# Please help me rebut this NPR story on reincarnation **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 7, 2014, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-rebut-this-npr-story-on-reincarnation/678142 "2014-01-07T16:29:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![hyjyljyj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/0ea827/32.png) [@hyjyljyj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hyjyljyj)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2014, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-rebut-this-npr-story-on-reincarnation/678142/21 "2014-01-08T16:32:05Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > …the off-the-scale readings on your woo detector should provide a wee hint that _NPR is trafficking in bullshit_. news flash ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2014, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-rebut-this-npr-story-on-reincarnation/678142/22 "2014-01-08T16:53:19Z")
I’ve made similar posts before – it fits here too: As with any claim of extraordinary events, there are a few possibilities: 1. Those making the claim are lying (hoax). 2. Those making the claim are not lying, but are mistaken or deceived. 3. Those making the claim are not lying, but the phenomenon has a natural explanation. 4. Those making the claim are not lying and the phenomenon is real. In any randomly selected extraordinary claim, it’s reasonable to assume that 1, 2, or 3 are far, far more likely than 4. I see no reason why this claim is any different. It could be an elaborate hoax. It could be that the family is not lying, but someone else is deceiving them somehow. There are many other explanations that seem far, far more likely than “the kid was reincarnated”. With the evidence (such as it is) pushed forward so far, there’s no reason to stray from the assumption that 1 through 3 are much more likely than 4. I think that’s the right way to approach this. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2014, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-rebut-this-npr-story-on-reincarnation/678142/23 "2014-01-08T20:38:38Z")
Yeah, good call. ---
**Author:** ![Isilder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cc9497/32.png) [@Isilder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isilder)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2014, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-rebut-this-npr-story-on-reincarnation/678142/24 "2014-01-09T12:49:22Z")
Andrea’s mother suggested she look into the work of counselor and therapist Carol Bowman. SO the question is , how good is Bowman at Googling ? ---
**Author:** ![dchezik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f05b48/32.png) [@dchezik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dchezik)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2014, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-rebut-this-npr-story-on-reincarnation/678142/25 "2014-12-29T20:26:19Z")
If as a little child you were the reincarnation of a person who died decades earlier, wouldn’t you know everything they knew as an adult? You wouldn’t have to learn to read or write, because the person you were reincarnated as would have known those things. Wouldn’t you amaze your teacher’s in grade school with your extensive knowledge of things you had never been taught? “My goodness, little James already knows how to read and write and I haven’t even taught him those things! He knows about history, basic science, and arithmetic! He seems to have the education of an adult person! And you should hear his stories about women!” ---
**Author:** ![Reno\_Nevada](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Reno\_Nevada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reno_Nevada)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2014, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-rebut-this-npr-story-on-reincarnation/678142/26 "2014-12-29T23:26:17Z")
> [@Hampshire](#): > > I imagine a lot of parent intervention connecting of dots and filling in details that were never there to begin with. Like the basic kids game [telephone](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_whispers) where the details get chaned with each telling. > The dad asks the kid the name of the boat and the kid says “no-no”, dad researches boat names and finds Natoma, decides the kid must have meant Natoma, tells people the kid said Natoma. > Or kid says his pilot friends name was Jack, dad finds a story of a crashed pilot, pilot has a mate named Jack Larsen, kid must have meant Jack Larsen, tells people the kid said Jack Larsen. > People twist details all the time in retelling what other people said intentionally or unintentionally. Often to make the story better or fit what they imagine the story to be. This description of events is very similar to Cold Reading. It can be spookily accurate when done properly. Our own **ianzin** wrote the book on the subject. ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2014, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-rebut-this-npr-story-on-reincarnation/678142/27 "2014-12-29T23:46:48Z")
> [@dchezik](#): > > If as a little child you were the reincarnation of a person who died decades earlier, wouldn’t you know everything they knew as an adult? Not necessarily. Heck, it’s easy to forget memories of events in this current lifetime, such as replying to this thread a year ago. :o ---
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2014, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-rebut-this-npr-story-on-reincarnation/678142/28 "2014-12-30T00:20:36Z")
For me, the response is to emphasize the bolded part of the quote below: > [@](#): > > I mean, **it seems** absolutely impossible that he could have somehow gained this information as a 2-year-old through some sort of normal means. “It seems” is hardly a statement of scientific rigor. If I say “It seems unlikely that a random person has won the lottery” and then I study every person in the US who has won the lottery… well, my study and my claim are in contradiction with each other. It is unlikely that a random person wins the lottery, but I’m not studying random people. The same is true here. While it seems absolutely impossible… this guy has only studied 2500 children who made claims that seemed testable. How do we know that he hasn’t picked the 2500 kids who DID gain this information through normal means? ---
**Author:** ![dolphinboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dolphinboy/32/330_2.png) [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2014, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-rebut-this-npr-story-on-reincarnation/678142/29 "2014-12-30T00:42:07Z")
nm ---
**Author:** ![slowlearner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@slowlearner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slowlearner)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2014, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-rebut-this-npr-story-on-reincarnation/678142/30 "2014-12-30T02:43:52Z")
Well, I’m Buddhist and don’t give a flip about reincarnation even if it is real. The head of the school I lived in of course wore orange robes and had a shaved head. Out in public the most frequent thing strangers whipped him with was reincarnation, “oh my god I knew you and was very close to you in a past life” etc… and he would get out of sorts and say something like,“well yes we were very close I was the brother who brutally murdered you, how nice you remember…” no matter how real reincarnation is it’s just another illusion. and everybody in college these days ought to be glad you no longer have to study Jung and pretend to take him seriously. ---
**Author:** ![dchezik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f05b48/32.png) [@dchezik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dchezik)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2015, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-rebut-this-npr-story-on-reincarnation/678142/31 "2015-03-30T22:08:14Z")
3-3-2015. It seems this has never been resolved. Where is the real James Leininger now? (not the dead pilot!). The reincarnated one. I would love to talk to him! I wonder if he follows this thread. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-rebut-this-npr-story-on-reincarnation/678142.md?page=1)