Possession Amnesia

Abstract

Abstract The occurrence of possession amnesia—memory loss subsequent to the cessation of possession by a spirit—is chronicled in Akkadian, Greek, early Jewish, and Christian literature. Anthropologists have collected data that witness to the same phenomenon occurring in indigenous cultures. Anthropologists have argued that patterns of experience with certain inexplicable phenomena, such as with spirits, may provide clues for evidence of their existence. This article discusses patterns of possession amnesia that occur cross-culturally and transhistorically as possible evidential support for the existence of spirits.