Reincarnation cases
14 cases
Children who talk about another life, with names and places of a person who has already died. We tell each case step by step, with what can and can’t be checked.
The cases
Sri Lanka, 1972
Sujith Jayaratne
Sujith Jayaratne was about two years old when he began saying that he was called “Gorakana Sammy” and that a lorry had run him over. A Buddhist monk wrote down what he said before checking it. In Gorakana he found the family of Sammy Fernando, who died that way in 1969.
Sri Lanka, 1992
Chatura Karunaratne
Chatura Karunaratne was three years old when he began saying that in another life he was a soldier who was attacked in a truck. A national newspaper published what he said in June 1992. Then the father of a soldier who died in 1986 read the article and recognized his son.
Louisiana, United States, 2000
James Leininger
James Leininger was two years old when he began screaming in his sleep that a plane was going down in flames. His parents say he talked about a ship called “Natoma” and a pilot named Jack Larsen. In 2002 his father found a pilot who fit, James Huston, who died in 1945.
Sri Lanka, 1960
Gnanatilleka
Gnanatilleka Baddewithana talked from a young age about other parents in Talawakele, in Sri Lanka. In 1960, a journalist wrote down 57 things she said before identifying anyone. Then a truck driver who read the story pointed to the family of a boy who died in 1954.
Sri Lanka, 1989
Dilukshi Nissanka
Dilukshi Nissanka was not yet two years old when she began saying that in another life she had drowned near Dambulla. A letter and a newspaper recorded what she said in 1989. Days later, the father of a girl who drowned in 1983 wrote to Dilukshi’s family.
Germany, 1952
Ruprecht Schulz
Ruprecht Schulz was a Berlin businessman when, in the middle of the war, he began seeing a ruined merchant shoot himself. In 1952 he wrote letters to find him. The city hall of Wilhelmshaven answered that a timber merchant had killed himself there.
Sri Lanka, 1983
Subashini Gunasekera
Subashini Gunasekera was three years old when she began saying that, in another life, a hill fell on her house in Sinhapitiya. The landslide happened, in 1977. The researchers found the family of a girl who died in it.
England, 1958
Pollock twins
In 1957, a car killed Joanna and Jacqueline Pollock. Their father announced they would come back as twins. In 1958, Gillian and Jennifer were born, and Jennifer had a mark on her forehead where Jacqueline had had a scar.
India, 1935
Shanti Devi
Shanti Devi was eight years old when she gave the address of the husband she said she had had in another life, in the city of Mathura. A school principal wrote to that address, and the man existed. Then she was taken to Mathura.
United States, 2009
Ryan Hammons
Ryan Hammons was five when he pointed to an extra from a 1932 movie in a book and said “that guy’s me.” No one knew who the man was. Months later, a film archive expert found his name on the back of another photo: Marty Martyn.
Lebanon, 1964
Imad Elawar
Imad Elawar was five years old and talked about another life in Khriby, a village in the mountains of Lebanon. In 1964, Ian Stevenson wrote down what his family said and went with him to look for that person. It is Stevenson’s most famous case, and one of his most disputed.
Turkey, 1997
Kemal Atasoy
Kemal Atasoy was six years old when he told a psychologist that in another life he was Karakas, a rich Armenian from Istanbul. The psychologist wrote it down before looking for anyone. Then he found the house, and a local historian who remembered Karakas.
Japan, 2020
Takeharu
Takeharu was three years old when he began asking to be taken to see the Yamato, a Japanese battleship sunk in 1945. He said he had died on it. When he was eight, a researcher gave him some tests to look for that man.
India, 1958
Swarnlata Mishra
Swarnlata Mishra was three years old when she asked for the truck to turn toward “my house” in Katni, a city where she had never lived. Years later, a researcher wrote down how she described the house, went to Katni, and found it.
What is a reincarnation case?
It is when a person, almost always a young child, talks about another life. They give names, places and details of someone who has already died. Often they say it before they can read, and their family does not know that person.
Since the 1960s, several researchers have looked for that person and checked what matches and what doesn’t. The first was the psychiatrist Ian Stevenson, of the University of Virginia. His team has gathered more than 2,500 cases.
What can be checked
We ask each case five questions, as we do with near-death experiences. The most important one is this: was what the child said written down before the other family was found?
If it was written down afterward, everyone’s memories can easily change without anyone meaning to, and fit what they already know. If it was written down before, and someone from outside confirms it, the match is much harder to explain.
In almost all the cases that go around, there is no written record from before the two families met that has a date and can be checked. That is why we start with the few that have something written beforehand, with a date.
The top 5, in a free PDF
The University of Virginia holds more than 2,500 cases. We have read the original sources for 26 cases and ranked the five best-checked ones. We tell you what each person said, what was checked and what wasn’t, with a chart for each case. Get the free PDF here.