The Why Files: Operation Podcast - 89: Proof of Reincarnation | Dorothy Eady: Ancient Egyptian Priestess Reborn

Episode Date: December 1, 2022

3-year old Dorothy was playing, then accidentally fell down a flight of stairs. She hit her head and was knocked unconscious. When her parents found her, she wasn't breathing. They called a doctor who rushed over immediately. Dorothy's mother broke down when the doctor said there was nothing he could do. Her little girl was dead. The doctor left and returned an hour later with Dorothy's death certificate and gently discussed arrangements for the little girl's body. But during this conversation, shuffling was heard coming from Dorothy's room. They ran upstairs and there she was, playing in her room like nothing happened. The doctor examined her again. There was no sign of injury. He had no explanation. He said it appeared as if Dorothy had come back from the dead. He didn't realize how right he was. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/thewhyfiles/support

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but you need to check your attitude. Excuse me, but I don't have all day to sit here and talk about Spotify. This would go a lot faster if you would just let me get through it without... Three-year-old Dorothy was playing and then accidentally fell down a flight of stairs. She hit her head and was knocked unconscious. When her parents found her, she wasn't breathing. They called a doctor who rushed over immediately. Dorothy's mother broke down when the doctor said there was nothing he could do. Her little girl was dead.

The doctor left and returned an hour later with Dorothy's death certificate and gently discussed arrangements for the little girl's body. But during this conversation, shuffling was heard coming from Dorothy's room. They ran upstairs and there she was, playing in her room like nothing happened. The doctor examined her again. There was no sign of injury. He had no explanation. He said it appeared as if Dorothy had come back from the dead. He didn't realize how right he was. Dorothy Eadie was born in London in 1904. Until her fall down the stairs and her resurrection,

she was a normal little girl. But after the fall, she started having night terrors. Her mother would wake her and Dorothy would tell her about the dream. She was living in a huge columned building surrounded by trees and green gardens. It was always the same dream. And Dorothy would tell her mother the same thing. I want to go home. When her mother would tell her that she is home, Dorothy would become frustrated and depressed. Sometimes Dorothy's parents would find her pouting under the dining room table. They'd ask what's wrong, and it was always the same answer. I want to go home. When she was asked where home was, Dorothy would say she didn't know.

She just knew she wanted to get back there. After the fall, Dorothy would occasionally speak with a heavy foreign accent. This was so unsettling that Dorothy's parents had trouble finding a sitter. When Dorothy was four, her parents planned a day at the British Museum. They couldn't find anyone to watch their daughter, so they brought her along. That's when things got really strange. As expected, four-year-old Dorothy was bored in the museum. She moped, she dragged her feet, she acted like most four-year-olds would act.

But Dorothy's mood drastically changed when they reached the Egyptian exhibit. Dorothy was dazzled by the artifacts, but when she saw the Egyptian statues, she tore herself from her mother's grip and ran wildly through the halls. Dorothy was running from statue to statue, kissing their feet and yelling at people for wearing shoes in the presence of gods. Dorothy's mother was mortified at her daughter's behavior, but then Dorothy suddenly stopped and became silent. Dorothy's parents found her in front

of a glass case, frozen. She was staring at the face of an Egyptian mummy. Dorothy's mother picked her up, but she got upset. Then in a voice that sounded like an old woman, Dorothy said, These are my people. It took Dorothy's parents a few hours to finally drag her

out of the museum. But whenever the family had free time, they would go back to the Egyptian exhibit, the only place where Dorothy felt happy and peaceful. When Dorothy was seven, her father bought her a children's encyclopedia about ancient Egypt. Dorothy spent hours studying hieroglyphics with a magnifying glass. Her mother asked what she was doing. Dorothy would say, I'm trying to remember. While reading a science magazine, Dorothy came across a picture of a temple built for the pharaoh Seti, father of Ramses the Great, in the town of Abydos. Dorothy was confused. She asked her mother

where all the trees were and all the green gardens. Dorothy's mother asked her, what is this place? Dorothy smiled the biggest smile she ever had in her entire life and pointed to the picture of Seti's temple in Abydos and said, mama, this is my home. Children remembering their past lives is more common than most people think. There are thousands of documented cases, and these are just the cases that parents report. There are certainly thousands more cases where the parents are too confused or too embarrassed to report it. One interesting story happened in England in 1957. Sisters Joanna and Jacqueline Pollack, aged 11 and 6, were killed when a car lost control and hopped the curb. A year after the accident, the girl's mother, Florence Pollack, gave birth to twin girls. Jillian and Jennifer were identical twins, but they had different birthmarks.

Jennifer had a birthmark on her waist that matched a birthmark that Jacqueline had before she died. Coincidence? She also had a scar on her forehead, just like Jacqueline did. When the twins were about two years old, they started asking for toys that belonged to their sisters, though they'd never saw the toys before. They would also become frightened at moving cars, yelling how the car is coming to get them. And the coincidences go on and on. During the Battle of Iwo Jima, the Japanese shot down American fighter pilot James Houston Jr. He died in the cockpit of the plane on March 3rd, 1945. Over 50 years later, two-year-old James Leninger

started having nightmares about being a fighter pilot crashing into the ocean and dying. When James was shown photos, he was able to name the kind of aircraft he flew. He knew the name of the aircraft carrier he was on.

He could even name other men who served with him at two years old. And all this information was verified to be true. One of my favorite cases of reincarnation is Ryan Hammons. When Ryan was about four years old and playing by himself, he would pretend to direct movies. Ryan told his mother that he used to be a man who lived in Hollywood.

Ryan's parents were Christian and serious about their faith. They didn't believe in reincarnation. But Ryan would often say, I used to be somebody else. I used to be big, but now I'm little. I liked it better when I was big and I could go wherever I wanted to go. I hate being little. Whenever Ryan would see the Hollywood sign on television, he would cry that that was his home and he wanted to go back. Ryan would tell stories about meeting Rita Hayworth, about vacations in Paris, and working at an agency where people would change their names.

This is not the typical banter of a four-year-old. One day, Ryan's mother brought home a book about old Hollywood and they flipped through the pictures. They came across a photo and Ryan said, Oh look, that's George. We did a picture together. Oh, that guy's me. I found me. The other man in the picture was Marty Martin. He did know Rita Hayworth. He did vacation in Paris, and he did work at an agency where people would change their name.

Ryan was right about all of it. Ryan even knew Marty used to dance on Broadway. How many sisters he had. How many children he had. Ryan even said his house was on a street that had the word rock in it. Marty Martin lived on Roxbury Drive. Marty's family was able to confirm 55 separate facts that Ryan got correct

at four years old. In these three cases, like in almost every case, past life memories start around age two or three and end around age five. Not so with Dorothy Eadie. As she got older, and end around age five. Not so with Dorothy Eadie. As she got older, her memories became more clear. It was just a matter of time before Dorothy Eadie would find out who she really was,

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Tranexperts.ca You searched for your informant, who disappeared without a trace. You knew there were witnesses, but lips were sealed. You swept the city, driving closer to the truth. While curled up on the couch with your cat. There's more to imagine when you listen.

Discover heart-pounding thrillers on Audible. You searched for your informant, who disappeared without a trace. You knew there were witnesses, but lips were sealed. You swept the city, driving closer to the truth. While curled up on the couch with your cat. There's more to imagine when you listen. Discover heart-pounding thrillers on Audible. You sailed beyond the horizon in search of an island scrubbed from every map.

You battled krakens and navigated through storms. Your spade struck the lid of a long-lost treasure chest. While you cooked a lasagna. There's more to imagine when you listen. Discover best-selling adventure stories on Audible. Dorothy Eadie was very outspoken about reincarnation. She spoke about it openly and didn't care what anybody thought. Beast. She was. And this was a problem for a teenage girl in the 1920s. Her parents tolerated

what they thought was just an eccentricity, but other people weren't so forgiving. One Sunday afternoon, a priest showed up at the Edie's door. The priest said that Dorothy was no longer welcome at Sunday school. She had refused to sing a hymn that spoke poorly about Egypt. But the last straw was when Dorothy argued with the Sunday school teacher that Christianity was based on the old religion of Egypt. Yeah, but wasn't it? Well, that's debatable, but there's plenty of evidence that it was. And here come the comments from the Christians.

Dorothy had been spending so much time in the British Museum that Egyptologist Sir E.A. Wallace Budge got to know her and started teaching her how to read hieroglyphics. Unsurprisingly, she picked it up very quickly, like freakishly quickly. Dorothy's dreams continued this whole time, though now that she knew what was happening, she wasn't frightened anymore. When Dorothy was about 15, she would wake up in the middle of the night almost every night. She heard the voice of a man named Hora, who asked her to write down everything he said. She would then go into a trance, neither sleeping nor awake, and scribble notes and hieroglyphics.

When she woke up, she had no idea what she had written. It wasn't even her handwriting. And after a year of this, she had 70 handwritten pages. She was finally able to piece together that this was the story of her life in ancient Egypt. She was an Egyptian woman named Bentreshit, born in the town of Abydos. She came from a humble background. Her father was a soldier who served during Seti I's reign. Her mother was a vegetable seller. When Bentreshit was two years old, her mother died. Unable to care for her, Bentreshit's father placed her in the temple of Qom el-Sultan,

where she would be raised to become a priestess. When she was 12 years old, Bantreshit was given two choices. She could either leave the temple and go out into the world on her own, or become a consecrated virgin and stay at the temple. Bantreshit decided to take the vows. A few years later, she met Pharaoh Seti I, and they had an affair. When she became pregnant with the child of the pharaoh, she had no choice but to tell the high priest about her relationship with Seti I.

The high priest told her that her sin against Isis was so severe that she would be tried and likely sentenced to death. In order to protect the pharaoh from a scandal, Bantreshit avoided the trial by taking her own life. Dorothy finally understood everything that was happening to her. For the next few years, she worked at various jobs at a theater owned by her parents. But then she got her big break in 1931. A position opened up in London writing for an Egyptian public relations magazine. The 30s were a tricky time in Egypt. Though it was officially declared independent from the United Kingdom in 1922, the UK was still

heavily involved in the governing of the country. Dorothy used her new position at the magazine to advocate for Egyptian nationalism and full independence. While working for the magazine, she began corresponding with a wealthy Egyptian man named Amon Abdel-Muqwid. In 1933, Muqwid proposed. She accepted and finally traveled to Egypt for the first time in her life. The first time in this life. Right. And when she stepped off the boat in Cairo, she fell to her knees and kissed the ground.

She wept and said, I'm finally home. And if Dorothy Eadie really was reincarnated, now she'd have a chance to prove it. Dorothy's marriage was off to a rocky start. Her husband's family was wealthy and didn't like how open Dorothy was about her past life. She was more committed to Egyptian culture than her husband's family was, and she was outspoken about it. After a few years, Dorothy Ann McGuid divorced, but not before she gave birth to a son, who she named Setty. It wasn't Setty the guy she was partying with back in the day. Yep.

So she names her kid after the X? That's bad form. I hadn't thought of it that way. Well, that's like what you pay me for, man. So Dorothy Eadie changed her name to Amseti, which means Mother of Seti. And this is how women were known in ancient Egypt. In 1935, she took a job with Egypt's Department of Antiquities. She was the first woman ever hired, but she quickly made a name for herself as a respected scholar. She published essays and articles about ancient Egypt. She translated documents and hieroglyphics.

Though Dorothy Eadie had no formal training, she became known as an expert in the field. Finally, in 1952, Dorothy was able to take a job in Abydos, the town where she believed she lived. In Abydos, she became known as an eccentric by the locals. She observed ancient Egyptian religion. She walked barefoot everywhere, and she would spend her nights praying and sleeping in the Egyptian temples. In 1957, the new chief of antiquities wanted to test Dorothy. He admitted that she had an

uncanny understanding about the ancient Egyptian culture, but he didn't really believe she lived in the Temple of Seti thousands of years ago. So one night, he escorted her to the temple. The only light they had was a torch. He then asked her to take him to different parts of the temple. At this point, nothing had been published about the layout of the temple, and Dorothy had never been there before. In this life. Right. Dorothy was able to guide him anywhere he asked to go. With no map and no light, she knew every inch of the temple. After his sixth attempt to stump her, he gave up. One of her recurring dreams,

or memories depending on what you believe, was of the gardens of the Temple of Seti. But those had not yet been discovered by archaeologists. Dorothy told scientists where to find the gardens. They excavated and they found it. She said if they dug on the north side of the temple in a specific spot, they would find a hidden tunnel.

Sure enough, the tunnel was there. In 1964, she turned 60 years old and by Egyptian law, she was supposed to retire. But not only was she the first woman hired by the Department of Antiquities, she was given special permission to keep working. She was too valuable of a resource to let go. Egyptologists couldn't explain how, but she was able to make countless discoveries

just by remembering. Though her specialty was the Temple of Seti I in Abydos, she did claim to have knowledge of other ancient Egyptian sites. For example, she said the lost tomb of Nefertiti was underneath the tomb of her stepson, Tutankhamen. Was she under King Tut? Well, Dorothy made this claim in 1972. Tutankhamen's tomb was found in 1922. Though the tomb had been studied for 50 years, there was no evidence of a chamber there. Oh.

But. Oh, I love it when you do this. In 2015, radar imaging technology showed there actually was a chamber right where she said it would be. She also said there was a small library underneath one of the feet of the Sphinx. Okay, okay, my turn. Go ahead. She said there's a room under the Sphinx. Nobody believes her.

Years later, they do a scan, and bada-bing, bada-boom, there's a room down there. Yep. Yahtzee! You searched for your informant. Yep. Yahtzee! Driving closer to the truth. While curled up on the couch with your cat. There's more to imagine when you listen. Discover heart-pounding thrillers on Audible. About 30% of Americans, including almost 25% of Christians, believe in reincarnation. Reincarnation might be fringe science or pseudoscience in the Western world,

but in the East, reincarnation is viewed differently. It's a central part of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Sikhism, and several other religions. For about a quarter of the world's population, almost 2 billion people, reincarnation is a central belief. The Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism, is said to be the reincarnation of Pema Dorje, the first Dalai Lama who died in 1474. The current Dalai Lama, who was born in 1935, is the 14th incarnation of Pema Dorje. When the Dalai Lama dies, senior Tibetan monks conduct an elaborate search to find his next incarnation. This search involves consulting oracles, interpreting visions, and reading spiritual signs. The senior monks may find clues from the deceased body of the Dalai Lama, such as the direction it faces.

If the body is cremated, the direction of the smoke is monitored as a potential indicator for the direction of the rebirth. The current Dalai Lama was found at the age of two after a senior monk saw his village and house in a vision. The boy, then named Lama Thundup, was able to identify items that belonged to the previous Dalai Lama, including a drum used for rituals and a walking stick. Even though I consider myself an open-minded skeptic of the topics we cover on the channel, reincarnation is a subject I've always been drawn to. There's comfort in the thought that death is not the end, that our physical life is just a temporary experience meant to teach us lessons to prepare us for our next life

or to prepare us for what comes after. Dorothy Eadie is one of the most compelling cases for reincarnation that I've ever seen. But is this really evidence? Skeptics will point out that while Dorothy Eadie was able to identify many Egyptian tombs, tunnels, and rooms, she also got plenty of things wrong. And some believe that when Dorothy hit her head falling down the stairs, she injured her brain. This injury caused her to have foreign

accent syndrome, which is a real thing. The injury also caused her to develop obsessive compulsive disorder. With her obsession being ancient Egypt, there's no question that if she developed this obsession at three or four years old, she'd become very skilled and knowledgeable about the subject. We know for a fact that Dorothy Eadie was institutionalized multiple times for mental health issues. Also, all the stories about Dorothy's early life come from Dorothy herself. The fall, her experience in the museum, the trance writing, the time she was tested in the darkness of the temple. There's no evidence any of this happened.

We have to take her at her word. But that's the skeptic's point of view. Even famous Egyptologists, who notoriously dislike anything mystical, said that Dorothy's knowledge of Egypt was beyond simple intuition. It was uncanny. Now, they stopped short of saying she was reincarnated, but nobody denies her contributions to the study of ancient Egypt. Dorothy Eadie has been called the patron saint of Egyptology. She lived out her remaining years

near Abydos, walking distance to the Setes Temple, the place since childhood that she considered home. She finally died in 1981. But I can't help but wonder, is there a child out there somewhere right now, having dreams and visions she can't explain? Visions of a green garden in the desert. Visions of an oasis, once again, calling her home. Thank you so much for hanging out with me today. My name is AJ.

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