UPDATED 4-20-24...Revisions to MY STORY pdf (click on "more")
My brother & Vernon Dent PDF 5-22-22 (pdf)
DownloadWhen we are reborn, it's highly likely we cross paths with others from our past incarnations. From Walter Semkiw's website: People appear to come into life in groups, based on shared karma and emotional attachments. Couples often come back together and entire family units can recur. When an individual reincarnates, other members of that person’s karmic group will be present. Ian Stevenson did a very important twin study in which the past lives of 31 sets of twins (62 people) were factually validated. In 100 percent of these cases, the twins had significant past life relationships. The most common type of past life relationship was that of siblings, followed by friendships, other family relationships, then being spouses in the past incarnation. https://reincarnationresearch.com/principles-of-reincarnation/
Vernon suffered from diabetes and its complications including blindness, the last 8 years of his life. Like Vernon, my brother developed Type 2 diabetes at 36. He died from liver failure in 2018, age 37. It's still a mystery as to what exactly caused his liver to fail. The doctors surmise it was a rare and lethal drug interaction. He was already on meds for high blood pressure, cholesterol, and just started taking Metformin (an oral diabetic med) then came down with pneumonia and was prescribed Amox-Clav, which is known for causing severe liver damage in some people. He needed a liver transplant but the hospital refused, claiming his obesity made him "high risk" and he would likely die on the operating table. The day he died, one of the nurses tried to console me by saying that just before he lost consciousness he shouted out, "I'm doing this for my sister!". He was delirious and she didn't know what he meant but she felt moved to tell me his last words. I'm not sure what he meant either by "THIS". Maybe he's one of my angels encouraging me to create this website. I miss him so much but I know he's with me in spirit form, and we'll be crossing paths again someday in the flesh. In my mind, often times out of the blue, I see him doing his trademark comical bits and they crack me up or I recall a fond memory...usually his goal is to make me laugh, cheer me up. He'd do pantomime, hysterical impersonations and accents, he had a wonderful sense of humor and his antics would have me laughing so hard I couldn't breathe. He was a clown with everyone he met. Laughter is as powerful a uniting force as love, and there were over 250 people at his wake--friends and former friends, even some former enemies, all races and religions, rich and poor. It was really touching to see.
I'm trying to be objective with this website by providing evidence that meets the criteria Walter Semkiw has presented in his Principles of Reincarnation. I like concrete evidence in the form of quotes, articles and photos. Unfortunately, I have not been able to find many commonalities between my brother, Brandon, and Vernon. They have SOME things in common and I'm going to supply scans here. I certainly have A LOT of evidence to support the fact that Harry and Vernon loved each other very much. Their relationship was extremely close, which explains why both may have desired to reincarnate as siblings. Vernon and Brandon seemed to have had generally similar personality traits, both very gregarious, outgoing, kind, generous, great sense of humor and always clowning. They BOTH LOVED SWEETS to the point that it negatively impacted their health. They both loved music and singing, though my brother loved modern hard rock and attended concerts regularly. Brandon was passionate about bowling but I haven't found evidence that Vernon shared a similar passion. Plus, my brother was a drinker and Vernon was not. Brandon does physically resemble Vernon. Despite the small number of commonalities I've found, think about this: what are the odds that I'd have so much in common with Harry, PLUS have a brother who looks like and has some things in common with his best friend, Vernon Dent? I got news for ya's ....this isn't a bunch of random coincidences. THIS IS REAL. Photo comparisons first followed by evidence from books.
Same smile, eyes look similar including coloring (same blue as mine). My brother is heavier here than Vernon, but you can see they both have a slight cleft in their chins and other similar facial features.
Vernon always preferred to have a mustache, so did my brother but with a goatee of some sort.
Photo of Vernon from Bill Cassara's book, VERNON DENT: STOOGE HEAVY
Vernon made an early talkie short in 1931 called THE FAINTING LOVER and in it, he's wearing a fake goatee and glasses. This is the closest I've seen Vernon resemble my brother as he looked in everyday life. It's a little unsettling watching this film. I feel that same tingly electric current run through my body that I sometimes feel when watching Harry in a film. It literally feels like I'm watching my brother. All I keeping hearing in my mind is, "That's Brandon". Vernon's expressions, poses and mannerisms are so much like his.
Harry and Vernon may have crossed paths as early as 1913 when Harry was in vaudeville. Vern was 18, Harry was 29. (Hayde & Harter, LITTLE ELF Pg. 51)
Vernon and Brandon were the same height, same build and same eye color. (Cassara, STOOGE HEAVY pg. 60)
Vernon's wife, Eunice, vouching for his addiction to sweets. Brandon had the same vice and developed diabetes earlier than Vernon. (Okuda & Watz, COLUMBIA COMEDY SHORTS pg. 211)
Vernon and Harry met up again in 1924 at Mack Sennett's studio. Vern appeared in Harry's very first Sennett film in 1924 PICKING PEACHES, and also his last film in 1944 PISTOL PACKIN' NITWITS. Though Vernon's scenes were shot, they were edited from the final cut of NITWITS. In those 20 years, they made numerous films together. (photos from STOOGE HEAVY & KING OF SILENT COMEDY)
Love this candid shot. They were making separate movies on the Sennett lot, yet chose to hang out between takes (Harry does not appear in THE HOLLYWOOD KID). Keep in mind, despite Harry's preference for solitude, he really loved Vern's company. (Cassara, STOOGE HEAVY pg. 94)
(Cassara, STOOGE HEAVY pg. 97)
They really would've made a wonderful comedy team if it was in the cards. (Cassara, STOOGE HEAVY pg. 103)
Quotes from Vern's wife, Eunice. Harry was his Best Man at their wedding in 1938. (Cassara, STOOGE HEAVY pg. 155 & 159) Below is a photo of Harry and Mabel, on Eunice and Vern's wedding day. It's from my personal photo collection and signed by Mabel Langdon in 1989.
Quotes from Vern's wife, Eunice describing his personality which is similar to my brother, Brandon's. Followed by a quote from Nell O'Day who made a few sound shorts with Vern and Harry in the early '30s. (Okuda & Watz, COLUMBIA COMEDY SHORTS pg. 210)
Mabel Langdon quotes (Cassara, STOOGE HEAVY pg. 163 & 164). Vern took care of Harry's funeral arrangements and, ironically, I did the same for my brother, Brandon, when he died in 2018. I was moved to tears when I first read of how Vern became a surrogate father to Harry's son, Harry Jr., after his dad passed away in 1944. Such a kind and compassionate soul. My brother loved baseball and so did Vernon, apparently.
One of the last photos of us together in 2017. We accidentally crossed paths in our old neighborhood this day. He saw me walking outside and gave me a lift (my phone flipped the photo, he's on the driver's side). Just as we drove passed Portage Park, I snapped the photo. We had lots of good times as kids in that park playing baseball and whatnot (our childhood home was right across the street on Dakin). Though not a glamour photo, it was a nostalgic moment and I wanted a memento of that day. I think he's giving me "The Look"...he wasn't too happy I took a picture without asking.