A four year old boy living in Havana kept insisting that he had had different parents and had lived elsewhere during a previous life. Not only this, but he was also able to give descriptive accounts of names, dates and places. He told his parents that he had been the son of Peirro Seco and they had lived at 69 Rue Companario. He had two brothers (who he named) and his mother had been dark in complexion with black hair. She used to make hats.
- Sunday the 28th February 1903, he related, was the last time he’d left this other house.
The young child was so adamant in his story and because his parents were certain he’d never been to the house he described, they took him there, one day. To them, this place was totally unfamiliar but to their surprise, their son immediately recognised the house. He was encouraged to enter the home, but he did not recognize the occupants.
On making further enquiries about the previous occupants of the house, it was found that it had been occupied by Antonio Seno and their three sons. Pancho, one of the sons, had died in February 1903 just before the family had left. In fact, seven out of the eight statements given by the boy which could be checked, did indeed correspond with fact. The only thing which had not matched exactly had been his previous father’s Christian name.
The above case was recorded among many others in Dr. Ian Stevenson’s essay The Evidence for Survival from Claimed Memories of Former Incarnations.
A highly respected Professor of Psychiatry, Dr. Stevenson has collected well over a thousand cases of people who have memories of a previous life. Whenever possible, the cases were thoroughly checked.
Past lives remembered ~
It seems that up until the age of five, one is most likely to remember a past life. After this age, our natural inhibitions begin to obscure such memories. And it was found that young children would call their former wives or husbands correctly by pet names and would address them as would one adult to another. In some cases, the child would have a birthmark resembling shapes or locations of wounds suffered through their said ‘past lives’ or on the death of that particular life.
Let’s move on now to another example: In his talk in 1957 on The Case for Reincarnation, the Reverend Leslie Weatherhead told of an Italian couple, Captain and Mrs Battista. After the birth of their daughter Blanche, they employed a Swiss nanny called Marie. Their daughter grew very fond of a french cradle song which Marie taught her and she would sing it constantly. Sadly the young girl died and because of the memories associated with that lullaby, it was no more heard in the house.
About three years later, the mother became pregnant again. During the pregnancy Blanche actually appeared before her saying “Mother, I am coming back”. Although the father was sceptical, he agreed to call the new baby Blanche.
And Blanche number two did actually resemble the first child in every way. However, her parents were most amazed by what happened when she was about six years old: whilst they were in the study they heard the tune of the cradle song which they’d not heard for so many years. On following the voice, it led to the bedroom where they’d left their daughter sleeping. Sitting on the edge of the bed, their daughter was singing with an excellent French accent, the song which neither parents had taught her.
“Who taught you this song?” asked her father.
“Nobody” was the reply. “I just know it out of my own head”.
Many famous people: poets, novelists, artists and philosophers believed in and wrote about Reincarnation. Was Benjamin Franklin seriously considering rebirth when he wrote the following, said to be “the most famous of American Epitaphs”? He wrote it at the age of twenty-two and though he often made copies for his friends, it never got to appear on his tombstone. It goes something like this:
“The Body of B. Franklin, Printer. – Like the cover of an Old book, its contents torn out and stripped of its lettering and gilding, here lies, food for worms. But the work shall not be lost. For it will, as he believed, appear once more in a new and more elegant version. Revised and Corrected by the author.”
Now it would seem he WAS serious about the subject when you consider his following words, which probably echo many peoples’ views on Reincarnation:
“Finding myself to exist in the world, I believe I shall in some shape or other always exist; and, with all the inconveniences human life is liable to, I shall not object to a new edition of mine. Hoping, however, that the errors of the last may be corrected.”
Sources
Stenman R. Reincarnation: True Stories of Past Lives. Piatkus Books. 2004
Newton M Journey of Souls. Llewellyn Publications. 1994.
© C Somerville – This article has also been published on Yahoo Voices and Helium. Permission to republish this article in print or online must be granted by the author in writing