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The original was posted on /r/highstrangeness by /u/Traditional-Ad-1605 on 2025-11-08 20:54:59+00:00.

Have you ever had a physical and emotional reaction to a person, place, or thing that you recalled from a prior life?

I (M-67) have always been a history buff. One summer when I was in my 40’s my wife and I planned the trip of a lifetime camping at Shenandoah National park and visiting Civil War battlefields throughout Virginia.

As we started our visits to battlefields I started getting the feeling of a deep pressure on my body, it was as if I was under a great deal of weight and experienced a hard time breathing; this only happened when we visited the battlefields as I was fine hiking throughout the park.

One day, totally unplanned, we stumbled onto a small battlefield (in the middle of nowhere) in which the battle had been fought near the end of the war when the confederates lacked adult men and had to recruit teenagers and old men. I later learned that This particular battle was fought by young boys from a nearby military school who faced seasoned union soldiers and were decimated during the battle.

We entered the parking lot, I exited the car, and I was immediately hit by a tremendous wave of sadness and emotion; so much so that I collapsed and started crying uncontrollably. My wife thought I was having a heart attack.she asked another visitor to help get me into the car then got me out of there looking for a hospital. As we drove away I was still crying but slowly regained control of myself until we stopped and I was able to resume driving.

I can’t say for sure what happened but at that moment in the parking lot I felt that I had been there and that I died on that battlefield. Just writing this out brings tears to my eyes even so many years after it happened.