Abstract

Metempsychosis, or the transmigration of souls, better known as reincarnation, is the belief that upon death, a human being can return to the world in a new body. This belief is found in many cultures and religions worldwide. It is easy for today’s scientist to dismiss the concept of reincarnation as superstition invented by the imaginings of unenlightened and backward people-yet through the ages, tales abound of people insisting they had been to this planet in times past. The famous World War 2 American General George S. Patton (November 11, 1885-December 21, 1945), to the amusement and embarrassment of some of his fellow officers, repeatedly insisted during the allied campaign in North Africa in the 1940s that he was the reincarnation of a contemporary of the Carthaginian General Hannibal who had lived two millennia earlier! [1,2] General George Smith Patton would often allegedly give details of ancient battles not recorded in any history books. The infamous African American rebel slave Nat Turner (died 1831) whilst but a little boy, spoke with clear detail about things that had happened on the plantation he lived many years before he had been born-to the amazement of older, adult slaves.