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Reincarnation, a concept alien to many in the Western world due to its roots in Christian tradition, has slowly gained a following. Some have even embraced the related principle of karma, which they consider the key to understanding evil and human suffering. Among the well-known individuals who believed in reincarnation were great minds like Mark Twain, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Walt Whitman, Henry Ford, and Albert Schweitzer. Some didn’t just believe—they claimed to remember their past lives.
10. Napoleon Was Charlemagne
Napoleon Bonaparte, the ruler who conquered much of Europe in the early 1800s, saw himself as the successor to the Roman emperors. He consciously mirrored the ancient Roman empire’s customs. His portraits often showed him sporting a hairstyle similar to that of Emperor Titus, and he adopted the Roman eagle as the symbol of his nation. Napoleon firmly believed in his destiny to reign over the Holy Roman Empire and held a fascination with Charlemagne, who continued Roman traditions and earned the title 'Father of Europe.'
Just before his coronation as emperor, Napoleon spent time in reflection at Charlemagne’s tomb in Aix-la-Chapelle. During the ceremony, he wore a crown identical to Charlemagne's and used a sword from that era. He also held the scepter of another Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V.
While one could argue that Napoleon was merely emulating his idol, there's a possibility that the French emperor believed himself to be the actual reincarnation of Charlemagne. In 1809, he declared to papal delegates, “Take a good look at me. In me, you see Charlemagne. Je suis Charlemagne, moi! Oui, je suis Charlemagne!” He also instructed his marshals, saying, “Tell the Pope that I am keeping my eyes open; tell him that I am Charlemagne, the Sword of the Church, his Emperor, and as such, I expect to be treated!”
It’s unclear whether Napoleon truly believed his assertion or if it was just bravado to justify his imperial goals. Though Napoleon passed away in exile, some speculate that he was reincarnated as Charles de Gaulle.
9. George S. Patton: A Soldier Through Time
So as through a glass and darkly, the age long strife I see, Where I fought in many guises, many names, but always me.
General George S. Patton, often remembered for his military prowess, was also a poet. The lines above, from his poem “Through A Glass Darkly,” express his belief that he had been reborn repeatedly throughout history, always as a soldier. The poem reflects Patton's experiences in various past lives: fighting in the Greek phalanx against the Persian Cyrus, as a Roman soldier, as a knight at the Battle of Crecy, and as a sailor on a warship. Patton also recalled serving under Napoleon as a general.
One well-known story lends some credence to Patton's claims. During World War I, his first assignment brought him to Langres, France, an ancient Roman city he had never visited. A French officer offered to show him around, but Patton surprised him by saying he was already familiar with the area, then proceeded to give the officer a personal tour.
Patton was able to describe the locations of the Roman amphitheater, the forum, and the temples to Mars and Apollo, even though some structures had since disappeared. He pinpointed the site of the old military drill field and the spot where Julius Caesar once set up camp. Patton explained to his astonished guide that he had once been a member of Caesar’s 10th Legion.
Patton spoke of his past experiences fighting alongside Alexander the Great at Tyre, battling the invading Huns, serving as a Crusader, and fighting under Henry V at Agincourt. He also claimed to have been a Confederate soldier at both the battles of Winchester and Gettysburg. Known for his bold personality, “Old Blood and Guts” firmly stated, “I damn well know there are places I’ve been before, and not in this life.”
8. Salvador Dali Was Saint John Of The Cross
As a child, the eccentric Spanish surrealist painter Salvador Dali visited the grave of his older brother, also named Salvador. His parents told him that he was the reincarnation of their first son. From that moment on, Dali was haunted by the memory of his brother. “My brother and I resembled each other like two drops of water, but we had different reflections. Like myself, he had the unmistakable facial morphology of a genius. He exhibited signs of remarkable talent, but his gaze was veiled by the melancholy that accompanies profound intelligence. I, on the other hand, was less intelligent, but I reflected everything,” Dali once said.
Dali also claimed to have memories of a past life that stretched further back in time, to the 16th century. Saint John of the Cross was a reformer who urged his fellow Carmelites to return to a life devoted to prayer. For this, his fellow monks imprisoned him in a tiny, dark, cold cell and subjected him to brutal beatings three times a week. It was in this dire situation that Saint John experienced a profound connection with God's love.
Dali recalled these experiences vividly: “As for me, I am not only mystic; I am also the reincarnation of one of the greatest of all Spanish mystics, Saint John of the Cross. I can clearly remember my life as Saint John… of experiencing divine union… of enduring the dark night of the soul… I can recall many of Saint John’s fellow monks.”
This spiritual connection may have influenced one of Dali’s most famous works. In 1950, Dali had a “cosmic dream” in which he saw, in vivid color, an image of the crucified Christ—a vision similar to the one Saint John had while at a monastery in Avila. The image depicted Christ on the cross from the perspective of the Father, from above. Dali transformed this unique vision into the painting Christ of Saint John of the Cross.
7. Sylvester Stallone Was A Victim Of The French Revolution
It's no surprise that action star Sylvester Stallone is a believer in reincarnation. His mother, Jacqueline, is known to be both a psychic and an astrologer. While Stallone’s film roles are grounded in reality, he has long been familiar with the paranormal.
Stallone is convinced that he has lived at least four past lives, and in one of them, he met a brutal fate. In an early interview, he shared, “I’m pretty sure I lost my head in the French Revolution.” He continued, “I’d been reading about the Jacobins and that era, and when someone at a party remarked how terrible it must be to be guillotined, I found myself saying, ‘Oh no, it doesn’t hurt. You don’t feel a thing—except your head hitting the basket… and that’s it.’”
Stallone’s success as the iconic character Rocky Balboa might be tied to his belief that he was once a boxer who died from a knockout punch in the 1930s. He also feels he has had non-human past lives: “I’ve also been something very Central American—a Guatemalan monkey, perhaps.” Additionally, he mentioned an affinity for wolves.
And if he is to be reborn? “Without a doubt, I’d want to be the heavyweight champion of the world.”
6. Tina Turner Was Queen Hatshepsut
In the 1970s, singer Tina Turner became exposed to unconventional beliefs. In 1977, she visited a psychic named Carol Dryer, who read her soul aura and revealed that she had lived a past life in ancient Egypt. Dryer told Turner that she was reincarnated to correct the mistakes made in her previous life. Since then, Turner has believed she was once the female pharaoh Hatshepsut, who ruled during the 15th century BC.
Turner learned that ancient Egyptians held the belief that statues had the power to communicate. Thutmose III, her stepbrother, allegedly destroyed the statues of Hatshepsut by breaking their noses and mouths in an attempt to silence her. Turner immediately felt a connection. Her ex-husband Ike used to hit her in the mouth and nose. Turner believes Ike was the reincarnation of the malevolent pharaoh Thutmose III, who had once been thwarted by Hatshepsut’s rule.
Turner feels an undeniable connection to Egypt. "I spent holidays there because I felt so strongly connected to Egypt," she shared in an interview. "That strange feeling of recognition grew more intense when I visited excavations and saw images of Amenhotep, a pharaoh from the 18th dynasty. Something unusual occurred. I knew I was one of the figures depicted in those images, that I had lived there in that era!"
In her song “I Might Have Been Queen,” Turner references her belief in reincarnation:
I’m a new pair of eyes every time I am born And original mind because I just died And I’m scanning the horizon For someone recognizing that I might have been queen For every sun that sets there is a new one dawning.
Her firm belief in reincarnation has given her peace regarding death. "I am very sure that my spirit will live on in a different place, just as it has many times before."
5. Stevie Nicks Was A Monk
Stevie Nicks, the iconic lead singer of Fleetwood Mac, finds herself surrounded by a mystical world of angels, spirits, fairies, and witches. She identifies as deeply spiritual and does not subscribe to any formal religion. Nicks firmly believes that mystical and spiritual forces have played a significant role in shaping both her life and career.
"I’m fascinated by the mysterious, the extraordinary. I enjoy gazing at the unknown and pondering, 'What’s going on there?'” Stevie acknowledges a past life, saying, “I truly believe I was once a monk. I know it.” In a 1982 interview, she explained further, “I think I spent a lot of time in ancient churches, much like a monk. I feel deeply connected to that kind of music, to the quietness and stillness of it.” In this life, Stevie attended Catholic schools and developed a deep love for Gregorian chants, even composing music that echoes the chant’s distinctive style.
Nicks also believes she once met a tragic fate in a former life, losing her head. She attributes the neck weakness she experiences today and her struggle with holding her head upright to this past life experience.
As with any follower of reincarnation, Nicks also believes in karma and the ongoing ascent of the soul. She says, "I can’t imagine that the next life could be worse than this one. If it is, I don’t want to know. I believe that if you're reincarnated, you return as many times as you choose, once you’ve cleared your karma and taken care of your business."
While Stevie Nicks is quite open about her mystical side, she prefers not to delve too deeply into her past lives. "I think that part of your consciousness is a separate entity, and I don’t want to bring it too much into this life. It’s more like a quiet inspiration.” Her strong beliefs in reincarnation have also freed her from the fear of death, though she remains focused on achieving as much as possible before that inevitable end.
Does she believe she’ll return in another life? “I think you live on Earth a set number of times until you’ve completed whatever it is you were meant to do here. Then you move on. I don’t believe I’ll come back. I think my time here is finished.”
4. John Lennon Was Jesus Christ And Napoleon
John Lennon, of The Beatles, once stated, "I’m not afraid of death because I don’t believe in it. It’s just getting out of one car and into another.” This remark subtly reflected his belief in reincarnation.
In 1968, Lennon gathered the Beatles for an emergency meeting at the Apple Records headquarters in London. Under the influence of LSD, he boldly declared to the group that he was the reincarnation of Jesus Christ. His more grounded bandmates intervened, stopping him from making this public announcement.
Once the drug effects wore off, Lennon never brought the topic up again. However, even when sober, he displayed a messianic complex. He connected Jesus’s teachings with his own peace activism, explaining, “We’re trying to make Christ’s message contemporary.” In the well-known line from “The Ballad of John and Yoko,” Lennon refers to Christ as though he were his twin and even parallels himself to being on the road to crucifixion.
In the biography The Lives of John Lennon by Albert Goldman, it was claimed that John believed he and Yoko had been lovers in multiple past lives, even going as far as to say they had once ruled ancient Egypt as pharaoh and queen. While touring the Step Pyramid at Saqqara, Lennon allegedly said, “This is a magical, magical place. I’ve been here before!” He also thought he had been Napoleon, with Yoko as his Josephine.
John firmly believed that he and Yoko were destined to be together forever. A friend recalled that John referenced Plato’s myth during a conversation: “Before Yoko and I met we were half a person. You know there’s an old myth about a person being one half and the other half being somewhere else, in the sky or somewhere, like a mirror image. But we were two halves and now we are whole.”
3. Shirley MacLaine Was A Lemurian
No discussion of reincarnation would be complete without mentioning actress Shirley MacLaine. While her unconventional beliefs may lead some to regard her as eccentric, she never fails to captivate with her unique perspective.
Her recent reflections on karma and reincarnation have stirred controversy. In her book What If?, she provocatively asks, “What if most Holocaust victims were balancing their karma from ages before, when they were Roman soldiers putting Christians to death, the Crusaders who murdered millions in the name of Christianity, soldiers with Hannibal, or those who stormed across the Near East with Alexander? The energy of killing is endless and will be experienced by the killer and the killee.” This remark understandably upset many in the Jewish community.
Regarding her own past lives, MacLaine claims to have been, among other things, a Moorish peasant girl who had a romantic involvement with Charlemagne, whom she believes was reincarnated as Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme. (Apparently, Charlemagne's spirit travels far.)
MacLaine also speaks of a life in the long-lost continent of Lemuria thousands of years ago:
I vividly remember being androgynous in the Lemurian (pre-Atlantis) time period. My state of being and that of others around me was peaceful and serene. Procreation occurred through the power of the mind in deep meditation. Each of us had male and female genitalia, but what was important was the desire of the soul, which was made manifest through connecting to the God source. Each human had an equal vibration of yin and yang, female and male.
The sexes eventually became distinct, MacLaine continues, so that one could appreciate the other more objectively. It was an experiment the Lemurians initiated, and MacLaine recalls taking part in it. From this experiment arose world myths of female separating from male, like the story of Eve being made from Adam’s rib.
2. Steven Seagal Was A Buddhist Lama
Action star Steven Seagal has dispatched countless villains in intense films like Hard To Kill and Under Siege. So, it comes as a surprise that Seagal is recognized by the Buddhist community as the reincarnation, or tulku, of 17th-century teacher and translator Terton Chungdrag Dorge. As the current embodiment of this esteemed lama, Seagal holds a position in the Buddhist world as significant as the Dalai Lama himself.
Since the age of seven, Seagal had felt he was not part of this earthly existence. He delved deeply into Eastern philosophy and claimed to possess the ability to astrally project. After spending time in Japan, Seagal returned to the U.S. skilled in Zen Buddhism and acupuncture. His goal became to alleviate suffering and improve the world by “planting the seed of bodhicitta into people’s hearts.” While his choice of violent action films as a vehicle for his message may be perplexing, one could argue that beneath the gore and gunfire, there are metaphors waiting to be discovered by the open-minded.
Apparently, Seagal had passed the standard test of being able to identify the dead lama’s possessions. “In February of 1997, I recognized my student, Steven Seagal, as a reincarnation of the treasure revealer Chungdrag Dorje,” proclaimed Tibetan spiritual leader Penor Rinpoche. Seagal was enthroned under a bo tree in Mahabodhi Temple in India. The bo tree is said to be the direct descendant of the one beneath which the Buddha achieved enlightenment.
Despite the recognition, many remain skeptical. Some have accused Seagal of bribing Penor Rinpoche and other Buddhist figures into acknowledging him as the tulku. Seagal, ever the enlightened and compassionate being, dismisses these claims with grace: “Whenever someone has asked me if I am a tulku, I have said that I don’t believe it is very important who I was in my past lives. I think it’s more important what I do in this life.” So, if that means taking down more bad guys in movies to spread a message of love and compassion for all sentient beings, so be it, Lama Seagal. Carry on.
1. Phil Collins Was A Defender Of The Alamo
For a Brit, former Genesis frontman Phil Collins has an oddly intense fascination with the siege of the Alamo in San Antonio, Texas. His obsession is profound. Before donating it to the Alamo, Collins possessed the largest private collection of artifacts and documents related to the 1836 battle where the Mexican army almost entirely destroyed the American garrison. Something about the event resonates deeply with Collins, and a hint of a past-life connection seemed to appear when he was still young.
As a child, Phil would play with toy soldiers and reenact the Alamo battle. After each session, he felt an unexplained compulsion to burn the plastic soldiers. It wasn’t until years later that he learned Mexican General Santa Anna had ordered the cremation of the bodies of the Texan defenders.
In the mid-’90s, Collins’s third wife gifted him an old receipt for John W. Smith's horse, saddle, and bridle. Smith had been the last messenger sent from the fort to request reinforcements. Collins was captivated by the receipt, and it became the first piece in his collection. During a 2009 Alamo celebration in San Antonio, a self-proclaimed “spiritual clairvoyant” named Carolyn Raine-Foreman told Collins that he had been John W. Smith in a past life. “I could feel there was something else with him,” explained Raine-Foreman. “A deeper connection. It made sense that someone from England, so far removed, had something more driving him than mere casual interest in the Alamo.”
Collins also possesses photos of the Alamo that show glowing orbs, which paranormal investigators regard as manifestations of spiritual energy. Collins admitted that the images unnerved him. Along with the revelation of his past-life identity as John W. Smith, he confessed, “I don’t want to come off as a weirdo. I’m not Shirley MacLaine. But I’m willing to believe. You’ve seen the pictures. You can’t deny them, so it’s a possibility that I was here in another life.”
+ Melissa Etheridge Died Of Scleroderma
As a Grammy Award–winning rock singer and songwriter, Melissa Lou Etheridge often wondered about the origins of her musical abilities, especially since music wasn’t a family tradition. She playfully mused whether she might be the reincarnation of Mozart. To explore this idea, Melissa decided to undergo a hypnotic regression, describing it as a casual experiment.
In her memoir The Truth Is: My Life in Love and Music, Melissa shares her experience:
One day, the doorbell rang and in walked the classic Crone, a wise, elderly woman who invited me to sit on the floor. She began speaking to me in a soft, rhythmic voice that was almost hypnotic. It took me back through the years—five years, 10, 15—and then I was back to being a baby in the womb, searching for a light to guide me into birth. Following the light, I began describing myself as a half-Indian man from the 1800s, a doctor who succumbed to scleroderma, a disease that causes the skin to harden. Then, I traveled even further back and found myself as an actress in a German cabaret from the 1600s, performing as a man, entertaining a group of townspeople.
At first, Melissa found the whole experience to be amusing entertainment. However, when the therapist guided her memories back to the time she was in her mother’s birth canal, she suddenly experienced pain and struggled to breathe. The ordeal was unsettling, and it wasn’t until Melissa inquired with her mother about her birth that she learned the nurses had tried for 15 minutes to delay her arrival until a doctor could be present. The crushing pain she felt was the uterine walls compressing on her.
In the early days of her career, Etheridge was frequently told that she must be the reincarnation of Judy Garland. While it was intended as a compliment, it was likely a remark that boosted her spirits and motivation.
A believer in reincarnation, Melissa—who has openly identified as a lesbian—offers her own unique take on the concept. When asked, “What is a lesbian?” Etheridge responded: “The highest form of life. I heard that in the reincarnation hierarchy, the lowest form is a heterosexual man. And as you ascend the ladder, the highest form of reincarnation is a lesbian.”
