Paranormal Muskegon loves chatting about “spooky” things like ghosts and haunted houses; and the kind of things that make the hair on your head stand up.
This month we switched gears to focus on a topic that has interested people since time immemorial: Reincarnation. Awhile back I had the pleasure of meeting Bill Long when he purchased a copy of “Haunted Muskegon.” As we sat at The Coffee Factory, enjoying some Madcap coffee and soaking up the ambiance; we chatted about a host of paranormal subjects. Bill said he has always been interested in mysterious subjects and has done a lot of reading about them over the years. This was very much evident as he was very knowledgeable in many different aspects of the paranormal. While not really considered to be in the paranormal realm, the subject of reincarnation came up whereupon Bill shared several encounters that he felt was a sign that his sister, who had tragically passed on; had been reincarnated into a family friend’s baby.
He said it all began when his mother had been repeating the phrase “purple paisleys” during the time previous to her own death. The family had believed her saying “purple paisleys” repeatedly was possibly due to hallucinations brought on by her illness. It wasn’t much longer that his sister also passed on. Coincidentally, a friend’s baby girl was born on the same day. When he went to visit the new baby; he was very surprised to learn that the baby’s name was Paisley. Then he was overcome with shock when he saw the baby’s new room. It was painted a bright shade of purple. Remembering his mother’s dying words, “purple Paisleys”, he couldn’t help wonder if that was a sign that his sister had been reincarnated into this baby. There were other synchronicities and strange coincidences that happened that had him wondering if his sister had been reincarnated. Bill stated that before all this he was an atheist but he has not come to be more spiritually minded.
Reincarnation is the belief that the soul survives the physical body and reincarnates or “transmigrates” into another body. The belief in reincarnation is not widely accepted in the U.S., but in places like India where many of the population practice Hinduism. Practitioners of Jainism in parts of Central Asia, Buddhists, Sikhs, or Kabbalists also prescribe to this belief. There have been several widely publicized cases of purported reincarnation, most of them in India but several in the United States as well as other countries. One famous, well-documented case involved Shanti Devi, a four-year-old girl who claimed that she had lived a previously life in a town that she had never visited. While many scientists don’t take much stock in the reality of reincarnation, a team headed by Dr. Ian Stevenson, at the University of Virginia believed there is something to it, having gathered information from over 2,500 cases that seemed to show that reincarnation had some validity. An astounding case from the U.S. that the team investigated involved a boy named James Leininger, who claimed he had lived before as James Huston, who was shot down in action during WWII.
Is Bill’s story of “Purple Paisleys” a case of reincarnation? Very possibly, but because it involves the afterlife and personal accounts, it is very difficult to find a definitive answer. The search for answers to this question has spanned millennia. Nevertheless, it had a profound effect on Bill which left him with a more positive take on the afterlife and belief. Paranormal Muskegon is grateful to Bill for sharing his story with us. Thank you for watching the Muskegon Channel. See you next time on Paranormal Muskegon. The paranormal, mysterious, and unknown is a big subject and covers a lot of ground; anything from ancient unknowns, ghosts and spirits, cryptozoology, magic, ESP, remote viewing, prophecy, monsters, UFO’s, etc. If you have a personal story involving something paranormal or mysterious; have a business that is paranormal-based or have a nonprofit that is having an event or fund-raiser that involves the paranormal (such as a ghost-hunt or such as a fund-raiser), we would love to hear from you.
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