Somewhat different than ghostly phenomenon so I didn't want to hijack Reb's thread. As I expressed my feeling of open mindedness on the ghost thing I feel somewhat the same on reincarnation. But I lean slightly closer to believing on reincarnation than not believing. This is for two different reasons. Neither is 100% convincing but both are compelling.
1. I once read a book by a noted writer and researcher named Edgar Case, perhaps you have heard of him. The title of the book is "The Girl With The Blue Eyes". In the book Mr. Case tells how he heard of a man who hypnotized people in his night club act. He once hypnotized his 17 year old daughter during a house party. She began to speak foreign language and got very upset. He quickly pulled her out of it.
Later he felt like the language she had spoken was French or a dialect of French. Anyway word got around and Mr. Case contacted the man and asked him if he'd be willing to hypnotize the girl again in his presence with translators and recording equipment present. After a little back and forth the man and his daughter agreed to this so they could find out what was going on. The girl had never studied French or any other foreign language and never even met anyone who spoke French. There was absolutely no way she could have spoken French.
During the session the girl again began getting upset and speaking French. The father was reluctant but Mr. Case convinced him to allow him to question her further to get some answers. He agreed.
The girl was speaking as a young woman who live in a small mill town in French Quebec Canada.....circa late 19th century. She was married to an abusive husband and had 2 or 3 kids. Under hypnosis she was upset because her husband was beating her and the kids.....she said he was KILLING them.
Before the session ended She gave the family name and the name of the town. Mr. Case thanked the man and his daughter and told them he was going to go to that town and try to document the things the girl had said under hypnosis.
He finally managed to find the little town. The mill was many long years out of business and only the ruin of the facility still existed. The town fell into decline when the mill closed down and most of the town's population had moved off or passed away but there were still a few very old people that remembered the mill and the stories they'd heard about the family and the murders of a wife and her kids.
He even located the old abandoned house and yard where the murders occurred. I can't remember what it was but in the yard he found something that the girl had mentioned. If it comes to me I'll post it up later. And Finally he found the cemetery where they were buried and was able to identify their graves.
There are just not too many ways to explain how this young high school girl could know and tell this story in a foreign language...unless she lived it. I'm gettin' the creeps just thinkin' about it!
2. All my life I have had this one recurring dream. I used to have it fairly often, too often to suit me that is. I still have it sometimes but less and less frequently as the years pass.
The setting is some where in the deep south. Without knowing why or how I have the powerful sense that it is Mississippi. There is a wide canal and barges are pulled up and down by mules walking on the bank next to the water.
The area is poverty stricken. The people are black. Again without knowing for sure I get the sense that I am black. I walk my mule up and down the canal pulling my barge loaded with goods. The dream seems extremely real and vivid. I can feel the heat. I can smell my own sweat. I can taste the dust in the well worn foot path along the bank. I can even smell the mule poop. Realism ain't always such a good thing in dreams.
In this dream I never speak and no one speaks to me. There are lots of people around me and tents. People cooking on the ground and working on one thing or another. The dream never varies and it always starts and stops at the same place.
I put this on the very top of a long list of things I don't understand. There could be any number of simple explanations to account for this dream and I know that. But if there is such a thing as reincarnation then it COULD explain the Girl With The Blue Eyes and it could also explain my puzzling dream.
Lots of people, famous and not so famous claim to have lived before as other people. General George Patton and actress Shirley McClain to mention two, were very outspoken about it. I believe Shirley McClain even wrote a book about it. A lot of people claim to be reincarnations of famous people from the past. I have my doubts about all that but still, it is a very interesting subject. Unlike the ghost stuff I would like to know before I cash in my chips whether or not there is such a thing as reincarnation.
So.....have you ever lived before? were you someone of note? Come on, fess up. We won't laugh...
