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The Strangest 'Past Life Memories' Kids Have Ever Uttered According To Their Parents

Little girl laughing
Photo by Jonathan Borba on Unsplash

Kids truly say the darnedest things. But sometimes they say the spookiest and most unexplainable things, too.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the Reddit community was full of such horror story fodder.


Once upon a time, Redditor TapiocaTuesday asked:

"Parents, what spooky 'past life' memory did your kid utter?"

And the responses were absolutely chilling.

War Stories

"My daughter (age 2) is absolutely terrified of the sound of planes. She’s never been in one, but she is just really scared of the sound."

"Usually, she will hear one and come running and hide between my legs. One night a few months ago, though, she heard a plane, stopped playing, and just said to herself, 'They’re here.'"

" A couple of weeks later, she told my husband it was 'time to storm the beach.' This kid has never been to a beach."

- okaykoala

"My family and I were driving through the Kent countryside and my brother (about three at the time) announced: 'Mummy, that was the field I died in once. A bayonet went through my tummy.'"

" I was eight and remember wondering what a bayonet was EXACTLY at the same time my parents looked at each other and asked him HOW he knew what bayonet was."

"He said he didn't know and then became almost embarrassed and shy because of our collective reactions."

"There was no way he would have known about war or weapons as this was the early 90s and we didn't watch TV much at all. I'm a complete skeptic but this creeps me out to this day."

- 16psyche88

"When I was about 4, my family and I were moving house. We went to view this house in a rural village that was right by an airfield that had been very important during WW2, and there were still disused Anderson shelters in the garden and fields behind."

"Apparently the minute I saw them, I ran to my mum, clung to her arm, and asked 'Are there going to be more bombs?' and got really agitated."

"Nobody ever spoke about the war, this was in the 90s, and we didn’t even have a TV. My mum was really spooked by the whole thing."

- lamantchenille

Past Lives

"When my daughter was three, she saw a large ship while we were on vacation at the beach and said, 'That's like the one my parents before you died on.'"

"I said, 'You had other parents before us?'"

"She calmly went on to explain that I shouldn't worry, they were her parents a long time before my husband and I were, but the ship they were on broke apart, and they are still at the bottom of the ocean."

"She then said when her 'before' parents died, she and her sister 'Brinella' (not sure of the spelling) had to be separated because no one could take them both. She said her sister went to live in Australia, but she stayed in Ireland."

"We live in the U.S."

- bipedal-in-five

"When my daughter was about three years old, she would say the word 'Specs' all the time... like constantly."

"I was thinking, 'This is so bizarre. Why would a child randomly start saying this?'"

"Then my wife told me that her grandfather used to work for a company called 'Specs.' The grandfather has been deceased for quite a long time and was never even alive since my daughter was born."

"She used to say things to me all the time like, 'When I was an adult, I used to do xyz...'"

- WinstoNilesRumfoord

"My youngest (4-5) would tell about how warm and 'cozy' she was in my belly, how cold and scary it was to be born, and how the hardest part was that she 'used to know everything' but now she 'doesn’t know anything.'"

"I would give her space to talk. Her frustration at almost being able to remember 'everything' was almost palpable."

- break-in-the-clouds

"When my son was three, he told his mom that he was a cosmonaut the last time he was a grown-up."

"Not an __astro__naut, the Russian version. We're 99% certain he hadn't heard the word before."

- Lone-Paladin

Lost Connections

"My daughter, when she was three, used to talk about her imaginary friend all the time. She said he was big and fun, and spent a lot of time playing with her."

"One day I was scanning old photos and had a photo of my father on my desk and she said, 'Hey, how did you get a photo of my friend?'"

"I instantly got shivers down my spine. My father died in the house about 15 years previously, and she played in a room that used to be his office."

"I cautiously asked her to tell me more about her friend, and without hesitating, she told me he talked funny. The chills stopped me dead in my tracks because my dad was an Aussie who never lost his accent."

- ChappieTime

"In 2006, my best friend Nick was KIA in Iraq. We used to wrestle/fight until one of us submitted. These sessions would start randomly and always be initiated by 'showing your fangs.' This involved pointing your pointer and middle finger down in front of your mouth while growling at the other person."

"A couple of weeks after his death, some family from the other side of the country that we only see every five years or so was visiting."

"My cousin's son who was about 5 and who I never met prior to this visit came over to me. He gave me the fangs and smiled."

"I asked him, 'Where did you learn that?' and he said, 'Your friend says hi' and ran away. I went to my room and cried for a bit."

- Scubapro54

"I am 60 years of age and have never had biological children but am the proud grandfather of several wonderful children (I am the adopted one). My lady and I have been together for 28 years and her children have children now."

"One day my grandaughter, around the age of 4 years old, went to her mother and asked, 'What happened to Pa Pa's babies? There were two of them but they're dead now.'"

"It just so happens that when I was 13 or 14, my girlfriend at the time got pregnant. There was an abortion. My girlfriend always said they were twins... I never really believed her... and never argued the point."

"I think of this a lot now in my old age."

- twoliterdietcoke

"When my daughter was three and starting to talk clearer, she was talking to someone, and concerned, I walked into the bedroom and no one was there. Initially, I thought it was her playing with her toys."

"Days later, the same scenario, but this time, I asked who she was talking to and she replied, 'Your grandma.'"

"I thought she meant my mom who had recently passed, so I showed a picture of her and asked, 'Is this her?'"

"She said, 'No, YOUR grandma.'"

"I found a picture of my grandma and she with a big smile said, 'Yes, her.'"

"I was shocked since I don't have pictures of my grandma displayed and she died in 1991 and my daughter was born in 2015."

- DISDIK

Personal Childhood Memories

"I apparently used to have rather frequent bouts of nightmares back when I was four. And it always began with me screaming the name Sarah, then calling for help loudly (which would wake pretty much everyone in the house up), and ending with me just blubbering out, 'I'm sorry, I'm so sorry,' over and over and over again, all the while crying and sobbing."

"When I would wake up in the morning, I'd have no recollection of any of this."

"My parents had no idea what caused it, given that they knew no one named Sarah that I had interacted with, we had no TV or anything of the sort, I hadn't begun going to preschool yet, and didn't know how to read beyond a few simple words. Nothing they did seemed able to stop it either."

"The whole thing went on for a good long while (almost a year) until one day, it just sort of stopped."

"My mom apparently tried asking me once about it, and kid me said something to the effect of, 'Sarah doesn't want to see me cry anymore. So I won't.'"

"I didn't actually know any of this happened until some years back when I got to talking to my parents about how I always found the name Sarah to be beautiful."

- TinyOrbo

"I’m not a parent but I once told my mother, 'I used to be your dad,' when I was a toddler."

"And if that’s not weird enough, he died about nine months before I was born."

- tyedyeleather

"I only have two vivid memories of my preschool years. I remember thinking of specific people that weren't here at the time but I've no idea who ‘they’ are from my memories. I feel like there's so much more to the memory that's just out of reach."

"The first one, I would have been just learning to talk, so maybe 18-24 months? I was standing in our gravel driveway on a hot day with my mom."

"I asked her for some 'wa-wa,' and she told me to say 'waTer.' I asked for 'wa-wa' again, but she told me, 'If you want a drink, you must say ‘waTer.'"

"I distinctly remember the entire exchange and thinking, 'You know what I want, why are you doing this? They said this one was going to be easy.'"

"The next time would have been a year or two later. My older sister excitedly told me, 'Now you get to learn to read!' and again, I distinctly remember thinking, 'No! They promised this time would be easy, but this isn't easy, what is all this?'"

"I remember the feeling of disappointment from each of these moments. I love learning now, but I'm certain when I die, I'll be having a chat with someone about the meaning of ‘easy.’"

- urkillingme

"I don’t remember any of this, but when I was four, we traveled to Ireland to visit my dad's grandparents. We were walking through a shopping area when I started yelling about wanting to see the train and ran into a shop."

"My parents ran in after me as I was going nuts about some train. There was no train, it was a clothing store. The woman working there asked my parents what I was doing as I was just running around frantically."

"I finally yelled, 'The train!' I had found, in the back of the store, a framed newspaper clipping from the 1940s of the front window of this shop when it was a toy store and there was a big model train scene set up."

- fragnoli

Some of these stories are unexplainably spooky, but at the same time, they're fascinating.

Imagine what might be uncovered if some of these Redditors looked back through their family trees or old newspapers.

Old Wives' Tales People Still Believe For Some Reason

"Reddit user the_spring_goddess asked: 'What is an old wives tale that people still believe?'"

Close up of an owl tilting their head to side, looking bewildered
Photo by Josh Mills

The old wives' tales.

They are the stories of legend.

I think we all need a big DEEP Google dive though.

Where did they originate?

WHO ARE THE OLD WIVES!

You don't hear about them as much anymore.

It's like science and logic are suddenly a thing.

But they sure are a good way to keep your kids and their behavior in line.

Redditor the_spring_goddess wanted to discuss the tall tales we've all been fed through life, so they asked:

"What is an old wives tale that people still believe?"

"Wait an hour to swim after eating."

What a crock!

So many summer hours wasted.

I want revenge for that one.

Say Nothing

Giphy

"An undercover cop has to tell you he's a cop if you ask him."

LonelyMail5115

"Pretty much most advice when it comes to cops are old wives tales. I’m not even a cop but most of the advice you hear is pretty off."

I_AM_AN_A**HOLE_AMA

Say Something

"That you have to wait 24 hours to report someone missing."

Severe_Airport1426

"I really think this one is important and should be the top regardless. As it’s a piece of advice that needs to be relearned and the only way to do that is through awareness."

crappycurtains

"This used to be true. I think they changed it after some guy named Brandon went missing back in the '80s or '70s. You used to have to wait 24 hours if the missing person was an adult because they had 'a right to be missing' and then everyone realized that was stupid and stopped doing it."

AlbinoShavedGorilla

Body Temps

"That drinking ice cold water after eating oily foods will solidify the oil and permanently remain in your body. I informed my coworker that if your body temperature ever reached that point, you’d have bigger problems than weight gain."

chriseo22

"Oh, I have a cousin who 100% believed this. One of those guys who believed every early 2000s internet rumor and old wives tale. One night I chugged a big glass of ice water after dinner and he started freaking out and saying my guts were gonna harden."

"I sarcastically told him to drive me to the hospital if that happened. Obviously, nothing happened and the next morning I said something like 'Thanks for being on standby in case my guts filled with hardened oil.' He just walked off muttering under his breath."

apocalypticradish

Arms Down

"When I was pregnant, I was told by young and old alike that I should NOT raise my arms above my head or exert myself in such a manner because it could cause cord strangulation to my unborn sons and daughters."

Fatmouse84

10 Years Actually

Unimpressed Uh Huh GIF by Brooklyn Nine-Nine Giphy

"Chewing gum stays in your stomach for 7 years."

REDDIT

"I remember accidentally swallowing a piece of gum when I was a kid in like 1995 and just accepting my fate like welp, gonna have this in my stomach til high school I guess."

Gecko-911

I was so afraid to sallow my gum when I was young.

This tale is haunting.

High/Low

Hungry Debra Messing GIF by Will & Grace Giphy

"You can tell the sex of the baby by how you carry."

LeastFormal9366

"Pregnancy certainly wins awards for the most old wives tales. So much absolute BS was repeated to us by everyone we talked to."

IllIIIlIllIlIIlIllI

The Cursed

"If you’re a woman and you wear opal jewelry but opal is not your birthstone (October), you’ll never be able to have children, or will be widowed, or just generally have bad luck or something. You can counteract this by having a diamond in the same piece of jewelry as the opal, though."

"I have a nice opal ring that my parents gave me years ago, and I’ve had other women give me this 'advice' unprompted more than once when I’ve worn it. I have absolutely no idea where it started, but I’m pretty sure this little chunk of silicate rock has no concept of what month I was born in, let alone of how my reproductive organs work."

SmoreOfBabylon

Stay In

"Going outside with wet hair will make you get pneumonia. Or an earache. Or maybe arthritis. Depends on which old wife you listen to."

"Jokes on them - I haven't blow-dried my hair in decades and usually leave the house with wet hair in the morning. On winter mornings, the tips of my hair get frozen. No ear infections or pneumonia or arthritis yet."

worldbound0514

Dreams and Facts

"You never make anyone up in your dreams you've seen everyone in your dreams somewhere else before and never make anyone up entirely."

"How would you possibly prove that to be true? My partner adamantly believes this and tells me this 'fact' whenever I have a dream about someone I've never met before."

mattshonestreddit

"My late wife used to tell me that before she met me she would have dreams of standing at an alter on her wedding day but could never see the guy's face, no matter how hard she tried. After meeting me the face was filled in with mine. Don't know if it's true but one of those things I like thinking of every now and then when I miss her."

Darthdemented

Cracked

Getting Ready Episode 2 GIF by The Office Giphy

"Some people still believe cracking knuckles causes arthritis."

Choice-Grapefruit-44

"There's a doctor (Donald Unger) that cracked his knuckles a couple of times a day for 60 years, but only on one hand, just to prove it. Both hands remained exactly the same."

MacyTmcterry

I love my knuckles.

Do you have any tall tales to add to the list? Let us know in the comments below.

lottery tickets
Erik Mclean on Unsplash

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Far too many workers are unhappy with their job duties, workplace dynamics or company culture.

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Therapist talking during session
Photo by Mark Williams on Unsplash

Some people stand firmly stand behind their beliefs that everyone would benefit from therapy and that therapy is life-changing.

It's because of the totally life-changing truth bombs their therapist had dropped during their sessions.

Curious, Redditor anonymiss0018 asked:

"What is a little bombshell your therapist dropped in one of your sessions that completely changed your outlook?"

Communication Issues

"'If you don’t have these problems with any other person in your life, why do you think you’re the problematic person in this one?'"

- maggiebear

"I love this. I have a 'friend' who I always seem to run into misunderstandings with. Every time we had a conversation, it somehow turned into a debate even if it was me talking about my day. The conversations were never easy."

"I always evaluate myself first and take into consideration his critiques. He was very good at convincing me that I was contradicting myself or wasn't good at communicating my thoughts."

"I NEVER had this issue with ANYONE else in my life. I kept trying to figure out where the miscommunication was coming from. In the end, I just minimized contact and now I don't run into this issue."

- chobani_yo

"I read this quote somewhere once (and probably have it a bit wrong): 'It's a waste of time arguing with someone who is determined to misunderstand you.'"

- Reddit

Emotional Regulation

"'You can’t control your emotions, but you can control what you do with them.'"

"At the time, I was a young adult who had learned zero healthy emotional regulation skills (only suppression and shaming) growing up, so this blew my mind."

- lil_mermaid

Tough Relationships

"'It sounds to me like you are trying to convince yourself to stay with your girlfriend. I'm not so sure it should be so difficult.'"

"At the time he said this, I remember it was like he said, 'The earth is flat.' I thought he was crazy when he suggested relationships don't need to be difficult. But eventually, I started to realize I was trying to change myself to stay with this person rather than just being who I am."

"It took me three more months to finally break up with her but from that day on, I vowed to never again abandon myself just to be with someone I had convinced myself was better than me."

- metric88

High-Stress Situation

"I was at a high-stress time, and I asked her how people live like this."

"She replied, 'Oftentimes they have cardiac events.' She said it as an urging to care for myself as much as possible."

- KittenGr8r

The End of Alcohol

"I was struggling with my alcoholism, and we were discussing how I had been cutting back."

"She asked what I would consider success, with regard to my drinking."

"I said I wanted to get to a point where it wasn't interfering with my daily life. I wanted to just be able to have a glass of wine at holiday dinners or family gatherings."

"She simply asked me why. Why was it important for me to drink at those times?"

"It was as if she'd turned on a light. Alcohol had always been a key ingredient in every family function, for my entire life. When I smell bourbon, I think of my uncle. When I smell vermouth, I think of my dad. Alcohol ran through almost every happy childhood memory."

"But, even more than that, I was very afraid of the explanation I'd have to give when family and friends asked why I wasn't having a drink. I had tried to quit before but failed. What if I admitted my problem, only to fall off the wagon?"

"When she asked why I didn't want to completely quit, it was the first time I saw that last part of the big picture. I'd be willing to drink myself to death in order to avoid being scrutinized, or judged for possible future failures."

"That was the day I quit. I've been sober since May 6th, 2017. 2,407 days."

- sophies_wish

Acceptance vs. Enjoyment

"'Accepting something doesn’t mean you have to like it.'"

"That took away a lot of my inner conflicts about situations because I could accept a situation without expending energy internally fighting against the injustice of it."

- alibelloc

Emotionally Immature Parents

"You are not responsible for your parents' emotional wellbeing. They are independent adults who have been on this earth for many more years than you."

- SmokedPears

Not So Lazy

"'Why do you think you're lazy?' Then she listed off all the things she knows I'm doing for my family, my job, and my life."

"It kind of blew my mind when I struggled to come up with an example."

"She also described family dysfunction as water. Some families are messed up in a way that everyone can see the huge waves across the surface. Others are better at hiding it, but there's still a riptide that you can't see unless you're also in the water."

"It made me realize that trying to keep the surface from ever rippling doesn't erase what is happening underneath."

- flybyknight665

The Harm in People-Pleasing

"'Why do you make people more comfortable when you are uncomfortable?' when talking about people pleasing and fawning."

- ERsandwich

Agree to Disagree

"'Stop trying to get everyone to agree. When you need everyone to agree, the least agreeable person has all the power.'"

This really changed my outlook on planning family events."

- freef

Grieve and Start Anew

"For context, I had a major TBI (traumatic brain injury), seizures, strokes, and all around not a fun brain time when I was 28."

"They said, 'You have to grieve the loss of yourself.'"

"Most people wanted me to go back to how I was. The f**ked up truth is that part of my brain is dead. The person everyone (including myself) knew died. I needed to grieve the loss of myself."

- squeaktoy_la

Multifaceted Identity

"They told me that my job and career is just a way to make money; it's not my life or identity. That took a lot of pressure off me."

- unfairpegasus

Breaking the Cycle

"They validated me."

"'You always talk about not wanting to do to your daughters what your mom did to you. You worry about it so much in every interaction you have ever had with them."

"But your children are 19 and 21 now. They are happy and healthy and they trust you because you’ve never abused them in any way. So I just want to validate for you that you really have broken that cycle of violence."

"You did that. And you should be proud of it. I’m proud of you for it.'"

- puppsmcgee74

The Grieving Process

"I was constantly bringing up how I felt like a completely different person after my mom died... like there was a marked difference between before and after her death."

"But once, she was asking about my hobbies, I got really into describing all the things I loved to do or at least used to do before I got into a deep depression."

"She was like, 'Wow, you seem very passionate.'"

"And I just sat there like, 'Well, I mean, I can't change what I like to do, they're still fun to do.'"

"And it's like she knew when to take a step back, because it was like, wow, I may be super depressed about my mom passing, but I'm still me. I'm still my passions and those don't go away."

"I don't know, maybe it only makes sense to be, but it really started getting me back on track."

- Hannibal680

Sharing the Load

"I've never really had friends. I've had colleagues and classmates and housemates and people who have hung out with me, but I never really felt close to any of them."

"And I did that thing you see on here sometimes; I stopped reaching out to see if I would be reached out to, and I wasn't, which I took as confirmation that they didn't really want me around, or at the very least, that they wouldn't mind my absence."

"I was talking to my therapist about people I'd been close to in college, and she told me to pick one and talk about him. So I did. After I shared some basic stuff like his name and his major etc., and a couple of anecdotes, she asked me what else I knew about him."

"And I couldn't answer. It wasn't really a broadly applicable bombshell, but she said, 'What else?' and I started crying because I realized that for as simple as the question was, my inability to answer spoke volumes."

"I've never had good friends because I've never been a good friend. I'm withdrawn and reserved and I always made others do the work to drag me out, without ever extending my own friendship in a meaningful way in return. If I wanted to have meaningful relationships with other people, I would have to build them."

"I'm still working on this, but I'm trying to make more offers and extend more friendliness to others in my daily life."

- Backupusername

The discoveries in this thread were incredibly touching and profound; it's no wonder these were lasting concepts for these Redditors.

It's important to keep ourselves open to inspiration and insights from others, as we have no idea how their experiences could help us, or how we could help them.

Aerial view of a church in a small town
Sander Weeteling/Unsplash

There's something comforting about living in a small town.

It's characterized by close communities where neighbors know each other by name and there is an abundance of kindness extended to others.

Gift-giving is a commonality, as is the sharing of recipes, and people going out of their way to help each other in a time of need.

The pace of living in small towns is also a striking contradiction to city life, where crowds of people go about their busy lives without much interaction.

Curious to hear more examples of what small town living is like, Redditor official_biz asked:

"What's the most 'small town' thing you've witnessed?"

These are positive examples of a tight-knit community.

Live Updates

"We have a village Facebook page. Every time the ice cream man drives into the village, the entire page goes ballistic. People send live updates of where the van is and which direction he's heading. The ice cream man has started accepting DMs so he knows which streets to go down."

– PyrrhuraMolinae

Brush With The Law

"I’m from a town of less than 2,000 people. When I worked at the grocery store there people would often drop off stuff for my family members because they didn’t want to drive all the way down to our house. I no longer live there but recently got a call from my daughter. She had been stopped for speeding and handed over her license and insurance which happens to be in my mother’s name. The officer goes 'Hey, you’re Donnie’s granddaughter! I ain’t gonna write you a ticket but I’m telling Donnie when I see him tomorrow cause we’re going fishing.' She replied 'I think I’d rather have the ticket.'”

- Reddit

Roadside Catchup

"The traffic on the 'main street' of my town is so sparse, two drivers going opposite directions can stop and talk to each other for a few minutes without causing any problem."

– anon

When things go wrong, people take notice without incident.

Bank Robbery

"A guy robbed a bank and everyone knew immediately who he was and the teller got mad at him."

– AlexRyang

"A local bank was robbed and one of the tellers told the police to bring her a yearbook from about ten years earlier and she would be able to point the robber out. He had been in the grade before hers in school."

– Strict_Condition_632

Wise Woman

"When I worked at the bank in town there was an older lady that had worked there through 5 mergers."

"She knew everyone, there was a young guy yelling at me one day. She walked out of the back and he immediately quieted. She went off about telling his grandmother that he was treating young women like sh*t. She also said that if he didn’t straighten up not one girl in town would ever marry him she would make sure of it."

– ilurvekittens

Intoxicated Local

"Town drunk was paralyzed and used a motorized wheelchair to get around. I was driving home one Saturday night and said town drunk was passed out in his wheelchair doing circles almost directly in the town square. Had to call his brother who came and picked him up on a rollback truck. Strapped him down and drove off into the cold dark night."

– DoodooExplosion

Grazing Over To The Bar

"In my former small town, there was an older guy who'd lost his license after getting a few DUIs. Every day, he would ride his John Deere lawnmower to the corner bar around 3PM and sit around watching TV and sipping his beer well into the night. Then he'd head the couple miles back home on his mower. He even had a little canvass shell he put on when it rained or got too cold."

– brown_pleated_slacks

It's not surprising how small town people behave differently than those who are from metropolitan areas.

Welcoming Committee

"I lived in a small town. When I moved there, people would ask, 'Whose house did you buy?'"

–MoonieNine

"Move to a small town. 30 years later, you are still the new guy."

– impiousdrifter

"I lived in a small town for most of my childhood but I wasn't "from there" because my grandparents weren't from there."

– raisinghellwithtrees

"Worked with an older guy, relative of the owner of the business, he was 73. I asked him if he was a local, he said 'no his parents moved here when he was two.'"

– realneil

A Busy Day

"Lived in a town of about 5,000: A woman walked into the DMV on a Friday, saw that there were 3 people ahead of her and left to come back another time when they weren't so busy."

– KenmoreToast

Who Let The Dogs Out?

"My dogs got out while i was working. the police called my niece's elementary school (she was a 5th grader) to get her to round them up and take them back home."

– mediocrelpn

"There was a small kennel behind the police station for runaways. They called us saying they had our dog, and moments later our dog showed up home. He broke out of jail."

– Worried_Place_917

While life in a small town sounds appealing, I don't know if I can ever live in one.

I'm so used to life in big cities, I think it would be quite unnerving to adjust in a neighborhood where everyone literally knows your business.

I would be paranoid.

And I'm sure the same could be said of life in the big city.

Would you consider making the switch to life in a different setting?