Luke Ruehlman, aged two: I was a woman called Pam in a past life

© Screengrab/Fox 2

An internet search revealed a woman called Pam did die in a fire.

When Luke Ruehlman began talking about a woman named Pam, his mother Erica assumed it was just an imaginary friend.

She had no idea where her toddler son had picked up the name or why he was so obsessed with it.

The Ohio woman said she initially didn't think it was strange, other than the fact that the family didn't know any Pams.

But things became really strange when she quizzed him about where he had got the name from and why he liked it.

The then-two-year-old told his parents he used to be Pam, a girl with black hair, he said.

© Screengrab/Fox 2.

Chicago woman Pam Robinson died in a fire in Chicago in 1993.

"I said, 'what do you mean you were?' He was like, 'Well I used to be, but I died and I went up to heaven and I saw God and eventually God pushed me back down. When I woke up I was a baby and you named me Luke," Erica Ruehlman told Fox 2, St Louis.

She pressed him further, asking him how Pam died.

"He looked right at me and said, 'Yea it was fire.' And at that point he made like a motion like his hand he was jumping off a building," Ms Ruehlman said.

Luke went on to explain Pam had died in a tall building and travelled on the train in Chicago.

The curious mother was baffled, since the family had never visited the city, nor mentioned it to the youngster.

A quick internet search revealed a fire had killed 19 people in 1993 at the city's Paxton Hotel, including a woman in her 30s called Pam Robinson.

By now the family, including Luke's grandmother Lisa Trump, were convinced there was more to the story than just coincidence.

They later appeared on a show called and to test Luke, they spread out a series of photos and asked the now five-year-old to pick out Pam's picture. He did it on the first go.

"He goes, 'Well, I don't recognise anybody. But, I remember when this one was taken. He pointed to the correct one," his mother said.

The Ruehlmans, who say they haven't received any money from their story and are not religious, said while Luke no longer connects with Pam, the story is a positive one that transcends race and gender.

It may sound far-fetched to some, but children who say they live past lives are not uncommon, according to Jim Tucker, a medical director of the Child and Family Psychiatry Clinic, and Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences at the University of Virginia School of Medicine

Professor Tucker, who is renowned for his work with young children who recall their past lives, released a book in 2013 called , which reveals the extraordinary stories of children all over the world who believe they have been reincarnated.

Among them is five-year-old Ryan, who remembers life in Hollywood in the 20th century, and his death in a hospital bed in 1963..

Also featured in the book are a three-year-old golfing prodigy who believes he's the reincarnation of 1930s golf star Bobby Jones and a two-year-old boy whose father-son visit to a flight museum triggered memories of the battle of Iwo Jima.

Chomsky: We Are All – Fill in the Blank.

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