Researchers at the University of Virginia, beginning with Ian Stevenson, have investigated children’s reports of memories of previous lives for the past fifty years, studying more than 2,500 cases from around the world. Common features in the cases include a child talking about a past life at a very early age, behaviours that appear connected to that life such as phobias related to the mode of death, and sometimes birthmarks or birth defects that correspond to wounds the previous person suffered. Recent work has included the study of some impressive American cases, along with statistical analysis of the various features of the cases that attempts to clarify the processes involved in the apparent memory transfer.
