Body swaps, first popularized in Western Anglophone culture by the personal identity chapter of John Locke's Essay Concerning Human Understanding,John Locke, Essay Concerning Human Understanding, Bk. II, ch. 27 have been a common storytelling device in fiction media. Novels such as Vice Versa (1882) and Freaky Friday (1972) have inspired numerous film adaptations and retellings, as well as television series and episodes, many with titles derived from "Freaky Friday". In 2013, Disney Channel held a Freaky Freakend with seven shows that featured body-swapping episodes. This list features exchanges between two beings, and thus excludes similar phenomena of body hopping, spirit possession, transmigration, and avatars, unless the target being's mind is conversely placed in the source's body. It also excludes age transformations that are sometimes reviewed or promoted as body swaps, as in the movies Big and 17 Again; identity/role swaps, typically between clones, look-alikes, or doppelgängers; and characters with multiple personalities.
Books TitleAuthorYearCharactersMethod / notesReferenceHisashi Yamanaka1980A boy and girl switch bodiesMagic Agent Cormac book series Neal Asher 2001–2008 Cormac, Mika, Aiden, Stanton, Dragon, Crane Artificial intelligence transfers to different bodies; downloads of human minds into artificial carriers and cyborg bodies Airhead book series Meg Cabot 2008 Emerson Watts (tomboy) and Nikki Howard (teenage supermodel) Brain transplant The Anubis Gates Tim Powers 1983 Doyle and Dog-Face Joe The Barking Ghost R. L. Stine 1995 Cooper, Margaret and two dogs spell / Goosebumps series #32 Body Swap Sylvia McNicoll 2018 Hallie (age 15), Susan (age 82)Characters swap souls after a car accident Captain Underpants and the Big, Bad Battle of the Bionic Booger Boy Dav Pilkey 2003 Melvin and Mr. Krupp Combine-O-Tron 2000 Charlotte Sometimes Penelope Farmer 1969 Teenage girls in 1918 and 1963 the bed they sleep in Curse the Dawn Karen Chance 2009 Cassandra and Pritkin Cerberus: A Wolf in the Fold Jack Chalker 1982 various characters Warden powers to swap minds of two sleeping participants Dragon Princess S. Andrew Swann 2014 Thief, princess, dragon and wizard Wizard's spell An Exchange of Souls Barry Pain 1911 S. T. Joshi and David Schultz, An H. P. Lovecraft Encyclopedia, Hippocampus Press, 2004. Flip Martyn Bedford 2011 Teenager and another boy FlipNgozi Ukazu2025Chi-Chi, a Nigerian-American girl, and Flip, a white boy Fox Eyes Mordicai Gerstein 2001 Martin and a fox Staring at fox's eyes Freaky Monday Mary Rodgers and Heather Hach 2009 Teenage girl and teacher she dislikes Thematic sequel to Freaky Friday Freaky Friday Mary Rodgers 1972 Teenage Annabel Andrews and her mother Gender Blender Blake Nelson 2006 Emma and Tom Graveyard SchoolBook #11Tom B Stone1996Maria and Dr. Morthouse Help! I'm Trapped... book series Todd Strasser 1993–2011 Multiple characters Mind-swapping machine The Identity Matrix Jack L. Chalker 1982 Victor Gonser swaps with various women Alien powers Katie Kazoo, Switcheroo series Nancy E. Krulik 2002–2010 Katie Kazoo and various characters Magic wind (originally wish from a falling star) Laughing Gas P. G. Wodehouse 1936 Reggie and Joey Laughing gas La Machine René Belletto 1990 Psychiatrist and serial killer Experiment with a mind-reading device, resulting in unintended body swap The Master Mind of Mars Edgar Rice Burroughs 1928 multiple people Brain transplant Me and My Cat? Satoshi Kitamura 1999 Nicholas (young boy) and Leonardo (his pet cat) Witch's spell The Mind Cage A.E. van Vogt 1957 A.E. van Vogt Invention swaps minds between bodies. but never back between the same Mindswap Robert Sheckley 1966 Marvin Flynn and various alien people Mind-swapping technology The Ogre Downstairs Diana Wynne Jones 1974 Step-brothers Magical chemistry set Prelude to a Kiss (play) Craig Lucas 1988 Old man and bride Kiss Rascal Does Not Dream of Siscon Idol Hajime Kamoshida 2015 Nodoka Toyohama and Mai Sakurajima Adolescent syndrome The Stolen Alex Shearer 2003 Young girl and elderly witch Magic potion Summer Switch Mary Rodgers 1982 Preteen Ben Andrews and his father Freaky Friday stories, book 3 Switched R. L. Stine 1995 Nicole and Lucy Fear Street series #31 The Dosadi Experiment Frank Herbert 1982 McKee and woman Whipping Star series #2 The Tale of the Body Thief Anne Rice 1992 Lestat de Lioncourt and Raglan James The Toilet of Doom Michael Lawrence 2001 Jiggy McCue and Angie Magic toilet Tiffany Twisted Alison Tyler 2006 Tiffany and Kurt Turnabout Thorne Smith 1931 Tim and Sally Willows Egyptian idol Vice Versa: A Lesson to Fathers F. Anstey 1882 Paul and Dick Bultitude (father and son) Wish from magic stone Marghanita Laski1953Modern woman wakes to find herself in the body of a Victorian woman Why I'm Afraid of Bees R. L. Stine 1994 Gary and a bee Goosebumps series #17 Strange JourneyMaud Cairnes1935Lady Elizabeth and Polly Wilkinson
Short stories and operas Title Author Year Characters Method / notes Reference Avatar Théophile Gautier 1856 Magic New Bodies for Old Jack Vance 1950 collected 1982 as "Chateau d'If" "Identity Exchange". The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, 3rd ed. (sf-encyclopedia.com). Entry by "DRL", co-editor David R. Langford. Last updated December 31, 2016. Retrieved July 26, 2018. Arthur Conan Doyle 1885 mesmerism . Retrieved July 26, 2018. Icchapuran, Ichchhapuran (Fulfilling the wish) Rabindranath Tagore 1895 Lejana (The Distances) Julio Cortázar 1949 Woman and beggar Hug . Retrieved July 26, 2018. Mefisto in Onyx Harlan Ellison 1993 . Retrieved July 26, 2018. Queen of the Martian Catacombs Leigh Brackett 1949 Eric John Stark Alien technology H. P. Lovecraft 1936 (cut)1939 (restored) Nathaniel Wingate Peaslee Psychic temporal transfer . Retrieved July 26, 2018. H. G. Wells 1896 .Retrieved July 26, 2018. H. P. Lovecraft 1937 Edward Derby / Asenath Waite Magic . Retrieved July 26, 2018. (opera) Frederic Clay and W. S. Gilbert 1870 Magic Happy Arcadia (opera) Frederic Clay and W. S. Gilbert 1872 Magic Transformation Mary Shelley 1830 Young man and dwarf Supernatural ritual Reynolds, Frederic Mansel, ed. (1830). The Keepsake for 1831. London: Hurst, Chance, and Co. p. 36.. Retrieved July 26, 2018. Hans Christian Andersen1838A watchman and his lieutenantMagic galoshes
Films