5-Year-Old Boy Claims To Have Been A Black Woman Named Pam In A Former Life – His Family Believes Him
All of the similarities seemed to be more than mere coincidence.
Lauren Elisabeth, Marian Fil / Shutterstock They say that children have a special connection with those who have passed that many of us don’t as adults. If you search TikTok, you will find no shortage of little ones seemingly communicating with people who have died and forming special relationships with them.
A five-year-old boy claims that he was a Black woman named Pam in a past life.
One mother named Erika was initially amused when her five-year-old white son, Luke, claimed to have been reincarnated after living life as a Black woman named “Pam.”
But as time went on, it became increasingly obvious that there were some undeniable connections between her little boy and the woman who had died under very traumatic circumstances.
Luke's family often referred to him as a “little old man” because he seemed to have been here before. The boy was worried about safety around the family home, though he lived in the suburbs. “[He was] very cautious about crossing the street and anything that may be hot or dangerous,” Ericka said in a television interview.
Then Luke began to name everything “Pam” and make comments that seemed to reference him being a girl before. He would recall things he had owned in the past that were never his.
His mother really wanted to know where in the world he had come up with these strange memories, but the answer she received blew her mind.
The boy said that he used to be Pam before he died, went to heaven, and was ‘pushed’ back down.
Luke explicitly shared his experience and vivid recollection of being a young Black woman before he passed away. He recalled making it to heaven then being sent back down to become Erika’s beloved son. The assertion confused his worried mom, and she reached out to her own mother to get guidance on the situation.
Erika’s mother, Lisa, recalled a book she’d read decades before by Dr. Ian Stevenson, a researcher of past-life claims. After hearing about what her grandson was sharing, Lisa was convinced that he had really been the mysterious woman named Pam in a former life and had been revived to become her grandson.
The family was stunned when Luke divulged that Pam had died in a fire. He even made motions as if he were jumping off of a building, raising Erika and Lisa’s concerns about what little Luke had seen.
He claimed that the building Pam had leapt from was tall, in a big city, and that she “walked a lot” and traveled on the train. Luke was sure that the city Pam had lived in was Chicago.
Erika began to research and was shocked to find a story about the Paxton Hotel, a predominantly Black residential building in a Chicago neighborhood. Luke confirmed that the woman he had been in a prior life was Black, making his story more feasible. That revelation prompted the family to continue to dig into Pam’s life.
In March 1993, a woman named Pamela Robinson was killed in a fire that engulfed her building.
Nineteen people perished in the fire, including a woman in her 30s named Pamela Robinson. She had jumped from a window to escape the blazing fire and died as a result.
Erika and her husband decided to be a part of the docuseries, "Ghost Inside My Child," on the Lifetime Movie Network. During the taping of the show, Luke was shown a photo lineup of several Black women, including Pam. His mother and father wanted to see if she was the person he had been repeatedly referencing.
As the crew filmed, Luke said, “I know someone I can recognize,” before confidently pointing at Robinson’s picture. He even said he remembered when the photo had been taken.
His grandmother, Lisa, couldn’t wrap her head around it. They empathized with the woman’s family back in Chicago, who declined to comment on the story.
But Erika said she had spoken with a family member and that call resulted in even more similarities between Luke and Pam, including a love for Stevie Wonder’s music and playing the keyboard.
Luke’s fascination with Pam eventually went away.
The family had become invested in the memory of Pam, but Luke had apparently finished talking about the matter. After he told her story, Luke simply moved on.
According to his mom, “He’d said all he had to say about it.” Still, the family continues to share the story because they believe it is a beautiful tale of unification and love. Pam is long gone but will never be forgotten by her own family or by Luke’s.
Luke's story, real or just a figment of the boy’s imagination, shows that love and connection transcend the boundaries of race and gender, and that a person who has left the physical world may still be here spiritually and can communicate in unexpected ways.
NyRee Ausler is a writer from Seattle, Washington, and author of seven books. She covers lifestyle and entertainment and news, as well as navigating the workplace and social issues.