Beyond the Veil Magazine

The Pollock Twins

Issue #34: October 1981

On May 5, 1957, in the town of Hexham, Northumberland, sisters Joanna (11) and Jacqueline Pollock (6) were killed when a car struck them as they walked to church. The driver, a local woman who had taken an overdose of barbiturates before getting behind the wheel, claimed two young lives in an instant.

John Pollock, the girls’ father, was devastated. But he was also a believer in reincarnation. He became convinced that his daughters would return to him.

The Twins

In October 1958, Florence Pollock gave birth to twin girls: Gillian and Jennifer. Doctors had predicted a single child, but twins arrived.

From the beginning, John Pollock noted similarities between the twins and their dead sisters. Jennifer was born with two birthmarks: a thin white line on her forehead and a distinctive brown mark on her hip. These matched exactly a scar Jacqueline had received when she fell from a bicycle and a birthmark she had carried from birth.

Gillian had no such marks, just as Joanna had been unmarked.

The correspondence seemed too precise for coincidence.

The Memories

The family moved away from Hexham when the twins were four months old. They had no contact with the town or its memories of the accident.

Yet when the twins began to speak, they said things that troubled their parents.

At the age of two, the girls began asking for toys that had belonged to their dead sisters, toys they had never seen and could not have known about. They named the toys correctly, describing details that were accurate.

When shown a box of their sisters’ belongings, the twins sorted the items perfectly. Gillian claimed Joanna’s possessions. Jennifer claimed Jacqueline’s. Neither girl hesitated or made a mistake.

The Return to Hexham

When the twins were four years old, the family visited Hexham. The girls had no memory of ever being there.

But they recognised the town.

Walking down streets they had never seen, the twins pointed out landmarks. “The school is around that corner,” Gillian said, though the school was not visible. She was correct. “The swing is over there,” Jennifer added, indicating a park they could not see. The swing was there.

At the spot where the accident had occurred, both girls became agitated. They clutched each other and refused to continue walking.

Behavioural Patterns

Beyond memories, the twins displayed behavioural patterns that echoed their dead sisters.

Gillian was protective of Jennifer, just as Joanna had protected Jacqueline. Jennifer was the more playful, exactly as Jacqueline had been.

Jennifer held pencils and crayons in the unusual grip that Jacqueline had used, despite her parents’ attempts to correct her. Gillian walked with the same distinctive gait as Joanna.

Most disturbing was the twins’ reaction to cars. On several occasions, they panicked when vehicles approached, clutching each other and screaming about being struck. They described being hit by a car in terms that matched the 1957 accident.

The Fading

By the age of five, the memories began to fade. The twins no longer spoke of their “other lives.” The phobia of cars diminished. They became normal children with no apparent connection to their dead sisters.

Dr. Ian Stevenson, the foremost academic researcher of reincarnation claims, investigated the Pollock case extensively. He found it among the most compelling he had ever examined.

The birthmarks, the memories, the accurate recognition of places never visited, the behavioural patterns all pointed toward something extraordinary. If this was not reincarnation, Stevenson argued, what was it?

Sceptical Responses

Critics have proposed alternative explanations.

Parental Influence: John Pollock believed in reincarnation before the twins were born. His expectations might have shaped the girls’ behaviour, consciously or unconsciously.

Confirmation Bias: The family may have remembered hits and forgotten misses, creating a pattern from random events.

Coincidence: Birthmarks are common. Twins often resemble older siblings. The correspondences might be less remarkable than they appear.

Fraud: Though no evidence of deliberate deception has emerged, the possibility cannot be entirely excluded.

These explanations are possible but strain to account for all the evidence. The Pollock case resists easy dismissal.

Implications

If the Pollock twins did carry the souls of their dead sisters, the implications are profound.

Reincarnation would mean that consciousness survives death, that identity persists beyond the body. It would suggest that family bonds transcend individual lifetimes, that love can call souls back to those they left behind.

John Pollock believed his prayers were answered. He had asked for his daughters to return, and they did.

Or perhaps the human mind is capable of stranger things than we understand. Perhaps the twins absorbed memories from their grieving parents, reconstructed identities from photographs and stories, became what the family needed them to be.

The truth remains uncertain. The Pollock twins, now adults, do not speak publicly about their experiences. The birthmarks remain. The memories have faded.

But the case endures, one of the most carefully documented examples of apparent reincarnation in Western history.

Readers with experiences of apparent reincarnation or past-life memories are invited to contact our research department.