Arthur Honeggar once said, “As someone who has lived the nightmare of losing a child, I know that the enormous hole left behind remains forever.” Most parents cannot even imagine losing a child to death. But to lose two children to death on the same day seems unbearable. But what if your child died and youth could have him back for five years after he had died? This would be reincarnation.
Although people have debated reincarnation forever, an English couple named John and Florence Pollock experienced it after losing two daughters.
On May 5, 1957, Joanna Pollock, 11, and her sister Jacqueline, 6, were killed by an out-of-control car. The deaths devastated John and Florence. Thankfully, on October 4, 1958, the couple were blessed with a set of identical twins. The couple named them Gillian and Jennifer. They also noticed Jennifer had a birthmark on her waist and one on her forehead that resembled a birthmark and a scar on her deceased sister Jacqueline.
The family uprooted and moved from Hexam to Bexley Bay, a town on the north-east coast of England. After the move is when life got strange for the Pollocks.
When Jennifer and Gillian were two-years-old, they began asking for their old toys. John and Florence were stumped. What old toys? The girls asked for toys that once belonged to their deceased sisters. The toys had since been discarded. How could the girls have known about these toys?
The Pollocks didn’t stay in Bexley Bay for long as they missed Hexam, which they considered home. After the family moved, they noticed their daughters were familiar with Hexam landmarks. Again, how was this possible? The girls were babies when they lived in Hexam. Somehow, they identified the favorite locations of their deceased sisters. The twins also feared cars which was another unexplained phenomenon.
The girls even knew details about how their sisters died. Gillian once told Jennifer she could see blood coming out of her eyes. The children also had other similarities with their dead sisters:
They enjoyed the same foods.
They had the same taste in clothing.
Without being told, the girls identified the school their deceased sisters attended.
They were familiar with friends of their deceased sisters.
They sang the same songs.
These coincidences occurred until the girls turned five. But then as if someone had flipped a switched, the girls’ past memories had vanished. The twins lived normal lives afterward and no longer shared the memories of their late sisters.
A psychologist named Dr. Ian Stevenson took an interest in the girls and wrote a book titled “Children Who Remember Previous Lives: A Question of Reincarnation.” It was his research into 14 different cases involving reincarnation of children. The Pollocks are included in this book. Stevenson thought children were less likely to make up stories since they barely had a past. He also believed parents who didn’t believe in reincarnation encouraged their children not to discuss past lives.
Reincarnation is a debated topic accepted in some cultures. For instance, Vikings believed in reincarnation as did early Christians. Today, Christianity preaches to be absent from the body is to be with the Lord. Based on Stevenson’s studies, reincarnation cannot be ignored.
Was it possible the Pollocks received a second chance with the daughters they once lost? Miracles happen every day so maybe they received five extra years with their deceased daughters through the eyes of twins Jennifer and Gillian.
Marc is a grandparent and longtime resident of Clermont County. Visit his author page at http://www.lifewithgrandpa.com. He also wrote Just Bite Me: A Guide to Zombies, Vampires, Werewolves, and Other Walking Nightmares, which is available on Amazon.com.