The Curious Case of the Pollock Sisters

In the small town of Hexham in England, on May 5th of 1957, two girls named Jacqueline and Joanna Pollock were hit by a car while walking to church with a friend. It was absolutely devastating to their parents, John and Florence. The grief-stricken couple wanted nothing more than to have them back, especially John. He even declared that they would have another set of girls soon, but no one actually believed him. However, just as he had willed it, a year later Florence gave birth to a set of twin girls, which they named Gillian and Jennifer.

In spite of his Catholic faith, John had told Florence that the girls would be reborn in this way. Not surprisingly, she had been a bit skeptical throughout her pregnancy, but right away they both began to notice rather unmistakable signs that their prayers had indeed been answered. It was as though the girls did more than just resemble their departed sisters. Jennifer had a very distinct white line across her forehead in the exact same spot that Jacqueline had a scar. She also had the same birthmark as Jacqueline.

It was all quite uncanny. So, John and Florence grew more and more convinced that Jennifer and Gillian were actually Jacqueline and Joanna reborn. As the twins grew up, their parents continued to notice more and more things that seemed to prove their theory. The family moved to Whitley Bay when the two were still just babies. Then, at age four, when they returned to Hexham, Jennifer and Gillian pointed out landmarks that Jacqueline and Joanna had been familiar with. Like the school that they had formerly attended.

The girls were also able to correctly name the dolls and stuffed animals that belonged to them in their former lives. The twins even had recurring nightmares about being run over by a car. It was so obvious to John and Florence that Jennifer was really Jacqueline and Gillian was really Joanna. Jennifer was even dependent on Gillian because Joanna had been five years older than Jacqueline. Then, all of a sudden, one day everything changed when the girls turned five and the memories of their past lives just faded away.

Although this may just have all been part of the false hope of grieving parents, stories like this seem to lend a lot of credibility to the notion of reincarnation. The idea that a person starts a new life in a…