EPISODE 38 - Reincarnation, The 3 Year Old Pilot

It was like 40 odd degrees or something , yeah , and it just kept getting like hotter and hotter like the longer we were out there , I was like , oh , it's so hot , but yeah , it was nice , it's just . it's never long enough , though , is it . When it's time for you to come home , you think , oh , that's gone so fast . Yeah , it does , doesn't it ?

How was your birthday ?

Really really big , massive old doll's house Sounds terrifying . It was for free and she was like , oh , I'll have it . And he's been sitting in the garage for like two years untouched . And we got it in the other day because we were turning it into a Harry Potter themed doll's house .

So we just started doing up the rooms and last night we was making little tiny mini cauldrons for the potions room . That's very cool .

We love listening to your podcast , so enjoy a coffee on us . Have a great week , dave and Sarah .

Yeah , so , dave and Sarah , thank you , thank you . Thank you , yes and also . Auntie Lail .

So from a very early age , little James Linniger , he had an obsession with aircrafts and he would play with nothing else but old World War II , like fighter planes , you know , like the really cool bombers and things . And he just absolutely obsessed with them and so , like any good parent would do , they encouraged .

When your child shows a love for something , you inundate them . You know , like a nan , when they say , oh , when you go , oh , I love Oreos , and then they buy you every flavour of oreos . And then , there ever was , you've got Oreo bedding .

parents did .

So a few months before James's second birthday , his dad , bruce , took him to the Kavanaugh flight museum , which was in Texas , and they have their loads of different exhibitions of different airplanes and things like that , and James was specifically interested in the World War II exhibit , so much so that they stayed there for three hours just in this one section of

the museum and whenever his dad was sort of like come on , let's move along , let's get to the next one , he'd James would throw an absolute tantrum and he didn't want to leave at all . So I think what Bruce did in the end was he kind of bribed him .

You know , let's go to the , the shop where you bought stuff from the gift shop , the gift shop , let's go to the gift shop . And so while he was there Bruce bought James some little toy aeroplanes from the gift shop and he would play with them every day and like flying them through the air .

But what he did most of all was that he would fly them through the air and then crash them into the ground Like over and over and they were all busted up and dented and stuff . But he'd absolutely love to fly them through the air and crash them into any sort of surface .

Soon after , when James sort of turned two , soon after his second birthday , he started having horrendous nightmares that he's mum and dad said that they were like night terrors and I don't know if you've experienced a night terror . They're awful . I haven't that you can't kind of wake them up from a night terror .

They don't know what they're kind of awake , but they don't know that it's you and it's awful , I have Night Mothman , night Mothman . Yeah , so I wake up going .

Little man can't get out and that's just what he would repeat Little man can't get out . Little man can't get out , and he'd be thrashing his arms and his legs as if he was kind of like fighting for his life .

And she said it was , though , like he'd be laying dead on his back and he'd be kicking his legs up as if he was trying to kick the lid off a box . Oh , and it was actually . You know , after these nightmares kind of continued for a little while . Andrea was Andrea .

His mum was kind of at a bit of a loss of you know what's going on , and it was actually Andrea's mum that first brought up the idea of reincarnation , and she said that James could well be remembering a past life , but the Linnigas were American born and bred , that were Southerners . They absolutely did not believe in such things as reincarnation .

Now you normally hear of reincarnation stories in areas that believe in reincarnation and that they are a lot more popularized in those locations because of their beliefs and their religion and things , and the Linnigas absolutely did not believe in it either .

So Andrea was obviously very doubtful about the reincarnation , but James it just kept revealing these sort of like little details of things that he just shouldn't know at his age , and she said that when James was around two and a half she'd taken him shopping and she'd seen a little toy airplane on a shelf and she was just pushing him in the trolley and she

just innocently says , oh look , james , that one's got a little bomb on the bottom . And he just kind of looks there and goes mum , that's a drop tank . And she was like what , what's a drop tank ? She hadn't even heard of what a drop tank was . I'm not sure I have . He absolutely should not have known what a drop tank was .

Now I looked up what a drop tank was because I did not know what the long one was , and they look like little tiny torpedoes on the bottom of the aircraft and they're basically for extra fuel . You store the fuel in there instead of having a larger kind of fuselage or to store the fuel in if they're going on long journeys .

They have these extra things , but they do look like torpedo bombs just underneath the plane . And she said that there was no way that James should have known that because he was two and a half and he watched Barney , he watched kids television programs and herself and Bruce never watched World War Two documentaries or they didn't talk about things like that .

He's all dressed up in a little like pilot's outfit , he's got their headphones on and the little like navy not navy , because that's boats Like flight hat things on .

He's going around the airplane and checking on like the mechanics and things that you would do on a preflight check and it's just incredibly bizarre . And he's saying like he's sitting in the cockpit and he's just talking . He's very familiar with the cockpit and he's kind of knows what all the buttons are .

And his dad said one time that when he was at work , little James had set up a makeshift cockpit in a closet and he'd had like a like the chair and he'd had like a little playmobil type fake thing going on . And all of a sudden he come tumbling out of the closet that he was in and he starts like what are you doing ?

And he's like , oh , I got hit in the engine and I had to bail out .

And around three years , well , he also started to draw a lot and they were mostly the same things and they were fighter planes and loads and loads of bullets like being shot out , loads of different fighter planes in the air and different bullets , some planes that kind of crashed into the water .

There was a drawing of an aircraft carrier , you know , like a boat with a runway on and loads of fighter planes on that , but then in a different color there was other aeroplanes in the air and then the bullets and his dad said it was if it was like a . He was trying to replay a movie in his drawings .

And what was also strange was that he started to sign the drawings James three . And when his dad asked him why he's writing down his names as James three , he replied because I'm James on the third James . So they had no idea . Like that was just like oh , you know , kids do the dandest things . So the line goes .

We're now not quite sysceptic about the idea of reincarnation because of all these little things .

So when James's night terrors began to get worse and more frequent , sometimes like three or four nights a week , andrea's mother again suggested that they should look into reincarnation and that they should look at the work of counselor and therapist Carol Bowman and she's a specialist in reincarnation and she's written loads of books and things and Carol told the liners

not to dismiss anything that James was saying , but instead to encourage it . You know , ask him questions and share his memories and just just encourage what he was saying .

And they did start to do that and James's night terrors began to fade and so over time James began to articulate in much more detail about his apparent past life as a former fighter pilot in World War Two .

And James's dad said that this mostly came at bedtime , when he was kind of drowsy and , you know , more relaxed , and he would start talking about his planes and Bruce would ask his son what , what plane did you use to fly ? And James said a course there .

And then just really casually goes , they used to get flat tyres all the time .

And he was like , yeah , I used to fly from a boat called Natoma . And he also said that he used to fly with somebody called Jack Larson and that this person was kind of in his squadron .

And so by this time , with all of these little kind of bits of information that are coming out , bruce had become obsessed with researching everything that James had told him to try and he said himself it was to try and disprove the idea of reincarnation . But the more he found , the more he was like like he was just so compelling .

Yeah , he managed to find out that the Natoma Bay it was the USS Natoma Bay . It was a small aircraft carrier in the Pacific during World War II , and James told his parents as well that his plane that he'd been flying had taken a direct hit to the engine and that he'd been shot down at Iwo Jima , andrea says who shot you down ?

And he just gives her this look like the Japanese . Oh , he was like , obviously , like he just thought that she should have known that . He was like oh , I got hit in the engine , I was shot down . She was like who shot you ? And he was like , uh , don't the Japanese . So the Battle of Iwo Jima took place between February and March 1945 .

And I think it was something like a 36 day battle page . Yeah , and it was the US taking charge of that Iwo Jima in Japan .

And , like I said , bruce had become not only obsessed with kind of research in the Internet , but he started combing through military records and trying to get in touch with anybody that served aboard the Natoma Bay during the Battle of Iwo Jima , and even he was even invited to the Natoma Bay Veterans Reunion .

So while he was there he learned that Jack Larson , who from Natoma Bay who James had said that was , you know , part of his squadron had actually survived the war . Although he was not at the reunion at the time , he was still alive .

During Bruce's process of interviewing people he came across a gentleman called Ralph Klaber and he was a rear gunner on one of the US airplanes that flew from Natoma Bay and Ralph actually said that when they took off he was actually right next to the plane flown by James and Houston Jr During the raid on Iwo Jima , and it was March 3 , 1945 .

And he said that Houston's plane was struck by anti aircraft fire and in his words he said , I would say he was hit head on , right in the middle of the engine . Oh , he knew , didn't they ? Yeah , he said that his plane had been hit in the engine , in the engine .

So James and his family were actually invited to another one of the Natoma Bay veterans reunions .

So James was actually invited there this time as well , and while he was there he would just point out people from the old black and white photos and he would just point out and be like , oh , that's Bob Greenwald , oh , wow , and he would just point out there's no way that he would never have seen those photos before and it was no way that he would ever

know who these people were . But he had such a familiarity with all of these things he also as well .

So before , when he went to bed every night , he had three GI dolls and he went to bed with them every night and Andrew said that when he gave , they gave James the GI men that he'd named them , and he'd named them Billy , water and Leon , and Andrea was like not the most common name . So they said you know how come you have named them like that ?

And he , just matter of fact , Lee just says oh , they're the people that met me in heaven . Oh , and the .

Whilst they was at the reunion , Bruce managed to find out that those three people actually existed and they had flown from the Natoma Bay and died before James , and their names were Billy P La , Walter Devlin and Leon Connor , and they'd actually been in James's squadron .

To say all this information while they was at the reunion , little James , who was now about four , he would . Also he came into contact with James and Houston juniors surviving sibling and it was a sister called Anne and when James met her they kind of introduced her and they said , oh , this is Anne , and he just goes no , that's Annie .

And Anne said that that was only the name that her brother used to call her . Annie and he goes . He said to his mom and he wasn't my only sister , you know , I had an older sister . And they said you know , we're older sisters name , and he was like yeah , it's Ruth .

And he's just so blasé about it , like she's just a memory , like he's just talking , and Anne said that she just she couldn't believe that he knew these details . It was absolutely no way for him to know these details . He'd even mentioned something to Anne about the fact that their dad had been an alcoholic , which which Anne had confirmed .

He'd confirmed small things about , like when he was a child and what they used to play together and things like that . And he'd also asked Anne if she still had a painting . He asked if it , does she still have the painting that their mum had painted of them ? And she said there's no way that he would know that information .

Their mum had painted a portrait , basically , of their mischildren and it's really good . Actually it's a really good picture . Yeah , really really good .

Two separate ones , yeah , there's just no no way else would he know that no way he would have known that , and so she was utterly convinced that James was the reincarnation of her brother and she'd given him two little keepsakes that used to be her brothers , and one was a little metal bust of George Washington , probably , you know , like this big , little tiny

bust of George Washington , and the other was a little metal coarse airplane like what he used to fly , and they were the only two items that had been sent back to his family after his disappearance and presumed death in World War . Two and she had given them to little James and he immediately , you know , set it up on his desk in his bedroom .

And Anne said that that is exactly where her brother used to keep it , his little bust of George Washington he always used to keep on his desk in his bedroom . So as James got older , his memories of his past life began to fade . So they say that your , you know your memories of your past life .

You're more susceptible to remembering when you're young , between the ages of something like three and six or something like that , because you're not quite , you're not closed off to it , you're not conditioned , you're still very open .

He still has a passion for flying and for aircrafts and he still has the pictures that Anne sent him of his , of what his mom had drawn and there was an interview actually , and it's just so strange and he picks up these portraits and he was like , oh , this is the portrait that my previous mom done and he's just talking .

He's like , yeah , my previous mom done this and it's all like everyone of my old sister and yeah , just so so strange and he doesn't have any nightmares or anything like that anymore and that's all done with . But yeah , it was just the most compelling story of reincarnation I've ever ever heard of and I had to tell you guys . Oh , thank you .

Do you feel like you're a little bit more of a believer hearing things like this ?

to pick up on things really well and he's asked , like you know , like we always say oh right , old man , yeah , we're such an old man .

It's like we're saying you're an old man , because we , we honestly believe you've got an old soul like you've been here before , because some of the things that he naturally knows about there isn't anywhere else that he would have got that kind of information from .

Or , you know , he'll know where something goes or where something is supposed to go , or how something's , how something works . You know , and we think , well , how would he even know that he's had no experience from that kind of thing before ? And it's just like I don't know , it's like he does it from memory .

Yeah , I do think , I do believe in reincarnation .

This is why I say I don't know how reincarnation works , because I do believe that there are ghosts and I do believe that there is reincarnation , Because how else would you explain stories like yours today ?

If you've got anything to say about whether or not people have souls which obviously they do , where personality comes from reincarnation , anything like that please email us in perplexedpodcastswithanessontheendatgmailcom . Yeah , email in . I'm going to need all the hell back and get guys . Well , so do I . You lot have seen what Sarah has been saying .

So , yeah , we're taking sides on this . I'm a firm believer that the human soul exists , and animals . I believe that we all have souls .

So if the soul was a real thing , scientifically you should be able to analyze it . Well , maybe they can I mean ?

Bye . If you have enjoyed listening to our episodes , make sure you rate us and leave us a review , on whatever platform you are listening .