Reincarnation Research

Past Life Regression Story of Carroll Beckwith | Robert Snow

A regression of a retired Captain to prove the veracity of memories. The journey into the past is documented in a book, Looking for Carroll Beckwith, a totally honest, humorous and candid recollection of his regression journey.

How Derived: Past Life Regression

Researcher: Robert Snow

From: Portrait of a Past-Life Skeptic: The True Story of a Police Detective’s Reincarnation

Article from: Born Again: Reincarnation Cases Involving Evidence of Past Lives with Xenoglossy Cases Researched by Ian Stevenson, by Walter Semkiw, MD

Captain Robert Snow Goes to for a Past Life Regression on a Dare

Robert Snow is a retired Captain of the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, who in his career was in charge of the department of the Homicide and Robbery and the department of Organized Crime. He has written numerous books on police work. In addition, Captain Snow has written a book called Looking for Carroll Beckwith, Portrait of a Past Life Detective, which documents his reincarnation case in detail. A summary is provided below.

Bob’s story begins at a party, where a police psychologist, who had conducted past life regressions as a hobby, was describing how she would guide clients into a relaxed state so that past life memories could emerge. Captain Snow thought that these so-called memories must be fabricated, that they were fantasies, and he told this to the regression therapist.

Incensed, the psychologist dared Captain Snow to have a past life regression himself. Snow said, “Sure, I’ll do it,” though he really had no intention of following through.

The regression therapist, though, kept hounding Snow and even accused him of being “scared.” That did it and reluctantly, Captain Snow got a referral for a different regression therapist and scheduled an appointment. He decided to have the regression only so it wouldn’t look like he had “welshed on the dare.” Snow did not believe in reincarnation and did not expect to have a meaningful experience during the session.

A delightful aspect of Bob’s book is the high level of skepticism and a mischievous sense of humor that infuses the narrative. Let us share in Captain Snow’s experiences through the following passages from Looking for Carroll Beckwith. We start with the regression therapist, Dr. Mariellen Griffith, guiding the regression. Dr. Griffith begins by instructing Snow to imagine that he is relaxing comfortably in his den at home. The narrative from Captain Snow’s book follows:

“’Now, picture your higher self coming into the room to greet you,’ Dr Griffith said.

I did that, too, though as I sat on the couch with my eyes closed, I couldn’t help but wonder what the hell I was doing there, particularly with she asked me what my higher self was wearing. How the hell would I know? This was her daydream. But I decided to give it a try.

‘White,’ I answered, ‘A long white gown. Wasn’t that what all spirits wore?’

‘Your higher self is standing there and asking if you’re ready to go on a trip. It is telling you that it will guide you and protect you on your trip.’

‘Oh Lord, I thought, as I tried to maintain a facial expression of seriousness, I can’t believe I’m doing this.'” (1)

Robert Snow’s Unexpected Past Life Memories are More Real than Waking Consciousness

Eventually and much to his shock, Captain Snow experienced powerful and very clear past-life memories during the regression. Captain Snow has related that his perception of the past-life events were more clear than waking consciousness. He recalled several different lifetimes, but the one that was most prominent was as a portrait painter in what seemed to be the 19th century. Captain Snow remembered 30 specific details regarding this lifetime as an artist.

One very clear memory involved him painting a portrait of a hunchback woman. Captain Snow vividly remembered the experience, of the paint strokes that were used to create that painting, and even of his questioning of why someone with a pronounced deformity would want a portrait. A summary of the most specific regression memories is provided below:Reincarnation Case of Robert Snow & The Hunchback Woman

1. He painted a portrait of a hunchbacked woman

2. He painted portraits to make money but hated painting portrait

3. He used the name “Jack”

4. He used a walking stick

5. His wife and he spent time in France

6. His wife could not have children

7. They were desperate for money and he argued with his wife about money

8. Despite their problems with money and inability to have children, their marriage was happy

9. He had an art studio with a bank of skylight and a row of windows

10. He once stayed at an estate with large gardens

11. A female relative died of a blood clot

12. He died in a large city with tall buildings in the fall of the year 1917

The regression had such a profound effect on Captain Snow that he became obsessed with trying to determine whether it was authentic. Captain Snow himself still did not believe in reincarnation and operated under the assumption that he had learned about the portrait painter in the past, through a book, in school or at a museum, and that the regression experience represented a forgotten memory that had surfaced.

Police Captain Robert Snow Investigates a Past Lifetime as the Painter of the Hunchback Woman Portrait

Snow investigated the regression experience as he would a police case. He methodically examined art books, visited art galleries and contacted art dealers, searching for the portrait of the hunchback woman he had seen in the regression, or to find some other clue. Captain Snow was unable, though, to identify any historical artist consistent with the regression persona.

Snow is an experienced researcher, having written six books on police management and other police topics. He is also highly intelligent; he scored straight A’s in college and earned a full scholarship for a doctorate program in psychology. Nonetheless, after a year of trying to find the portrait of the hunchback woman, he came to a dead-end. He concluded that it was unlikely that he would ever be able to identify the artist seen during his regression.

Spirit Being or Soul Guidance: Captain Robert Snow Finds the Hunchback Woman in New Orleans

At that point in time, Captain Snow’s wife, Melanie, suggested that they take a vacation trip to New Orleans to celebrate their anniversary. Bob agreed.

On the last day of their trip, Bob wandered into an art gallery in the French Quarter of New Orleans. Here, he had another profound experience. This incident demonstrates how people can be guided, apparently by spiritual sources, in discovering past lives. In the gallery which Captain Snow had walked into by apparent “chance,” he discovered the portrait of the hunchbacked woman he had seen in his regression. Captain Snow describes the scene:

“Whirling around, I stared open-mouthed at the portrait, reliving an experience I’d had once when I grabbed onto a live wire without knowing it, the current freezing me in my tracks as huge voltage surged up and down my arms and legs . . .

For the next several minutes, I didn’t move from in front of the portrait, but instead continued closing my eyes to see again and again the scene of me painting this very portrait in my studio, and then opening my eyes to see the actual finished portrait. The situation began to feel surreal, more like a very vivid dream that you wake up sweating from, a dream that you have to keep telling yourself over and over again was only a dream. It wasn’t real.

Bob wonders if He has had a Stroke

Finally, even though I knew with absolute certainty that this was the same painting I had seen while under hypnosis, I convinced myself that stumbling onto it by accident like this was simply too bizarre to be true. I toyed with the idea for a few moments that perhaps I’d had some kind of stroke and just thought I stood in front of this portrait, when in actuality I was in a hospital bed somewhere or maybe even in a nursing home.

After giving this possibility a few moments’ consideration, I realized how very desperate I had become to find a rational answer for what was happening. But desperate or not, things like this just didn’t happen in real life. What were the chances, after all the months of systematic searching, that I would just happen onto the painting like this? What were the chances that Melanie would just happen to want to go to New Orleans, and that we would just happen to visit this gallery, just when they happened to have this painting for sale? ..

During my 30 years as a police officer, I have always searched for the truth. Sometimes the truth didn’t turn out to be what I expected, but still, the truth was what I had always searched for. And now, here I was seeming to be facing the truth I had been looking for, but at the same time trying to deny it, trying to find any way to deny the truth of what I had found. . . . Supernatural things didn’t happen to real people. Maybe they did in the movies, but not in real life.” (2)

From the portrait, Snow learned that the painter’s name was J. Carroll Beckwith. Snow’s rational side then took over again. He reasoned that he may still have seen this portrait of the hunchback woman at a museum or at an exhibit. He asked the gallery worker if this was possible. Snow describes the response.

“No,” the man said giving his head a slight shake, “you haven’t seen this work before. This portrait has been in private hands for years. And besides, let me be honest with you, I don’t think there has been an exhibition of Beckwith’s work in the last 75 years. He wasn’t that famous.” (3)

Spirit Being or Soul Guidance

Please note that it is likely that Captain Snow did not find the portrait of the hunchback woman by chance or accident. Rather, I believe that a spirit being or Bob Snow’s own soul sent a telepathic message to his wife, Melanie, to go to New Orleans. Similarly, once in New Orleans, I posit that a spirit being or Bob’s own soul telepathically led him to the art gallery so that he would find the portrait of the hunchback woman, which, as described below, was the key to solving his reincarnation case. As such, a spirit being or Bob’s own soul was responsible for making this past life identification.

Captain Snow Finds his Past Life Portrait Painter’s Diary

Snow later found that Beckwith’s last exhibition was in 1911, well before Snow was even born. Snow also found that though Beckwith wasn’t a famous artist, he was a good administrator, as is Bob. Beckwith became the President of the National Academy of Design, in New York. The Academy had kept Beckwith’s diaries, as well as an unpublished autobiography.

From Beckwith’s diary and autobiography, Snow was eventually able to validate all thirty of the specific memories from his regression, including the twelve specific items listed above.

Though initially reluctant to accept reincarnation as the basis for his regression experience, Captain Snow finally came to the conclusion that he had been Carroll Beckwith, who had indeed used the name Jack, in a prior lifetime. He has stated that he has proven reincarnation and that if this were a police case, the evidence he compiled would stand up in court and that no plea-bargaining would be entertained.

Captain Snow Doesn’t Realize there is a Past Life Physical Resemblance

Interestingly, Captain Snow was not aware of a physical resemblance that exists between himself and Carroll Beckwith. When I met first Captain Snow at a meeting of the International Association for Regression Research and Therapies (IARRT) in September 2000, I offered to take his picture and compare it with Beckwith’s. I knew from experience that these comparisons are best done by lining up images side by side in the same pose.

In the image comparison, Beckwith is on the left side and Captain Snow is on the right side. Though Captain Snow is a bit older and heavier in the photograph than Beckwith was at the time of the portrait, facial architecture is very similar between the two. Both even chose to maintain a similar mustache.

Captain Snow’s case demonstrates a characteristic phenomenon that occurs when one becomes concretely aware of a specific past lifetime. The past-life information often triggers a traumatic reaction in a person, followed by a period of integration. When one faces the reality of reincarnation, a reevaluation of how one views the world is required.

Over a lifetime, we all develop a unique way of understanding the world. That belief system may involve a spiritual aspect to life, or an atheistic view may be held. We usually come to our philosophical understanding of the world in our twenties and we generally are resistant to changing our point of view.

Evidence of Reincarnation can be Disturbing

Regardless of what one’s belief system is, concrete evidence of reincarnation demands an alteration of one’s belief system. Even if one already believes in reincarnation, the shift from a belief in past lives to becoming aware of objective evidence of reincarnation can be a shock.

Recall that Captain Snow did not believe in reincarnation at the time of his regression and that following his past-life experience, he tried to find a logical explanation for his memories. Even after stumbling into the portrait of the hunchback woman in the art gallery in New Orleans, Captain Snow still explored the possibility that Beckwith’s work had been displayed in a museum and that at some point in his lifetime he had viewed it.

Snow was falling back on the theory that his regression experience represented repressed memories from his current lifetime. Let us revisit Captain Snow’s reaction when the gallery salesman in New Orleans told him that he could not have previously seen the portrait of the hunchback in a museum or exhibit. Snow explains:

“As the gallery worker’s answer dashed my seemingly logical explanation for what had happened, the vertigo returned. My whole belief system was not only teetering. It was falling. Everything around me had such a surrealistic feeling to it that I could have been in a Kafka novel. And so I simply stood there open-mouthed, feeling numb and detached from reality.”

We will collectively need to adjust our belief systems as objective evidence of reincarnation comes into the world. Overall, the news is good, but it takes some getting used to.

Captain Snow’s Knee Shakes when He visits his Own Past Life Grave

In the image provided to the right, Robert Snow visits the grave of Carroll Beckwith, that is, Snow is visiting his own grave from a past lifetime. Snow writes in his book that at Beckwith’s grave, his left knee started to shake uncontrollably and he became drenched in sweat, much like when he was a rookie cop in a life threatening situation. Snow has mused that in the line of duty, he has been shot at and suspects have tried to stab him, but nothing has unnerved him as much as discovering a past lifetime.

View a Video of Robert Snow telling his Story in a Hilarious Manner: Robert Snow Video

Principles of Reincarnation & Understanding Past Lives

Physical Resemblance: Even though Robert Snow at first didn’t realize there was a resemblance between him and Beckwith, a resemblance does exist.

Spirit Being or Soul Guidance: The breakthrough in validating this reincarnation case came when Captain Snow found the portrait of the hunchback woman in New Orleans. It is my contention that this did not happen by coincidence but rather, that Bob was lead to the painting through guidance by spirit beings.

It is likely that a spirit being or Robert Snow’s own soul telepathically inserted the thought into his wife’s mind that they should visit New Orleans for their anniversary. Once in New Orleans, Bob was intuitively guided to the art gallery where he found the portrait of the hunchback woman.

From the portrait, he learned the name of the artist, Carroll Beckwith, and he then was able to find Beckwith’s diary, which allowed him to validate his past lifetime as Beckwith. Many reincarnation cases feature such apparent guidance by spirit beings.

Postscript: The depictions of the hunchback provided in the above article are not from the painting of the hunchback woman done by Carroll Beckwith, which was bought by an anonymous individual. If you are the owner of the Beckwith painting of the hunchback woman and would be kind enough to allow an image of the painting to be posted on the ReincarnationResearch.com web site, please contact Walter Semkiw, MD at: walter@ReincarnationResearch.com

Footnotes

1. Snow, Robert: Looking for Carroll Beckwith, Daybreak/Rodale Books, 1999, p. 12-13
2. Snow, Robert: Looking for Carroll Beckwith, Daybreak/Rodale Books, 1999, p. 79-84
3. Snow, Robert: Looking for Carroll Beckwith, Daybreak/Rodale Books, 1999, p. 89

Child Reincarnation Story of Ibleto di Challant | Giuseppie Costa: Same Facial Features in Two Incarnations

Fascinating reincarnation case solved through a spirit being that shows facial features can remain the same.

How Derived: Past Life Memories in Childhood and Guidance by Spirit Beings

Researcher: Giuseppie Costa

From: European Cases of the Reincarnation Type, by Ian Stevenson, MD and From the Beyond to This Life, by Giuseppie Costa

Article by: Walter Semkiw, MD

From the Beyond to This Life

In his book, Giuseppe did not provide his date of birth, but Stevenson estimated that he was born around the year 1880. Giuseppe grew up in a small town in Italy called Gonzaga, near Mantua. He was trained and worked as an engineer.

Child Past Life Memories of Constantinople and a Military Campaign

Giuseppe Costa’s story started in childhood, when a painting that this parents had in their home triggered memories of a past lifetime. The painting was of the city of Constantinople, now called Istanbul, in Turkey, which is pictured to the right. The painting featured the river that runs through the city, which is called the Bosporus. Ian Stevenson summarized Giuseppe’s memories, stimulated by the painting, as follows:

“Scenes of large numbers of armed men, ships sailing, banners flying, the noise of battle, mountains, the sea stretching to the horizon, hills covered with flowers.” (1)

A Dream of Sailing to Venice and Battle in a Sunny Land

At the age of 10, his father took Giuseppe to Venice, where he experienced a very vivid dream. A description of Giuseppe’s dream is provided below:

“After a long journey in boats, through rivers and canals, we arrived in Venice. We traveled in barques filled with armed soldiers in the clothing of the Middle Ages. I seemed to be about 30 years old and had some kind of command.

After a stay in Venice, we embarked in galleys on which two banners waved: a blue one with the image of the Virgin Mary among golden stars, and that of Savoy, red with a white cross.

On the larger galley, which was more painted and decorated, there was someone to whom everyone showed great respect and who spoke to me with great friendliness. Then came the sea, seemingly endless, stretching beyond the horizon. Then we disembarked in a sunny land with a clear sky of cobalt blue.

Then the army disembarked again and landed in a different place. There the troops were coordinated; there were tents full of soldiers, beneath a city with old towers bristling with armaments.

Then came our assault, a battle of tremendous violence ending when we broke into the city. Then finally came the march of our splendid army into the city with its domes of gold on the wonderful bay. This was the magnificent city, Constantinople, depicted in the painting of in our house in Gonzaga, as I learned later.” (2)

Giuseppe realized that the images of this vivid dream replicated images he had when he was gazing on the painting of Constantinople in his parent’s home, years before. Giuseppe noted that his earlier memories were scattered, while the dream in Venice put the images in logical order.

Giuseppe’s Early Interest in Military Affairs & A Sense of Shame in Church from a Past Lifetime

As a young man, Giuseppe showed an enthusiastic interest in firearms, fencing and horseback riding. He volunteered for military service and was appointed a second lieutenant in the Royal Cavalry of Piedmont. He loved military life. It came naturally to him, as if he had lived the life of a military man before. He was stationed in the city of Vercelli, which is located between Milan and Turin.

In Vercelli, Giuseppe had an unusual emotional experience at the Church of San Andrea, which is pictured to the right. He was walking by the church and was drawn by music that emanated from it. Inside the church, he felt a great sense of repentance, which was very unpleasant. He didn’t know why he had this reaction, but he speculated this feeling of shame may have had something to do with a ceremony that he participated in, perhaps in a past incarnation.

Giuseppe Has an Out of Body Experience

After his term in the army, Giuseppe returned home and focused on caring for and supporting his family. His interest in a past lifetime which involved a military campaign that started in Venice and ended in Constantinople faded.

Unexpectedly, Giuseppe had an out-of-body experience, which reignited his belief in the supernatural. He had been studying for his engineering exams and stayed up late one night. Exhausted, he fell asleep in his bed and during the night, he knocked over an oil lamp, which filled the room with smoke.

The fumes awakened him and he found himself floating over his body. He was surprised to be able to see through the wall into his mother’s room, where Giuseppe saw his mother opening a window to get rid of the oil fumes that had also entered her room. He than saw her run into his room and open the window in his room.

Afterwards, Giuseppe asked his mother if she had indeed opened the window in her room before she came into his room. His mother confirmed that she did, which for Giuseppe verified that his ability to see through the wall that separated their rooms was real. This incident also supports the premise that our consciousness can retain awareness outside of the body; that we are indeed spirit beings.

A Spirit Being Appears to Provide a Clue to Giuseppe’s Past Life

The next chapter in Giuseppe’s reincarnation saga takes place on a vacation trip he took with two friends. They went to see three castles in the valley of Aostas, in Italy, near the border with France. Giuseppe noted that he had three different emotional reactions at these castles. The three castles visited and the associated emotions were as follows:

Castle at Fenis: Giuseppe had no emotional reaction.

Castle at Ussel: Giuseppe felt a sense of sadness and oppression.

Castle at Verres: At this location, pictured above and to the right, Giuseppe was profoundly moved with emotions. The predominant feelings he experienced were great love and significant regrets.

After he and his friends returned to where they were lodging, Giuseppe decided to return to the Verres castle at sunset. A storm then descended on the castle, which forced him to spend the night there.

During the night at the castle at Verres, Giuseppe awoke and saw a phosphorescent light, which enlarged and transformed into a woman. Giuseppe got up from his resting place and walked to the vision of the woman. As he approached her, Giuseppe felt a deep, deep sense of love. The woman then said:

“Ibleto! I wanted to see you again once more before divine death unites us once more…Read near the tower of Albenga an account of one of your past lives…Remember me and that I am waiting for you until the time comes.” (3)

Verification of Giuseppe’s Past Lifetime at the Castle of Albenga

This incident with the apparition made Giuseppe research the possible past lifetime. Having had the experience with a spirit being at the castle at Verres, he researched its history. He learned that a man named Ibleto di Challant had built the castle in 1380 and that Ibleto was a trusted counselor to Amadeus VI, Count of Savoy.

He next decided to follow the advice of the spirit being and Giuseppe visited Albenga, pictured to the right, to find the tower where the woman said a clue to one of his past lifetimes would be found. Giuseppe discovered that there were several towers near Albenga. One of them, though, was owned by a descendant of di Challant family, the family that had owned the castle at Verres, where he had seen the spirit being.

Giuseppe Finds his Past Life Story

Giuseppe met the owner of the tower, the Marquis Del Carretto di Balestrina, who had preserved a biography of Ibleto di Challant, the man who owned the Verres castle. The biography was an unpublished book written by Boniface II, the owner of the Fenis castle, the site where Giuseppe had no emotional reaction.

Giuseppe found that in reading the biography of Ibleto, he found that events in Ibleto’s life corresponded with the images Giuseppe saw in his childhood memories of a past lifetime, in the scenes stimulated by gazing at the painting of Constantinople and in his dream that occurred in Venice when he was ten.

Ibleto di Challant and the Count of Savoy

Ibleto was born in 1330. From childhood, he was involved in the court of Amadeus VI, the Count of Savoy. The Savoy coat of arms is provided to the right. Ibleto later became a military companion and advisor to Amadeus. Eventually, Ibleto inherited the castle at Verres, as well as other properties, such as the castle at Montjovet. Other family members inherited other estates, such as the castle at Ussel.

Ibleto Falls in Love

Ibleto fell in love with the sister of Amadeus VI, who was called Blanche of Savoy. He wanted to marry her, but Amadeus had engineered an arranged marriage for his sister with the Lord of Milan. In the end, Ibelto married Giacometta di Chatillon, a union that his father had arranged. Giuseppe and Giacometta were married on September 28, 1350. Giacometta must have died before Giuseppe, as records indicate that he remarried later in life.

Reincarnation & the Crusades: The Capture of Gallopoli & Constantinople

In 1366, Ibleto went with Amadeus VI on a crusade against the Turks at Constantinople. The Crusades were a series of military campaigns involving European Christian soldiers who sought to free Jerusalem from Islamic forces.

Amadeus organized his army initially in Venice. They then went on to Morea in Southern Greece to regroup. From there, his forces traveled to Gallipoli, which was occupied by Islamic Turks. Amadeus’s troops were victorious in battle and the Turks surrendered Gallipoli. From there, Amadeus and his army marched onto Constantinople, which they took without resistance. From there, Amadeus and his troops turned back and returned to Italy.

The Rebellion in Biella, the Capture of the Bishop of Vericelli & Ibelto’s Excommunication

In 1378, Ibleto was involved in military action once again. Historical records indicate that he put down a rebellion in the city of Biella, which is near the Turin. Amadeus captured the Vatican’s representative, the bishop of Vercelli, who apparently was involved in the rebellion. Ibleto had the bishop imprisoned at his castle at Montjovet. The Pope, in retaliation, excommunicated Ibleto for holding the bishop at Montjovet.

Reincarnation & the Vatican: Ibleto is Humiliated at the Church at St. Andrea, Where Giuseppe Felt Repentance

Later, the Vatican offered to lift the sentence of excommunication if Ibleto publicly expressed his repentance to the bishop of Vercelli in a ceremony to be held in the church of St. Andrea. Ibelto agreed an endured this spectacle of public humiliation.

Recall that Giuseppe had experienced a great feeling of repentance when he visited the church of St. Andrea, when he was stationed in Vercelli during his military career.

Guiseppe’s Sadness at The Castle at Ussel & Ibleto’s Shame

Giuseppe also learned that Ibleto’s family members, who held the castle at Ussel, featured to the right, had brought great shame to him when they began robbing the people who lived in the valley below the castle. The Count of Savoy punished these family members by imposing a fine, but the family name was marred. Giuseppe now understood why he had feelings of sadness and oppression when he visited the castle at Ussel.

Reincarnation & Appearance or Physical Resemblance: Ibleto di Challant & Giuseppie Costa

Giuseppe Costa a found portrait of Ibleto di Challant, which he published in his book. Ernesto Bozzano, a researcher who investigated this case, noted that the faces of Ibelto and Giuseppe were so similar that one may have mistaken one for the other. Both men were very large in stature and both had a military bearing.

Spirit Being Guidance to a Past Life Biography

Giuseppe Costa was able to validate memories of a past lifetime through the biography that he found in the possession of the Marquis Del Carretto di Balestrina, the owner of a tower in Albenga.

Perhaps the most striking aspect of this case is how Giuseppe found the biography. Recall that he was spending the night at the castle at Verres when a female ghost or spirit being welcomed him with great love and told him that he would find information on his past lifetime in a tower at Albenga, which is on the French Riviera.

As such, this spirit being who appeared in a castle in Italy near the French border was advising Giuseppe to go to a tower on the French Riviera approximately 140 miles or 225 kilometers away.

As both Giuseppe and Ian Stevenson, MD have noted, what is the probability of finding the biography at Albenga, 140 miles/225/kilometers away, by chance?

Further, Giuseppe pointed out that between 1300, when it was written, and 1900, when he found the biography in Albenga, the biography could have landed in the hands of one of many relatives. What are the odds that it would land in same place that the apparition told him that he would find information regarding his past lifetime?

This case clearly demonstrates that a spirit being facilitated the investigation of a past lifetime.

Who was the female spirit who appeared to Giuseppe in the Verres castle? Giuseppe’s three primary candidates were Blanche of Savoy, who Ibleto loved, but was not allowed to marry; Giacometta di Chatillon, who became his first wife; and finally, his second wife, who was unnamed in this narrative.

Confirmation of a Past Life Dream

Let us review aspects of Giuseppe’s dream that he experienced in Venice at the age of ten, and events in the life of Ibelto di Challant, as revealed by his biography and other records:

1. Dream: “After a long journey in boats, through rivers and canals, we arrived in Venice. We traveled in barques filled with armed soldiers in the clothing of the Middle Ages. I seemed to be about 30 years old and had some kind of command.”

Biography: In 1366, Ibleto went with Amadeus VI on a crusade against the Turks at Constantinople. Amadeus initially organized his army in Venice.

2. Dream: “After a stay in Venice, we embarked in galleys on which two banners waved: a blue one with the image of the Virgin Mary among golden stars, and that of Savoy, red with a white cross.

On the larger galley, which was more painted and decorated, there was someone to whom everyone showed great respect and who spoke to me with great friendliness. Then came the sea, seemingly endless, stretching beyond the horizon. Then we disembarked in a sunny land with a clear sky of cobalt blue.”

Biography: Amadeus organized his army initially in Venice. They then went on to Morea in Southern Greece to regroup. Morea may be the location that Giuseppe saw in his dream that the army disembarked on. In his dream, the man who people respected and who showed great friendliness to Guiseppe would have been Amadeus VI.

3. Dream: “Then the army disembarked again and landed in a different place. There the troops were coordinated; there were tents full of soldiers, beneath a city with old towers bristling with armaments. Then came our assault, a battle of tremendous violence ending when we broke into the city.”

Biography: From Morea in Southern Greece, the army of Amadeus VI traveled to Gallipoli, which was occupied by Islamic Turks. Amadeus’s troops were victorious in battle and the Turks surrendered Gallipoli. As such, the assault and capture of a city in Giuseppe’s dream was likely the capture of Gallipoli from the Turks by Amadeus, Ibelto and their troops.

4. Dream: “Then finally came the march of our splendid army into the city with its domes of gold on the wonderful bay. This was the magnificent city, Constantinople, depicted in the painting of in our house in Gonzaga, as I learned later.”

Biography: Amadeus and Ibelto did enter Constantinople. One discrepancy is that historical records, Amadeus took Constantinople without resistance. As such, it appears that in Giuseppe’s dream, the capture of Constantinople was confused with the assault on Gallipoli.

Understanding Past Lives & Principles of Reincarnation

Physical Resemblance: Of significance, it was observed from a portrait of Ibleto that the resemblance between Ibleto and Giuseppe was so close that they were indistinguishable. Not only were facial features the same, they both had large builds and military bearing.

Geographic Memory: Also note that past life locations, including Venice, the castles of Verres and Ussel, and the church at St. Andrea, stimulated memories or emotions in Giuseppe. We have also observed this phenomenon of geographic locations stimulating past life memories and emotions in the cases of John B. Gordon | Jeff Keene, Francesco Foscari | Wayne Peterson and Louise Vanderbilt | Wayne Peterson.

Spirit Being Involvement: A dramatic aspect of this reincarnation case is that it was solved through the assistance of the female spirit being who appeared to Giuseppe at the castle at Verres. This spirit being welcomed him with great love and told him that he would find information on his past lifetime in a tower at Albenga, on the French Riviera. As such, this spirit being advised Giuseppe to go to a tower approximately 140 miles or 225 kilometers away from the castle of Verres, where he did find the biography with allowed him to validate his past lifetime.

This is reminiscent of the case of Carroll Beckwith | Robert Snow, as Captain Snow was led from Indianapolis to New Orleans, where he found the painting of the hunchback woman which he had seen in a past life regression. Finding the painting of the hunchback allowed Captain Snow to validate his past life memories objectively.

One difference is that Captain Snow was led to the painting unconsciously, through apparent telepathic communications from the spirit world. In contrast, Guiseppi seems to have had some clairvoyant abilities, as he was able to actually see the female spirit being, who helped him solve his case.

Summary: Past Life Memories, Physical Appearance & Spirit Being in a Fascinating Reincarnation Story

Given that this case involves validation of past life memories, observation of physical resemblance from one lifetime to another and geographic locations stimulating past life memories, emotions and even a spirit being, we owe a great deal of appreciation to Giuseppe Costa for publishing his story and to Ian Stevenson for preserving it in European Cases of the Reincarnation Type. It is indeed a very rich and fascinating reincarnation case.