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Children Who Claim to Remember Previous Lives: Caseswith Written Records Made before the PreviousPersonality Was IdentifiedH. H. JRGEN KEILPsychology DepartmentUniversity of Tasmania, Hobart, Tasmania, AustraliaJIM B. TUCKERDivision of Personality StudiesUniversity of Virginia Health System, P.O. Box 800152Charlottesville, VA 22908-0152e-mail: [email protected] who claim to remember previous lives have been describedin the research literature for over 40 years, and in many cases their families haveidentified a deceased individual whose life they believe the child isremembering. These cases have been criticized on the grounds that afterthe families of the child and the deceased individual meet and share information,they may end up attributing more knowledge about that individual to the childthan he or she actually demonstrated. Acase is presented in which theinvestigator recordednotesof achildsstatementsinTurkeyandthensub-sequently found that they corresponded in great detail to the life of a man wholived in Istanbul 850 kmaway and who died 50 years before the child was born. Areview of similar cases in which written records were made before the deceasedindividual was identified indicates that they present a significant challenge to thesupposition that this phenomenon is due to falsely credited information.Keywords: reincarnation casesparanormal phenomenachildhood memoriesIntroductionCases of children who claim to remember previous lives have been reported in theresearch literature for over 40 years (e.g., Stevenson, 1960, 2001). In a typical case,a very young child who lives in a culture with a belief in reincarnation begins toreport memoriesofapreviouslife. Inmanycases, thechildeventuallygivesenoughdetailssothat thefamilyisabletolocateadeceasedindividual, theprevious personality, whose life appears to match the statements made by the child.A number of possible explanations have been suggested for these cases. Theone using normal means that is most frequently given is the socio-psychologicalhypothesis (Brody, 1979). It can be summarized as follows:In a culture having a belief in reincarnation a child who seems to speak about a previouslife will be encouraged to say more. What he says then leads his parents somehow to findJournalofScienticExploration, Vol. 19, No. 1, pp. 91101, 2005 0892-3310/0591anotherfamilywhosememberscometo believethat thechildhasbeen speakingabouta deceased member of their family. The two families exchange information about details,and they end by crediting the subject with having had much more knowledge about theidentified deceased person than he really had had. (Stevenson & Samararatne, 1988: 237)Themostimportantfeatureofthishypothesisisthelastonegiven:thatthefamilies end up crediting the children with more knowledge about the identifiedprevious personality than they actually demonstrated. After the childrensfamilieslearnabout thepreviouspersonality, theymayfalselyclaimthat thechildrenmade statementsthattheydidnot,ortheymaymistakenly recallthatthe children had voiced details about the life that they did not. These possibilitiescanbeconjecturedbecauseawrittenrecordof thechildrensstatementshasrarely been made before the families met. Exceptions exist, however, and theseprovideanimportant test of thesocio-psychological hypothesis. Wepresentanewcasehereinwhichaninvestigatormadenotesofthechildsstatementsbefore the previous personality was identified, and three previous cases will alsobe reviewed for comparison.The Case of KAThefirst author (JK) investigatedthecaseof aboy(KA) insouth-centralTurkey who claimed to remember a life in Istanbul some 850 km away, and hewas eventually able to confirm many of the boys statements.InterviewIn April 1997, JK met KA, who was then 6 years old, for the first time. JKsinterpreterwasacquaintedwithKAsparents,whoagreedtoarrangethisfirstvisit.TheinterpreterhadmentionedJKsinterestinchildrenwhospeakaboutpreviouslivestoKAsparents, whotoldhimthat KAwasdoingthis. KAsstatements were not known outside the immediate family circle, and his familysaid that while he had made a few statements shortly after starting to speak, hehad made most of them beginning around the age of 2.KAlivedinHatayinacomfortableupper middleclass environment. Hisparents were obviously delighted to have a son (he was the only son), which inTurkey is regarded as a particularly desirable blessing. KAs parents were well-educated Alevi Muslims who had friends among various different religious andother interest groups. Althoughtheywereawarethat purportedmemoriesofpreviouslivesareregardedasoneofthedistinguishingfeaturesoftheAleviMuslims, theyapparentlydidnot attachagreat deal of importancetoKAsstatements. JK noticed that they listened to him with tolerant interest and seemedat times amused by his enthusiasm.JKandhisinterpretermetKAathishome. Hismotherwaspresentfortheentireinterview, andhisfather joinedtheinterviewpartwaythroughit. Theinterpreter translated what was said after short intervals, and JK took notes and92 H. H. Jrgen Keil & J. B. Tuckeraskedquestions. Audiorecordings were not made since JKhas foundthatacassetterecorder oftencreates adistraction. At this first meeting, JKwasimpressed with the clarity of KAs statements and the confidence with which hemadethem. HesaidhisfamilysnamehadbeenKarakasandhehadbeenanArmenian Christian. He said that during that life, he was rich and lived in a largethree-story house in Istanbul. He said his house was on the water, where boatswere tied up, and a church was behind it. He said people called him Fistik andhis wife and children had Greek first names. He said he and his wifes weddingtook place in Bodrum, a town on the coast approximately 430 km from Istanbulby air. He also said he often carried a large leather bag and he only lived in thehouse for part of the year. He said he had been shot and killed and his wife wasinvolved in the murder. In addition, he mentioned that his youngest son had diedasarallycar driver. Afull list of hisstatementsisgivenintheAnalysis ofStatements section below.InvestigationKAs parents and relatives had no information which suggested a connectionbetweenthemandthe previous personalitydescribedbyKA. TheyhadnofriendsorrelativesinIstanbul, andKAandhismotherhadneverbeenthere.Approximately two or three years before the interview, KAs father, anaccountant, had been in Istanbul twice in connection with his work, but on bothoccasions, he left Istanbul the same day and did not try to obtain any informationabout thestatementsthat hissonhadmade. KAsparentsdidnot knowanyArmenians. Thus, whenJKstartedtheinvestigation, therewasnoindicationthat a person as described by KA had ever existed.Although KAgave more details than most subjects do, identifying theprevious personality probably would have been impossible if KAhad notmentioned that he was the neighbor of a relatively well-known woman inIstanbul.Thiswoman, namedAysegul, wasadealerinartworkswhogotintosome difficulties with the authorities. When a court case was opened against heror was about to be opened, she left Turkey, and her whereabouts after that areunknown. Her situation produced some publicity, and JKs interpreter, who hasrelatives inIstanbul,wasawareofthe matter. MosteducatedTurks(includingKAsparents)whotakesomeinterest inthenewswouldalsohaveheardhername. KAs parents said that when their son first mentioned Aysegul, he was soyoung that he could not have learned it from outside sources, but this possibilitycannot be ruled out. JK was not able to discover when the stories about Aysegulfirst appearedinnewspapers, but this likelyhappenedbeforeKAwas ableto speak.In April 1997, JK was able to locate Ayseguls house in the Cengelkoy area ofIstanbul.Nexttoit,hefoundanowemptythree-storyhousethatmatchedthedetailsthatKAhadgiven.Itwasdifficult,however,tofindanyevidencethatapersonasdescribedbyKAhadeverlivedthere.Initially, JKcouldnotfindWritten Records of Past Life Claims 93anyonewhohadheardaboutanArmenianintheareawhereAysegulshousewas located, and no Armenians live in that area now.During a second visit to the Cengelkoy area in October 1997, JK was told byanArmenianChurchofficial inIstanbul that therewerenoArmeniansintheCengelkoyarea. Thechurchhadnorecords, hesaid, that suggestedthat anArmenian had lived in the house that JK had identified as the one described byKA. AnelderlymanwhohadlivedintheCengelkoyareafor manyyears,however, told him thatanArmenian haddefinitelylivedinthathouseandthechurch officials JK had met were not old enough to remember him.Duringafurther visit inOctober 1998, JKwas abletointerviewalocalhistorian, Mr. Toran Togar, who was born in 1924. Mr. Togar was an excellentinformant. For example, he remembered the names of five newspapers that werepublishedinthe1940s(andJKwasabletoconfirmthis). Onlyoneofthesepapers is still in circulation. Mr. Togar remembered various events in connectionwiththeprevious personalitywithout hesitation, but particularlyinorder toestablish the correct sequence of events,he carefullychecked his recollectionsagainst events about which he was quite confident.When JK interviewed Mr. Togar, he was careful not to prompt any answers orto make any suggestions. They met near the previous personalitys house, and JKaskedMr. Togarwhatherememberedaboutthepeoplewhohadlivedinthishouse.JKtoldhimhewantedtofindoutsome detailsforafamilythatmighthavehadaconnectionwiththehouse, but hedidnot saythat achildhadprovidedinformationabout it. Mr. Togar thengaveanumber of detailsthatmatchedKAsstatements, includingthefamilynameofKarakas. HesaidanArmenianChristianhadlivedinthehousethatJKhadidentified,thathewasrich, that he was the only Armenian in the Cengelkoy area, that his family namewasKarakas, that hiswifecamefromaGreekOrthodoxfamilyandthat herfamilydidnot approveofthemarriage. HesaidthewifesfamilynamewasYordan, the couple had three children, and there was some talk that his wife hadsomethingtodowithhisdeath.Mr.TogaralsosaidtheKarakasclanlivedinanother area of Istanbul, they dealt in leather goods, Mr. Karakas often carrieda substantial leather bag, and he lived in the Cengelkoy house only each summerperiod. Mr. Togar said Karakas died in 1940 or 1941.JK then asked him specifically if Karakas or his wife had any connection withBodrum, since KA had said he got married there in the previous life. Mr. Togarsaid he did not know of any such connection. He added that he remembered theprocessionwhenKarakasgot marriedinIstanbul andtherewassomepublicinterest intheunusual marriageof anArmenianmanandaGreekOrthodoxwoman. While it is possible that a second ceremony took place in Bodrum, noavailable information suggests a connection with Bodrum. In addition, KA hadsaid his youngest son had died as a rally car driver, but if all the details that Mr.Togar provided are accurate, the son must have been a child when Karakas diedsinceMr.Togarwasbornin1924, rememberedtheKarakaswedding,andhesaid Karakas died in 1940 or 1941.94 H. H. Jrgen Keil & J. B. TuckerAnalysisof StatementsKAs statements that corresponded to the life of Karakas:(1) He lived and died in Istanbul.(2) His house is next to Ayseguls house.(3) His house was large.(4) His house had three stories.(5) His house was at the waters edge.(6) Boats were tied up at the house.(7) A church was at the back of the house.(8) His family name was Karakas.(9) He was an Armenian.(10) He was a Christian(11) He was married.(12) He had children.(13) He was rich.(14) He often carried a substantial leather bag.(15) He lived in the house during only part of the year.KAs statements that were partially confirmed:(16) His wife and children had Greek first names. Their actual names are notknown, but Karakass wife came from a Greek Orthodox family.(17) Hewas calledFistik. Nodirect confirmationcouldbeobtained, butsince Armenians use this term to refer to anice man, this would beconsistent with the previous personality. This term is not known in thenon-ArmenianpopulationinTurkey, andJKinitiallyassumedthat itwas a name.(18) His wife had something to do with the previous personalitys death. Thisassumptionwas alsoconfirmedas talkintheneighborhoodbyMr.Togar, the historian.KAs unverified or doubtful statements:(19) KAsaidthat hewasshot withapistol but didnot immediatelydie.There was no confirmation of this. KA had a birthmark on his chest thatwasvisibleforseveral years, andhesaidthat it correspondedtothewound caused bythe bullet fromthe pistol. KAs parents had notnoticedthemarkuntilafterKA, attheageofabout3, startedtotalkabout it. The birthmark was no longer visible when JKmet him.Birthmarksorbirthdefectscorrespondingtowoundsonthepreviouspersonality havebeen noted in35% ofcasesof children who claim toremember previouslives(Stevenson, 2001), sowhiletheshootingisunverified, KAs birthmark was consistent with his claim and with thosein other cases.(20) HeknewAysegul. Initially, it appearedthat Karakascouldnot haveWritten Records of Past Life Claims 95known her. When he died, Aysegul was probably only between 5 and 10yearsold.Later, however,JKlearnedthatAysegullivedinthehousenext to Karakas as a child, and Karakas may have known her. Thus, thestatement was not directly verified but is consistent with the history thatis available.(21) He got married in Bodrum. Mr. Togar remembered a weddingprocession (when Karakas got married) in Istanbul. If there wasaconnectionwithBodrum, JKwas not abletofindout about it orwhether there is a Greek Orthodox community there.(22) His youngest son died as a rally car driver. No available information ontheKarakasfamilysupportsthis, andbasedonthetimelinethat Mr.Togar gave, Karakass sonwas presumablytooyoungtohavebeena rally car driver at the time of his fathers death.The following two correct statements KA may have made at a later stage afterhe had heard the relevant names from JK. JK did not record them during his firstmeeting with KA, but it is possible that KA made them at that time:His house was in Cengelkoy.His wifes family name was Yordan.Follow-upJK made some further attempts to obtain additional information. According toofficialsfromtheGreekOrthodoxChurch,atsomestage,about40yearsago,more than 300Greek Orthodox families lived in the Cengelkoy area. Theofficials said most of these families had since returned to Greece, and they couldnotsuggesthowJKcouldcontactmembersoftheYordanfamilythere. TheyalsorecommendedMr.Togarasthepersonwhowasbestacquaintedwiththehistory of the area.JK attempted to find possible records about Karakass marriageand funeral.Unfortunately the central records, including funeral details that were kept by theArmenian Church, had been destroyed in a fire in 1957. Some records may stillexist intheofficesoffivecemeteriesinIstanbul whichareonlyopentothepublicduringonedayeachweek. JKcontactedthehistorydepartment at theuniversityinIstanbul but foundtherewaslittleinterest inthiskindof localhistory. HesearchedoneofthenewspapersthatwaspublishedatthetimeofKarakassdeathwithout findinganyreferencetohim. Newsat that time(theearly 1940s) was mainly limited to war events. In the Hatay region, JK visited anArmenianvillageandmetamanwhohadpreviouslylivedinIstanbulnamedMr. Kirant. He was not old enough to remember anything about the time whenKarakas was alive. Hesaidhis mother hadtalkedtohimabout theYordanfamily, but he could not remember any details.DuringafurthervisittoKarakasshouse, JKmetsomeelderlymennearbywhosaidinthepastthehousewasknownasYordanshouse.Theysaidafter96 H. H. Jrgen Keil & J. B. TuckerKarakass death, the house remained with the Yordan family for approximately15 years but Karakass wife and children did not continue to stay there. JK alsolocatedtheGreekOrthodoxchurch, whichhehadnot noticedbefore, behindKarakass house.After JK had obtained the details about Karakas listed above, he visited KAonce more. KA was particularly impressed with a photograph of Karakass housethat wastakenfromacrossthewater. KAbelievedthat hecouldidentifytheroom in which he had lived. KA did not in any way suggest that he knew someofthenewdetailswhichJKhaddiscovered.WhenJKaskedhimwhetherhiswife might have been Greek Orthodox, he replied that he did not remember.KAwasawarethat hehadstartedtoforget someof thedetailswhenJKvisitedhimin1999.Hewasthen8yearsold.Atthatpoint,therewasstillnoindicationthat anybodyinhisenvironment might havebeenconnectedwiththe previous personality or could have had some information about him.Previous Reports of Cases with Written RecordsCases in which written records were made before the previous personality wasidentified are rare. Over 2500 cases of young children with past life claims arenowregistered in the files of the Division of Personality Studies at theUniversityof Virginia, but only33of theminvolvecaseswhereapreviouspersonality was identified after written records were made of the childsstatements. Someofthesehavebeenpublishedpreviously(Haraldsson, 1991;Mills, Haraldsson, &Keil, 1994; Mills &Lynn, 2000; Stevenson, 1974;Stevenson&Samararatne,1988),andtheydemonstratethatsuchcases,whilerare,dooccur.Anyefforttorejectthecurrentcaseasanisolatedodditymustaddress these previous cases as well, so it is important to review some of them.The Caseof Sujith JayaratneStevenson (1977) reported the case of Sujith Jayaratne, a boy living ina suburb of Colombo, the capital of Sri Lanka, who described a life in a villagenamed Gorakana that was 12 km away. A monk recorded notes of conversationsthat he had with Sujith about his memories when Sujith was 2 years old, andStevensonwas able toobtaina translatedcopyof them. These documentsindicatedthatSujithsaidhewasfromGorakanaandlivedintheGorakawattesection of it, that his father was named Jamis and did not have one eye (Sujithpointedtotherighteyetoindicatethatitwasthedefectiveone), thathehadattended the kabal iskole (which means dilapidated school) and had a teachernamed Francis there, and that he gave money to a woman named Kusuma, whoprepared string hoppers, a type of food, for him. He implied that he gave moneytothe Kale Pansala,or Forest Temple, andsaid two monks were there,one ofwhom was named Amitha. He said his house was whitewashed, its lavatory wasbeside a fence, and he bathed in cool water.The monk then went to Gorakana and found that all of Sujiths statements wereWritten Records of Past Life Claims 97true for the life of a man named Sammy Fernando, who died at age 50 after beinghit by a truck 6 months before Sujith was born. When Stevenson investigated thecase a year later, he learned two people in Sujiths neighborhood had connectionsto Sammy Fernando. Sujiths family knew one of them, a former drinking buddyof Fernandos, slightly, and the other one, Fernandos younger sister, not at all.ThefamilyhadnoideawhoSujithwastalkingaboutuntilthemonkwenttoGorakanain fact, neither Sujiths mother nor the monk had heard of Gorakanabefore the case developedand the idea that Fernandos drinking buddy or sistersurreptitiously fed the information to Sujith seems quite unlikely.The Caseof Kumkum VermaKumkumVerma was a girl inIndia whodescribeda life inthe cityofDarbhanga 40 kmfrom her village (Stevenson, 1975). Heraunt made notes ofher statements 6 months before anyone attempted to identify the previouspersonality, andStevensonwas abletoobtainextracts of her notebookthatcontained 18 of them. They document details that all matched the life ofawomanwhodied5yearsbeforeKumkumwasborn, includingthenameofUrdu Bazar, the section of Darbhanga where she lived; her sons name and thefact that he worked with a hammer; her grandsons name; the name of the townwhere her father lived and the fact that his home was near mango orchards andreaching it involved crossing water; the presence of a pond at her house; and thefactthatshehadanironsafeatherhouse, aswordhangingnearhercot,anda snake near the safe that she fed milk to.AmanfromUrduBazarwhoworkedforafriendofKumkumsfatherwaseventually able to identify the previous personality. The previous familybelongedtoarelativelylowartisanclasswhileKumkumsfatherwasaland-owner, homeopathic physician, and author, so even though he went to Urdu Bazaronce to meet the previous personalitys family, he never allowed Kumkum to go.The Caseof JagdishChandraThecaseofJagdishChandrainIndiawasquiteoldwhenStevenson(1975)investigateditinfact,thesubjectwastheninhislate30sbutthesubjectsfather,aprominentlawyer,hadmadeawrittenrecordoftheboysstatementsand their verifications at the time that the case developed. Jagdish was born inBareilly, a large city in northern India, and when he was 3 years old, he begansayingthat hehadlivedinBenares, acityapproximately500kmaway. Hisfather sent a letter toa newspaper askingfor helpinverifyingthe childsstatements. Intheletter, hesaidthatJagdishstatedthathisfatherwasnamedBabuji Pandey and had a house in Benares with a big gate, a sitting room, and anunderground room with an iron safe fixed in one of the walls. (Ji added to theendofanamemeansrespected, soJagdishwassayinghisfathersnamehadbeenBabu.) HesaidJagdishdescribedacourtyardwhereBabuji sat intheeveningsandwherepeoplegatheredtodrinkbhang, anIndiandrink. Hesaid98 H. H. Jrgen Keil & J. B. TuckerBabuji received massages and put powder or clay on his face after washing it. Hedescribed two cars and a horse-drawn carriage and said Babuji had two deceasedsons and a deceased wife.The day after this was published, Jagdishs father went to a magistrate to haveJagdishsstatementsofficiallyrecordedbeforetheytraveledtoBenares. Therecorded statements, in addition to those listed in the paper, included the fact thathis name had been Jai Gopal and that his brother, who was bigger than he was,had been named Jai Mangal and had died of poisoning. He said the Ganges Riverwas near the house, and the Dash Ashwamadh Ghat was there. (Ghats are pierswhere people go to bathe, and Babu Pandey was the supervisor of one.) He alsosaid a prostitute named Bhagwati had sung for Babu.JagdishwasthentakentoBenares,wherealloftheabovestatementsaboutthe previous personality were verified (except that Babu Pandey had usedautomobiles but not actually owned them) and where he appeared to recognizepeople and places.DiscussionThe current case is typical of cases of childrenwhoclaimtorememberprevious lives in some ways and unusual in others. The very early age when thesubject began talking about a previous life is the norm for these cases, and in the1200 cases that have been coded and entered into our computer database (out of2500registeredcases), themedianageis32months. Similarly, hisreport offorgetting some of the details is very common, as the median age for the subjectsto stop talking spontaneously about the previous life is 72 months. His apparentbirthmark, which was consistent with his report of being shot, is also a featurethat is commonly reported, as noted previously.His casehas other features that areunusual, suchas theidentificationofapreviouspersonalitywholivedsuchagreat distancefromthesubject. Themediandistancebetweensubjectandpreviouspersonalityis14km, andonlya handful of cases involve a distance of more than 500 km. The interval of about50years betweenthedeathof theprevious personalityandthebirthof thesubject is unusual as well, though not unique. While the median time is only 16months, therehavebeenafewcaseswithasimilartimespan. Inaddition, incases inwhichtheprevious personalityhas not beendetermined, theexactinterval, of course, is unknown unless the child has mentioned a year, so theremay be unsolved cases with similar intervals that families and researchers havenot identified as such. The long distance and long interval would generally makeidentifyingthepreviouspersonalityverydifficult,astheydidinthiscase,butthey also make the childs confirmed statements all the more impressive.WhileKAs caseis astrongone, thereviewof other cases withwrittenrecords shows that it is not unique, and since the written records demonstrate thecases were not createdbyfamilies creditingchildrenwithmoreknowledgeabout the previous personality than they actually displayed, this group of casesWritten Records of Past Life Claims 99poses a serious challenge to the socio-psychological hypothesis for thephenomenon.These cases can also provide an indirect indication of the likelihood that suchaprocessoccurredincaseswherewrittenrecordswerenot madebeforetheprevious personality was identified. Schouten & Stevenson (1998) compared 21cases fromIndiaandSri Lankainwhichwrittenrecords weremadeof thechildrensstatementsbeforethefamiliesmet with82thoroughlyinvestigatedcases without such previously written records. They found the average numberof documented statements in the cases with the written records was 25, whilethe average number obtainedfromthe families retrospectivelyinthe caseswithout writtenrecords was significantlylower at 18. The percentage ofcorrect statements was essentially the same in both groups76.7%in thewritten record cases and 78.4% in the cases without records. As the authors pointout, thefindingsindicatethat familiesdonot createmore, andmorecorrect,statements after they meet or at least not to the point that they affect the data ina measurable way.In the case of KA, his family had no idea if a person matching his descriptionhad actually lived, and it was only with great effort that JK was able to confirmthe existence of such a person. This not only rules out the possibility of falselycreditedinformation, but thesearchrequiredtoconfirmthestatements alsoappears to eliminate the possibility that KA somehow learned about the previouspersonalitybyoverhearingpeopletalkingabout him. Thismakesthetaskofexplaining the case through normal means a difficult one.ConclusionThesocio-psychological hypothesis of exaggeratedcredit has appearedtoprovide the most reasonable way to explain through normal means many of thecases of children who claim to remember previous lives. It fails completely, how-ever, to explain ones in which written records document that in fact the subjectsfamiliesdidnot creditthechildrenwithmoreinformationabout thepreviouspersonalities than they actually possessed. Such cases, in addition, lend credencetothevalidityofchildrensmemoriesofpreviouslivesingeneral sincetheydemonstratethatsomechildrendomakenumerousstatementsaboutdeceasedindividuals that are later confirmed to be accurate, and they cast significant doubtontheabilityofthesocio-psychological hypothesistoaccuratelyexplainthisphenomenon.AcknowledgmentsThe authors wish to thank Hande Karadas, who served as interpreter for thecasedescribed; IanStevenson, whoofferedanumber of helpful suggestionsabout anearlier draft of this paper; andareviewer, Arthur Hastings, whosecomments led to significant improvements in the paper.100 H. H. Jrgen Keil & J. B. TuckerReferencesBrody, E. B.(1979). Reviewof Cases of the Reincarnation Type. Vol. II. Ten Cases in Sri LankabyIanStevenson.JournalofNervousandMentalDisease,167,769774.Haraldsson, E. (1991). Childrenclaimingpast-lifememories: Four casesinSri Lanka. Journal ofScienticExploration,5,233261.Mills, A., Haraldsson, E., &Keil, H. H. J. (1994). Replication studies of cases suggestive ofreincarnationbythreeindependent investigators. Journal of theAmericanSocietyforPsychicalResearch,88,207219.Mills, A., &Lynn, S. J. (2000). Past-lifeexperiences. InCarden a, E., Lynn, S. J., &Krippner, S.(Eds.), Varieties of Anomalous Experience: ExaminingtheScienticEvidence (pp. 283313).AmericanPsychologicalAssociation.Schouten, S. A., & Stevenson, I. (1998). Does the socio-psychological hypothesis explain cases of thereincarnationtype?JournalofNervousandMentalDisease,186,504506.Stevenson, I. (1960). The evidence for survival fromclaimed memories of former incarnations.JournaloftheAmericanSocietyforPsychicalResearch,54, 5171&95117.Stevenson, I. (1974). TwentyCasesSuggestiveofReincarnation(2ndrev. ed.). UniversityPressofVirginia.Stevenson, I. (1975). Cases of the Reincarnation Type. Vol. I: Ten Cases in India. University Press ofVirginia.Stevenson, I. (1977). CasesoftheReincarnationType. Vol. II:TenCasesinSriLanka. UniversityPressofVirginia.Stevenson, I. (2001). Children Who Remember Previous Lives: A Question of Reincarnation (rev. ed.).McFarland&Company.Stevenson, I., & Samararatne, G. (1988). Three new cases of the reincarnation type in Sri Lanka withwrittenrecordsmadebeforeverication.JournalofScienticExploration,2,217238.Written Records of Past Life Claims 101