Imagine that from now until the end of your life, you cannot experience anything new. You are not surprised or astonished because you have already seen or heard about the future before it happens. Louis, a French man, is such a case. Noted by psychiatrist Francois-Léon Arnaud in 1896, Louis is considered a peculiar case that continues to puzzle many experts to this day.
According to Sciences of Us, Louis was once drafted into the military. In 1884, he was admitted to a psychiatric hospital due to memory loss, exhibiting symptoms of nervous exhaustion, prolonged headaches, insomnia, and discomfort. The most unusual aspect of this man was the persistent feeling of familiarity throughout his life. “Louis reported experiencing déjà vu numerous times since childhood, and it has clung to him ever since,” Dr. Arnaud wrote. “The patient once thought he was mistaken, but now he is certain that this feeling truly exists.” In French, “déjà vu” means “already seen.” For Louis, everything in front of him had already occurred. He claimed to have foreseen the titles of newspaper articles and even his brother’s wedding.
The man is the feeling of familiarity throughout his life. (Illustrative image: Empire Online).
After some time in the hospital, Louis’s condition worsened. He began to exhibit violent behavior and feared that his family was plotting against him. Louis’s relatives revealed that the veteran had previously visited a treatment center but left immediately because he firmly believed he had been taken there in the past. Upon arriving at a new hospital, Louis repeated his previous reactions. Dr. Arnaud noted: “He recognized everything, from the yard, the living room with the sofa and curtains to the garden, and the reception staff. He said he had seen this setting a year ago and wanted to leave.”
When he first met Dr. Arnaud, Louis conversed normally as if they were strangers. Later, the patient changed his tone and attitude. “I recognize you, doctor,” Louis laughed loudly. “A year ago, at this exact moment, in this same living room, you greeted me. You asked me questions just like before, and I answered exactly the same. Everything is clear. You act very well, but you can stop now.” Despite Arnaud’s explanations, Louis remained unconvinced.
The psychiatrist hypothesized that Louis was experiencing “déjà vu hallucinations,” which is an intensified form of déjà vu. In reality, déjà vu is quite common. About 60-80% of the population has experienced this phenomenon at least once in their lifetime. Déjà vu usually ends quickly but can become pathological if a person, like Louis, cannot escape from it.
120 years later, scientists in the journal Cortex revisited the documentation regarding Louis. With today’s understanding, the group of experts argued that the condition of the veteran was not actually related to déjà vu, as individuals experiencing déjà vu fully recognize and understand the peculiar feeling of familiarity that is occurring. If the patient believes they have genuinely lived in that circumstance, the narrative takes a different turn.
Scientists concluded that it was highly likely Louis suffered from “memory reconsolidation disorder,” a memory disorder that causes patients to process new information as if it were old, inadvertently creating additional false details. Additionally, Louis may have been experiencing a form of “reminiscence disorder,” leading him to assert that every place, location, and person had been copied from some original source.
After all these years, it remains difficult to determine what illness Louis actually had. “Perhaps we will never fully understand the neurological basis in this case,” the authors of the Cortex article wrote. Regardless, this case remains an important reference regarding déjà vu. It reminds us that often, memory can be unreliable, easily distorted, and deceptive.
