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European Cases of the Reincarnation Type
Many cultures accept that a person may die and then come back to life in another form, but Westerners have traditionally rejected the idea. Recently, however, surveys conducted in Europe indicate a substantial increase in the number of Europeans who believe in reincarnation, and numerous claims of reincarnation have been reported.
This book examines particular cases in Europe that are suggestive of reincarnation. The first section provides a brief history of the belief in reincarnation among Europeans. The second section considers eight cases from the first third of the twentieth century that were not independently investigated, but were reported and sometimes published by the persons concerned. The third section covers 32 cases from the second half of the twentieth century that were investigated by the author. Many of these cases involved either children who exhibited unusual behavior attributed to a previous life, or adults who experienced recurrent or vivid dreams attributed to a previous life. In the fourth section, the author compares European cases suggestive of reincarnation with those of other countries and cultures.
This book examines particular cases in Europe that are suggestive of reincarnation. The first section provides a brief history of the belief in reincarnation among Europeans. The second section considers eight cases from the first third of the twentieth century that were not independently investigated, but were reported and sometimes published by the persons concerned. The third section covers 32 cases from the second half of the twentieth century that were investigated by the author. Many of these cases involved either children who exhibited unusual behavior attributed to a previous life, or adults who experienced recurrent or vivid dreams attributed to a previous life. In the fourth section, the author compares European cases suggestive of reincarnation with those of other countries and cultures.
278 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 2003
About the author
Ian Stevenson
70 books106 followersIan Pretyman Stevenson (October 31, 1918 – February 8, 2007) was a Canadian-born U.S. psychiatrist. He worked for the University of Virginia School of Medicine for fifty years, as chair of the department of psychiatry from 1957 to 1967, Carlson Professor of Psychiatry from 1967 to 2001, and Research Professor of Psychiatry from 2002 until his death.
As founder and director of the university's Division of Perceptual Studies, which investigates the paranormal, Stevenson became known internationally for his research into reincarnation, the idea that emotions, memories, and even physical injuries in the form of birthmarks, can be transferred from one life to another. He traveled extensively over a period of forty years, investigating three thousand cases of children around the world who claimed to remember past lives. His position was that certain phobias, philias, unusual abilities and illnesses could not be fully explained by heredity or the environment. He believed that reincarnation provided a third type of explanation.
As founder and director of the university's Division of Perceptual Studies, which investigates the paranormal, Stevenson became known internationally for his research into reincarnation, the idea that emotions, memories, and even physical injuries in the form of birthmarks, can be transferred from one life to another. He traveled extensively over a period of forty years, investigating three thousand cases of children around the world who claimed to remember past lives. His position was that certain phobias, philias, unusual abilities and illnesses could not be fully explained by heredity or the environment. He believed that reincarnation provided a third type of explanation.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
May 18, 2024
I picked up this book after reading an article in the Washington Post about children who remember past lives, and I was intrigued. Dr. Stevenson presents 22 cases here that are "suggestive of reincarnation" with a focus specifically in Europe, where he posits that fewer people believe in reincarnation and are less predisposed to view these incidents in that light, risking contaminating what might otherwise be a fantasy.
This book may have not been published until 2003, but I'm quite confident Dr. Stevenson did not revise any of his notes from the 60s and 70s for it. Some of the language and ideas here are downright offensive and it made this one a struggle for me. For example, there is extensive discussion of people who experienced a "sex change" from one life to another and part of the substantiation for their reincarnation is the manner of their dress and interests that may more often be socially ascribed to another gender. There is additionally one case in particular of a man who remembers a past life with a tribe in Africa where he draws a picture of his former wife and Dr. Stevenson asserts that no boy of that age would draw a woman with breasts so "ugly" if he did not remember them that way clearly, and when the boy pushes back and says that his wife's breasts were beautiful the way he drew them, Dr. Stevenson ascribes this to substantiation of different cultural socialization or intimate attraction to the individual object of his pictures. There are many things about that case study in particular that had me almost DNF right then and there.
Additionally, there really is not much in the way of academic rigor here, and those he seems to put more stock in compared to others do not seem any more objectively credible. His commentary demonstrates the outright subjectivity in determining the veracity of these cases, even as he and his research assistants did clearly do some deep archival dives attempting to verify many of these recollections.
Overall, I found myself wishing that someone had worked with Dr. Stevenson to adapt his writing for a popular audience. There was some interesting material here, but it could have used a better framework and perhaps a greater focus on a smaller number of cases to make his point. Some of his commentary really should have been revised for the century in which it was published as well. It was a slog by the end to get through, but I did find some of the cases fascinating. It did get me thinking more about reincarnation and broader human connection throughout the ages. Can't say I recommend it though.
This book may have not been published until 2003, but I'm quite confident Dr. Stevenson did not revise any of his notes from the 60s and 70s for it. Some of the language and ideas here are downright offensive and it made this one a struggle for me. For example, there is extensive discussion of people who experienced a "sex change" from one life to another and part of the substantiation for their reincarnation is the manner of their dress and interests that may more often be socially ascribed to another gender. There is additionally one case in particular of a man who remembers a past life with a tribe in Africa where he draws a picture of his former wife and Dr. Stevenson asserts that no boy of that age would draw a woman with breasts so "ugly" if he did not remember them that way clearly, and when the boy pushes back and says that his wife's breasts were beautiful the way he drew them, Dr. Stevenson ascribes this to substantiation of different cultural socialization or intimate attraction to the individual object of his pictures. There are many things about that case study in particular that had me almost DNF right then and there.
Additionally, there really is not much in the way of academic rigor here, and those he seems to put more stock in compared to others do not seem any more objectively credible. His commentary demonstrates the outright subjectivity in determining the veracity of these cases, even as he and his research assistants did clearly do some deep archival dives attempting to verify many of these recollections.
Overall, I found myself wishing that someone had worked with Dr. Stevenson to adapt his writing for a popular audience. There was some interesting material here, but it could have used a better framework and perhaps a greater focus on a smaller number of cases to make his point. Some of his commentary really should have been revised for the century in which it was published as well. It was a slog by the end to get through, but I did find some of the cases fascinating. It did get me thinking more about reincarnation and broader human connection throughout the ages. Can't say I recommend it though.
January 22, 2017
This book is a bit of a surprise, if you've read any of Dr. Stevenson's other books on reincarnation. He is usually so strict as to what cases he puts in his books. In this book, he is anything but strict; he has cases I would not have included; he has cases he says he really didn't want to include. It's like because there is so little scientific research on reincarnation cases in Europe, he used whatever stories told to him and even dreams.
Seeing possible past life dreams in a Stevenson book was a real shocker. Everything I had read by him, or about him, in the past rated dreams right up there with past life regression--past life fantasies, nothing more! And not only does he include dreams, he even states past life hypnotism is all right, as long as the person has come up with that specific past life before in some other manner. He sees it as a useful tool to possibly acquire more details of that life.
My favorite story in the book was the one the front cover painting comes from . . . the possible reincarnation of the daughter of artist Goya's mistress. Very fascinating story. It's good it was put in the back of the book, too, because it made all the other stories in the book seems quite dull in comparison.
Seeing possible past life dreams in a Stevenson book was a real shocker. Everything I had read by him, or about him, in the past rated dreams right up there with past life regression--past life fantasies, nothing more! And not only does he include dreams, he even states past life hypnotism is all right, as long as the person has come up with that specific past life before in some other manner. He sees it as a useful tool to possibly acquire more details of that life.
My favorite story in the book was the one the front cover painting comes from . . . the possible reincarnation of the daughter of artist Goya's mistress. Very fascinating story. It's good it was put in the back of the book, too, because it made all the other stories in the book seems quite dull in comparison.
February 10, 2019
Apesar da minha pouca iniciação no estudo foi bem interessante saber como que se classifica a reencarnação e como a identificam. É um estudo um pouco monótono mas bem interessante
July 13, 2018
I was surprised to find out that a school such as UVA would have an ongoing research project on reincarnation. Even after reading this book, I'm still now sure why they would, and why would they consider this scientific in any way - the author is a psychiatrist, but this same book could have been written by any journalist, there is nothing particularly scientific about it. Having said that, stories told in the book are nothing short of fascinating, I couldn't put it down. I enjoyed it the way I would enjoy a work of fiction.
January 1, 2019
Nice complement to Stevenson's Twenty Cases Suggestive of Reincarnation, 2D.
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November 5, 2012Ian Stevenson was probably the main academic to research cases of what might be reincarnation memories. I remember looking through one of his earlier books years ago, in which most of the cases came from India and Sri Lanka. This book deals with a smaller number of cases that he looked into in Europe. Most involved people he was able to interview or correspond with.
Being a researcher, Stevenson tried hard to remain open to a variety of possibilities. The fact that he researched this topic for many years indicates he either believed in or wanted to believe in reincarnation; however, he carefully reviewed flaws in his data, such as the possibility that a subject had learned about a specific person or period in some other manner, including via means that would be considered paranormal but would not involve reincarnation. The result is that while he found the cases in this book strong enough to write up, he did not claim that any of them were definite cases of reincarnation. His ideal case would have been a small child who expressed spontaneous, detailed, checkable memories of life as a person whose identity could be investigated, and that adults around that child would be available for interviews and preferably have no bias in favor of the reincarnation hypothesis. Such cases were not exactly common in Europe; his Asian cases more fit the pattern of the small child announcing that he or she was really so-and-so who had recently died, and adults not wanting the child to identify with the dead person.
The cases presented here are somewhat interesting, but not proof of anything. Stevenson's writing style is clear but not very evocative, and often he went out of his way to explain things or terms that the average reader would already know, which was tedious. Basically, while the book isn't boring, it's not one you'd read for entertainment, but simply to learn more about the topic from someone who tried to be objective about it.
Being a researcher, Stevenson tried hard to remain open to a variety of possibilities. The fact that he researched this topic for many years indicates he either believed in or wanted to believe in reincarnation; however, he carefully reviewed flaws in his data, such as the possibility that a subject had learned about a specific person or period in some other manner, including via means that would be considered paranormal but would not involve reincarnation. The result is that while he found the cases in this book strong enough to write up, he did not claim that any of them were definite cases of reincarnation. His ideal case would have been a small child who expressed spontaneous, detailed, checkable memories of life as a person whose identity could be investigated, and that adults around that child would be available for interviews and preferably have no bias in favor of the reincarnation hypothesis. Such cases were not exactly common in Europe; his Asian cases more fit the pattern of the small child announcing that he or she was really so-and-so who had recently died, and adults not wanting the child to identify with the dead person.
The cases presented here are somewhat interesting, but not proof of anything. Stevenson's writing style is clear but not very evocative, and often he went out of his way to explain things or terms that the average reader would already know, which was tedious. Basically, while the book isn't boring, it's not one you'd read for entertainment, but simply to learn more about the topic from someone who tried to be objective about it.
December 1, 2008
I picked this intriguing book up after reading the story of James Leininger, the young boy who seems to be the reincarnation of a World War II fighter pilot. A news story about James mentioned that Dr. Ian Stevenson was the pioneer of the scientific study of reincarnation. About half of the case studies are about children like James, who at age 2 start to talk about and act out a previous life. The information they seem to possess is far beyond that usually acquired by a young child. Around 7 to 8, the children stop talking about the previous personality and begin to develop their own.
Dr. Stevenson refers to much stronger cases in his 3 volume work, which relates reincarnation cases from Asia, Africa and North America (Native American). I won't read all three volumes, but do some cherrypicking of cases.
Dr. Stevenson refers to much stronger cases in his 3 volume work, which relates reincarnation cases from Asia, Africa and North America (Native American). I won't read all three volumes, but do some cherrypicking of cases.
October 12, 2011
Quite a few of the cases cited seem more of a stretch than those in Stevenson's other work.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews