40 Parents Talk About Their Child’s Terrifying ‘Past Life’
1. Not an Astronaut, Mom
When my son was 3, he told his mom that he was a cosmonaut the last time he was a grown-up. Not an __astro__naut, the Russian version. We’re 99% certain he hadn’t heard the word before.
LonePaladin
2. Your Grandma
When my daughter was 3 and starting to talk clearer was talking to someone and concerned I walked into the bedroom and no one was there. Initially I thought it was her playing with her toys. Days later the same scenario but this time I asked who she was talking to and she replied “your grandma”, I thought she meant my mom who had recently passed so I showed a pic of her and asked is this her? “No your grandma” was the reply. I found a picture of my grandma and she with a big smile said “yes, her”. I was shocked since I don’t have pictures of my grandma displayed and she died 1991 and my daughter born 2015.
DSDIK
3. Back In Utero
My youngest (4-5) would tell about how warm and “cozy” she was in my belly, how cold and scary it was to be born, and how the hardest part was that she “used to know everything” but now she “doesn’t know anything.”
I would give her space to talk. Her frustration at almost being able to remember “everything” was almost palpable.
break_in_the_clouds
4. A Sacred Pool
Not a parent, I remember telling my mom when I was a about 3 about my “royal family” I still have this cryptic memory of standing in a desert with a dark shallow pool, the sun was setting, and my younger brother reaches down and splashes the water in the pool, and everyone got very upset. There was something sacred about this pool. It has always been a lasting memory for me. I met someone when I was 16, and we stayed friends and when we were 18 we talked about reincarnation, and he told me the exact same story only from the brothers perspective. I had never told him about my memory. Still freaks me out to this day.
grandmaoftheyoung
5. When I Was An Adult
When my daughter was about 3 years old she would say the word “Specs” all the time…like constantly. I’m thinking this is so bizarre why would a child randomly start saying this. Then my wife told me that her grandfather used to work for a company called “Specs”. The grandfather has been deceased quite a long time and was never even alive since my daughter was born. She used to say things to me all the time like “when I was an adult I used to do xyz…”
WinstoNilesRumfoord
6. The Train
I was the child in this case. I don’t remember any of this, but when I was 4 we travelled to Ireland to visit my dads grandparents. We were walking through a shopping area when I started yelling about wanting to see the train and ran into a shop. My parents ran in after me as I was going nuts about some train. There was no train, it was a clothing store. The woman working there asked my parents what I was doing as I was just running around frantically. I finally yelled “the train!”. I had found, in the back of the store, a framed newspaper clipping from the 1940s of the front window of this shop when it was a toy store and there was a big model train scene set up.
fragnoli
7. Her Old Mommy
The following conversation happened between my wife and our youngest when she was 3 or 4.
Daughter: “I remember my old mommy”
Wife: “Uh what?”
Daughter: “Like I was born, and then I was really cold. But then I woke up and you were my new mommy” and laid her head on my wife.
My youngest was born with complications. She was intubated and spent 2 weeks in the NICU. So there’s that…
user-flynn2
8. Are There More Bombs?
When I was about 4 my family and I were moving house. We went to view this house in a rural village that was right by an airfield that had been very important during WW2, and there were still disused Anderson shelters in the garden and fields behind. Apparently the minute I saw them I ran to my mum, clung to her arm and asked “Are there going to be more bombs?”, and got really agitated. Nobody ever spoke about the war, this was in the 90s, and we didn’t even have a tv. My mum was really spooked by the whole thing.
lamantchenille
9. Your Friends Says Hi
In 2006 my best friend Nick was KIA in Iraq. We used to wrestle/fight until one of us submitted. These sessions would start randomly and always be initiated by “showing your fangs”. This involved pointing your pointer and middle finger down in front of your mouth while growling at the other person.
Scubapro54
A couple of weeks after his death some family from the other side of the country that we only see every 5 years or so was visiting. My cousins’s son who was about 5 and who I never met prior to this visit comes over. He gives me the fangs and smiles. I asked him “where did you learn that?” He says “Your friend says hi” and runs away. I went to my room and cried for a bit.
10. The Other Parents
When my daughter was 3, she saw a large ship while we were on vacation at the beach and said “That’s like the one my parents before you died on.” I said, “You had other parents before us?” She calmly went on to explain that I shouldn’t worry, they were her parents a long time before my husband and I were, but the ship they were on broke apart and they are still at the bottom of the ocean. She then said when her “before” parents died, she and her sister “Brinella” had to be separated because no one could take them both. She said her sister went to live in Australia, but she stayed in Ireland. We live in the U.S.
bipedal-in-five
11. The Field I Died In
My family and I were driving through the Kent countryside and my brother (about 3 at the time) announced: “Mummy, that was the field I died in once. I bayonet went through my tummy.” I was 8 and remember wondering what a bayonet was EXACTLY at the same time my parents looked at each other and asked him HOW he knew what bayonet was? He said he didn’t know and then became almost embarrassed and shy because of our collective reactions. There was no way he would have known about war or weapons as this was the early 90s and we didn’t watch TV much at all. I’m a complete skeptic but this creeps me out to this day.
16psyche88
12. I’m Sorry, Sarah
Obligatory not the parent but the kid here.
Apparently used to have rather frequent bouts of nightmares back when I was 4. And it always began with me screaming the name Sarah, then calling for help loudly (which would wake pretty much everyone in the house up), and ending with me just blubbering out “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry” over and over and over again, all the while crying and sobbing. When I would wake up in the morning, I’d have no recollection about any of this. My parents had no idea what caused it, given that they knew no one named Sarah that I had interacted with, we had no TV or anything of the sort, I hadn’t begun going to preschool yet, and didn’t know how to read beyond a few simple words. Nothing they did seemed able to stop it either.
The whole thing went on for a good long while (almost a year) until one day, it just sort of stopped. Mom apparently tried asking me once about it, and kid me said something to the effect of, “Sarah doesn’t want to see me crying anymore. So I won’t.”
Didn’t actually know any of this happened until some years back when I got to talking to my parents about how I always found the name Sarah to be beautiful.
TinyOrbo
13. Hey, That’s My Friend
My daughter, when she was 3, used to talk about her imaginary friend all the time. Said he was big and fun, and spent alot of time playing with her. One day I was scanning old photos and had a photo of my father on my desk and she said, “hey how did you get a photo if my friend?”
I instantly got shivers down my spine. My father died in the house ~15 years previously, and she played in a room that used to be his office.
I cautiously asked her to tell me more about her friend, and without hesitating she told me he talked funny. The chills stopped me dead in my tracks because dad was an Aussie who never lost his accent.
nanakarobiyaoki
14. Time To Storm The Beach
My daughter(2) is absolutely terrified of the sound of planes. She’s never been in one—is just really scared of the sound. Usually, she will hear one and come running and hide between my legs. One night a few months ago, though, she heard a plane, stopped playing and just said to herself, “they’re here.” A couple weeks later, she told my husband it was “time to storm the beach.” This kid has never been to a beach.
okaykoala
15. He Didn’t Mean To Crash The Plane
When he was 3 my husband decided to treat our son to a flight over our city in a Cessna. When it was time to get on the plane, our boy climbed into the pilot’s seat and was extremely upset when he was told he had to move. He began crying and saying he was sorry. He didn’t mean to crash that plane last time and he said he’d be good this time. My husband managed to calm him by pointing out that his legs were too short for his feet to reach the pedals. Once he got settled in the back seat, he started fussing about not being able to use the radio, so the pilot got him a headset, just didn’t plug it in all the way. Our son then started trying to raise the tower so he could to his radio check and get clearance. At that point the pilot needed to take a break. He went for a smoke while my husband talked to our son, who told him that he crashed the last plane he flew and a lot of people died. When the pilot got back, they were able to do the flight with no further issues. About a year later, we went to an aeronautics museum when an old Mosquito was being restored. Our son told the curator that he used to fly one of those, so he offered us a tour of the plane. When we got in, our son pointed out several things that were ‘wrong’ with the plane, which turned out to be correct – things like the joy stick being the wrong sort etc. The curator told us the plane had previously been modernized and was now being restored to original condition. He also confirmed that the items our son had pointed out were in fact slated to be replaced. Our kid is grown mow and doesn’t remember ever being a pilot before and has absolute zero interest in planes, but he does remember just ‘knowing’ things about airplanes and piloting them.
Wherestheshoe
16. His Life In The Jungle
My son was two- but nearly three and just yammering away talking, just any old words constantly. It was like he was practicing making sounds 24/7.
One day, we are in the car and he is weirdly quiet. Not asleep, just sort of daydreamy. I say, “what’s up, T?” And he says, “I’m just sad. I miss my birds.” “What birds?” “Tutu and Tinga.” “I don’t know who those birds are, T.”
“It wasn’t now, Mommy. It was before. When I had another mommy.”
“And you had birds? Like as pets? “No, they lived in a tree next to our house at the edge of the jungle. So they visited me… they were friends, not pets.” And he sounded so Not Two. He sounded like he was grown. And then he fell asleep in his car seat and wouldn’t talk about the jungle and the birds when he woke up.
frogtracer
17. I Used To Paint Here
Not me but a friends little sister. The whole family was out for dinner at a restaurant in a skiing village which they recently bought a cottage near. My friends little sister as soon as they walked in said “I know this place. My mother and I used to paint here.” To which her mother replied “We’ve never been here before, what do you mean?” she replied with “No. My mother from before. We used to paint here all the time.” The family was obviously a little freaked out but didn’t think much of it as she was pretty young and they figured just messing around. Later on though, when talking to the waitress, the little girl again adamantly mentioned how she used to paint there and the waitress revealed that it in fact was an art studio for many years in the 1900s but had been converted sometime in the early 2000s into a restaurant. Needless to say the entire table, waitress included, got goosebumps and were at a loss for words.
Cut-It-
18. Great Grandma’s House
I don’t know how old I was but when I was young (<6) I was in the car with my parents and I said something like “oh I used to live there” while pointing at a house we were driving past. Turns out it was my great great grandmothers house.
MrDeftino
19. Same Dream
Mine said that he had a dream he was in heaven (or some other place before he was born) with lots of men in suits who had lined up every woman on the planet, and the suits told him to pick who would be his mum.
The part that creeped me out is I remember my mum telling me I had a dream exactly like that as a child.
MorbidlyScottish
20. Everything Was On Fire
Aged 2 or 3 my daughter told us about when she and her other parents had to run away from their burning house, but not just their house, everything around them was on fire. They didn’t escape.
She also told us how warm & cosy it was in her mother’s womb.
riversiders13
21. Working At The Ice Factory
When he was around 4, my grandson used to talk about his job at the ice factory. One day he was talking about his boss “Farvo” and the day he quit. I asked him why he quit and he turned to me and quite passionately said “I’ll tell you why I quit! They made me work 15 days in a row without a break and I had enough of that!” It was weird hearing all that righteous anger coming out of that little boy.
*my daughter just informed me that he was three when he always talked about working at the ice factory. So yeah….scary three year olds.
mmartinez59
22. The Fire At The School
My daughter is deathly afraid of fire because “the fire at school killed my sister and my other mom was really sad.” When she started preschool at 3 they had a fire drill and she cried hysterically until it was over and she was convinced there was no fire- I had to go pick her up and on the way home she told me she’s glad they have fire drills so all of the kids don’t die like at her last school. I’m still freaked out.
Efficient_Ease_4768
23. Grabbing The Cat’s Paws
I had a brother pass away from brain cancer. At the time we had a cat who was a calico and just sort of knew he was battling something. She was really mean to most people but with him she was gentle. He would grab her paws and she would just let it happen. Well about three years after he passed my parents had another child. Another boy. He was about three when he told my parents about the white, brown and black cat that used to let him grab her paws. She had died about a year before he was born.
rocker_nerd
24. Coco And Booboo
My son told my parents all about Coco and BooBoo. Described the cats to them. He was 4. My cats, Coco and BooBoo had died 4 or 5 years before he was born. When my mom showed him various pictures of cats we had had, he pointed them both out and told her Coco liked to knock things off the table.
Coco had a nickname, Princess Knock-It-Off because she would knock over anything she could. I didn’t have any pictures of these cats myself, so he’d never seen them. I didn’t talk to him about them either, because we had other cats now. Coco and BooBoo were litter mates and a bonded pair.
GloInTheDarkUnicorn
25. When I Was a Big Girl And You Were A Little Girl
My younger sister, when she was 3, started talking to my mom about “When I was a big girl, and you were a little girl”. She said she went to my parent’s wedding. She described her old self physically, and my mom says that sounded like my mom’s grandmother Grace.
My sister also talked about the “green” house she used to live in at the end of a dirt road and the fact that her mother (my mom’s great grandmother Matilda), died from a snake bite, while they lived there. She described the snake as “pretty” and with the full description my mom thinks she was describing a copperhead. Now we lived in northern Nebraska (no copperheads), and Matilda died in southeast Oklahoma (copperhead region.) My sister said she killed the snake with a hoe.
These discussions always took place at bedtime. One day, we were putting in the garden and my dad was sitting down and sharpening the hoe with a file and my sister told him he was doing it wrong. He told her to show him how to do it. She put her hands on his and placed them in the correct position, and later he said that she was right, he was doing it wrong.
For those of you interested in timelines. This would be in 1980, my mother’s grandmother Grace died in 1968, and her great-grandmother Matilda died in 1902. Also, we don’t know if snake bite was the cause of death for her great grandmother Matilda. I was 15 at the time these little nightly discussions were going on so I remember them fairly well. She probably told these things on and off for about 6 months and by 4 she would say “I’m tired of talking about it”.
I am not a great writer, so I hope this is not too confusing.
runs_like_a_weezel
26. Not A Fan Of Vegas
I was driving my family across the state to visit family. Some commercial on the radio about Vegas came on and I started singing “Vivaaaaaa Las Vegas” in my best Elvis impersonation. My son was about 3-4 and he says “I don’t like Vegas. I lost my life and a lot of money there.” His mom and I glanced at each other like “WTF?” He never said anything else about it.
Skyhornet
27. When I Lived In Spain
When my brother was about 3 back in the 90s our family was sitting down for dinner and he randomly said “dad, remember when I lived in Spain?” (We’re from the U.K.) and my dad humouring him said “yeah?” And he continued that he lived in Spain before with his other family but he died when he was on a fishing trip with his dad and the last thing he remembers is his dads hand trying to reach him as he drowned. He also reeled off some Spanish names for his parents which there was no way he would of known those kind of names and he started to sort of meditate in his room from time to time. He eventually stopped talking about it as he got a little older and doesn’t remember anything about it anymore. Crazy to hear so many other people have similar experiences.
DiddyKongRacingTho
28. The Bad Guys Got Away
My son was 3 at the time.
At bedtime he said “mama, one time the bad guys got me and drove me in their car.”
And I said what?
And he continued to tell me a story about being locked in a room and he was hungry and I didn’t find him. The bad guys got away and he never got out.
That sh!t scared me so much I still get freaked by it. I held him so right that night.
FlightlessBird0987
29. Vietnam Memories
When my son was about 3, he told us how he remembered being a helicopter pilot in Vietnam. This was in 1998.
cubiclefarm
30. Remembering His Funeral
When my son was 4 we had driven past a cemetery. He asked me if I remembered when he died and was buried. I said no and asked him what he meant by saying that. He said he had died, was buried in a cemetery and that’s when he started growing in my belly. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up when he said this. He doesn’t remember say this.
Jesader22
31. Didn’t Get To Grow Up Last Time Around
My middle son used to talk about having a different mom before me. He would say she was blond and looked nice but wasn’t nice. He would bring it up randomly and only ever got a bit emotional when he would tell me that when he was with her he never got to grow up. He said he chose me to be his mom this time because I would let him grow up and get old. When he would say the last part it was as if he was looking for reassurance. He’d ask me like “right, mom? I can grow up this time?” Really fucked me up sometimes.
Sleepybear1314
32. A Nurse In A Prior Life
I had something weird happen when I was 22, but then I “remembered it” about 20 years later. I was in the Navy, in Hospital Corpsman school which is like medical or nursing assistant. When I went through it in 1993, one whole week was devoted to pharmacy and meds. I knew all of the meds just by reading them in the textbook, it was like reading a book you’ve already read 10 or 20 times, I just knew all of the meds already. Somehow the name of those meds was already there in my brain. My classmates hated me for it. I couldn’t understand it. But whatever. I got an A.
Now flash forward 20 years. One night I had a dream that I was back in Hospital corpsman school and I was having to learn all of the meds. Except this time I was talking to one of my classmates and I was saying that I didn’t need to learn the med names because it had already been drilled into my head from being a nurse for so long, of course it’s going to stick. (I remember the dream because I woke up as I was saying the bit about being a nurse and my husband heard me).
So maybe I was a nurse in a prior life.
floridianreader
33. The Blue Volkswagen Bug
My mom told me when I was 3 or 4 that I scream cried when we passed an old blue Volkswagen bug. I told her that was the car I died in. It was apparently very hot and “I had a baby in my belly”.
Surticy
34. Dancing In The Kitchen
My son said once, “Mommy, when I was big and you were little, I remember when we danced in the kitchen.”
The only person I ever danced in a kitchen with as a child was my grandfather.
KLWK
35. Uncle Andrew
Didn’t believe in ghosts and shit until this day but it’s fair to say that now I have a slightly more open mind. Our 2/3 tear old daughter was playing on her own but like she was playing hide and seek with an imaginary friend. Asked are you playing hide and seek? She said yes. Who are you playing with? “Uncle Andrew”
My wife’s brother Andrew was 7 when he drowned when my wife was 5. Didn’t like to talk about it so we never mentioned it.
mellonians
36. Playing With Grandpa
My cousin’s kid was jumping on the bed and had her hands out like she was holding onto something. When asked what she was doing, she said “playing with grandpa”.
Cousin asked “who’s grandpa?”
“Yours mommy”
When asked what he looked like, she described him to a T. And jumping on the bed was such a grandpa thing to do. He had died when she was 5 months old, and my grandma died before she was born.
Couple days later, they were at my mom’s, and my mom had a picture of her parents. She walked up, dragging her brother with her and said, “look J, that’s grandma and grandpa. Remember? They play with us sometimes”.
schroedingersnewcat
37. The Tube
This was told to me by my parents. When I was 6 or so my dad was watching a war documentary and it talked about a tube. I then said “you mean the tube from when i was a grown up?” My dad asked me to explain more and I said “me and another person was put in a tube with a knife and was tasked to kill the other person but i got stabbed in the chest” He says it still keeps him up at night
SnooEpiphanies3158
38. When Do The Bombs Drop?
According to my Dad, when I was around 5 I was staring out of the window during a heavy thunder storm. When he asked me what I was doing I answered “when do the bombs drop? Are they gone yet?”. I grew up in Germany, and my dads dad used to alert the city for incoming air raids. My grandpa died three days before I was born, and at five I had no idea about the war, or my grandpa. Really freaked him out at the time. A couple moments later I forgot what I said when he asked me more questions.
EntropicPie
39. Where Two Rivers Meet
My coworker has a son who, when he was about 3, told her he used to grow rice and lived in a place where two rivers met. He was able to name the rivers, and she located it on a map of East Asia. Pretty wild.
eyespeeled
40. Working In A Tall Building
My little brother was born just after 9/11. When he was a toddler one time, he went on about how he used to work in a tall building and wore a suit and tie. Freaked my parent out.
qazwsx127