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Typical Features
Stevenson found that the subjects in these cases tended to talk about a previous life at a very young age, often starting at the age of 2 or 3 years and
stopping by the age of 6 to 7 years. They made their statements about previous
lives spontaneously, without the use of hypnotic regression. The children
described recent lives-the median interval between the death of the previous
personality and the birth of the child being only 15 months-and ordinary lives,
usually in the same country. Some described being deceased members of their
own families, but others, like Kumkum, talked of being strangers in other locations. In those cases, if the children gave enough details, such as the name of
the other location, people were often able to go there and find that someone
had died whose life matched the details given by the child. The one part of the
previous life that was often out of the ordinary was the mode of death, as over
70% of the previous personalities had died by unnatural means, often with violent or sudden deaths.
In addition to the statements, many of the children showed behaviors that
seemed connected to the previous lives. Many showed emotional longing for the
previous family as well as emotions toward individual family members that were
appropriate for the relationship that the previous personality had with the family
members. In the cases involving violent death, over 35% of the children showed
phobias related to the mode of that death (Stevenson, 1990). In addition, many
of the children practiced repetitive play that seemed linked to the previous life,
most often acting out the occupation of the previous personality and occasionally re-enacting the death scene (Stevenson, 2000).
Stevenson eventually discovered that these cases could be found wherever
anyone looked for them. They have now been found on all continents except for
Antarctica, where no one has looked. They are easiest to find in cultures with
a belief in reincarnation, and Stevenson had associates looking for cases in
a number of those places. In addition, cases have been reported in the West.
546 J. B. Tucker
particularly since the division set up a website, more and more American cases
have been found as well (Stevenson, 1983a; Tucker, 2005).