The headline of a recent issue of a national weekly newspaper states that there have been hundreds of cases of reincarnation in the United States.  These cases, the headline proclaims, provide convincing evidence that there is "life after death."  Turning to the inside pages, one finds accounts of patients who have been cured of various complaints by being hypnotized and then "regressed" to a "previous life."  The following cases are typical of those presented.
    A 50-year-old woman claimed to have suffered from severe headaches, several a week for more than 35 years.  She claimed to have seen ten different physicians who had prescribed various pain killers and other drugs -- none of which worked.  Then, in a single 2-hour session under hypnosis, she "discovered" the true cause of herheadaches.  In an earlier life, she had been a young man in nineteenth-century New England.  One day, while on the way to visit his fiancee, the yound man fell into a gully, hit his head on a rock, and was killed.  A year and a half after her session with the therapist, the woman claimed she had since suffered only one or two headaches.  
    A 25-year-old real estate dealer complained of several serious allergies, including a very strong reaction to corn.  Under hypnosis, he was "regressed" back to an earlier life as a commander in a Mongolian army.  In one campaign, the commander refused to order his men to kill innocent women and children.  Because of this disobedience, his superiors had him tortured by being force-fed corn and water, which caused him to bloat up so much that he died.  After "learning" of his earlier life, the realtor claimed to be rid of most of his allergies and to be able to eat corn with no ill effects.
    Several of the psychologists engaged in this sort of therapy are quoted as being convinced that their work provides scientific evidence that reincarnation does occur and that there is indeed "life after death."