Florence's daughters were playing with old dolls when something they said made her freeze.

It was May 1957, in the small town of Hexham, near Newcastle Upon Tyne in England. 11-year-old Joanna Pollock and her younger sister, six-year-old Jacqueline, were on their way to church with their friend Anthony when they were struck by an erratic driver.

Almost instantly, the two young sisters were killed. Anthony, just nine years old, died while travelling to the hospital.

It was later discovered that the driver, a local woman who was under the influence of a number of drugs, had intentionally hit the three children after being forcibly separated from her own kids. The case later made headlines throughout Britain, with the woman eventually taken to a psychiatric hospital.

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Following the death of Joanna and Jacqueline, the girls' parents, John and Florence Pollock, were devastated.

But when Florence later fell pregnant, John became convinced that the two girls would be reborn into the family as twins.

The couple, who were devout Catholics, often argued over the premise of reincarnation, with Florence strongly rejecting John's beliefs. It was later reported that the couple's entire marriage was even threatened as a result, with Florence almost filing for divorce.

There was also no history of twins in either parent's family. Florence's doctor had predicted a single birth, hearing only one heartbeat throughout the pregnancy, meaning the likelihood of twins was low.

Against all odds, however, Florence gave birth to twin girls on October 4, 1958. The twins were named Gillian and Jennifer.

While the twins were identical, one had birthmarks, which is considered highly unusual.

Jennifer had a small birthmark on her left hip, which mimicked a birthmark that Jacqueline had. She also had a birthmark on her forehead, which was similar to a small scar that Jacqueline had in the same spot.

When the twins were three months old, the family relocated to Whitley Bay, which is around 50 kilometres east of Hexham.

As the girls got older, however, it became clear that Gillian and Jennifer seemed to remember Hexham in detail, despite not growing up in the small town.

The family returned to Hexham when the girls were four.

The twins pointed out and named landmarks they hadn't seen before, such as the school Joanna and Jacqueline had attended, the Hexham Abbey, and a playground their deceased sisters loved. The pair even seemed to know the way to the playground without having ever seen it.

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Likewise, the twins were also able to identify their late sisters' toys by name.

Although Florence had stored the late girls' toys out of sight, the twins started to ask for certain toys back. In fact, it was almost as if the twins remembered the toys as their own.

They were able to name their toys by their names previously given to them, and they even divided the toys up exactly as their sisters did. They also referred to the fact that the toys came from Santa Claus, which was true.

Florence and John also noticed that the twins had very similar personalities when compared to their older sisters.

Just as Joanna was very protective of her younger sister Jacqueline, Gillian seemed more mature than her twin sister. Gillian, who was born 10 minutes before Jennifer, often looked after her twin, much like Joanna looked after Jacqueline.

The parents also noted that the twins even enjoyed the same games and foods as their siblings.

The Pollock twins, Gillian and Jennifer. Their father believes they are reincarnations of his two daughters, Joanne and Jacqueline who were killed in 1957. Image: Getty.

For the first few years of the twins' lives, Florence continued to reject John's suggestions that the pair had been "reincarnated".

After finding the twins talking about the car accident, however, she changed her mind.

On one occasion, Florence overheard the girls playing a game where they recreated their sisters' accident. Gillian was cradling Jennifer's head, telling her: "The blood's coming out of your eyes. That's where the car hit you."

On another occasion, Gillian pointed to Jennifer's birthmark on her forehead and told her, "That is the mark Jennifer got when she fell on a bucket."

Interestingly, the twin girls also appeared to have a fear of cars. In their younger years, the twins experienced recurring nightmares about being hit by a car.

Gillian and Jennifer also regularly became frightened and anxious while near cars. When a car started its engine in an alleyway, John recalled the girls grabbing on to each other in terror, shouting: "The car is coming to get us!"

Shortly after the twins turned five, the memories of their 'past lives' slowly began to fade away as they went on to live normal lives.

While the twins lost their memories of the accident entirely, Gillian later recalled experiencing visions of herself playing in a sandpit at a home in Whickham.

The home that Gillian was able to perfectly describe — including the house and garden — matched the one Joanna lived in with her parents when she was four.

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Is the Pollock twins story true?

The case attracted much academic attention, including from Dr Ian Stevenson, a psychiatrist and researcher at the University of Virginia School of Medicine, who was interested in reincarnation.

Dr Stevenson interviewed the twins and their parents in 1964 and included them in his book Children Who Remember Previous Lives. In his report, he acknowledged the twins displayed some behaviours that were difficult to explain.

Despite this, the case of the Pollock twins remains controversial. While it's long been cited as "proof" of reincarnation, many people have argued that the twins' memories may have been influenced by their four older brothers.

Others have suggested the story was a hoax and that the parents were involved. However, John and Florence claim they didn't speak to the twins about their deceased sisters until they were older and maintain their memories were genuine.

Gillian Pollock died in 2002 at 44.

A new Apple podcast investigating the story, Extrasensory, spoke with John's granddaughters, Liza and Joanna.

They described John as a violent, controlling man and said he manipulated Florence.

Joanna claimed Florence told them the reincarnation story was a lie. She described him as a "truthfully narcissistic, gaslighting little man" and a "pathological narcissistic liar" who abused her.

"He roped everybody into it," she said. The granddaughters said the story was a family secret future generations weren't told about.

Extrasensory tracked down Jennifer, who gave her first interview in 40 years and gave a very different story.

She said John was a loving father who doted on the twins and was certain he never lied to the twins about the reincarnation, but admitted he wasn't a perfect man.

"That's not right. He would never make lies up. I think what he said was the truth as he believed it," she told Extrasensory. "He was a very big spiritualist."

Jennifer said her parents never pushed the twins to say anything about their deceased sisters as kids.

"We didn't know anything about the girls until we were well into our teenage years," she said.

Asked if she believes she was reincarnated, she said: "[I] 80 per cent think it's reincarnation. There's got to be something there."

"It would be nice to solve the mystery once and for all, but I think it's always going to be a mystery. I think it's up to people to make their minds up," her husband Steve said.

It seems we'll never know the real truth.

Feature Image: Reddit.

This article was published in November 2023 and has been updated.

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