Mysterious Cases of Organ Transplants and the Paranormal | Mysterious Universe
What is the soul, and if it exists, where does it lie? Is it some intangible force that leaves us upon death, just inhabiting this meat puppet of a body until it has expired, or does part of it somehow remain to pervade our physical form? One very strange area of the paranormal seems to suggest the latter, and involves the odd phenomenon of transplanted organs somehow imbuing the recipients with fragments or pieces of the deceased donor. In these cases it seems as if something has not only survived death, but has managed to inhabit these organs to be passed on into a new person, influencing their lives and even giving them new memories, and it has become quite a medical mystery that makes us question our own nature and which does not seem to have a satisfactory answer in sight.
One of the most common ways these odd anomalies take form is with the organ recipient developing strange desires, cravings, and interests that they had never had before. In one such case in 2008, 47-year-old Claire Sylvia became the first woman in New England to receive a full heart and lung transplant, and in the wake of the operation she found that her tastes had changed dramatically. She began to have cravings for beer, which she had never drunk, as well as for a whole slew of foods that she had never eaten or cared for before the operation, in particular an overwhelming desire to eat McDonald’s Chicken McNuggets, which she had never liked before. Oddly, she would have a series of strange dreams through all of this, in which she had a vision of a young, thin man she called “Tim L.” The dreams were incredibly, vividly realistic, to the point that she began to suspect that it was perhaps the actual image of the organ donor she was seeing. According to her, she would find out that the donor for her new organs was an 18-year-old man named Timothy Lamirande, who had died in a motorcycle accident on the way home from a McDonalds and was found with a bag of chicken McNuggets in his pocket.
Indeed, food seems to be a common theme with many of these cases, the tastes of the donor somehow transferred into the recipient of the organs, and the list of these particular cases goes on and on. There is the 26-year-old from Battersea, London, who received a new kidney and also a love of beer, something he had loathed before, heart transplant patient David Waters developed an irrational craving for a snack called Burger Rings, which his donor had apparently loved, and there is the doctor who hated avocados but loved them after receiving an organ donation. Besides food, it is also common for people who have had organ transplants to develop new interests, affinities, and hobbies, even new skills. One such person is Sharron Coghlan, 45, who found that not only her tastes in food, but also her interests in music, books, and movies drastically changed after an operation to receive a new kidney, something she blames on cellular memory coming over from her donor. She says:
I didn’t just get my donor’s kidney I also got his taste for food and his love of reading and other habits. I’m living proof that when you donate organs, part of your personality also lives on in the other person. As I recovered, I realised I’d inherited some of my donor’s likes and dislikes. The chick flicks and books I’d loved, I suddenly couldn’t stand. Instead, I began reading war books and historical biographies. My interests seemed more manly. Prior to surgery I loved seafood. Now the thought of it made me ill. Instead I craved brown bread, mustard and cheese. It was like my tastebuds had been swapped over as well. I went online and discovered cellular memory. Some doctors think it happens, others don’t. I am proof it does.
This has happened across a range of cases. One is a 47-year-old white foundry worker, who received the heart of a 17-year-old male who had been very fond of classical music and was a violin player before being killed in a car accident. The organ recipient claims that after his operation he has developed a keen interest in classical music, a genre he had never liked before. There is also heart transplant patient Sean Bird, who had never cooked before, but found himself loving cooking and doing it for his family after the surgery, even finding himself to be uncommonly good at it. Business man Bill Wohl, 64, had always been overweight and out of shape, and in no way interested in sports or the outdoors until he underwent an operation to get a new heart. The donor had been an avid athlete, and this seems to have crossed over to Wohl, as he found himself suddenly fitness obsessed, getting himself in astounding shape and going on to compete in various competitions, becoming a medal-winning swimmer, cyclist and runner. Spookier still is that the donor had liked the singer Sade, who Wohl had become inexplicably obsessed with after his transplant despite having never really cared for her before.
(cont. next post)
What is the soul, and if it exists, where does it lie? Is it some intangible force that leaves us upon death, just inhabiting this meat puppet of a body until it has expired, or does part of it somehow remain to pervade our physical form? One very strange area of the paranormal seems to suggest the latter, and involves the odd phenomenon of transplanted organs somehow imbuing the recipients with fragments or pieces of the deceased donor. In these cases it seems as if something has not only survived death, but has managed to inhabit these organs to be passed on into a new person, influencing their lives and even giving them new memories, and it has become quite a medical mystery that makes us question our own nature and which does not seem to have a satisfactory answer in sight.
One of the most common ways these odd anomalies take form is with the organ recipient developing strange desires, cravings, and interests that they had never had before. In one such case in 2008, 47-year-old Claire Sylvia became the first woman in New England to receive a full heart and lung transplant, and in the wake of the operation she found that her tastes had changed dramatically. She began to have cravings for beer, which she had never drunk, as well as for a whole slew of foods that she had never eaten or cared for before the operation, in particular an overwhelming desire to eat McDonald’s Chicken McNuggets, which she had never liked before. Oddly, she would have a series of strange dreams through all of this, in which she had a vision of a young, thin man she called “Tim L.” The dreams were incredibly, vividly realistic, to the point that she began to suspect that it was perhaps the actual image of the organ donor she was seeing. According to her, she would find out that the donor for her new organs was an 18-year-old man named Timothy Lamirande, who had died in a motorcycle accident on the way home from a McDonalds and was found with a bag of chicken McNuggets in his pocket.
Indeed, food seems to be a common theme with many of these cases, the tastes of the donor somehow transferred into the recipient of the organs, and the list of these particular cases goes on and on. There is the 26-year-old from Battersea, London, who received a new kidney and also a love of beer, something he had loathed before, heart transplant patient David Waters developed an irrational craving for a snack called Burger Rings, which his donor had apparently loved, and there is the doctor who hated avocados but loved them after receiving an organ donation. Besides food, it is also common for people who have had organ transplants to develop new interests, affinities, and hobbies, even new skills. One such person is Sharron Coghlan, 45, who found that not only her tastes in food, but also her interests in music, books, and movies drastically changed after an operation to receive a new kidney, something she blames on cellular memory coming over from her donor. She says:
I didn’t just get my donor’s kidney I also got his taste for food and his love of reading and other habits. I’m living proof that when you donate organs, part of your personality also lives on in the other person. As I recovered, I realised I’d inherited some of my donor’s likes and dislikes. The chick flicks and books I’d loved, I suddenly couldn’t stand. Instead, I began reading war books and historical biographies. My interests seemed more manly. Prior to surgery I loved seafood. Now the thought of it made me ill. Instead I craved brown bread, mustard and cheese. It was like my tastebuds had been swapped over as well. I went online and discovered cellular memory. Some doctors think it happens, others don’t. I am proof it does.
This has happened across a range of cases. One is a 47-year-old white foundry worker, who received the heart of a 17-year-old male who had been very fond of classical music and was a violin player before being killed in a car accident. The organ recipient claims that after his operation he has developed a keen interest in classical music, a genre he had never liked before. There is also heart transplant patient Sean Bird, who had never cooked before, but found himself loving cooking and doing it for his family after the surgery, even finding himself to be uncommonly good at it. Business man Bill Wohl, 64, had always been overweight and out of shape, and in no way interested in sports or the outdoors until he underwent an operation to get a new heart. The donor had been an avid athlete, and this seems to have crossed over to Wohl, as he found himself suddenly fitness obsessed, getting himself in astounding shape and going on to compete in various competitions, becoming a medal-winning swimmer, cyclist and runner. Spookier still is that the donor had liked the singer Sade, who Wohl had become inexplicably obsessed with after his transplant despite having never really cared for her before.
(cont. next post)
