A five-year-old boy is convinced that he was a 30-year-old black woman in another life - and claimed to remember dying in a fire.

Luke Ruehlman, from Cincinnati, Ohio, thought he was once called Pam and lived in Chicago - until he leaped from a burning building in 1993.

The child claims he was then reincarnated and - remembers being named Luke by his parents.

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Before and after? Luke Ruehlman, now five, claimed that he used to be Pamela Robinson, right, who died in

Beginnings: According to Luke's mother, Erika, at first he simply named things Pam, then started referring to when he 'used to be a girl'

Though the recollections have since stopped, Luke's mother Erika told local station Fox8 how from the age of two Ruehlman would make references to his apparent alter ego.

At first, she said, he would simply name things Pam and seemed fixated with the name. Later, she said, he would start making references to his apparent past life as a female.

She said: 'He used to say: "When I was a girl, I had black hair"’ or he would say, "I used to have earrings like that when I was a girl."'

Fire: Pamela Robinson died when the Paxton Hotel in Chicago caught fire in 1993. According to his mother, Luke identified facts from the event with no prior knowledge of them

Uncanny: Luke's mother said internet searches based on information from Luke led her to reports of the 1993 blaze

She added that when confronted about who Pam could be, he said that he in fact used to be her, and said he remembered a bizarre process of reincarnation when he was 'pushed back down' to earth as a newborn.

He said: 'Well, I used to be [Pam], but I died. I went up to heaven, and I saw God, and he pushed me back down and when I woke up, I was a baby and you named me Luke.'

According to Erika, her son's claims were supported by facts he could not possibly have learned by himself.

After revealing that in his 'former life' as Pam he lived in Chicago, Erika found an old news story which mentioned a Pamela Robinson, who died when the Paxton Hotel in the city caught light in 1993.

Convinced: Erika Ruehlman, pictured, was initially sceptical but said he son has now convinced her of his past life

'Pushed down by God': Luke claimed to remember being sent to earth again as a baby boy

An investigation by a paranormal investigations TV show also claimed to prove the veracity of Luke's story.

In footage for the show The Ghost Inside My Child, Luke was shown a page full of pictures of black women in their 30s, only one of which was the dead Pamela Robinson.

When asked to pick out Pamela, the footage claims, he chose the right picture.

It was enough to convince Erika, who reached out to Robinson's family and said they told her more about her personality which seemed to match Luke.

As examples, Erika said her son loves Stevie Wonder, as did Robinson, and also shares an enthusiasm for playing the keyboard, though her boy's was a children's version.