The question of life after death has been an existential preoccupation for humans throughout time. Many cultures share a belief in reincarnation, meaning the passing of the soul or spirit from one life to the next.
There is a parapsychology research unit working in the Department of Perceptual Studies at the University of Virginia that is attempting to solve the ultimate conundrum — the survival of consciousness after death. They have logged hundreds of cases of children from all continents except Antarctica who claim to remember past lives.
One of the most famous cases the team discovered is that of James Leininger, a child who began having intense nightmares of a plane crash involving a pilot who was killed when his plane was shot down.
The child gave details that included the type of plane, the name of an American aircraft carrier and the first and last name of a friend who was with him on the ship where he was stationed, along with other particulars. It all started on a trip with his dad to a flight museum when James was just 22 months old.
The first trip to the Cavanaugh Flight Museum outside of Dallas was where James discovered his passion for planes. On a second trip to the museum months later, he grew quiet in the hangar that housed the World War II aircraft, staring and pointing at the planes, as if in awe. James soon developed a habit of saying “airplane crash on fire!” and slamming his toy planes nose first into the family’s coffee table. Around this time, James began having nightmares about the crash.
When James was 28 months old, he told his parents he had flown his plane off a boat. When his parents asked him the name of the boat, he said, “Natoma.” After that conversation, his father searched online for the word and eventually discovered a description of the USS Natoma Bay, an escort carrier stationed in the Pacific during World War II.
What ensues is remarkable. James remembered the name of a shipmate on the Natoma, Jack Larsen, whom James’ dad later contacted. When James was looking through a book on the Battle of Iwo Jima, he pointed to a picture showing an aerial view of the base of an island and Mt. Suribachi, a dormant volcano.
“That’s where my plane was shot down!” he said. That location was verified by the aircraft action report of the day indicating where James Huston’s plane crashed, the only pilot killed among the eight that flew in the expedition.
James signed the many airplane drawings he made with “James 3,” referring not to his age, but to his being “the third James,” and he continued to sign his pictures that way even after he turned 4. James may have thought of himself as the third James because James Huston, the pilot, was James, Jr.
When James’ parents asked why he had named his three GI Joe dolls Billy, Walter and Leon, he answered, “Because that’s who met me when I got to heaven.” His parents later learned that three squadron-mates of Huston who had been killed prior to his own death had been named Billie Peeler, Walter Devlin and Leon Conner.
The James Leininger story came to public attention in 2004 when it was featured in ABC ”Primetime” and then in the 2009 New York Times bestseller, “Soul Survivor.”
Fox 8 News broadcasted a follow-up segment which contains an interview with Natoma Bay veteran Leo Pyatt, describing how James, who attended a Natoma Bay reunion, recognized other veterans, even one by his voice. Huston’s sister Anne Barron described how James knew things that Huston had done as a boy and other private family matters.
“The documentation in James’s case provides evidence that he had a connection with a life from the past,” James B. Tucker wrote in Explore, a journal of science and healing. “On the face of it, the most obvious explanation for this connection is that he experienced a life as James Huston, Jr. before having his current one.”
James’ story presents a compelling piece of evidence about the mind, soul, or spirit surviving bodily death, and it also opens an important conversation about how we view reality. Having a greater acceptance of life being a continuous cycle could have a positive effect on the way we live.
“If people could see that there is this aspect of themselves that continues, it could help with grief and death anxiety, and hopefully help people treat each other a little better,” Tucker surmised. “There would be a stronger sense that we’re kind of in this together, that, again, this is not a pointless existence.”
A Japanese TV station paid the family’s passage to Chichi-Jima, the small island nearest where Huston died. They travelled in a fishing boat to visit the exact crash site, where they performed a memorial service and James, then 11, threw a bouquet of flowers into the sea. The trip appeared to bring about a healing catharsis as his drawings afterward became less destructive and chaotic.
“I hope that it helps people understand the meaning of how precious life is, how fast it can just blow away,” James affirmed. “And I also hope that it opens people’s eyes up to reincarnation. I hope it opens people’s eyes up to the fact that reincarnation can happen, it is a possibility, it’s not a lie.”
Dr. William Kolbe, an Andover resident, is a retired high school and college teacher and former Peace Corps volunteer in Tonga and El Salvador. He can be reached at bila.kolbe9@gmail.com.