12 Mind-Blowing Facts from Scientists who Study Reincarnation
Is there proof of reincarnation? Reputable medical and academic professionals, including a team of researchers at the University of Virginia School of Medicine’s Division of Perceptual Studies, have been studying the science of reincarnation for nearly a half-century. They are seeking scientific answers to the question: is reincarnation real? After investigating thousands of stories of people who claim to remember a past life, their meticulous research has uncovered these 12 staggering facts.
1
33% of Americans believe in reincarnation.
The Pew Research Center conducted a study on New Age beliefs and found that one-third of Americans believed they would be reborn in another body after death. Interestingly, they found that women were 1.4x more likely to hold this belief than men.
2
65% more people believe in reincarnation now compared to 20 years ago.
According to Gallup, reincarnation appears to be making a comeback (pun intended).
3
36% of Catholics believe in reincarnation.
Reincarnation is central to the beliefs of many eastern religions, such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism, but the concept is also more popular among Christians than many may realize. According to the study conducted by the Pew Research Center, one in four Protestants and one in three Catholics believe their soul will return in another body after death, even though such an idea is not part of their religion’s official doctrine.
4
70% of people who remember a past life, remember dying a violent or unnatural death.
Dr. Jim Tucker, a psychiatrist and past-life researcher at the University of Virginia, discovered that the vast majority of cases he investigated involved people who remembered past lives as men, not women. He wondered if gender had something to do with why some people remembered living before.
Upon further analysis of over 2,000 cases, he determined the cause was likely due to another factor. 30% of the cases he studied involved a past life of someone who had died a natural death. These cases were evenly split between males and females, reflecting the general population. However, of the remaining 70% of cases, where the past life ended in an accidental or unnatural death, a whopping 73% involved males.
These percentages mirror death statistics almost perfectly. Far more men than women die unnaturally. Men tend to have more dangerous jobs, fight in wars, and get into more bar fights. Therefore, Dr. Tucker reasoned that someone may be more likely to remember a past life if it ended in a violent or unnatural death.
5
9% of people who remember a past life exhibit an unusual skill related to that former life.
You’ve heard the expression “she’s a natural” when someone effortlessly picks up something new, like a sport or a language. Sometimes genetics or environmental factors can explain it, but in many cases, scientists don’t know why some people demonstrate extraordinary talents. Researchers at the University of Virginia Division of Perceptual Studies found that nearly one in ten people who remember a past life exhibit a skill related to that former life. Is it possible that we retain some knowledge and experience from lives we’ve lived before?
6
35% of people who remember dying accidentally in a past life, have an extreme fear of dying the same way again.
Many of the cases investigated by the University of Virginia Division of Perceptual Studies included people who believed they were murdered or accidentally killed in a past life. The subjects in over one third of these cases exhibited an intense fear of that particular cause of death. For some, their elevated level of anxiety resembled that of a patient suffering from PTSD after a traumatizing event. They exhibited avoidant behavior, like refusing to fly on airplanes, or had an exaggerated startle response to loud noises.
7
26% of people who remember a past life demonstrate some other form of ESP.
Psychiatrist Dr. Jim Tucker has written about the unexplained psychic abilities of people he’s investigated who recall living before. Perhaps further research will reveal a link between past-life memory and clairvoyance.
8
20% of people who remember a past life believe they’d lived as a deceased family member.
Psychologists who study people who claim to remember past lives have documented many instances of supposed reincarnation within the same family. Psychiatrist Dr. Brian Weiss hypothesized that we may have a soul family—a cluster of spirits that we are drawn to, life after life.
9
58% of people who remember drowning in a past life have an extreme fear of water.
As previously mentioned, scientists have documented many cases of people with phobias that appear to stem from remembered past lives. Aquaphobia, the fear of water, seems to be one of the most common.
Past-life researcher Dr. Jim Tucker speculates this may be because “drowning victims spend more time in the process of dying than individuals who are killed in an automobile accident or shot to death.” Thus, the past-life trauma from drowning is more likely to stick with them in the next incarnation.
10
23% of people who remember a past life believe they once lived as a different gender.
In many of these cases - which the University of Virginia Division of Perceptual Studies has thoroughly investigated and coded - the individual strongly associated with the gender of their remembered past-life personality. Perhaps this is evidence for a universal soul, that can express itself as any or all genders, regardless of the body’s anatomical gender.
11
20% of people who remember a past life also remember something from the time between death and rebirth.
Sometimes people report having witnessed the funeral of their own past life identity (and a few have even accurately provided details that seemed impossible for them to have known). Others have described a more ethereal experience in a sort of spirit realm while in between lifetimes. According to Dr. Tucker, one boy claimed he’d met a distant relative who’d died many years before while in this realm, waiting to be reborn. In another case, a child claimed he’d “chosen” his mother while watching her on vacation in Hawaii, more than a year before the woman even became pregnant.
12
2% of people who remember a past life can accurately describe their previous funeral.
While rare, this phenomenon is no less fascinating. Researchers found that in 25 out of 1,100 cases of people remembering a past life, the subject shared eerily accurate details of their previous identity’s funeral. They claim to have been there, watching the ceremony unfold, even though they no longer inhabited their former body.
According to the extensive research documented by the late Dr. Ian Stevenson, one girl named Ratana was upset because her family had scattered the ashes of her former identity rather than burying them. She even knew the precise spot where they had done it. Under the bo tree, inside the temple complex.
I came across these fascinating facts when researching for my latest psychological thriller, DON’T GET CLOSE. In the novel, scientists plan to conduct a controversial experiment at government lab to prove what happens after death, and an infamous reincarnation cult will do whatever it takes to stop them.
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About the author: Matt Miksa is a bestselling author and former FBI intelligence analyst who helped prevent foreign spies from stealing America’s secrets. Today, he writes thrillers that blend history, science, and espionage.
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