This is another case involving memories of a past life with incredible physical resemblances. Jeff's story begins in May 1991 when he was vacationing in Sharpsburg, Maryland with his wife Anna. Jeff had no interest in the issues of "civil war" or "reincarnation," but he had an intuition that he should visit the site of the battle of Antietam, which was fought in the civil war and was located nearby.

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At a particular location called "Sunken Road," Jeff heard an audio-taped narration of events that took place there. Then Jeff suffered a barrage of emotions in which he felt pain and anger at the same time; He began to cry uncontrollably and lost track of time. According to his own account:

 

"A wave of grief, sadness and anger washed over me. Without warning, I was suddenly being consumed by sensations. Burning tears ran down my cheeks. It became difficult to breathe. I gasped for air, as I stood transfixed in the old roadbed. To this day I could not tell you how much time transpired, but as these feelings, this emotional overload passed, I found myself exhausted as if I had run a marathon. Crawling up the steep embankment to get out of the road, I turned and looked back. I was a bit shaken to say the least and wondered at what had just taken place. It was difficult getting back to the car because I felt so weak. I did not have any answers, just questions. I would one day receive my answers, but not until more than a year later and then from a most unusual source...."

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Before leaving Sharpsburg, Keene and his wife visited a gift shop where they ended up buying a magazine about the Battle of Antietam. When they returned home, Keene kept the magazine and opened it only a year and a half later. It was then that, when opening a page and for the first time seeing the photo of General John Gordon, he once again experienced a strong wave of emotions.

 

He then learned that General Gordon almost died after suffering multiple gunshot wounds in "Sunken Road" during the battle of Antietam, where he had a deep experience of  anger and sadness a year earlier.

 

In addition to the memories of the past life, Keene later discovered many parallels between him and General Gordon. They shared several similarities: physical appearance (height, eye color, birthmarks), personality traits, common life events, writing styles, habits. They both had a habit of standing with their arms crossed. They both had similar tastes in clothes.

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Jeffrey Keene has three birthmarks on his face, unrelated to any physical trauma, which correspond exactly to the scars that Gordon possessed, acquired in combat. Both have a star-shaped mark on their foreheads above the left eye, tilted slightly to the right side of the head. According to reports, General Gordon received a scratch shot on his forehead, which did not represent a serious injury but caused a major bleeding.

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The most serious wound Gordon received in Antietam on the "Sunken Road" (where Keene had his spontaneous flashback experience), was a bullet that entered the left side of Gordon's face under his eye, and went out on his right cheek, leaving a huge scar.

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He has also an area clearly visible flat or slightly sunken under his left eye, exactly in the same place of the cavity that Gordon had on his face.

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                                            (Images made by Stephen Sakellarios)

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This can be proven by photographs in the collections of the Library of Congress of the United States and in the National archives. Jeffrey's story is told in his book “Someone Else's Yesterday: The Confederate General and Connecticut Yankee, a Past Life Revealed” (Jeffrey J. Keene)