Man who remembers past life as WWI pilot visits ‘his own grave’
Steve Mulligan from Manchester is convinced he was a pilot shot down over France in 1917 in a ‘previous incarnation’
A MAN who remembers “plummeting to his death” when he was a World War One pilot has travelled to Llandudno to “visit his own headstone”.
Steve Mulligan, 61, from Manchester says a recent hypnosis session triggered memories of being a Flight Lieutenant and being shot down while flying over France in 1917.
Though he wasn’t born until 1961, Steve claims to remember his past-life in Llandudno as early as 1903 when he was Sydney Sutcliffe, son of Abraham “Arthur” Sutcliffe, an entertainer at Llandudno’s Pavilion Theatre.
Steve said: “Since my childhood I’ve always been drawn to Llandudno, even when I came here as a child I knew my way around and my mum used to be amazed at how I knew where to go. When we’d be walking round it was like I was having deja vu, like I’d been there before.
“It wasn’t until someone suggested doing a past life regression that all of this came spilling out.”
Last year, Steve joined an online session with hypnotist Paul Goddard, which he says prompted him to remember his past life as Sydney Sutcliffe, a soldier killed in WWI aged 24.
Steve says he can remember the moments before his aircraft was struck down above the trenches on the Western Front.
HYPNOSIS
He said: “When I did the hypnosis session with Paul I’d never done anything like it before but I had all these memories that I could see in black and white.
“I remember being in the aircraft and looking down on the ground below and thinking I was glad I wasn’t down there.
“I can remember thinking, I’m like a bird.”
During the hypnosis, Steve recalled joining the Fusiliers in Wrexham and later joining the Royal Flying Corps before serving as an aerial photographer and gunner during WWI.
He says his last memories are of an aerial reconnaissance flight over enemy lines near Cambrai, France.
Steve says he can remember looking out of the aircraft to the ground below moments before it was hit by enemy fire, causing the plane to spiral out of control.
He said: “I can remember that feeling as the aircraft was going down and it was really strange because I had no control of it.
“I could feel that loss of life but there’s nothing I could do.”
Alongside visions of the war, Steve says he has “vivid” memories of growing up in Llandudno more than 100 years ago.
He said: “I didn’t know anything about Llandudno apart from coming here as a child, until I did the regression.
“I had never heard the name Sydney Sutcliffe, so for me to choose that name out of millions of names and for that to be someone who did live in Llandudno, it’s just incredible.”
Steve also says he remembers performing on stage at Llandudno’s Pavilion Theatre with his father, who he believes was an entertainer.
He said: “I can remember my father was an entertainer and I can see him doing his act on stage and making the crowd laugh.
“I remember I would help him on stage sometimes, kind of like a Stavros Flatley fatherand-son routine.”
Steve says he felt “elated” when he learned of his past life, and was keen to know more.
In December last year, he and partner Sharon visited Llandudno to see if it would trigger any further memories.
Steve says walking the streets evoked memories of his childhood home, where he remembers living with his parents and three sisters.
The couple also visited the Llandudno Cenotaph, where a “Sidney Sutcliffe” is listed among the local soldiers killed during WWI.
They then travelled to Llanrhos cemetery, where Sydney’s parents Abraham “Arthur” Sutcliffe and Rhoda Sutcliffe are buried.
Steve said: “We had been looking for the headstone in cemetery for a while and couldn’t find it.
“We actually started to think we weren’t going to find it but then a pheasant flew past, which startled me, and as I looked over that’s where it was.
“Seeing Sydney’s name on the grave was emotional, and I’m still trying to get my head around it, it’s a really weird feeling.”
Part of the headstone reads: LIEUT SYDNEY SUTCLIFFE .R.F.C, SON OF THE ABOVE, KILLED IN ACTION OCT’ 2ND 1917, AGED 24 YEARS.
Although Sydney’s name is on the headstone alongside his parents, research has led Steve to believe Sydney’s remains are buried in a war cemetery in France.
However, Steve says the visit made him feel more connected to Sydney’s mother, Rhoda. He explained: “The strange thing is, his mother died in 1960 and I was born nine months later in 1961.
“So to me that’s as if she was waiting to pass so I could be reborn, and that’s why I’m here.