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What would you do if your toddler pointed to an old photograph of a house from the 1900s and said, 'I lived there!' or watched a WWI documentary and screamed, 'That’s where I died!'?
Would you delve deeper into their startling revelations, or would you dismiss it entirely, hoping to forget it ever occurred?
Famous instances of children recalling past lives include James Leininger, a two-year-old who dreamed of being a WWII pilot, and Ryan Hammons, a four-year-old who vividly remembered his life as Marty Martyn, a Hollywood talent manager. Reincarnation tales aren’t exclusive to kids, though. Many adults also assert they’ve lived previous lives as different individuals.
Are these accounts genuine, or is there a hidden agenda behind them? Explore these spine-tingling stories and form your own conclusion.
10. “This Was My Ship”
At the age of four, William Barnes sketched a ship featuring four smokestacks. He presented the drawing to his parents, declaring, 'This was my ship, but it sank.'
He began insisting his family call him 'Tommy' instead of William and frequently spoke of two brothers and other relatives. His parents were baffled, especially when William started experiencing relentless nightmares involving a massive ship, icy waters, and metal beams crashing down on him.
The nightmares persisted until William, at 25, decided to seek professional help. Under hypnosis, he recalled arguing about 'the ship’s design.' Upon waking, he immediately told the therapist, 'My name is Tommy Andrews.'
Gradually, the fragments of William’s dreams began to make sense. He became convinced he was the reincarnation of Thomas Andrews, the Titanic’s designer. William was born on the day the Titanic sank, and during later hypnotic regression sessions, he spoke in a distinct Irish accent, vividly describing the ship’s sinking and his own death on its deck.
William has created a personal website where he shares his extraordinary experiences and provides evidence supporting his claim of being a reincarnated individual.
9. Two Previous Lives
A three-year-old Thai boy named Dalawong gained widespread attention after asserting he had lived two past lives—first as a deer killed by a hunter, and later as a cobra.
During his life as a snake, Dalawong engaged in a deadly struggle with two dogs. The dogs’ owner, Mr. Hiew, intervened and killed the cobra, but not before being bitten on the shoulder. Mr. Hiew took the snake home, cooked it, and shared the meal with a friend, who would later become Dalawong’s father.
Three years after Dalawong’s birth, the boy recognized Mr. Hiew at a neighborhood party. Overcome with rage, he attempted to find a weapon to attack the man. Shocked by her son’s behavior, Dalawong’s mother demanded an explanation. He recounted the story of his past life as a snake, and when she confronted Mr. Hiew, he confirmed the incident, even showing the scar from the snake bite on his shoulder.
Prior to this event, Dalawong and his family had no prior interaction with Mr. Hiew.
8. “Why Did You Allow Me to Perish in That Fire?”
In 2014, the parents of four-year-old Andrew Lucas grew concerned that their son might be haunted or influenced by a spirit. This suspicion arose when Andrew began crying incessantly, questioning why his parents had let him die in a fire. When his mother, Michelle, inquired about the fire, Andrew shared intricate details of his past life as a U.S. Marine. Using these clues, Michelle uncovered the story of U.S. Marine Sergeant Val Lewis, who died in a 1983 bombing in Lebanon.
The striking similarities between Lewis’s story and Andrew’s account led Michelle to seek help from the reality TV show Ghost Inside My Child. During the episode, Andrew was shown photos of military personnel and instantly identified Lewis’s image.
Later, Michelle took Andrew to Lewis’s grave in Georgia, where he placed flowers and ran to another grave, pointing and saying, “That’s my friend.” The grave belonged to another Marine, further validating Andrew’s claims.
7. Young Child Remembers Being Murdered in a Past Life
In 2014, a chilling story emerged about a three-year-old Syrian boy who identified the burial site of his previous life’s body and the weapon used in his murder.
The boy, part of the Druze community, had a prominent red birthmark on his forehead. In Druze tradition, such marks are linked to the cause of death in a past life. The boy claimed he had been killed by an ax blow to the head in his former life, explaining the birthmark.
Village elders took the boy to the home he described from his past life. Upon arrival, he recognized the house, the village, and even recalled his former name. The man who had lived there had disappeared four years earlier. When questioned, the boy revealed the full name of his murderer and led the elders to the burial site. There, they discovered a skeleton with a head injury matching the boy’s birthmark, along with an ax.
Faced with the evidence and the elders’ interrogation, the killer confessed to the crime shortly after.
6. A Past Life in World War II
While pregnant, Daw Aye Tin experienced repeated dreams of a Japanese soldier who informed her he would be joining her and her husband in their home in Upper Burma (Myanmar).
Her daughter, Ma Tin Aung Myo, was born on December 26, 1953. By the age of four, the child began speaking of her 'true home in Japan' and expressing a deep longing for it. She also revealed a fear of airplanes and a dislike for English and American individuals.
Over time, Daw Aye Tin realized her daughter was recounting a past life. As Ma Tin Aung Myo grew older, she shared more details, describing her life as a male soldier stationed in Nathul during WWII. She also mentioned running a small shop to support her children before being killed during an Allied attack, shot by a soldier from a plane.
5. The Reincarnated Lama
In 1996, four-year-old Sonam Wangdu appeared to be an ordinary child who enjoyed watching Batman, Spiderman, and Power Rangers. However, he was far from ordinary, as the Buddhist communities in Nepal and Tibet recognized him as the reincarnation of a revered lama.
Though living in Seattle at the time, it was decided that Sonam would move to Kathmandu for his formal education and later reside in a monastery. He was bestowed the name Trulku-la, meaning 'reincarnation' in Tibetan, and was believed to be the rebirth of Deshung Rinpoche III, a respected lama who taught at the University of Washington and co-founded Seattle’s Sakya Monastery.
Deshung Rinpoche III was considered the third incarnation of the original Deshung Rinpoche I from Tibet. Before his passing, Rinpoche III had informed two of his students that he would be reborn in the Seattle area.
Trulku-la’s enthronement ceremony took place two years before his departure for Kathmandu. He would spend the first eight years of his education away from his mother, Carolyn Lama, who supported his journey, knowing her son was destined for greatness and wanting the best for him.
4. A City of Dreams
At the age of 12, James Arthur Flowerdew began experiencing peculiar dreams. Initially vague and unclear, these dreams gradually transformed into vivid images of a stone city carved into a cliff, complete with temples and a volcano-shaped rock on its outskirts. Unsure of their meaning, Arthur tried to dismiss them.
One day, while visiting the beach with his family, Arthur bent down to pick up pebbles and was struck by a sudden vision of the city from his dreams. The experience was so intense that he could even smell the dry desert air. Dropping the pebbles made the vision vanish, leaving him speechless. When he returned to the beach later and picked up pebbles again, the vision reappeared.
This time, he noticed more details, such as a stone passage and military barracks. Arthur began to suspect he might have been a soldier in that city, killed by a spear. Years later, as an elderly man, he watched a documentary about Petra, the ancient city in Jordan, and immediately recognized it as the city from his dreams. He became convinced he had lived there in a past life.
Arthur reached out to the BBC, which arranged an interview with an archaeologist. The expert was astonished by Arthur’s detailed knowledge of Petra, despite never having visited it in his current life.
The Jordanian government later invited Arthur to Petra. Remarkably, he navigated the city without a guide or map, identifying unexcavated sites and describing a military barrack with a guard check-in system. He even shared previously unknown facts about the area, astounding experts.
3. “The Floor Became Extremely Hot”
In March 2021, Tik Toker Riss White shared a story about her daughter’s eerie revelation. On September 11, 2018, Riss was browsing 9/11 memorial posts on social media when her four-year-old daughter saw an image of the Twin Towers and said, 'Mom, I used to work there.'
Unsettled, Riss asked her daughter when this had happened, and the child simply replied, 'Before.' The girl then described how, one morning at work, the floor became unbearably hot, forcing her to climb onto her desk. She and her colleagues tried to escape through a door, but it wouldn’t open. In desperation, she jumped out of a window and 'flew like a bird.'
Riss was deeply disturbed by her daughter’s account, especially since the child had never been told about the events of 9/11.
2. “I Am Anne Frank”
Barbro Karlen was born nine years after Anne Frank’s death. From a young age, she insisted her real name was Anne and that her parents were not her biological family. Unfamiliar with Anne Frank’s story, her family thought she was delusional and took her to a psychiatrist, believing she was trapped in a fantasy.
By the age of twelve, Barbro had written a poetry book that became a bestseller in Sweden. She authored nine more volumes but couldn’t shake the feeling she wasn’t who others believed her to be. She stopped discussing her past-life memories after learning about Anne Frank, fearing people would think she was insane.
Despite this, during a family trip to Amsterdam at age 10, Barbro accurately guided her parents to Anne Frank’s house and noted the steps had been altered. Inside Anne’s room, she felt intense fear but refused to leave. She knew Anne had placed pictures on the walls, a detail that convinced her mother Barbro had been telling the truth all along—she was Anne Frank in a past life.
Years later, Barbro met Anne’s cousin, Buddy Elias, who publicly stated he believed she was Anne’s reincarnation.
1. My Life as a Monk
In 1987, three-year-old Duminda Bandara Ratnayake began speaking about the Asgiriya temple and monastery in Kandy, claiming he had once been an abbot there. Born in 1984 to Sinhalese Buddhist parents, Duminda was the second youngest of three brothers. He frequently mentioned the temple, telling his mother he had owned a red car, taught other monks, and died in a hospital after experiencing severe chest pain. He also 'remembered' having a pet elephant.
The young boy soon started dressing like a monk and visiting a Buddhist temple twice daily. He also began reciting Pali stanzas. His mother grew concerned he might leave the family to become a monk.
By age five, Duminda’s interest in the temple lessened slightly, but by six, his mother agreed to let him join the monastery at seven. He refused to attend a school with girls and avoided physical contact with women, including his mother. When the abbot of the Malwatta Temple passed away in 1990, Duminda casually mentioned he had known him well.
It appeared Duminda might have been Ven. Mahanayaka Gunnepana in a past life, as Gunnepana had died of a heart attack, owned a red car, and had an elephant.
Gunnepana also kept an elephant.
