A Child's Incredible Past Life Memories: The Story of Atlas

When Atlas Aubrey from Indiana, USA, was just a year and a half old, he began experiencing intense night terrors. "His eyes were open, and he screamed as if in pain," explains his mother Erika in the new documentary series "Surviving Death." "It happened for years. I told his pediatrician, hoping for answers, but no one really knew why," she shares.

Then one night, when Atlas was five, he and his mom were driving home, and Atlas said to her, "I miss when my mom used to take me to the playground." A confused Erika asked if he meant her, but Atlas replied, "No, I mean my other mom with the beautiful hair."

Erika was sure Atlas was joking, but she asked about his other family and their names. Without hesitation, Atlas said his other mother's name was Washington, but he used to be called Jaylen Robinson, and according to him, "someone killed me" when he was just a small child.

Left: Jaylen Robinson, Right: Atlas

When they got home, Erika couldn't stop thinking about what her son said. "I tried to figure out where he got that name. Maybe it's someone from school? What is he talking about?" Erika said in the documentary. She looked up the name "Jaylen Robinson" online and was surprised to find it was the name of a real child who was murdered by his babysitter in 2005 in Brooklyn, New York – nine years before Atlas was born. According to the article she found, his mother's name was indeed Washington.

"I was in complete shock," said Erika. "The names and details were accurate, and I didn't know what to do with this information. I was worried people would think I'm crazy if I told them."

But Erika couldn't let go of the story so easily. She tried searching the web to see if this had happened to other children, and through her search, she reached Dr. Jim Tucker, a child psychiatrist at the University of Virginia School of Medicine. Tucker specializes in researching cases of children who claim to have memories of past lives.

Tucker has been studying this phenomenon for 20 years and approaches each case with "a sense of skepticism." He believes children are most likely to retain past-life memories as they are less influenced by prior knowledge.

When Dr. Tucker met with Atlas, he was able to identify five pictures from Jaylen’s life, including his parents' faces, their home, and several places the family visited. "The most impressive thing was how Atlas handled the photos," Dr. Tucker said. "Not only did he get five out of five right, but the way he chose the photos, he seemed so certain." As for concerns that Erika might have fabricated the story, Dr. Tucker says this is not the case. "She can't control his behavior, and he appeared completely natural. Again, he remembered places from Jaylen's life. She couldn't have created such behavior even if she tried to invent something."

In March 2005, Tammy Williams, a 40-year-old, was caring for the 19-month-old Jaylen Robinson at her home while his parents, Karen Washington and James Robinson, worked shifts and prepared to enroll him in a nearby daycare. According to "The New York Times," police were called to Williams' home in New York, where they found Jaylen unconscious and took him to the hospital. Shortly afterward, he was pronounced dead.

Autopsies later revealed that Jaylen was murdered by his babysitter. Atlas, now seven years old, still remembers details of his past life as "Jaylen."