleepwalking Death of Charles Parkhurst & Penney’s Nightmares of Falling

In a tragic incident, Parkhurst’s demise was associated with his love of heights. At the age of 91, Parkhurst had an episode of sleepwalking during which he strode off the roof of his porch, falling to his death.

In what appears to be a residual effect of this traumatic event. Penney Peirce relates that for years she experienced recurring nightmares of driving off cliffs, falling in elevators, and falling out of trees. At the end of every dream, when she realized that she would die, Peirce would wake up in an agitated condition.

When Penney had her session with Bobby Jo and learned that Parkhurst had died by falling off a roof, her nightmares abated. She had one last dream in which she fell out of a tree in “super slow motion,” consciously reviewing the stages one goes through in dying by falling. After that dream, the nightmares stopped entirely.

Penney believes she had these nocturnal images of falling because Parkhurst was asleep and confused when he died, and that the experience had never been processed in a conscious manner.

Peirce also feels that Parkhurst’s death by sleepwalking out a window and off a roof might be related to her own subliminal desire to leap off high places and fly like a bird. Perhaps Parkhurst had the same urge and found a way to let himself fly that fateful night.

Paradoxically, Penney notes that to this day she still has an attraction, rather than an aversion, to elevated locations, to heights. Fortunately, in this lifetime Peirce lives in a one-story, ranch-style house.

Spiritual Communication: Another Past Life for Penney Peirce as Alice Cary is Revealed

In her session with the Bobby Jo, Penney was also told about an even earlier incarnation. Bobby Jo conveyed that Penney’s name in that lifetime was Alice Cary, that she was born on a farm near Cincinnati, Ohio on April 26, 1820 and that she died on February 12, 1871.

As in the Parkhurst case, Bobby Jo rattled off a series of books that Alice Cary had written, which included the following titles: Poems of Alice and Phoebe Cary; Clovernook: Recollections of Our Neighborhood in the West; Hagar: A Story for Today; Lyra and Other Poems; Clovernook Children; Married, Not Mated; Adopted Daughter and Other Tales; The Josephine Gallery; Pictures of Country Life; Ballads, Lyrics and Hymns; The Bishop’s Son, A Lover’s Diary; The Born Thrall; Snow-Berries: A Book for Young Folks; and Ballads for Little Folks.

Once again, Bobby Jo appeared to have access to an incredible amount of detailed information on spontaneous basis. Bobby Jo also told Penney that Alice Cary had been inseparable from her younger sister, Phoebe, in that lifetime. Bobby Jo related that Phoebe reincarnated as Penney’s younger sister, Paula.

Like with the Parkhurst case, it seemed impossible for Bobby Jo to have memorized all this information about the relatively obscure Cary, especially when validation of the information revealed consistent facial features, personality traits and consistent published works.

Past Life Identity of Penney Peirce as Alice Cary is Validated

As with the Charles Parkhurst past lifetime, even though Penney had never heard of Alice Cary before her session with Bobby Jo, she was able to find Alice Cary in historical records. Once again, as in the past life match regarding Parkhurst, all the detailed information that the spirit guide had conveyed to Penney regarding Cary was correct, including the specific titles of books that Cary had written, the date of birth and the date of death. In addition, the facial features of Cary and Penney are consistent.

Sisters Reunited through Reincarnation

The case of Alice Cary | Penney Peirce features a karmic relationship that seems to have persisted from one lifetime to another. Recall that Bobby Jo told Penney that Alice Cary had a sister named Phoebe and that in this lifetime, Phoebe is Paula, Penny’s contemporary sister.

It appears that Bobby Jo’s statement is valid. Penney learned that Alice Cary did indeed have a sister named Phoebe. Further, Penney was able to locate images of Phoebe, whose facial features are consistent with those of Penney’s sister, Paula. Phoebe was considered to be one of the wittiest women in America, known for her ability to see the ludicrous in the glamorous, and for her great ability for parody.

Penney has observed that these personality traits are consistent with Paula, who is also described as witty, like Phoebe. Penney once wrote that Paula is characterized by a “dry wit and cheerful, diplomatic disposition.” Paula is also very intelligent, like Phoebe, as demonstrated by her having earned a PhD. In a more mundane similarity, Phoebe was known to have an aversion to housework. In this lifetime, Paula has the same aversion. Paula sets money aside so that she can utilize a maid service, rather than do housework herself.

Past Life Relationship of Alice and Phoebe is Continued in the Lives of Penney and Paula

Another significant parallel is observed in the relationships between the sisters, Alice and Phoebe and Penney and Paula. Both sets of sisters are approximately the same number of years apart in age, and both have had incredibly close relationships with each other.

Regarding Alice and Phoebe Cary, a biographer wrote: “The connection between the sisters, who had always treated one another with the utmost consideration and delicacy, was one of the most charming things about their unique dwelling.” (3)

The emotional bond between the sisters was so great, in fact, that they practically died together. After Alice succumbed to tuberculosis, Phoebe was so drained with grief that she passed away six months later. This close connection between the sisters persists in contemporary times. Peirce has noted, “Throughout my life, my younger sister Paula has been my best friend.”

A Past Life Relationship Reflected in the Name Phoebe

The bond between the sisters was rekindled early, as Penney recalls that when Paula was born, she had no feelings of jealousy or sibling rivalry; rather, Penney wanted to be close to her little sister. Later in life, Penney seems to have unconsciously intuited the past-life identity of her sister. Penney relates that as a young woman, she fantasized about a list of names that she would give to her children someday. Interestingly, her favorite name was Phoebe, which she learned meant “shining and bright.”

Penney Peirce as Reincarnated Feminist Leader Alice Cary

In addition to her literary pursuits, Alice Cary was a social activist, like Parkhurst and Penney. Alice was a firm believer in the abolition of slavery and a proponent of women’s rights. She became the first president of first women’s club in America, the Sorority of Sisters (Sorosis), and was friends with Jane Croly, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Susan B. Anthony.

In a similar way, Penney became involved with the feminist movement in New York and California. She also became the art director for a feminist magazine. Alice Cary hated human repression or coercion in any form. Penney Peirce started a nonprofit organization in college to study the harmful brainwashing effects of the mass media and advertising on the general public.

Past Life Talent: Clairvoyance and Similarities in the Spiritual Beliefs of Alice Cary and Penney Peirce

Spiritually, Alice was attached to the Universalist Church and accepted its doctrines, including the belief in reincarnation and that spirits of the deceased could communicate with the living. She wrote:

“Laugh, you who never had

Your dead come back; but do not take from me
…my foolish dream:

That these our mortal eyes

Which outwardly reflect the earth and skies,
Do introvert upon eternity.” (4)

Cary’s biographer noted that Alice also had an interest in prophecy. Alice’s sister and friends related that she would “tell us each our fortune anew, casting our horoscope afresh in her teacup each morning.”

Similarly, Penney pursued parapsychology and clairvoyance development very early in her career. She has made her living as a professional intuitive. Also, Penney has served as a substitute minister for the Unity Church, which has a very similar theology to the Universalist Church.

Reincarnation & Replication of Writing Talent

Parallels between Cary, Parkhurst and Peirce are apparent from their list of book titles alone. All three have been accomplished writers and all three have written children’s books. Alice Cary was a prolific author of poetry, as well as a writer of nonfiction, just like Penney. In an interesting synchronicity, Alice Cary wrote under the pen name “Patty Lee,” which corresponds to the rhythm and initials of Peirce’s first and middle names, “Penney Lee.”

Reincarnation & Love of Nature

Alice Cary had an early quest for knowledge, even reading at night by the light of burning lard when candles were not available to her. Cary loved nature and wrote prolifically about scenes from rural life.

Penney also has a love for nature, as did Parkhurst, and she lives in a setting of rolling farmland. Penney began keeping a journal at age seven and much of her inspiration stemmed from nature, animals, and the farm. Like Alice Cary, Penney published articles and poems in her teens. The National Scholastic Magazine award she won, we recall, was for a short story about Kansas wheat fields.

Reincarnation & Practice of Spirituality in Daily Life

Another parallel Penney has noticed between her own writings and those of Alice Cary and Charles Parkhurst is that all three focused on the need to demonstrate spiritual values in everyday life, in intention and through small actions, and that the practice, the process, and the experience itself is more important than just talking about lofty goals. Peirce has selected the following quotes from their books to illustrate this point. Please note that Penney’s quote was written before she learn of her proposed past lives as Cary and Parkhurst.

Cary: “True worth is in being, not seeming—in doing, each day that goes by, some little good.” (5)

Parkhurst: “Character is the impulse reined down into steady continuance.” (6)

Peirce: “The process, not necessarily the answers, is the sacred thing.” (7)

Reincarnation & Prose On Truth

Parkhurst wrote: “Truth, of course, is from everlasting and has its existence in the being of God, while an idea is only an attempt at truth and comes and goes with the mind that develops it.” (8)

Peirce wrote in her journal: “Information is of the mind. Knowledge is truth, the result of the direct experience of being or Soul. Information is facts, the mere description of knowledge.” (9)

Cary wrote: “For sometimes, keen, and cold, and pitiless truth,/In spite of us, will press to open light/The naked angularities of things,/And from the steep ideal the soul drop/In wild and sorrowful beauty, like a star/From the blue heights of heaven into the sea.” (10)

Reincarnation and Prose on Gratitude

Parkhurst wrote: “We have enough to make us all happy and thankful if we will be quiet long enough to take an affectionate inventory of our commonplace mercies, and let our hearts feel of them and mix themselves with them till we become saturated with their comfort and awaken into a loving sense of the patient goodness of their Giver.” (11)

Penney wrote: “Slow down enough to describe in simple terms the things you feel, as though you’re taking inventory. By noticing things, you connect with your world. The ‘feminine mind’ brings you into a sense of beneficence and providence, and as you experience this fully, you may weep, or overflow with praises, or beam with feelings of ecstasy.” (12)

Alice Cary wrote: When I think of the gifts that have honored Love’s shrine—/Heart, hope, soul, and body, all the mortal can give—/For the sake of a passion superbly divine,/I am glad, nay, and more, I am proud that I live!” (13)

Please note that in the Anne Frank | Barbro Karlen reincarnation case, a similarity in content in published writings across lifetimes was also observed.

Reincarnation & Gender Change: Despite Masculine and Feminine Sides of the Soul, Content Stays the Same

Penney notes that she seems to be an interesting link between the masculine, more intellectual, minister, Charles Parkhurst, and the emotional, feminine poet, Alice Cary. In her writings, Penney combines elements of both. It is interesting to observe that in Penney’s reincarnation cases, though the styles of rhetoric may vary with changes in gender and era, core ideas stay the same.

This phenomenon also was observed in the reincarnation case of Paul Gauguin | Peter Teekamp, as Peter replicated ideas and subject matter in his art from the Gauguin lifetime, but he did so in a much more surrealistic way. This is clearly seen in comparing Gauguin’s “Yellow Christ” and Peter’s painting, “Presentation of the Christ.”

Reincarnation & Geographic Correspondences in the Lives of Cary, Parkhurst and Peirce

There are also geographical correspondences between the three lives. Past-life regression therapists have noted that souls often like to retrace their steps, from one lifetime to another. It is almost as if the soul is nostalgic for familiar places and settings of past lives. As such, it appears that prior to incarnating, the soul engineers a life path that will take it to these familiar locations. Planning lifetimes and destiny is discussed in: Principles of Reincarnation

Retracing Past Life Locations in Cincinnati and New York

As an example, Penney went to college at the University of Cincinnati, in Ohio, only a few miles from where Alice was born. Here, like Cary, Penney began writing poetry in earnest. Also in college, Penney had a boyfriend who wrote poems to and drew portraits of a fictitious woman. Her boyfriend referred to this woman as his muse and he called her “Alice,” as if he were intuiting Penney’s past life as Cary.

Interestingly, Alice Cary had been jilted by a boyfriend when living in Ohio, which prompted her to suddenly move to New York City. Penney wonders whether her college boyfriend might have been the same man who jilted Cary.

After Alice Cary moved to New York, her sister Phoebe soon followed. The women had moved to the city with the intention of making their living from literature—a very adventurous thing to do.

Together, they wrote and published many books of poetry and fiction. In New York, Alice and Phoebe Cary were fondly known as “The Sisters of the West,” as Ohio was still considered the western edge of adolescent America at that time.

The Cary sisters became beloved by the intelligentsia and other types as they hosted a popular literary salon in their home for over fifteen years. Attendees included thinkers, philosophers, early feminists, writers and prominent personalities of the time, such as Horace Greeley, Edgar Allan Poe, John Greenleaf Whittier, and PT Barnum.

In what appears to be a parallel path, Penney also left Ohio abruptly, before graduating from college, and moved to New York City. In New York, Penney, like Alice Cary, soon became involved with a group of feminist writers and other authors. In another geographic correspondence, Penney’s job was situated near Gramercy Park, only blocks from where Alice and Phoebe Cary had lived. In New York, the life of Charles Parkhurst also becomes intertwined with theirs.

Penny’s apartment on West 80th Street was only blocks from where Charles Parkhurst resided on West 74th. She attended night school at New York University and Columbia, which Parkhurst also attended. In time, Penney moved to Park Slope, Brooklyn, close to where Alice and Phoebe are buried in Greenwood Cemetery.

Retracing Past Life Paths to Los Angeles and Framingham, Massachusetts

In another odd parallel, Parkhurst, late in life, traveled from New York to Los Angeles to marry a second time. Similarly, Penney left New York City for Los Angeles to complete her degree in design at the California Institute of the Arts. She also notes that in the year after her session with Bobby Jo, her parents moved near Framingham, Massachusetts, the birthplace and childhood home of Charles Parkhurst. In visiting her parents, Penney has been able to revisit Parkhurst’s old stomping grounds.

Split Incarnation or Parallel Lives

The compelling reincarnation cases of Charles Parkhurst | Penney Peirce and Alice Cary | Penny Peirce demonstrate a very interesting and important phenomenon, that a soul can animate two different bodies at the same time. I have termed this split incarnation, as it appears that the soul can split itself, or project itself, into different physical bodies at the same time, This phenomenon has also been called parallel lives.

Alice Cary, the earliest incarnation in this series of lives, was born in 1820 and died in 1871. Charles Parkhurst was born in 1842, at a time when Alice Cary was 22 years old. Alice Cary died in 1871 at the age of 51, at time when Parkhurst was 29 years old. As such, the lifetimes of Cary and Parkhurst overlapped by 29 years.

Parkhurst died 52 years after the death of Alice Cary, in 1933. Penney Peirce was born in 1949, 16 years after Parkhurst’s death, 50 miles from the location where Parkhurst died.

A very compelling Ian Stevenson, MD past life case involving split incarnation is: The Reincarnation Case of Helmut Kohler | Ruprecht Schultz

Did Cary and Parkhurst Ever Meet?

It is of interest to wonder if Alice Cary and Charles Parkhurst ever crossed paths. Though there is no evidence to support that Cary and Parkhurst ever met, it appears that they did come in close proximity to each other. In 1850, Alice, at 30 years of age, journeyed from Ohio to visit John Greenleaf Whittier at his Massachusetts home, not far from where Parkhurst was living on his family’s farm in Framingham. Parkhurst was as an 8-year-old boy at the time.

The two people had another episode of geographic proximity 20 years later, in the summer of 1870 when Alice Cary made her last foray out of New York City to visit friends in Northampton, Massachusetts. Cary was 50 years old at the time. Parkhurst, who was now 28 years of age, was living nearby in Massachusetts and was married in Northhampton 8 months later.

Parkhurst moved to New York in 1880, nine years after Cary died. Though it appears that the two never met, it is likely that Parkhurst knew of Cary. When Parkhurst was a young man, Cary was in her prime as an author, contributing to many popular magazines of the time. It is possible that Parkhurst read articles written by his split, Alice Cary.

Principles of Reincarnation & Understanding Past Lives

Physical Resemblance: The facial features of Alice Cary, Charles Parkhurst and Penney /principles-of-reincarnationPeirce are consistent.

Past Life Talent: Alice Cary, Charles Parkhurst and Penney Peirce have all been published authors, whose focus has been on spirituality.

Relationships Renewed through Reincarnation: Alice Cary was very close to her sister Phoebe, who appears to have reincarnated as Penney’s sister Paula.

Reincarnation and Gender Change: In these series of cases, Penney had a past lifetime as a male, Charles Parkhurst, and a past lifetime as a female, Alice Cary.

Split Incarnation or Parallel Lives: The lives of Alice Cary and Charles Parkhurst overlapped by 29 years.

Spirit Being or Spirit Guide Involvement: Penny Peirce’s past life identities were revealed by a spirit guide channeled through a medium.

Footnotes:

1. Charles H. Parkhurst, My Forty Years in New York, MacMillian, New York, NY, 1923, p. 20.
2. Charles H. Parkhurst, My Forty Years in New York, MacMillian, New York, NY, 1923, p. 20.

3. National Cyclopedia of American Biography, Vol 1, White and Co., p. 535.

4. Mary Clemmer Ames: Alice and Phoebe Cary, Hurd and Houghton, New York, NY, 1873, p. 93.

5. Quote provided by Penney Peirce from an Alice Cary website, source not identified.

6. Quote provided by Penney Peirce from a Charles Parkhurst website, source not identified.

7. Penney Peirce:The Intuitive Way, Beyond Words Publishing, Hillsboro, OR, 1997, p. 10.

8. Charles H. Parkhurst: My Forty Years in New York, p. 230.

9. Penney Peirce, from personal unpublished journal.

10. The Ladies’ Repository, Sept. 1855, “Literary Women of America; Number VI, Some Notice of the Writing Genius of Alice Cary,” editor, Rev. D. W. Clark.

11. Charles H. Parkhurst, A Thanksgiving Message from Dr. Parkhurst, the Foremost Patriotic Preacher in America,” Amherst Library.

12. Penney Peirce: The Intuitive Way, Beyond Words Publishing, Hillsboro, OR, 1997, p. 82.

13 .From “God is Love, “ by Alice Cary, reprinted in: Mary Clemmer Ames, Alice and Phoebe Cary, p. 263.

Past Life Story with Split Incarnation, Suicide, Karma & Past Life Ability: Reincarnation Case of Helmut Kohler | Ruprecht Schultz

Helmut died November 23, 1887, Ruprecht was born October 19, 1887, five weeks before Helmut’s death. Many believe that the soul is involved with the development of the fetus from the time of conception, if this is true this reincarnation case demonstrates evidence of split incarnation or parallel lives.

How Derived: Memories in Adulthood

Researcher: Ian Stevenson, MD

From: European Cases of the Reincarnation Type, by Ian Stevenson, MD

Article by: Walter Semkiw, MD from Born Again

Helmut Kohler’s Successful Business as a Timber Merchant & Broker

Helmut Kohler was born on January 7, 1834, to a Christian family in Wilhelmshaven, Germany, a seaport on the North Sea. He married and had several children, including a son named Ludwig, who was born in 1873.

Helmut was a timber merchant, ship-broker and sawmill operator in his home town of Wilhelmshaven. He purchased timber from various countries, including Norway, Sweden, Russia and America, which was transported by ship. He processed the timber in his sawmill and sold it as lumber.

Helmet Speculates on Timber, Loses his Fortune & Commits Suicide

In 1887, Helmut anticipated that the price of imported lumber would go up due to a proposed tax and he paid a premium price on a large amount of timber from overseas. The tax was never enacted and the price of timber actually fell. This miscalculation resulted in the loss of a great deal of money.

In an effort to survive financially, he enlisted his accountant in a scheme to falsify the company’s financial records. Unfortunately, the accountant panicked and fled with all the company’s cash.

Helmut was devastated by his financial losses. On November 16, 1887, after attending a celebration for the festival day called the Day of Repentance and Prayer, Helmut went back to his office. He put a revolver to his temple and shot himself in the head. He died on November 23, 1887.

Helmut Reincarnates as Ruprecht Schultz with Suicide Behavior

Ruprecht Schultz was born on October 19, 1887, in Berlin, Germany to Christian parents, five weeks before Helmut Kohler died. As such, if this reincarnation case is accepted, it represents a case of split incarnation, where a soul can inhabit more than one human body at a time. Consider that Ruprecht was in the womb for 8 months while Helmut was still alive.

As a child, whenever Ruprecht became depressed, he would shape his hand into a gun, with the index finger representing the barrel of the gun. He would put his index finger to his temple and say, “I shoot myself.” (1)

Ruprecht pretended to shoot himself in the temple so often that his mother became concerned and ordered him to stop this behavior.

As a child, Ruprecht was fascinated with revolvers. In addition, he also had a great interest in ships and shipping. He built a collection of model ships and pictures of ships. Ian Stevenson noted this was unusual for a boy who was born and raised in Berlin, which is an inland city without a port.

Past Life Ability: Ruprecht Demonstrates Innate Talent for Business

As he grew up, Ruprecht had little interest in education; rather, he was driven to start a business. He left school at 18 years of age and started a laundry business with a delivery service, which became very popular with young mothers, whose babies created a great deal of dirty laundry. By the age of 20, he had more than twenty employees and his company would grow to employee 200 people.

Ruprecht became rich and enjoyed participating in community affairs. He became a member of his local Chamber of Commerce and a representative in the Berlin municipal council.

Reincarnation & Deja Vu in a Dark Hallway

World War II began in 1939, when Ruprecht was 51 years old. The war would significantly affect Ruprecht’s life and financial holdings. It was during Allied bombings of Berlin that past life memories began to surface.

Ruprecht was assigned duty watch by city authorities to observe for fires that could arise from the bombings. Ruprecht took a regular shift from Saturday evening to Monday morning, during which he would stay at his business office to get work done during quiet hours. His office was in an old building that was designated as a historical landmark. He had a safe located in a dimly lit hallway. Ruprecht would to go the safe, get his account books and reflect on how the business was going.

Whenever Ruprecht went to the safe to get the account books, he would have the repetitive thought: “You were in this situation once before.” (2)

Past Life Memory: While Fully Awake, Ruprecht Sees Himself Commit Suicide on a Ceremonial Day

While reviewing his account books and while fully awake, Ruprecht would see himself in a past lifetime. In a tape recorded statement, Ruprecht explained:

“I could see how I looked then. I was wearing a high collar and formal clothing. I had come from a ceremony on a special day. My business was finished. An employee had run off with the money—embezzled it and absconded. So I sat down with the account books and could see that there was no future. It was all over. Then I was in a room by myself and put a bullet into my head at the right temple. You would call these images clairvoyance, but for me, they are memories.”(3)

In another statement, Ruprecht noted how similar the settings were in the past lifetime and his current incarnation during World War II, when the memories emerged:

“The setting of the previous time was similar to the one I was in then. The safe was in a similar location and the account books were also similar.” (4)

Ian Stevenson noted that Ruprecht’s memories were vague at first, but over time, they became clearer and clearer. The memories only occurred when Ruprecht was fully awake and they only occurred when he was in his office during his watch duty. The office setting in Berlin replicated the office setting in his previous lifetime. This similarity appears to have triggered his past life memories.

Past Life Memories: Ruprecht Remembers a Lifetime Involving Shipping & Lumbar in Wilhelmshaven

In a written statement, Ruprecht elaborated on his memories:

“Since my earliest years, I have had a distinct impression, with various details that I was in a previous life somehow connected with ship building or shipping and that I shot myself. I was in the prime of life. For the place of this life I knew that it occurred in an old small or middle-sized seaport; and is seemed to me later and more clearly that this seaport was Wilhelmshaven.

Further, the man I was seemed to be in an ancient house. In this there was a small room with a chest or kind of safe or filing cabinet in which important papers, account books and probably also some cash were kept. The person I was wore dark clothes of the style of that period, as if he had come from some important session or unusually important event. As for the date of these events—the suicide of the person I was—it has seemed to me that it would have been around 1885.” (5)

Ruprecht also recalled that in this past lifetime, he was involved in a business dealing with wood. Ruprecht started to keep a diary, writing down memories as they surfaced. He was not able to verify his memories until after World War II had ended.

Validation of Ruprecht’s Past Life Memories

Ruprecht remembered that his past lifetime was spent in a small seaport town in Northern Germany. He felt that Wilhelmshaven was the correct place, but he also considered several other towns in Germany on the North Sea.

Ruprecht wrote to municipal authorities of Wilhelmshaven and nine other seaside towns, inquiring whether they knew of a businessman who was involved with shipping of timber, the lumber business and who had shot himself and died in the 1880’s.

Of the ten cities he wrote to, all responded indicating that they knew of no such man, except for Wilhelmshaven. An official from Wilhelmshaven wrote to Ruprecht and stated that a man from that town did fit the description. The man was a ship broker and timber merchant, who had committed suicide.

In the first letter from Wilhelmshaven, the official wrote that the family name of timber merchant was “Kohl.” Ruprecht knew that this name was slightly off. In a second letter from the official, the family name was corrected to “Kohler” and Ruprecht was provided with the address of the man’s surviving son, Ludwig Kohler. (6)

Relationship Renewed through Reincarnation: Ruprecht Gets a Letter from his Past Life Son, Who Confirms Helmut’s Past Life Memories

On September 17, 1952, Ruprecht wrote to Ludwig Kohler who responded and confirmed that Ruprecht’s past life memories corresponded closely to the life of his father, Helmut Kohler. Ludwig, in a letter to Ruprecht, gave the following testimony:

“My father, Helmut Kohler, had a substantial business in Willhelmshaven that included trading in timber and also a sawmill. Our residence was in 25 Friedrichstrasse, and right next to it was a one-story building that was used for the offices. This building faced north, and it had only small windows, so that it was always dark in there. In a corner of one of the rooms there was a somewhat antiquated safe, which you have mentioned. In it money, account books, and also a cash box and important papers were kept. My father ordinarily wore dark clothing, and when ever he went out he wore a top hat on his head.

He imported wood by ship from Danzing, Konisberg, and Mermel, but in particularly from Norway, Sweden, Finland, Russia and America. In 1888 he mistakenly believed that a customs duty would increase, and he purchased from abroad an unusually large amount of timber. Unfortunately, this was a faulty speculation, because the price of timber fell and much more than the customs duty rose. He then had difficulty in paying the invoices.

In order to get through the crisis he had arranged for his accountant, who had been his ‘right hand’ and enjoyed his complete trust, to falsify the records of their foreign exchange transactions. The two of them thought that they would extricate themselves when the exchange rate fell. This did not happen. The accountant became afraid that he would be arrested, and he fled to America taking with him a substantial amount of the company’s available funds.

My father now got into a complete panic and shot himself on the Day of Prayer and Repentance. The company had to declare bankruptcy, although this was in fact unnecessary. Even though the buildings, the sawmill, and the lumber on hand were all sold in a forced auction, all the creditors were paid off.” (7)

Relationships Renewed through Reincarnation: Ruprecht Meets Ludwig and Recognizes Other Past Life Sons in Photographs

In October 1956, Ruprecht traveled to Wilhelmshaven for the first time, where he met Ludwig Kohler. Wilhemshaven is 370 kilometer or 230 miles from Berlin. As noted, Ruprecht had never been to Wilhemshaven before. Ludwig was 12 years old when his father, Helmut, committed suicide. Now, as an adult, Ludwig would meet the proposed reincarnation of his father.

Ruprecht said that he recognized certain buildings, such as the Town Hall, in Wilhelmshaven. He stated that when Ludwig showed him photos of the Kohler children, who were pictured among a large group of schoolchildren, he was able to recognize Helmut’s other sons from the crowd, though he was not able to recognize his past life daughters.

Ian Stevenson, MD on the Strength of the Helmut Kohler | Ruprecht Schultz Reincarnation Case

In sum, Ruprecht was able to validate his past life memories by contacting his past life son, Ludwig Kohler. Ian Stevenson considered the case of Helmut Kohler | Ruprecht Schultz as one of the strongest reincarnation cases he had studied. Stevenson was particularly impressed with Ruprecht’s validated memories involving a past life involving a shipping and timber business in the remote town of Wilhelmshaven, which ended in suicide. Stevenson felt this combination of memories was far too unusual to occur by chance or coincidence.

The Karma of Suicide

Is there a penalty for committing suicide? I asked this question in a session with Kevin Ryerson, who channels a spirit being named Ahtun Re who I have worked with since 2001. Ahtun Re is the most intelligent being I have ever interacted with. In sum, the consequence of suicide is that one will have to reincarnate and face the same type of situation that led to the suicide. In other words, one cannot escape a difficult situation through suicide, for one will have to face the same situation in a future lifetime.

Past Life Karma: Rupecht Loses his Fortune, Replicating the Circumstances of Helmut’s Suicide

The case of Helmut Kohler | Ruprecht Schultz provides a dramatic example of this principle. Reflect that Helmut became wealthy in dealing with timber imports and the processing of lumber. When his financial situation took a downturn and he faced bankruptcy, he committed suicide to escape the consequences of his loss of fortune.

Helmut then reincarnated as Ruprecht Schultz, who as a youth demonstrated natural skill as an entrepreneur. As such, Ruprecht appears to have retained business talent from his past lifetime as Helmut. Ruprecht, like Helmut, became very wealthy. He also became involved in civic duties. Helmet appears to have been a city official who dressed in formal attire for the Day of Repentance and Prayer. Ruprecht became a member of his local Chamber of Commerce and a representative to the Berlin municipal council. Life patterns are observed to repeat.

Like Helmut, Ruprecht also lost all his wealth, though for Ruprecht, it was not due to bad business decisions. Quite the opposite, Ruprecht noted that in his contemporary lifetime, he had been a very conservative investor who avoided risk, which he attributed to the losses incurred in his lifetime as Helmut. Instead, the cause of Ruprecht’s lost fortune was the destruction of Berlin during World War II. The division of Berlin into East and West sides after the war caused him further financial loss.

Ruprecht retired from business when he was 68 years old and moved with his wife from Berlin to Frankfurt, where he died at the age of 80 in 1967.

If Evidence Indicates Reincarnation is Real, is Suicide a Viable Option?

Though everyone has to make their own decisions, it is recommended that suicide not be considered an option for those in difficult circumstances for several reasons:

1. First of all, one never knows when life circumstances will change. Recall that Ludwig, Helmut’s son, noted that his father’s suicide was unnecessary, as when Helmut’s business assets were sold in the forced auction, all creditors were paid. Helmut, it appears, underestimated the worth of his assets. Helmut could have lived out his life and enjoyed seeing his children grow, though his lifestyle would have been less luxurious.

In my medical career, I have witnessed several cases in which people were acutely suicidal due to adverse life events. Within a few years, though, their situations had changed considerably and they found themselves living very happy lives. Anyone with suicidal thoughts should seek psychiatric help. Psychotherapy and antidepressant medication can be very effective and help people make it through periods of depression.

2. Suicide is not an escape, as one will need to return to deal with the same situation, as demonstrated in the reincarnation case of Helmut Kohler | Ruprecht Schultz. Suicide does not lead to eternal damnation, as some religions teach. Rather, suicide will make the soul face the same lesson so that a more adaptive and positive decisions can be made.

3. Suicide causes emotional trauma to loved ones who are left behind. In addition to experiencing grief due to the loss of their loved one, other emotions that can be felt are guilt and confusion, as the surviving loved ones wonder if they could have done more to prevent the suicide. There are karmic consequences to causing emotional pain to others. Pain caused in others may need to be experienced by the suicide victim in a future incarnation.

In the United States, people struggling with depression and suicidal thoughts can be access help through the:

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline Phone Number: 1 800 273-8255

Principles of Reincarnation & Understanding Past Lives

This reincarnation case has several interesting features:

Geographic Past Life Memory: We have defined geographic memory as past life memories or emotions that are stimulated by visiting a past life location. In this case, it was not a visit to a past life physical location, rather, the replication of a past life scenario which stimulated memories.

Recall that when Ruprecht would go to his safe in the dark hallway to look at his account books, he had the thought that he had been in this situation before. Later, as he returned to the hallway and retrieved the account books from the safe, memories started to surface, which became clearer and clearer.

The stimulus for Ruprecht’s memories was being in the same setting, a dark office with an old safe and reviewing business account books, which replicated the setting of Helmut’s suicide.

Relationships Renewed through Reincarnation: After committing suicide, Helmut reincarnated as Ruprecht and was reunited with Ludwig Kohler, Helmut’s surviving son. Indeed, it was through Ludwig that Ruprecht was able to validate his past life memories.

Split Incarnation or Parallel Lives: Helmut died on November 23, 1887, while Ruprecht was born on October 19, 1887, five weeks before Helmut died. As such, this represents a case of split incarnation, where a soul animates more than one human body at a time. Consider that Ruprecht was in the womb for 8 months while Helmut was still alive.

As will be discussed in the section entitled, Soul Evolution, it is believed that the soul is involved with the development of the fetus from the time of conception. If this is true, the soul of Helmut Kohler was involved in developing a new incarnation as Ruprecht Schultz while it was still animating the body of Helmut. Why would it do so?

In general, the soul uses split incarnation to more effectively develop or accomplish goals. For example, if a soul is involved in a project to help the world evolve, the soul may plant several incarnations of itself in different parts of the world.

The soul can also be aware of patterns of behavior, including suicide, and anticipate that an incarnation may be cut short. Consider that in the reincarnation case of Paul Gauguin | Peter Teekamp, Paul had an unsuccessful suicide attempt, as did Peter in contemporary times.

Though we cannot know for sure, in the case of Helmut, his soul may have foreseen that a suicide might occur. His soul then started the process of another incarnation as Ruprecht, prior to Helmut’s death, to continue its evolution.

Reincarnation & Innate Talent-Past Life Ability: Ruprecht demonstrated natural talent as an entrepreneur and businessman at the age of 18, becoming wealthy in a short period of time. It appears that Ruprecht was drawing upon business abilities developed in his prior incarnation as Helmut.

Footnotes
1. Stevenson, Ian: European Cases of the Reincarnation Type, McFarland, 2003, page 221
2. Stevenson, Ian: European Cases of the Reincarnation Type, McFarland, 2003, page 213
3. Stevenson, Ian: European Cases of the Reincarnation Type, McFarland, 2003, page 213
4. Stevenson, Ian: European Cases of the Reincarnation Type, McFarland, 2003, page 213
5. Stevenson, Ian: European Cases of the Reincarnation Type, McFarland, 2003, page 214-215
6. Stevenson, Ian: European Cases of the Reincarnation Type, McFarland, 2003, page 211
7. Stevenson, Ian: European Cases of the Reincarnation Type, McFarland, 2003, page 216

Soul Plan in the Past Life Story of Poldi Holzmuller | Wolfgang Neurath: Reincarnation Case with Change in Gender

Poldi Holzmuller reincarnates as a boy, a reincarnation case that touches on gender identification.

How Derived: Memories in Childhood

Researchers: Dr. Karl Muller, Ian Stevenson, MD

From: European Cases of the Reincarnation Type, by Ian Stevenson, MD

Article by Walter Semkiw, MD

Poldi Holzmuller and her Lack of Attraction for Boys: Past Lives as a Man?

Poldi Holzmuller was born in 1913 in Feldkirch, Austria to a Roman Catholic family. Her mother’s name was Elizabeth and her father’s Ernst. Poldi was a quiet child whose favorite hobby was cutting pictures from newspapers and saving them. Her favorite foods were puffed rice and noodle soup. As a teenage girl, she was independent and had no interest in boys. In fact, she even stated that she would have nothing to do with men, as if she was not attracted to them.

Ian Stevenson’s past life research indicates that souls reincarnate in the same gender 90 percent of the time. Poldi’s lack of attraction to men may be due to this soul having a majority of lifetimes in the male gender and as such, a male mind set, in which an attraction to women is the norm.

Poldi’s Aunt Tantele

Poldi was especially attached to her Aunt Anna, who lived in South Tyrol. Aunt Anna came to visit Poldi and her family occasionally. During her visits, Poldi and Aunt Anna were very affectionate. They would hug and kiss and they had pet names for each other. Poldi was “Poldile” and Anna was “Tantele,” which in German is a variant of tante, which means aunt. As such, Anna’s nick name was the equivalent of “Auntie.”

Poldi Contracts Tuberculosis

When Poldi was 19 years old, she developed pulmonary tuberculosis. Though the Holzmullers were Roman Catholic, Poldi and her mother Elizabeth has some interest in reincarnation. Poldi’s father, Ernst, did not believe in reincarnation.

Soul Plan: Poldi Says She Will Reincarnate Nearby as a Boy

Throughout the year 1933, Poldi was bedridden. As tuberculosis was often fatal, Poldi started to think about her death. She told her mother that if she reincarnated, she would be a boy and she would be reborn in the same neighborhood, so that she could be with her family again. Further, Poldi said if she reincarnated nearby, she would give them a sign, so that the Holzmullers would know that it was her.

Soul Plan: Poldi wants to Reincarnate & Ride in Marie Neurath’s Carriage

The Holzmuller’s had a neighbor, Marie Neurath, who visited Poldi often during her illness. Marie became pregnant in the summer of 1933. On one visit, Marie told Poldi about a baby carriage she had bought in anticipation of having her new child. Poldi asked if she could accompany Marie on strolls with the new baby. She then added,
“But you know, what I really would like would be to be in the baby carriage myself.” (1)

Poldi died 16 months after she developed tuberculosis on January 13, 1934, at the age of 20.

Announcing Dream from Spirit Realm: Poldi Appears as a Swallow

After Poldi’s death, her mother, Elizabeth, had a dream in which she was in their garden watching swallows perched on a power line overhead. One of the swallows said:

“Mama, don’t you see me?”

Elizabeth replied: “Yes, but which swallow are you?”

Then she heard Poldi say: “I am here.” With that statement, one of the swallows flew into a room of Marie Neurath’s home. (2)

Reincarnation & Gender Change: Poldi Reincarnates as Wolfgang & Fulfills Carriage Soul Plan

Marie Neurath had a son she named Wolfgang, who was born on March 3, 1934, less than three months after Poldi’s death. When Wolfgang was only 8 days old, Elizabeth, Poldi’s mother, visited the Neurath’s home to see the infant, who happened to be sleeping in the new baby carriage Marie had bought.

Wolfgang awoke and when he saw Elizabeth, he stretched out his hands and smiled, as if to greet her. Perhaps this was the sign that Poldi promised to give if she reincarnated nearby.

Past Life Recognition of Tantele & Fondness for Puff Rice & Clipping Newspapers

As a young boy, Wolfgang was observed to be effeminate, which he grew out of over time. His favorite foods were puffed rice and noodle soup, which we recall, were Poldi’s favorite foods. Also like Poldi, Wolfgang enjoyed cutting pictures out of newspapers and he was a quiet child, as was Poldi.

When Wolfgang was three, Aunt Anna came to visit the Holzmullers for the first time following Poldi’s death. Anna was in the family’s garden and Marie went over to chat with her. At that time, Wolfgang came out of the Neurath’s house and when he saw Anna, he ran joyfully to her, tried to climb the fence that separated them and cried out, “Tantele, Tantele,” the pet name that Poldi had given Anna. In contrast, Wolfgang did not call his contemporary aunts by this pet name; rather, he used the proper term “Tante.” (3)

Wolfgang Asks his Past Life Mother to Buy Him Puffed Rice

When Wolfgang was four years old, he ran into Elizabeth at the local grocery store. When she started to leave, Wolfgang said: “Wait for me until I have done my shopping. Then I will go back with you. We belong together, you now.” (4)

Wolfgang walked Elizabeth back to her home, passing up the Neurath home along the way. He then said, “I have to go back home over there. You know I live there now.” (5)

In another incident at the same grocery store, Wolfgang and his mother, Marie, met Elizabeth, Poldi’s mother. Wolfgang said to Elizabeth: “Mama, please buy some puffed rice for me. My mother over there won’t buy me any.” (6)

With this statement, if was as if Poldi was asking her mother, Elizabeth, to purchase her favorite food, puffed rice, which was not a staple at her new family’s home.

Wolfgang Knows his Way Around his Past Life Home

When Wolfgang was about 12 years old, he was running errands for Ernst Holzmuller, the husband of Elizabeth and the father of Poldi. Ernst asked Wolfgang to go back to the Holzmuller’s home to get something that he needed that was stored in the attic. Wolfgang ran over to the Holzmuller’s home and at the door, Elizabeth offered to get the needed article.

Wolfgang replied: “I already know where it is. I know this house well.” (7) In reality, Wolfgang had never been to the second floor of the Holzmuller’s house before, nor had he been to their attic. Ian Stevenson noted that on the second floor, there are 6 nearly identical doors along a central corridor. There was no way to know by looking at the doors which one led to the attic.

Nonetheless, Wolfgang ran up the stairs to the second floor, picked the correct door for the attic and scampered back with the article that Ernst needed.

This is reminiscent of how in the Anne Frank | Barbro Karlen reincarnation case, Barbro knew where pictures should have been found on a wall on her first visit to the Anne Frank House.

Acceptance of Wolfgang as the Reincarnation of Poldi

Elizabeth and Ernst Hollzmuller both believed that Poldi reincarnated as Wolfgang, due to the announcing dream, Wolfgang’s recognition of Tantele Anna, the common behavior of clipping photographs out of newpapers, his familiarity with the Hollzmuller’s home and attic, and his fondness for noodle soup and puffed rice. Note that the Neurath family did not eat puffed rice, as evidenced by Wolfgang having to implore Elizabeth to buy it for him.

The Hollzmuller’s also noted that Poldi, prior to her death, told Marie Neurath that she would like to be the baby that would occupy her new baby carriage. It appears that Poldi’s wish did come true.

Principles of Reincarnation & Understanding Past Lives

This reincarnation case demonstrates the following features:

Proximity Reincarnation Case and Planning a Future Lifetime: Though Poldi did not reincarnate in the same biologic family line, she reincarnated to the family next door, to be close to the Hollzmullers and Aunt Anne. I term this type of case as a proximity reincarnation case.

In this case, as in all same family reincarnation cases, a soul has actively made plans for an incarnation. As Poldi anticipated her death from tuberculosis, she told her mother, Elizabeth, that she would reincarnate as a boy, which she did as Wolfgang. She also told her mother that she would reincarnate nearby, so that she would be close to the Hollzmullers.

Gender Change: Poldi, a female, reincarnated as Wolfgang, a boy. We have noted that gender change occurs in 10 percent of reincarnation cases. This may be due to a soul having a natural male or female predisposition. It may be that the soul of Poldi | Wolfgang has a preference for male incarnations. Recall that Poldi seemed to have no interest in men. An attraction to men is a trait typical of women or souls with a preference for female incarnations. Poldi told her mother, Elizabeth, that she would be reincarnate as a boy. This appears to be her soul’s preferred gender.

Spirit Being Involvement from the Spirit Realm: From the spirit world, the soul of Poldi appears to have given her mother, Elizabeth, an announcing dream indicating that she would be born to Marie Neurath. In the dream, Poldi appeared as a bird on a wire that spoke to Elizabeth and then flew into Marie’s home.

Split Incarnation: Wolfgang was born only 2 ½ months after Poldi died. As such, Poldi was alive for the first 6 ½ months of Marie’s pregnancy with Wolfgang. If a soul is involved in the development of a fetus, then the soul of Poldi was involved in the development of Wolfgang’s fetus for 6 ½ months while Poldi was still alive. In other words, the soul of Poldi | Wolfgang was inhabiting two bodies at one time, which we have defined as split incarnation.

We observed this same phenomenon, of split incarnation involving a fetus, in another Stevenson reincarnation case, that of Hanan Monsour | Suzanne Ghanem.

Change in Religion: The Hollzmuller family was Roman Catholic, and though Elizabeth and Poldi had an interest in reincarnation, Ernst Hollzmuller did not. In the end, Elizabeth and Ernst came to believe that Poldi had indeed reincarnated as Wolfgang and as such, they had accepted that reincarnation as the way that the human soul evolves

Footnotes

1. Stevenson, Ian: European Cases of the Reincarnation Type, McFarland, 2003, page 102
2. Stevenson, Ian: European Cases of the Reincarnation Type, McFarland, 2003, page 102
3. Stevenson, Ian: European Cases of the Reincarnation Type, McFarland, 2003, page 102
4. Stevenson, Ian: European Cases of the Reincarnation Type, McFarland, 2003, page 103
5. Stevenson, Ian: European Cases of the Reincarnation Type, McFarland, 2003, page 103
6. Stevenson, Ian: European Cases of the Reincarnation Type, McFarland, 2003, page 103

Past Life Story with Spirit Being, Past Life Phobia & Behavior: Muslim Reincarnation Case of Abdulkerim Hadduroglu | Necati Caylak

Abdulkerim Hadduroglu met his death in a Minibus Crash and he reincarnated as Necati Caylak who possessed clear and vivid memories of his past life and death.

How Derived: Memories in Childhood

Researchers: R. Bayer and Ian Stevenson, MD

From: Cases from of the Reincarnation Type: Volume III, Twelve Cases in Lebanon and Turkey, by Ian Stevenson, MD

Article by Walter Semkiw, MD

The Life of Abdulkerim Hadduroglu & Death in a Minibus Crash

Abdulkerim Hadduroglu was born in Cekmece, a village near Antak ya, in 1934. He lived most of his life in Bedirge, which is north of Antakya. Another village in the area is Karaali, which lies 8 kilometers south of Bedirge. All these locations are part of the southernmost Turkish province of Hatay.

Abdulkerim was a farmer and his land was along a highway. Abdulkerim married a woman named Surevya, who was from Arsus, with whom he had three children. She was pregnant again at the time that Abdulkerim died.

Abdulkerim was a Muslim who observed the month long fast of Ramadan, which also requires abstinence from alcohol. Ramadan is followed by the three day holiday of Seker Bayram, which some Muslims celebrate with indulgence in alcohol. On February 26, 1963, Abdulkerim celebrated Seker Bayram in Antakya with friends by drinking raki, an alcoholic beverage made in Turkey.

After Ramadam, Abdulkerim Drinks Raki

As Abdulkerim and his friends had became intoxicated, they asked a friend, Cevri Simsek, to take them home. The group, consisting of Abdulkerim, Suphi Elmas, Huseyin Yenoicak and Abdulgani Kizildag, got into a Fiat minibus with Cevri at the wheel. Two of the drinking companions, Hasan Bereket and Remzi Simsek stayed behind.

Abdulgani Kizildag asked to be taken back to the gasoline station where he worked. After they dropped him off, the group headed towards Bedirge. Just as the minivan approached the bridge at Karaali, a truck came from the other direction with its high beam lights on. The lights blinded Cevri who went off the edge of the road, striking the wall of the bridge. The minibus spun around and stopped on the embankment below the bridge.

Abdulkerim was sitting next to the driver. With the impact of the crash, he was smashed against the frame of the vehicle, the force causing one of his shoes to fly off. Abdulkerim was killed instantly. As noted the date was February 26, 1963. The driver, Cervi, suffered a concussion, was hospitalized for three days and was then transferred to prison. He later went to trial for reckless driving and driving while intoxicated, but was acquitted.

Past Life Memories: Necati Caylak Remembers his Past Life and Death as Abdulkerim Hadduroglu

Necati Caylak as born in 1963 in the village of Karaali, about a month after Abdulkerim died in the crash. His parents were Mikdat Caylak and his wife, Zekiye.

When he was two or three years old, Necati started talking about a past lifetime. His first statement referred to his having owned a field near a highway. He said that he was from Bedirge in his prior incarnation.

Necati then said that he had been killed at the Karaali bridge when the vehicle he was in hit the bridge as he was returning from Antakya to Bedirge. He said that he had been drinking before the accident and that it occurred on a Muslim religious holiday. Necati accurately stated the vehicle he was in was a minibus and that he lost a shoe in the crash.

Past Life Memories: Necati Identifies Past Life Companions in the Minibus

Necati correctly named Cevri and Abdulgani as being in the minibus with him, and that Abdulgani worked in a gas station. He said that the minivan was stolen, which was partially correct, as the minivan was taken without permission of the owners.

Necati identified Remzi as being another friend in the minibus. In actuality, Remzi was part of the group that drank raki on the night of the accident, but Remzi was left behind and did not travel in the minivan. Necati states that Ferrac was another occupant of the minvan, but in reality Ferrac was a part owner of the minivan who was not involved in the accident. Necati did not accurately identify Suphi Elmas and Huseyin Yenoicak as the other occupants of the minivan.

In sum, Necati gave an accurate description of the crash, in that he said it happened in a minivan at the bridge at Karaali and that he lost a shoe in the accident. He also made a number of accurate statements involving occupants of the minibus, namely that he, Cevri and Abdulgani traveled in the minibus before the crash, but he also confused a few names and details regarding the occupants.

Necati’s family had heard about the crash at the Karaali bridge, which only happened a month before Necati was born, but they didn’t know any details regarding those involved in the accident. As such, they could not have supplied Necati will all these details involving the occupants of the minivan.

Past Life Phobia: Necati’s Fear of Crossing the Bridge where Abdulkerim was Killed

When Necati was two to three years old, he and his older brother were walking down the highway when they came to the bridge at Karaali, where Abdulkerim was killed. When Necati saw the bridge, he became extremely anxious and he started to cry.

When asked why he was crying, Necati told his brother that he had been killed in a car accident there. He said that in the crash, he lost one of his shoes. Necati refused to cross the bridge and wanted to find a different way to cross the small river beneath the bridge.

Ian Stevenson noted that Necati’s phobia of the bridge lasted many years, only weakening when he reached ten years of age. Necati also had a phobia of traveling in automobiles, which persisted until he was seven years old.

A similar reaction of experiencing fear at a geographic location was also observed in the case of Rashid Khaddege | Daniel Jurdi, which was also researched by Ian Stevenson, MD. Rashid had died in an automobile crash at a spot called Military Beach, in Lebanon.

As a small child, Daniel was in a car that was being driven by his mother. As they came to the place on the road called Military Beach, little Daniel started to cry uncontrollably. When his mother asked why he was crying, Daniel said that he had been killed at this spot in his prior lifetime. Like Necati, Daniel also had a phobia of cars, though Stevenson said Daniel’s phobia was limited to fast moving vehicles.

The Rashide Khaddege | Daniel Jurdi case is especially important, as it demonstrates that facial features can remain the same from one incarnation to another.

Past Life Memories: Necati Identifies Past Life Family Members

Following his reaction to the bridge a Karaali, Necati gave additional details about his past lifetime. He said that his name had been Abdulkerim. Necati said that his wife was named Sureyya, who came from Arsus. He said that he had sons named Mehmet and Ali, as well as a daughter named Enver, which may have been his attempt to say Munnever. Later on, when he met Abdulkerim’s widow, he correctly told her that their daughter’s name was Munnever.

Necati also said that in his past lifetime his mother was named Fatma, his sister was named Katif and that he had an aunt named Meryem. All these statements were correct.

He said that he had been drinking alcohol at the time of the crash. Necati initially mistakenly said that he had been driving the vehicle that crashed. Later on, he said that Cevri was the one driving the car. Necati added that Cevri should not have been driving, as he had been drinking.

Spirit Being: Abdulkerim Hadduroglu Observes Events after his Death

Necati said that his wife in his prior incarnation had given birth after his death. Sureyya was pregnant at the time that Abdulkerim died and she did give birth to another child after his death. Necati’s knowledge that Sureyya delivered a child after his death implies that the soul of Abdulkerim was able to observe his loved ones from the spirit world. This phenomenon has been observed in many reincarnation cases, which are complied in the section entitled Spirit Being Involvement in Reincarnation Cases.

Past Life Relationships: Necati is Reunited with his Past Life Wife and Family

Sureyya Hadduroglu, the widow of Abdulkerim, heard about Necati’s claim to have died in an auto accident at the Karaali bridge. In the autumn of 1966, three and a half years after the accident, when Necati was about three and a half years old, Sureyya came to visit Necati. She brought with her Abdulkerim’s great uncle, Hasan Sufi Hadduroglu, and two of Abdulkerim’s friends, the brothers Zeyneb and Ahmet Adahi.

When the visitors were all assembled, Necati’s brother brought Necati in the room and asked him, “Who is this woman.” (1)

Necati replied, “Sureyya.” (2)

Sureyya then had little Necati sit on her knee. She then asked, “Who am I?” (3)

Necati then stated, “You are my wife.” Necati then added that Sureyya was the daughter of his past life uncle, which was correct. (4)

When asked who Hasan Sufi Hadduroglu was, Necati correctly responded that he was a past life paternal uncle. Necati also correctly identified by name Zeyneb and Ahmet Adahi.

Necati’s spontaneous identifications made Sureyya believe that Necati was indeed the reincarnation of her deceased husband, Abdulkerim. Necati’s correct identification of Abdulkerim’s family members brought Sureyya to tears.

Sureyya then said to Necati, referring to him as her husband reborn: “How could you leave Sureyya?” (5)

Necati replied, “But you are Sureyya.” (6)

Past Life Memories: Necati Identifies Past Life Family Members at the home of his Past Life Wife, Sureyya

Sureyya invited Necati and his father to her home to visit her and her children. There, Sureyya’s father-in-law, that is, Abdulkerim Hadduroglu’s father, took Necati in his arms and showed him photographs on the wall and asked, “Who is this?” (7)

Necati looked at the photos and correctly identified himself in his past incarnation, Abdulkerim Hadduroglu, and Abdulkerim’s sister, Katif.

At Sureyya’s home, Necati also spontaneiously identified Meryem Haddurouglu, Abdulkerim’s stepmother. While he was at Surreyya’s home, Mehmet, Abdulkerim’s eldest son, entered the house. When Necati saw him, he immediately and spontaneously said, “This young man is my son.” (8)

Past Life Behavior: Little Necati likes Raki and Identifies his Past Life Drinking Companions in Karaali

Hasan Bereket, one of the people who was drinking raki with Abdulkerim on the night that he was killed, heard about Necati’s memories of being the reincarnation of Abdulkerim.

Unannounced, he and two others who had been drinking with Abdulkerim on the day he died decided to visit Necati. This occurred in 1968, when Necati was five years old. As they arrived in Karaali, Necati saw them.

Necati spontaneously said to Hasan: “Oh, how are you, Hasan?” (9)

Hasan reported that Necati also recognized the two other drinking companions.

Of interest, Necati also demonstrated a premature interest in raki.

Principles of Reincarnation & Understanding Past Lives

Phobia from a Past Lifetime: Necati demonstrated a great fear of crossing the bridge at Karaali, where Abdulkerim Hadduroglu was killed. This phobia lasted until he was ten years old. In addition, Necati had a fear of traveling in automobiles, which lasted until he was seven.

Spirit Being Involvement: Necati’s knowledge that Sureyya, his past life wife, delivered a child after his death implies that the soul of Abdulkerim was able to observe his loved ones from the spirit would. He was apparently able to observe that his wife’s pregnancy ended in the delivery of a healthy child.

Relationships Renewed through Reincarnation: Necati was reunted with this past life family and wife.

Split Incarnation: Necati was born about a month after Abdulkerim had died. If it is assumed that he soul is involved in the development of the fetus, then Abdulkerim’s soul was animating Necati’s fetus for 8 months of gestation. This phenomenon of a soul being able to inhabit more than one human bodies at a time is termed split incarnation.

A similar case, which features split incarnation and also shows that facial features can remain consistent from one lifetime to another, is the case of Hanan Monsour | Suzanne Ghamen

Footnotes

1. Stevenson, Ian: Cases of the Reincarnation Type: Volume III, Twelve Cases in Lebanon and Turkey, University of Virginia Press, 1980, page 314
2. Stevenson, Ian: Cases of the Reincarnation Type: Volume III, Twelve Cases in Lebanon and Turkey, University of Virginia Press, 1980, page 314
3. Stevenson, Ian: Cases of the Reincarnation Type: Volume III, Twelve Cases in Lebanon and Turkey, University of Virginia Press, 1980, page 314
4. Stevenson, Ian: Cases of the Reincarnation Type: Volume III, Twelve Cases in Lebanon and Turkey, University of Virginia Press, 1980, page 314
5. Stevenson, Ian: Cases of the Reincarnation Type: Volume III, Twelve Cases in Lebanon and Turkey, University of Virginia Press, 1980, page 306
6. Stevenson, Ian: Cases of the Reincarnation Type: Volume III, Twelve Cases in Lebanon and Turkey, University of Virginia Press, 1980, page 306
7. Stevenson, Ian: Cases of the Reincarnation Type: Volume III, Twelve Cases in Lebanon and Turkey, University of Virginia Press, 1980, page 316
8. Stevenson, Ian: Cases of the Reincarnation Type: Volume III, Twelve Cases in Lebanon and Turkey, University of Virginia Press, 1980, page 317
9. Stevenson, Ian: Cases of the Reincarnation Type: Volume III, Twelve Cases in Lebanon and Turkey, University of Virginia Press, 1980, page 317

Past Life Story with Soul Plan, Renewal of Past Life Relationships & Geographic Past Life Memory: Muslim Reincarnation Case of Mehmet Cosmen | Suleyman Zeytun

A Soul Plan in Proximity Reincarnation Case that also exhibits a few inherent characteristics of the other types of reincarnation; the best example are those of split reincarnation. This is the reincarnation case of Mehet Cosmen who reincarnated in the child, Suleyman Zeytun who was born in the same village, just a few doors away from Mehet’s home.

How Derived: Memories from Childhood

Researchers: R. Bayer and Ian Stevenson, MD

From: Cases of the Reincarnation Type, Volume III, Twelve Cases in Lebanon and Turkey, by Ian Stevenson, MD

Article by Walter Semkiw, MD

The Drowning of Mehet Cosmen

Mehet Cosmen was born around the year 1898 and worked as a farmer in the village of Kayish, in Turkey. Kayish is 20 kilometers or miles from the town of Adana, Turkey. In about the year 1938, when Mehet was 40 years old or so, Mehet was doing his usual chores around his farm. It was summertime and he was harvesting, thrashing and milling grain. In the process, horses used to perform these tasks became covered with dust and chaff from the grain.

Mehet would go to the River Seyhan to wash the dust from his horse. On one occasion, Mehet took his horse to be washed in an area of the river that is usually shallow. The level of the river, though, had risen and the spot where Mehet took his horse was deeper than expected. The horse became frightened and bit Mehet on the shoulder, who responded by placing a muzzle on the horse.

Mehet’s horse continued to struggle and pulled Mehet into deeper water, where both Mehet and the horse drowned. Mehet could not swim and when his body was discovered, he was found with his arms wrapped around a tree limb, apparently trying to use the limb to float to safety. As noted, it is thought that the year that Mehet drowned was 1938.

Soul Plan, Renewal of Relationships through Reincarnation & Geographic Past Life Memory: Suleyman visits his Past Life Home

Suleyman Zeytun was born deaf and mute around the year 1938 in the Turkish village of Kayish, the same village that Mehet Cosmen lived and died in. Suleyman’s parents were Ramazan Zeytun and his wife, Bedia. The exact date of Suleyman’s birth is not known.

The Zeytun family actually lived next door to the home of Mehet Cosmen, where his widow and surviving children still lived. Indeed, the house of Mehet Cosmen was only 30 meters from the Zeytun home.

As soon as he could walk, Suleyman would leave his house and go directly to the Cosmen home. Ian Stevenson noted that the Cosmen home was in the opposite direction from the center of the village.

Stevenson conjectured that if a child left the house to meet other people and observe activities in the village, the child would go towards the center of the village, rather than the opposite direction.

Nonetheless, Bedia, his mother, said that Suleyman walked to the Cosmen home “every day.” (1)

Soul Plan in Proximity Reincarnation Case

Please note that Mehmet reincarnating next door to his past life home demonstrates planning on the part of his soul. I term this type of case a Proximity Reincarnation Case, as a soul plans a future lifetime so they reincarnate geographically close to their past life family, so that a reunion with loved ones can be enacted through reincarnation.

Past Life Memories: Suleyman Describes his Past Life Drowning as Mehet Cosman

When Suleyman was barely able to walk and when he made one of his first journeys to the Cosmen’s home, he started to communicate through gestures about how Mehet Cosmen had died. From the Cosmen’s home, he would point in the direction of the River Seyhan to the spot where Mehet had drowned. Other gestures regarding the drowning, which Ian Stevenson observed, include the following:

1. Ian Stevenson noted that Suleyman would turn his hand in a circle with fingers pointing down to imitate the motion of a horse walking in a circle to move the grinding stone to crush grain.

2. Stevenson observed Suleyman holding his arms and hands parallel to one another to imitate the holding of reins, while leaning back to get the horse to go into the river.

3. Suleyman put his right hand on his shoulder and grasped his shoulder, to show that the horse bit him. Ian Stevenson noted that Suleyman would clinch and show his teeth to imitate the horse biting him.

4. Ian Stevenson then observed Suleyman using his right hand in a circular motion to imitate winding a muzzle cord around the mouth of the horse.

5. Suleyman held both hands in front of him as if holding the reins of the horse. He then would lean to the left and backwards with extended arms to imitate falling off the horse.

6. Ian Stevenson noted that Suleyman then put the fingers of his right hand into his mouth to show that he was swallowing water as he fell from the horse.

8. Suleyman the put his right hand around his throat to show that he was drowning.

At first, Suleyman’s family and the surviving family of Mehut Cosmen were unsure of what Suleyman was trying to communicate. Suleyman’s pointing out of the specific spot in the River Seyhan where Mehut had drowned, along with his pantomime consistent with the events which led to Mehut’s death, allowed the families to understand that Suleyman was conveying that he had been Mehut Cosmen in a past lifetime.

Past Life Memories & Possesions: Little Suleyman Claims that Mehet Cosmen’s Koran and a Buffalo are His

Between the ages of two and three, Suleyman began making gestures trying to express that items in the Cosmen family home belonged to him. He then tried to take these items back with him to the Zeytun family home. As examples, he tried to walk away with the Cosmen family Koran, claiming it was his, and he tried to lead a buffalo from the Cosmen’s land to the home of the Zeytun family.

Past Life Emotions: Suleyman Gestures his Love for Members of the Cosmen Family

To the brother of Mehet Cosman, whose name was Saban, Suleyman put his two fingers together as a sign of closeness.

To Hatice Cosmen, the widow of Mehet, Suleyman would put his two fingers together as a sign of closeness and then point to his heart, apparently trying to show Hatice that they had been in love with one another.

Past Life Emotions: Little Suleyman’s Protection of Members of the Cosmen Family

Mehmet Cosmen was very devoted to his wife, Hatice, and worked hard so that Hatice would not have to take a job outside their home. After his death, Hatice had to work for other people in the village, doing tasks such as baking bread. When Suleyman saw that Hatice was working for others, he became very upset, started crying and made gestures indicating that her working for others was wrong.

If Hatice would physically discipline her children, Suleyman would object. When Mehmet’s son, Abdullah, got into arguments with others, Suleyman would protest on his behalf.

Suleyman’s attachment to Mehmet’s family, which started at the age of three, continued until he was at least 29 years of age. Though Suleyman and his family eventually moved to the city of Adana, Suleyman would continue to visit the Cosman family in Kayish.

Suleyman would bring presents to Abdullah, Mehmet’s son. Ian Stevenson made the following poignant observation of Suleyman’s attachment to the daughters of Mehmet:

“He attended the weddings of Mehmet Cosmen’s daughters, crying at each like an affectionate father would do.” (2)

Refika, one of Mehmet’s married daughters, related that Suleyman would often visit her family in the Taurus region of Turkey and stay with them. This is reminiscent of the case of Rashid Khaddege | Daniel Jurdi, who visited his past life family on a monthly basis and also stayed with them, sleeping on a cot reserved for him. The Khaddege | Jurdi case also shows that facial features can remain consistent from one lifetime to another.

Suleyman also remained close to Mehet’s widow, Hatice, though their relationship was of a mother and son, rather than a married couple.

Past Life Phobia of Water

Suleyman had marked fear of water that persisted until he was at least 27 years of age. In contrast to his schoolmates, he refused to learn to swim in the river. He consistently demonstrated fear at the spot on the River Seyhan where Mehmet Cosmen had drowned.

Ian Stevenson, MD, of the University of Virginia, on the Validity of the Mehmet Cosmen | Suleyman Zeytun Reincarnation Case

Ian Stevenson made the point the Suleyman’s deafness serves to strengthen the validity of the case, as Suleyman could not have heard about the death of Mehmet Cosmen from the conversations of others. Suleyman began trying to communicate about his past lifetime as Mehmet long before he was taught to read or write.

Ian Stevenson, in his investigations, was always looking for ways that parents and other involved parties might coach children in testifying about claimed past lives. He was keen to expose any fraud in reincarnation cases.

Ian Stevenson noted that not only did Suleyman’s deafness exclude the possibility of learning about Mehmet’s death from verbal conversations, but it would make it very difficult for anyone to coach Suleyman to falsely claim a past lifetime. Further, Ian Stevenson noted that it would be even more difficult for someone to coach Suleyman to express sentimental emotions towards Mehmet’s family, such crying at the weddings of Mehmet’s daughters.

Was Suleyman’s Deafness and Muteness Karmic in Origin

Villagers in Kayish wondered why Suleyman was born deaf and mute. They concluded that if his disabilities were related to karma, it could not have stemmed from the lifetime of Mehmet Cosmen, as all agreed that Mehmet led a pious life with no misdeeds. If the disabilities were related to karma, they reasoned, it must have due to actions in some other lifetime.

Ian Stevenson noted that Suleyman’s parents, Ramazan and Bedia, were cousins. Since they were of the same biologic family, recessive genes for these disabilities were able to be expressed. As such, Suleyman’s disabilities may have simply have been an issue of genetics.

Whether disabilities or misfortunes are related to karma from prior incarnations is an issue that needs to be better understood and presents a future challenge for those involved in reincarnation research.

Principles of Reincarnation & Understanding Past Lives

This reincarnation case demonstrates the following features:

Soul Plan, Proximity Reincarnation Case: Mehmet Cosmen appears to have reincarnated as Suleyman Zeytun next door to his own past life home in Kayish, Turkey. Though Mehmet did not technically reincarnate into the same family, he reincarnated into a family that gave him direct access to his past life family. I term types of cases “proximity cases,” as the soul reincarnated nearby its last incarnation in order to reconnect with loved ones.

Please note that reincarnating next door to one’s past life home to be reunited with loved ones involves planning by the soul from the spirit realm.

As soon as he could walk, Suleyman made his way to Mehmet’s former home and went on to renew relationships with past life family members. Ian Stevenson noted that Suleyman’s attachment to Mehmet’s children was so strong that at the weddings of Mehmet’s daughters, he wept like any affectionate father would.

As in all same family reincarnation cases, planning by the soul is involved. The soul of Mehmet Cosmen appears to have planned his next incarnation so that he would be born next door to his past life home, so that he could return to his past life family.

Phobia from a Past Incarnation: Mehmet died from drowning and Suleyman demonstrated a fear of water, particularly at the spot in the River Seyhan where Mehmet had drowned.

Change in Religion: It was noted that Suleyman claimed the Koran from the Cosmen home as his own and he tried to take it back to the Zeytun family home. This indicates that Mehmet Cosmen was a Muslim and was we recall, he was noted to be a very pious man.
Ian Stevenson does not specifically indicate what religion Suleyman and his family practiced, but it is safe to say that they developed a belief in reincarnation as Suleyman’s memories of his past lifetime as Mehmet Cosmen became known and validated.

Split Incarnation: Though the exact dates of Mehmet’s drowning and Suleyman’s birth are not known, Ramazan, Suleyman’s father, estimated that the interval between Mehet’s death and Suleyman’s birth was between five to ten days.

Ian Stevenson explained that the villagers of Kayish did not refer to calendars often, but they did remember significant events in their community. The drowning of a member of the village and the birth of a son are events that Ramazan would remember distinctly and as such, Stevenson thought Ramazan’s estimate was likely accurate.

If one assumes that the soul is involved in the development of the fetus and if the interval between Mehmet’s drowning and Suleyman’s birth was only 5-10 days, then the soul of Mehmet inhabited the developing fetus of Suleyman for essentially the entire time that Suleyman was in the womb. This soul was animating both Suleyman, who was in the womb, and Mehmet, who was still alive, for a period of nine months.

This same phenomenon was observed in the very important case of Hanan Monsour | Suzanne Ghanem, as Suzanne was born only 10 days after Hanan died. As such, Hanan was alive almost the entire time that Suzanne was in the womb, indicating that the soul of these two women were animating two bodies at one time. The Monour | Ghanem case also demonstrates that facial features can remain consistent from one lifetime to another.

This phenomenon of a soul inhabiting more than one body at a time has been termed split incarnation. One of the most dramatic examples of split incarnation is found in the very compelling cases involving Penney Peirce. Penney’s soul appears to have inhabited the bodies of two of her past incarnations, those of Alice Cary and Charles Parkhurst, where these two past lives overlapped by 29 years.

Why does the soul incarnate in more than one body at a time? One major reason is to get more accomplished, including working off of karma and participating in projects that are important to the soul. It is also possible that the soul is aware of a destined event, such as an upcoming death, and begins another incarnation to continue its work or to maintain attachments with loved ones

Footnotes

1. Stevenson, Ian: Cases of the Reincarnation Type: Volume III, Twelve Cases in Lebanon and Turkey, University of Virginia Press, 1980, page 262
2. Stevenson, Ian: Cases of the Reincarnation Type: Volume III, Twelve Cases in Lebanon and Turkey, University of Virginia Press, 1980, page 266