Battleground

In her book Children's Past Lives, Carol Bowman tells the story of her own son Chase, who was subjected to hypnotic regression on two occasions three years apart. (Pages 8-26, paperback edition.) Ordinarily I am not too impressed with past-life regressions under hypnosis, because the mind is awfully good at concocting stories to please the hypnotist. But this story is interesting.

Chase spoke of being a soldier in a war. Particularly intriguing, as Bowman herself notes, is how consistent the two versions of Chase's narrative are, even in small details, despite the considerable lapse of time between the two tellings.

When he was five years old, Chase began experiencing a hysterical fear of loud booming noises, like fireworks. A hypnotherapist offered to regress him. Under hypnosis Chase reported:

"I'm carrying a long gun with a kind of sword at the end.... I have dirty, ripped clothes, brown boots, a belt. I'm hiding behind a rock, crouching on my knees and shooting at the enemy. I'm at the edge of a valley. The battle is going on all around me... I don't want to look, but I have to when I shoot. Smoke and flashes everywhere. And loud noises: yelling, screaming, loud booms. I'm not sure who I'm shooting at -- there's so much smoke, so much going on. I'm scared. I shoot at anything that moves. I really don't want to be here and shoot other people.... I'm hit in the right wrist by a bullet someone shot from above the valley. I slide down behind the rock, holding my wrist where I was shot. It's bleeding -- I feel dizzy.

"Someone I know drags me out of the battle and takes me to a place where they took soldiers that are hurt -- not like a regular hospital, just big poles, like an open tent, covered with material. There are beds there, but they're like wooden benches. They're very hard and uncomfortable...

"I'm walking back to battle. There are chickens on the road. I see a wagon pulling a cannon on it. The cannon is tied onto the wagon with ropes. The wagon has big wheels."

Note that Chase specifically mentioned "loud noises: yelling, screaming, loud booms" - the sounds of combat, which clearly tie in with his sudden fear of loud noises. (This fear cleared up immediately after the regression.)

Also note that although he did not know the word bayonet, he described "a long gun with a kind of sword at the end." Instead of Hollywood-style heroism, Chase's account is that of a frightened man who doesn't "want to be here" and who's not sure who he's shooting at. His description of the makeshift field hospital seems accurate, as does his account of the cannon "tied onto the wagon with ropes" and the "chickens on the road."

Could he have seen these details in a movie? Bowman says the five-year-old's  TV watching was carefully monitored and did not include any programs about war. Of course we can't be sure that he never caught a glimpse of a war movie, but his account seems to go beyond the memory of a film.   

Several months later, out of the blue, Chase mentioned the time when he saw that he "was a soldier." He told his mother, "I talked funny." He spoke English, he said, but, "We sounded different... You know how black people talk?... Well, I was black.... There were black soldiers and white soldiers fighting together."

This led Bowman to speculate that her son was remembering the Civil War. However, she did not pursue the matter until Chase himself expressed the desire for another regression. This was during the 1991 Iraq War, when news coverage of the fighting reawakened old fears in the now eight-year-old boy. By this time Bowman had learned hypnosis, and she regressed her son.

Note how well his second, more sophisticated rendition of the tale dovetails with the first:

"Can't hear sounds, but can see it. I see horses coming in the valley. Men with guns with spears on the ends. I see myself crouching behind a rock, looking up at them. I'm feeling sad, scared, proud. There are soldiers on horses on my side. I'm now kneeling behind a rock. Waiting.

"There's a battle going on. Smoke everywhere. I'm not shooting, I'm waiting. I start to shoot at the enemy -- I don't have any choice, I want to protect myself. The people on the horses are white, I'm black. White soldiers are on my side. There's too much going on. Confusion everywhere. I'm scared half to death. Oh -- he gets my wrist with a shot. It hardly hurts. Everything goes black...

"Now I'm going back to fight with a bandage on my wrist. I see horses pulling a cannon, making a lot of dust. The cannon is on a wagon with big wheels -- it's tied down with heavy ropes. There's chickens walking along the road. It's a time between fighting. I'm thinking of how unhappy I am about going to war. I didn't know what I was getting into....

"I'm back in battle. I'm shooting a cannon from the top of the valley. I pull a string, the cannon fires. I'm not loading it, though. I can't shoot a gun because of my arm. I'm scared shooting the cannon. Now I know how the others feel to be shot at. They're scared too...."

Asked how he came to be in the war in the first place, Chase replies,

"I'm at a house. It's mine. Sort of a cabin made of rough wood. The house has a front porch with a railing -- a place to hitch horses. There's a rocking chair on the porch and a door in the middle. I have two kids. I think I have a wife -- I do. I'm happy. It's before the war. I was where the blacks are free. I see my wife -- I see her from behind. She's in the house. She's wearing a blue dress with a white apron. She wears a dress with petticoats and black boots. She has straight hair she wears pulled back in a rag.

"I see a black man on the porch smoking a pipe -- it's me. I'm not young -- about thirty or something. I'm very happy in the town. I wasn't born there, but I was brought there as a baby in a covered wagon. I'm a painter and a carpenter, and I make pots and sell them and make models out of wood for a hobby. There's a green area behind my house with bushes around. That's my favorite place -- that's where I make my pots.

"There's a dirt road in front of my house that goes to town. My town is a friendly town with wagons and farms. Chickens walk free. There are other black people who get along pretty well. The name of our town is something like Collosso.... It's eighteen-sixty-something, at the beginning of the war.

"People are standing around a post where the roads meet -- it's the center of town. There is a lot of excitement, they're talking about the war. I'm reading a notice attached to the post. The notice says 'WAR' and has little print. I'm not sure that I can read, but I know the notice is asking for volunteers. I get excited too, and I volunteer. I sign a paper. I don't know what the paper says. I can't read.

"I'm leaving my family. This is a sad time for me and my family, especially my kids. They're crying. I'm very sad. This is the saddest time of my life...

"We're meeting with someone important, a general or something, after I join. He's talking about strategy. It's for my own good to listen. But I'm not paying attention -- I'm thinking about my family. I feel totally pushed around, and I don't like it. People around me are more sad than scared....

"I'm hurt in the wrist. I'm under a big cloth held up by poles -- it looks like a tepee or a covered wagon -- wide open on the sides. It's very crowded. A lot of noise -- war in the background, gunshots. Someone is putting bandages around my wrist.. Others are screaming because they're in so much pain. I'm thankful I don't have as much pain as the others. I guess my wrist isn't that bad. I'm sad to go back to battle. I miss my family. I'm behind the cannon. I'm hit!...

"I'm floating above the battlefield. I feel good that I'm done. I see the battle and smoke below. As I look down on the battlefield, everything is still and smoky -- nothing is moving down there. I feel happy that I'm done. I get to go to a happier life. I float over my house. I see my wife and kids. I say goodbye to my family. They don't see me because I'm in spirit, but they know that I'm dead....

"Everyone has to be in a war. It balances everything out. Not necessarily die in a war, but experience it. It teaches you about feelings. It gives you a sense of how other people feel. It's a bad place. I skipped World War II. I was up. I was waiting for my turn to go back to a more peaceful time. I had a short life in between."

Bowman comments:

The consistency between this most recent version of the story and his first regression was remarkable. Although these two accounts were three years apart, Chase reported the same images and feelings almost word for word....

Chase gave what sounded to me like an accurate portrayal of a Civil War soldier's life. His account of what it felt like to be in the middle of a confusing battle and to be "pushed around" is more realistic than the glorified version of war that is commonly depicted in movies and on television. The mundane details added color and realism to the story: chickens running free, his wife's black boots and multiple petticoats, the recruitment poster on a poll that was the center of town, enlistment papers he couldn't read, the field hospital made of poles and canvas, pulling a string to fire the cannon (which, I verified later, was how these cannons were actually fired). The cumulative effect of the details, the flow and cogency of his story, and the credible predicament of the protagonist would do credit to any novelist. Yet this was coming from an eight-year-old boy with virtually no exposure to the realities of war.

Most importantly, the benefits of these regressions were tangible. After this last regression Chase was immediately more confident and relaxed.

There are other similarities between the two accounts. These include the setting of a valley,  the soldier crouching behind a rock, the bayonets (still unnamed but clearly implied by "guns with spears on the ends"), the smoky battlefield, the confusion of the war zone,  the wrist wound, dizziness in the first account and blacking out in the second, the wagon with big wheels, the cannon tied down with ropes. Remember that the accounts were three years apart, and most eight-year-olds would not retain a clear memory of a story they had last told when they were five. 

To me, the most interesting thing Chase said was, "I skipped World War II. I was up." As Bowman comments, "Where was 'up'?"

Now, that's the $64,000 question, isn't it?

Comments

[Marcel Cairo]

The thing that has always seemed odd to me about recounted past life regressions, is the seemingly detailed description in certain trivial parts of the story, and the seemingly fuzzy detail in important "verifiable" parts where one would expect clarity.

For example, Chase clearly describes his black wife's dress

She's wearing a blue dress with a white apron. She wears a dress with petticoats and black boots. She has straight hair she wears pulled back in a rag.

Yet when it comes time to describe his "favorite place", an area where he routinely made pots, the best that he can muster is

There's a green area behind my house with bushes around. That's my favorite place -- that's where I make my pots.

If Chase had given a town name or state, one could possibly investigate Civil War records and see if Black men were enlisted from that area, and in what year.

One thing I do find interesting in Chase's second regression at eight years old, is the language he uses. Most eight year olds don't know what "petticoats" are or would ever describe a woman's hair as being in a "rag".

I can't really say what I think about all this. I still think it is possible for Chase to have been channeling someone else's life and reporting it back as his own. To me, the evidence of reincarnation still remains inconclusive.

[Nate]

For more information on the subject there are three good books (aside from the late great Ian Stevenson's stuff).

Life Before Life by Jim Tucker
Journey of Souls by Michael Newton
The Book of the Soul by Ian Lawton

Interestingly, the latter two books discuss the "up" (interlife, life between lives, etc) that Michael mentions in his post.

[Greg L]

My problem with the reports of the regressions of 5 year olds is that they always seem to have better than a 5 year old's grasp of language. I have never heard a 5 year old child capable of using the descriptive language that Chase is supposedly using. No way a five year old talks like this. I'd love to hear the original tapes. Of course, it may be that the past self is capable of the more advanced language, I don't know.

[william]

I have read a story about a child that started to talk about a past life even to the point of identifying the type of plane he flew in world war II and the name of the person that was his wing man and how he was shot down and killed and the name of the air craft carrier that he flew from and I think even his name and the date he was killed in this past life. When his parents checked it out they validated his dates and name not only of the wingman but his name and date he died in the military records.

His mom noted when he was just 2 how he loved planes and knew so much about them. He had a plane and his mom thought the big cigar-looking thing on the bottom was a bomb but he said no mom that is an extra fuel tank we can release when empty. He was right.

As I now have a 2 and 1/2 year old granddaughter she says things that my son and his wife swear they have not taught her or she has seen on TV. And they are not into this reincarnation idea at all. So far she has not talked a foreign language yet. She loves computers and electronic stuff and walking thru a store she stated when she saw a computer "I need one of those". I signed her up for at “my gym” for little kids and all she does is play with the vcr at the gym and keeps wanting to fix it.

It appears to me that reincarnation is a realty. Not a pleasant thought. I prefer art's idea off to the white light and bliss. But it appears we have to do this human thing until we progress enough to move into a dimension beyond human consciousness.

As far as life between lives hypnosis Michael Newton’s book journey of souls got a big plug on the Larry king show last week from Shirley McLain. Spiritualism and Spiritist teachings appears to contradict some of Newton’s findings.

[lucyjane D]

I believe in Telepathy,remote viewing and intuition which is top on my list.When I was little probably no more than 3-4 at the time in the mid 50's I remember it still today as clear as when I dreampt it,of walking out in our backyard and opening my hand to look at a picture..only the strange thing was this picture was a 'moving picture' in color. I don,t recall if their was audio but it was like magic! in my dream. Now we have all these gadgets that mimic my dream as a young child. I call that looking into the future and even more I had a dream of the Gulf War before it happened. only I told my sister who was really into phenonomas astrology etc, she had died a few years later of cancer. She used to interprete my dreams. it was both fascinating and unnerving. this dream was of a hospital in which I smelled blood and had a feeling of immense danger. I walked up these stairs into the first floor of the ward and could see soldiers laying in these old fashion beds with skinny bars at the head and iv bags hanging everywhere. My fear was immediatly realized when I seen a huge tiger approaching from the other side of the hall, coming up opposite me and he had blood on his mouth. I ran down the stairs and looked back to see him not even approaching any soldier as they lay with bloody dressings but seemed disinterested as he stalked down the hall toward me. I ran through the doors to the outside and seen craters where bombs have obviously hit.
my dear sister interpreted this dream as a vision of sorts. here is her interptetation:
"To me this dream tells of the tiger being us, the United States or 'paper tiger' who is misjudged for being no took seriously. the soldiers whom the tiger ignored was our power to rise and show our strength,but still not harm the weak or those who are in harm's way but not able to defend themselves. "We will not be reckoned with" or played for a fool." thus paper tiger turned into proving his Nobility when provoked." To me what she said fit that dream, because we were 'backed into a corner and when worst comes to worst will not back down. when Saddam invaded Kuraitt. So I frmly beleive we have mental powers as William said is a fraction of what lies beyond those filter bands or sensory limitations that can be improved through practice in the mind horizons.

Lucyjane D
Any comments welcomed

[Barbara]

I'm not sure what to think, but I find these accounts fascinating. They seem more plausible than many stories of past lives that I've come across. I hate to think that everyone has to experience war, and if so I selfishly hope I've done my stint already in some other life. That is interesting how he said, "I was up," as a reason for missing WWII. To me that makes the account slightly less plausible. It seems a little too reminiscent of how people say to kids that someone who's died is "up in Heaven."

[william]

It appears to me that some people reincarnate right away which I suspect is a mistake, as often rest is needed after a human life. Others take some time to rest and then make a decision to come back to advance their soul. Others it appears say something to the affect "no way, never again”.

I just met this past two days a former classmate after not seeing him for 52 years as he walked out to greet me he had tears in his eyes and he stated "oh william it has been a struggle". Now this was the toughest guy in the small high school that I attended. He quickly gained composure and the two days we talked he never has any tears in his eyes again.

But my point is how many of us would tear up when we have not seen someone for 52 years if not for being taught to always be in control of our emotions. I shall never forget the toughest guy in our high school having tears in his eyes. We both agreed how fast our lives went and now as we look back it appears as more of a dream than we actually lived it.

Maybe this human life is more of dream and our true reality is the other side or as some Hindus state it is all a dream but oh what a dream.

[Arthur]

If you turn on the TVLand channel on my TV Elizabeth Montgomery reincarnates several times a day. According to Dr. Pimm Van Lommel our brains work as recievers and transmitters of information. I suspicion children who haven't developed a strong sense of self, and adults who have their own sense of self turned off by a hypnotist might be able to tune into the Akashic Records and pick up on someone elses life. Reincarnation is just a word that describes something which I believe we don't fully understand.

>a child that started to talk about a past life . . . identifying the type of plane he flew in world war II

Carol Bowman herself helped to develop this case, and considers it the single most evidential case on record. (Of an American child, that is.) Here's a full account:
http://www.ntcsites.com/acadianhouse/nss-folder/publicfolder/AP/cover_feature_24_3.htm

Read this, Michael, and let us know what you think.

[Bruce Siegel]

I just realized that my name didn't get attached to that post about Carol Bowman and the reincarnated airman. That's what I get for posting from the wrong browser!

[william]

The family of this boy believed he has been touched by a spirit of the man shot down in a plane. I suspect their religious beliefs do not include reincarnation. Many early Christians believed in reincarnation but when Rome took over Catholicism reincarnation was wiped out using much violence and torture.

Maybe the best case out there is a case in India. (Shanti ?) This case has been checked out by many people even a committee set up by Gandhi. She remembered many things about her past life including her children’s and husband’s names and where she hid money in her former house. Also she recognized her uncle when she got off the train on the way to this former house. He had been stationed in a group to see if she would notice him when she got off the train. Remembering these past lives is not usually a good thing because when they took her to visit her former children and husband she cried violently when they forced to leave.

Why do we believe that one life can advance us enough to be able to achieve a heavenly consciousness? It appears we learn very little in one life at least in the area of love, compassion and divine intelligence. Once we get a belief in our minds we pretty much want to stick with that belief in spite of the evidence. As I have stated on here several times changing beliefs can be a mentality painful experience.

[Kevin]

An interesting account. For me, the most fascinating (and depressing) lines in the account were "Everyone has to be in a war. It balances everything out". Considering the suffering which is distributed by war, this seems to me another indicator of the necessity of "bad" experiences in human life, the opportunities for learning and development in the worst of times, and even how our conceptualizations of "good" and "bad" are,like so much of conscious existence, relative to the observer. If this is all a course in development we can understand how there can be much that is "good" in the "bad". I've long believed that the real measure of ourselves is in the "bad" moments, in how well we accept the challenges, the pains, the defeats and difficulties, though we may be embarrassed and ashamed if our responses are recalled as selfish or impatient or bitter or otherwise less than admirable. It's so easy to think that the plans we make for our lives SHOULD be carried out, that our will is enough to persevere, but memories of the future (precognition) combine with memories of the past to make clear that the agenda for us is made elsewhere. We are the players, not the playwrites. That being acknowledged, the memories which seem to be of past lives (even I experienced some of this as a child, though most of it has faded)could serve us as glimpses into the much larger picture, a possible avenue which will lead us to answers to the questions of conscious existence and its meaning, and perhaps the nature of "meaning" itself.

[Bruce Siegel]

>The family of this boy believed he has been touched by a spirit of the man shot down in a plane. I suspect their religious beliefs do not include reincarnation.

For me, this is one of the many persuasive arguments for the validity of these accounts. Carol Bowman stresses that parents are often deeply reluctant, at first, to believe a childs' story of a past life because it threatens their religious framework. One parent said “Getting to the point of reconciling reincarnation with my Christian faith was a difficult and trying journey for me. But I have arrived.”

[william]

It appears to me that there was a large group of Christians that believed in reincarnation but they were wiped out and those that believed all you had to do was accept Jesus as a savior won out and controlled the masses religious beliefs.

Setting up a religion where all you have to do is believe something to get to heaven and not go to hell is a heck of a deal. The idea of coming back many if not hundreds of times is not a pleasant thought.

I read somewhere that (egar?) Casey read over 2500 people while in a trance and only stated twice that those people did not have to reincarnate. In no way am I suggesting Casey’s readings were valid but found that bit of information interesting.

My take is we are going through some kind of evolution of consciousness. The bad and good things in our lives and how we respond to them work like a lapidary machine polishing our souls. The solvent in the lapidary machine is the experiences in our lives and like rocks we are all rubbing/tumbling (friction) together in our relationships with one another.

Karma is some type of feedback system that guides us to greater and greater awareness of love, compassion, and divine intelligence.

[alistair]

interesting. as an hypnotherapist i have done some regression work, but nothing resulting in the vivid clarity of this young man`s recollection.

my focus in regression is primarily therapeutic and i was interested in seeing that the first regression the young man experienced alleviated his fear of loud noises.

to me it`s not important that these recollections are "real" so much as that they provide some insight into a person`s life now.

[Paul Collins]

So Carol Bowman puts her son on the spot. Ms. Bowman, let your son grow up and this mystery to yourself. It takes a terrible mother to warp a child. Let him be a child. Book profits can come later.

[wendy]

You mention trivial vs. significant. Remembering details of "scenery" or "landscape" to me seem trivial: window dressing. Memories of loved ones are infused with emotion. "She's wearing a blue dress with a white apron. She wears a dress with petticoats and black boots. She has straight hair she wears pulled back in a rag." Love imprints - we are here to connect and attach with love .... everything else is smoke. IMHO...
Thank you for reviewing this book. : )

[Lisa Falour]

I dislike the comment from someone telling the woman to stop bothering her son with past life memories. My mother had an open mind and I wish she would have been more open than she was. I was born observing things as an adult, and could remember another language, so learning English was a big challenge to me. This may be a clue to autism in some cases. I was astonished by the decor and music in the USA in the 1950s. Later, in life, I recalled being a young girl who fell or was pushed from a window in the lower east side of New York at the beginning of the 20th century. I also remember, still, being a man in the 19th century. My first husband was my mother in a past life -- my current mother recognized him as such. A college girlfriend had been my husband in a past life, and I didn't want to be a lesbian in this one. Sad, huh? No one pushed me into these ideas, and I am NOT crazy. I just remember, okay?

[Paul Collins]

Wendy, you are CRAZY! Ms. Bowman, let your son be a child and have a normal childhood. Book profits don't have to come now at the expence of your son's privacy.