‘White Lotus’ Star Brings ‘Creepy Twins’ Reincarnation Story Back to Life

The eerie case of twin girls believed to be reincarnated as their dead sisters who died in a car accident is being brought back into the limelight.

It has also made one Hollywood star involved in resurrecting their tale question everything he thought about what happens to us when we die.

Gillian and Jennifer Pollock were born in 1958 just months after their siblings were tragically killed in a U.K. seaside village known as Hexham. Their story captivated the nation for years because of their father, John Pollock’s strong conviction that his dead daughters, Joanna and Jacqueline, were actually their twin sisters born again.

But after decades of fascination, including intense examination by academics and extensive media coverage, the story of the Pollock family has largely gone forgotten.

That’s all about to change, thanks to a new Apple podcast called Extrasensory, narrated by actor Will Sharpe. Known for his work on The White Lotus and currently starring in the Jesse Eisenberg-directed film, A Real Pain, Sharpe was drawn to the project for its unique subject matter.

“It did immediately catch my attention because at the center of it is this idea of reincarnation and whether or not It might be real and I just enjoyed the idea of this story that makes you think about your day-to-day in a different way,” Sharpe told Newsweek.

“It makes you think… of all kinds of transcendental different sort of ways of thinking and how that can change your perception of existence and of life.”

Reincarnation is the religious or philosophical belief that a person’s soul becomes reborn in a new physical being after its biological death, according to the Encyclopedia of Reincarnation and Karma.

Not only was the story fascinating for Sharpe, but it was also how executive producer Rosie Pye and her team pulled it together to make it a captivating listen.

Or as Sharpe puts it, “it’s a sort of twisty-turny, compelling story that gets you thinking about all those big questions.”

“The script wasn’t too serious and it leaves a bit of space to humanize the story and there’s parts of this that are also quite funny,” he said. “It definitely goes to some spiritual places and some dark places along the way, but there’s humanity within it too.”

Pye, an experienced radio producer at the BBC, came across the Pollocks when researching ideas for a new podcast. She knew she wanted it to be about reincarnation and her interest was piqued when she learned about the “creepy twins.”

“The story became a kind of myth online because the family disappeared and so I was trying to find what the truth was,” she told Newsweek.

It was when Pye learned an American by the name of Dr. Ian Stevenson became enthralled by the Pollocks and traveled to the U.K. to study them suddenly gave weight that the story, at least that the family existed and believed the twins were reincarnations of their late daughters, was true.

“As a journalist you know it’s a gift because you suddenly realize this thing that is completely abstract and a myth, has become real,” she said. “And whether or not you agree with what they wrote or the evidence is true, I want to try find out what really happened and tell this story for the first time since the ’70s when there was a TV documentary made about them.”

Both Sharpe and Pye agree that it’s not only people interested in spirituality that would love the eight-episode podcast, but also people who love mystery, great storytelling and above all, the importance of family.

“I feel people who like to think in a spiritual way or people who want to be challenged to think in a spiritual way would enjoy this, and also people who enjoy narrative or true podcasts,” Sharpe explained, adding that the podcast’s score and whole vibe is very Twin Peaks.

Sharpe also joked, “And of course, people who have come from another life.”

But did making the podcast change the actor’s thoughts about death, the afterlife or reincarnation?

“The main thing it did was to make me pause to think about it which I hadn’t done for a while,” he said. “I sort of believe that parts of us go and sort of exist again and remain in the world or the universe, in some form or another, in a very abstract kind of holographic sense.”

“I found myself wondering whether I could convince myself to believe it….I found myself to be like, ‘I sort of could get there, I think,'” Sharpe concluded.

Extrasensory is available to listen to on Apple podcasts.