View source for Walk-in (concept)

{{about||the comic series|Walk-In (comics)|the type of closet|Walk-in closet}}
A '''walk-in''' is a [[New age|new-age]] awareness of a person whose original [[Soul (spirit)|soul]] has departed his or her [[Human body|body]] and has been replaced with a new, generally more advanced, soul.<ref name=encyclopedia>[[James R. Lewis (scholar)|Lewis, James R.]] [https://books.google.com/books?id=lk8_ARNz-dYC&pg=PA382 ''The Encyclopedia of Cults, Sects, and New Religions'']. [[Prometheus Books]], 2002. p. 382.</ref><ref name=legitimating>[[James R. Lewis (scholar)|Lewis, James R.]] [https://books.google.com/books?id=hdYSdts1udcC&pg=PA130 ''Legitimating New Religions'']. [[Rutgers University Press]], 2003. pp. 130–131.</ref><ref name=york/><ref name=mcclelland/><ref name=bjorling/> [[Ruth Montgomery]] popularized the concept in her 1979 book, ''Strangers Among Us''.<ref name=encyclopedia/><ref name=legitimating/><ref name=york>[[Michael York (religious studies scholar)|York, Michael]]. [https://books.google.com/books?id=lokPtsd7Vr4C&pg=PA72 ''The Emerging Network: A Sociology of the New Age and Neo-pagan Movements'']. [[Rowman & Littlefield]], 1995. p. 72.</ref><ref name=mcclelland>McClelland, Norman C. [https://books.google.com/books?id=S_Leq4U5ihkC&pg=PA276 ''Encyclopedia of Reincarnation and Karma'']. [[McFarland & Company|McFarland]], 2010. p. 276.</ref><ref name=bjorling>Bjorling, Joel. [https://books.google.com/books?id=A9vAea4MV8cC&pg=PA141 ''Reincarnation: A Bibliography'']. [[Taylor & Francis]], 1996. pp. 141–142.</ref>

Believers maintain that it is possible for the original soul of a human to leave a person's body and for another soul to "walk in".  Souls are said to "walk-in" during a period of intense personal problems on the part of the departing soul, or during or because of an accident or trauma. The individual retains the memories of the original soul, while their personality and abilities change and become oriented towards helping humanity. Incarnating into a fully grown body allows the more advanced soul to carry out its mission without having to go through the two decades of maturation that humans need to reach adulthood.<ref>[[Christopher Partridge|Partridge, Christopher]]. [https://books.google.com/books?id=6-kkOBKTjK0C&pg=PA115 ''UFO Religions'']. 
[[Routledge]], 2012. pp. 114–115.</ref><ref name=encyclopedia/><ref name=bjorling/>

==In popular culture==
The film ''[[Heaven Can Wait (1978 film)|Heaven Can Wait]]'' portrays one soul replacing a recently deceased man's soul and reviving and inhabiting his body. 

The ''[[Hawkgirl]]'' comics, the ''[[K-PAX]]'' series of books and film, and the ''[[The Twilight Zone (1959 TV series)|Twilight Zone]]'' episode "[[The Last Rites of Jeff Myrtlebank]]" have all featured situations similar or identical to walk-in experiences, although the term "walk-in" is not used.

In the ''[[Death of Superman]]'' story cycle, a handful of new superheroes appeared, among them [[John Henry Irons]], who called himself the "Man of Steel". He never claimed to be the real Superman, but [[Lois Lane]] speculated that if Superman were really dead, perhaps his soul had moved into Irons' body as a walk-in, and she used that word.<ref>[[Roger Stern|Stern, Roger]]. [https://books.google.com/books?id=2miDHzlltK4C&q=%22have+you+ever+heard+of+a+walk-in+spirit?%22&dq=%22have+you+ever+heard+of+a+walk-in+spirit?%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiL1JmC5bvPAhUNx2MKHUEuCQIQ6AEIHjAA ''The Death and Life of Superman''] (novelization of the ''[[Death of Superman]]'' storyline). Random House Publishing Group, 1994. p. 365. "I knew all along that Superman would return, and now he has. Not necessarily in the form people might have expected, but it was him. Listen, have you ever heard of a walk-in spirit? When a body has been  abandoned by one spirit but is not yet uninhabitable, then another spirit can move in. Anyway, whatever he is, the cards tell me for sure that the man who saved me today is definitely the Man of Steel. For sure."</ref>

''[[The X-Files]]'' episode "[[Red Museum]]" discusses walk-ins, described by Mulder as enlightened spirits who have taken possession of the bodies of people who have lost hope and who want to leave their life. The concept is returned to in the episode "[[Closure (The X-Files)|Closure]]". 

In the TV series ''[[Ghost Whisperer]]'', the season 4 episode "[[Ghost_Whisperer_(season_4)#Episodes|Threshold]]" used the term "step-in" when the soul of one of the series' main characters, who had died in the previous episode, enters the body of a man who dies in an unrelated accident.

==See also==
*[[Reincarnation]]
*[[Mind uploading]]
*[[Spirit possession]]
*[[Dissociative identity disorder]]
*[[Star people (New Age belief)]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:New Age]]
[[Category:Reincarnation]]