Dr. Stevenson’s research

Dr. Ian Stevenson is the best known and most respected collector of scientific information that attempts to prove or disprove the existence of reincarnation. He didn’t use hypnosis, instead he chose to collect thousands of cases of children who spontaneously (without hypnosis) remembered past lives. Dr. Stevenson used this approach because spontaneous past life memories in a child can be investigated using strict scientific protocols. Hypnosis, while useful in research, is less reliable from a purely scientific perspective. In order to collect his data, Dr. Stevenson methodically documented the child’s statements of a previous life. Then he identified the deceased person the child remembered being, and verified the facts of the deceased person’s life that matched the child’s memory. He even matched birthmarks and birth defects to wounds and scars on the deceased, verified by medical records. Read an interview with the late Dr. Stevenson here.