The concept of reincarnation — the idea that old souls are reborn into new bodies — has existed for thousands of years. It’s part of the Hindu and Buddhist traditions; it’s also become quite popular among many non-religious people. Some insist that it’s real and that stories like the following are proof of its existence, while others insist that it’s all a bunch of nonsense. Whatever you believe, these nine stories are certainly creepy enough… but does that mean reincarnation really exists? Read and decide for yourself:

1. Murdered boy reincarnated.

An anonymous reader of the Epoch Times shared a story in which her 3-yearold son told her that he liked his “new daddy,” even though the reader’s husband was his biological father. Confused, the mother asked him why. He replied, “My old daddy was really mean. He stabbed me in the back and I died. But I really like my new daddy, he’d never do that to me.”

2. Boy is his own grandpa.

18-month-old Gus Taylor’s grandfather, Augie, had died a year before Gus was born. However, according to Listverse, the year-and-a-half-old Gus claimed that he was his own grandfather. When he was four, he was able to identify Augie in family photographs, even though he had never seen the man in real life.

That might not sound like much, but it gets weirder; years before, Augie’s sister was murdered and her body was dumped in San Francisco Bay. No one in the family had ever spoken of this to Gus, and consequently, everyone was shocked when Gus started talking about his dead sister.

3. Past life as a fighter pilot.

8-year-old James Leininger of Louisiana began talking about aviation at 2 years old. His parents reportedly knew nothing about the subject, and were amazed when their little boy started displaying such an extensive knowledge of planes.

Their amazement turned to alarm when James started having nightmares about being shot down by a plane with a red sun on it — a Japanese plane. He talked about having dreams and memories of being Lieutenant James McCready Huston, a World War II fighter pilot from Pennsylvania who had been killed in Iwo Jima more than 50 years earlier. Andrea, his mother, said that James would scream at the top of his voice, ‘Airplane crash, on fire, can’t get out, help,’ as he kicked and pointed to the ceiling.

Later, James told his parents that he had flown a plane called the Corsair from a boat called the Natoma. When James’s father decided to do some research, he discovered that there had been a small escort carrier called the Natoma Bay, which had been in the Battle of Iwo Jima, and that there really had been a pilot called James Huston. His plane was hit in the engine by Japanese fire on March 3, 1945. According to Jim Tucker, a psychologist at the University of Virginia, Huston’s plane crashed exactly the way that young James Leininger had described.

4. WWI veteran shot in the throat.

After developing a phobia of grey, rainy days, four-year-old Edward Austrian started complaining about a severe pain in his throat. Whenever it hurt, he reportedly said that his “shot” was hurting. When questioned, he told his mother that he had been in the trenches, in what she assumed to be World War I. He told detailed stories about his life and about being shot in the throat and killed.

Doctors couldn’t find a reason for Edward’s throat pain, so they took his tonsils out as a precaution. Eventually, though, he developed a cyst that no one could figure out how to treat. After he was encouraged to share more stories about his past life, the cyst disappeared. The doctors never determined the reason why.

5. A serial killer in a past life?

A reddit user had the following chilling story to share:

“Since as long as I can remember I’ve had vivid dreams about being a serial killer from the 1940s or 1950s. I lived in an old farm house in the middle of the woods secluded from everyone. I buried my victims (all women with medium-length jet black hair and very pretty) on my property. There are at least 50 if not more. I’ve been dreaming about this guy since I can remember and the details never change. I don’t have a name or location but it bothers me enough that I tried searching and I don’t think I was ever caught.

Sometimes I have moments where I genuinely ‘miss’ my old life. In this life I wouldn’t hurt a fly and have dedicated myself to helping people. Sometimes certain situations trigger feelings that are not really me and I’m not sure where they come from. It’s always the same type of girl and always the same thoughts of how to disable her in order to get her back to my place. I’ve come to terms with it and pass it off as an intrusive thought but I’ve never wanted to act on it in this life.”

— Drabbeynormalblues

6. Civil War veteran reborn.

Another reddit user has a story about a friend who may have had a past life as a soldier during the American Civil War:

“I knew a guy who thought all things paranormal were nonsense and laughed at the mere thought there could be truth to anything outside what was ‘accepted.’ He told me a story of his though that really surprised me.

He was in his late 50s and his entire life, for as long as he could remember, he had a dream he was standing in a field. It was always the exact same layout, rolling hills, he could see the tree line from his vantage point. The only real landmarks were a lone tree and a wooden fence. Every time during the dream he felt as if he was a young boy and could ‘feel’ there was a large group of me with him, seemingly behind him.

He never told a soul, not his wife nor his kids. One day he took his family to Gettysburg while on vacation. That exact vantage point was the Union ‘high water line’ during the battle. It definitely disturbed him, but he still refused to consider it as being paranormal.” — war-scribe

7. Darth Vader?

Another reader of the Epoch Times shared the following story with the paper: “My older sister was born the year my dad’s mom died. According to my dad, as soon as my sister was old enough to say the words, she said, ‘I am your mother.’”

8. 3-year-old leads police to man who killed him in his past life.

A 3-year-old boy in the Golan Heights caused quite a stir when he claimed he was murdered in a past life. The boy, a member of the Druze ethnic group, which believes in reincarnation, had a long red birthmark on his head; according to some Druze beliefs, birthmarks indicate where death wounds occurred during a past life. When the boy learned how to talk, he started telling elders that he had been killed by an axe blow in a prior life.

The boy was led through several villages to see if any of them were familiar to him. Once he found a familiar village, he claimed that he knew exactly who had killed him.

“Suddenly the boy walked up to a man and said, “Aren’t you … (Eli [Lasch] forgot the name)?” The man answered yes. Then the boy said, “I used to be your neighbour. We had a fight and you killed me with an axe.” Eli told me how the man had suddenly gone white as a sheet. The three-year-old boy then said, “I even know where he buried my body.” — Trutz Hardo, “Children Who Have Lived Before: Reincarnation Today”

Afterward, the boy led his elders to a pile of stones, under which they found a body with an axe wound in its head. He also led them to the spot where the axe was buried, reportedly forcing his killer to confess the crime.

9. The Barra Boy.

Also known as “The Boy Who Lived Before,” Cameron Macauley of Glasgow, Scotland, started telling his mother at the age of 2 that he wasn’t from Glasgow at all, but rather from a small island called Barra off the west coast of Scotland in the Outer Hebrides. Cameron described intimate details of his life there, including his black-and-white dog, the beach he used to walk on, his mother, the house they lived in and his seven siblings. He even named his former parents, claiming that his father’s name was Shane Robertson and that he had died in a car crash.

Determined to get to the bottom of all this, Cameron’s parents took him to Barra. Although no one there remembered anyone by the name of Shane, the Macauleys found the house Cameron had described — a house owned by the Robertsons. The black-and-white dog was in one of the family photo, and the car that Cameron remembered was there, too.