Children Who Remember Previous Lives: Ian Stevenson's Research
A two- or three-year-old suddenly speaks of 'their real mummy', another home, and their own death. Such accounts have been collected by a division of the University of Virginia since 1967.
Ezostylia Editorial Team · facts checked in sources · updated 31.10.2026
Who Was Ian Stevenson
Ian Stevenson was a psychiatrist and head of the department of psychiatry at the University of Virginia. In 1967 he founded the Division of Perceptual Studies there, a department investigating phenomena that science is unable to explain. He died in 2007, and his work is continued by child psychiatrist Jim Tucker.
Stevenson travelled around the world, from India and Sri Lanka to Lebanon and Alaska, documenting the accounts of children, their families, and the families of the people the children spoke about.
What the Archive Shows
The division holds over 2,200 so-called cases of the reincarnation type in its database. According to its researchers:
- children most commonly begin speaking about this between the ages of 2 and 4, and the memories typically fade by the age of 6–7,
- approximately 70% of cases involve persons who died an unnatural death,
- in approximately 30% of cases a birthmark or congenital defect appears, which the family associates with a wound sustained by the deceased,
- approximately 70% of cases were considered 'solved', meaning linked to a specific person who had lived previously.
How Such Accounts Are Investigated
The most valuable cases are those in which the child's statements were recorded before anyone had identified the deceased person. Researchers then compare details: names, places, manner of death. More than 200 variables are analysed in each case.
Objections from Critics
Sceptics point out that many cases come from cultures that believe in reincarnation, where families themselves seek out the 'previous person' and unconsciously fit the details together. Furthermore, interviews were often conducted through interpreters, long after the child's initial statements.
Proponents counter that some cases from the USA and Europe involve families who did not believe in reincarnation. The debate continues and is difficult to resolve, but Stevenson's archive is today the largest collection of such accounts in the world.
Read more
You will find all 30 topics in the section Mysteries of life and death.
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Sources
VPM: What is UVA's Division of Perceptual Studies · Ian Stevenson, Wikipedia
Frequently asked questions
How many cases has the University of Virginia collected?
The database of the Division of Perceptual Studies encompasses over 2,200 cases of children speaking about a previous life.
At what age do children speak about a previous life?
According to researchers, most commonly between the ages of 2 and 4, and the memories typically fade by the age of 6–7.