About past lives ... Uniontown WW II flyer's memories in Louisiana boy (weirdness alert!)

DAILY COURIER ^ | Thursday, April 15, 2004 | Judy Kroeger

[musical_airman]

James Leininger, 6, of Lafayette, La., loves airplanes. "He has always been extraordinarily interested in airplanes," said James' mother, Andrea Leininger, by telephone from their Louisiana home.

Lots of kids love airplanes, but James' story is unique. He has memories of being a World War II fighter pilot from Uniontown -- Lt. James McCready Huston, shot down near Iwo Jima in 1945.

At 18 months old, his father, Bruce Leininger, took James to the Kavanaugh Flight Museum in Dallas, Texas, where the toddler remained transfixed by World War II aircraft.

few months later, the nightmares began.

"They were terrible, terrible," Andrea said. "He would scream, 'airplane crash, on fire, little man can't get out!' He'd be kicking, with his hands pointing up at the ceiling."

When James was 2 1/2 years old, he and Andrea were shopping and he wanted a toy airplane. "I said to him, 'Look, it has a bomb on the bottom' and he told me, 'That's not a bomb, it's a drop tank.' I had no idea what a drop tank was."

Neither of the Leiningers have ever served in the military, nor are they involved with aviation. Until James began showing an interest in planes, they had nothing aviation-related in their home.

Andrea's mother sent her a book by Pennsylvania author Carol Bowman, called "Children's Past Lives." The Leiningers started using Bowman's techniques of affirming James' nightmares and assuring him that the experiences happened to a different person, not the person he was now. "It helped. The nightmares stopped almost immediately," Andrea said.

However, the memories did not stop, but they do not come up all the time.

[musical_airman]

kinda creepy, no?

[EggsAckley]

I saw this story on television and it sure is creepy, a LOT creepy. Unless, of course, the whole thing is a set-up. I happen to believe it's NOT fake.

[cajungirl]

Damn! I do believe my grandson is a reincarnation of Attila the Hun.

[Lockbar]

[Ciexyz]

"Outer Limits" bump.

[Gringo1]

I sent this to my Mother, she was born and raised in Uniontown.

[LibWhacker]

I'm skeptical and believe his parents filled him with this baloney.

[rageaholic]

yeah creepy because some parents will do anything to get their kids in the newspaper. Nuthin' to see here but some people who want to be on Oprah.

[musical_airman]

You never know.....and that's why I posted it! It's not like he's running around claiming to be Mohammed or something......

[jocon307]

"I do believe my grandson is a reincarnation of Attila the Hun."

LOL, I guess he's an old soul then.

[MizSterious]

That's nothing. My three cats are obviously reincarnations of Mafiosi. One was obviously an enforcer in a pervious life; another seems to have been a numbers runner; and the third was the Don at some point in his reincarnation cycles.

(Although, sometimes I wonder if they're members of Al Qata...)

[cyborg]

Art Bell BUMP *LOL*

[cyborg]

That's pretty old... this explains Hillary. She's the walk-in body for the spirit of Eva Braun.

[mikegi]

I'm skeptical and believe his parents filled him with this baloney.

I'll be less cynical and believe that this "reincarnation" is actually a combination of two things: the parents not realizing how much their son remembers from movies on TV and the flight museum and what they tell him, and selective memory on their part of what he says.

[MizSterious]

Are you sure about that? I could have sworn she was the embodiment of the Evil One. Have you ever seen her wear open-toed shoes? Well, there ya go. Gotta cover those cloven hooves somehow.

[cyborg]

*LOL* You may be right... Satan does take on different forms. He screwed up with this one. The point is to be LOOK nice, not like himself.

[Jaxter]

"I'm skeptical and believe his parents filled him with this baloney jumbo."

It's a 'Burgh thing.

[LibWhacker]

It's not like he's running around claiming to be Mohammed or something......

But I did notice while reading the article that Huston was one of the last pilots killed in WWII, if not the very last. I think the boy probably picked up on that when he visited the museum, and/or while listening to his parents talk about Huston's bad luck.

[Graybeard58]

My grandson - same age as this kid is the reincarnation of the Red Baron. I think these two kids ought to go on the Springer show.

[flying Elvis]

My weenie dog was a viking in a past life; pillaging the dirty clothes, raiding the trashcan, and molesting his stuffed toys.