Arthur Flowerdew

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Arthur Flowerdew was an Englishman who lived in the 20th century and whose unique recollections strongly suggest for some the existence of reincarnation.

[edit] Life

From his adolescence, Flowerdew experienced strange visions of a stone city carved into a cliff, which were particularly strong when he played in the multicolored pebbles on a beach near his home. The clarity of his visions grew as he did.

One day, as an adult, he watched a BBC documentary on the ancient city of Petra in Jordan and immediately recognized it as the city of his visions. He became convinced that he had lived a previous life in Petra and contacted the BBC. They filmed and broadcast a documentary on Flowerdew, which the Jordanian government saw and was intrigued by. They offered to fly Flowerdew out to Petra to examine its remains and perhaps offer insights on analyzing the city.

Before he left for Jordan, Flowerdew was interviewed by an archaeological expert excavating Petra to test his knowledge of the ancient city. The Brit described the city with astounding accuracy and pointed out 3 landmarks prominent in his memory. He went directly to these landmarks upon his arrival at Petra (including his purported place of murder), explained a very plausible use for a device whose explanation had baffled archaeologists, and even correctly identified the locations of many landmarks that had yet to be excavated. Many experts said that Flowerdew had more knowledge of the city than many professionals studying it, and they did not believe him to be an incredible con man (a feat which, in this case, they felt would have taken extraordinary skill). Flowerdew himself maintained that he had never seen or heard of Petra before the BBC documentary and had never read any literature on the city.^[1]

Many spiritual leaders, such as Tibetan Buddhist lama Sogyal Rinpoche, believe that Flowerdew's experience offers highly suggestive evidence for the existence of rebirth or reincarnation.