The Search for Bridey Murphy

by Morey Bernstein

Then what were some of the coins? What were some of the coins named?

  Uh… there was a tuppence.

  Tuppence?

  Tuppence. ‘N’… there was a half… a copper—half… penny. And there was a sixpence, and there was a… a… tch… You know I’m not supposed to know about the money things.

  You’re not supposed to know…

  Don’t have the money ’n’ the…

  Um-hmm.

  Because it’s not my place.

  I see.

  … About the money… there was pounds. But don’t you say that to…

  All right. All right, now did you have any favorite hiding places where you would hide… oh, some of your own personal possessions… maybe some money or some letters or anything else? Did you have any favorite hiding place?

  Why do you want to know?

  [These six short words have to be heard on the tape recorder in order to be fully appreciated. The sly suspicion with which this sentence was charged has never failed to evoke a burst of laughter from every audience who has listened to the recording.]

  Well, I would like to know where we can find some written evidence, where we can find some written evidence, some records that will prove that you lived in Ireland.

  … Urn… tch…

  You don’t have to tell us about a hiding place. But perhaps you can tell us about some written records that would prove that Bridget Murphy MacCarthy lived that life in Ireland. Can you think of anything that would prove that?

  … Mmmm… oh, I think you could go to the church or go to the town….

  Would the church have some records?

  Oh, I’m sure they would.

  What kind of records would…?

  We had to give a tithing.

  Tithing?

  We had to be… obligated. I had to sign. And I wanted to do it, but Brian was very certain we must!

  Um-hmm,

  And then… And do you know that when we had… that when we were married, they had to put it on the church board?

  Put it on the church board?

  And they would have put there all about us… where we were from… how much we… how much money we had… Oh, everything. Everybody in the family that ever got hung. You know.

  And that was at St. Theresa’s, was it? St. Theresa’s Church?

  Yes. That was in Belfast.

  Did you ever go to Communion and Confession?

  Oh no. ’Twasn’t allowed. You can’t… But Brian did.

  He did?

  You want to know about that, you’d have to ask Brian about that.

  I see.

  Um-hmm.

  Now, after you awaken, after you awaken, I’m going to ask you to draw a little sketch, a little sketch. I’ll give you a pencil and a paper, and you’ll draw a little sketch. You’ll draw a little sketch showing where the place was that you lived in relation to St. Theresa’s Church—in relation to St. Theresa’s Church. In other words, you can just draw some squares.

  [Another sneeze from Bridey.]

  Now relax, relax and just go deeper and deeper asleep. Now, after you awaken, you’ll be able to draw us a rough little sketch showing how your grandmother’s… how Brian’s grandmother’s house was located in regard to St. Theresa’s Church. Can you see that in your mind? Can you see where Brian’s grandmother’s house is?

  Uh-huh.

  And can you see where St. Theresa’s Church is?

  Uh-huh.

  And you can see that Brian’s grandmother’s house, as you told us, was on Dooley Road?

  Dooley Road.

  Uh-huh.

  I don’t want to disappoint you. I can’t draw. You won’t have to draw.

  You won’t have to draw. You just draw lines, just draw lines to show us how many blocks and so forth. Can you see that?

  Uh-huh… Yes… I…

  See, just lines like a map to show how many… how many blocks and about where it’s located. You can do that, can’t you?

  I will try.

  All right. Now, rest and relax. Rest and relax. Can you tell me, can you tell me what your favorite song was? What was your favorite song?

  Uh… I liked the… “Londonderry Air.”

  What else?

  I liked… “Sean”… “Sean.”

  What was it?

  “Sean.” ’Twas a song about a young boy.

  “Sean?”

  “Sean.”

  Uh-huh. Give me one more favorite song.

  … Urn…

  One more favorite song.

  … Ohhh… tch… uh… uh… eh… “The Minstrels’ March.”

  “The Minstrels’ March?”

  Yes. I… There’s no words, but I just liked the march.

  Uh-huh. How about your favorite poem? What was your favorite poem?

  … Uhh… tch… my favorite poem… I don’t recall my favorite poem. I just liked it…. I liked to read.

  You liked to read?

  Yes, I did.

  What was your favorite book?

  Oh… mmm… I liked the s—

  What was your favorite book?

  [Rather shyly.] You’ll laugh. I liked the weird stories, and I liked the stories of things beyond, and I liked the dreamy stories about Cuchulain my mother used to read.

  Uh-huh. Do you remember any author, anybody who wrote… any of those books? The name of any man who wrote any of those books?

  I remember… man named… I read about a man… Keats. I read things by a man named Keats.

  What did he write? What kind of stuff?

  He… he was a Britisher. [Defiantly.] But I read it!… hmm… He wrote fine things. He wrote some poetry too.

  Did you ever… Can you remember any one book? Give us the name of any one book you read and the name of the man who wrote it…. Any book, any book at all.

  Umm… Remember the name of the book…. Can you… You could see who. You go to the lender, and he’ll tell you who wrote it. The Green Bay.

  [In other words, she was telling me the name of the book. But as to the author—well, I would have to go to the “lender” (apparently something equivalent to our libraries), and the “lender” would tell me who wrote it.]

  The Green Bay?

  The Green Bay.

  All right. That’s good. That’s good. Now… now, did you ever hear of Blarney Castle?

  I heard of blarney.

  What about blarney? Tell me about blarney?

  Oh… blarney, that’s… There’s a place where you go, and you know, you put your feet above your head, and you… It’s a myth. Brian says that Father John would tell you the truth about that, too! You have to… Believe you put your lips to it, and then you get the tongue… the gift of the tongue.

  I see. Now, when you were in Cork, when you were in Cork, did you know about blarney then?

  Oh, just… My mother would say, “You’re full of the blarney.”

  But you’d never been to Blarney. You’d never been to the stone you were talking about?

  I don’t recall.

  Now, you told us before when you were in Cork. You told us before when you were in Cork that you made wishes, that you made wishes on a little cup.

  Um-hmm.

  Called something like a “brate.”

  That’s a brate.

  How do you spell it? Did you ever see it spelled?

  Oh dear… I saw the cup.

  You never saw the word spelled?

  Uh… You… you wish on it. I… I don’t know how to spell all the words, you know.

  All right. That’s all right. But it was a little cup, and it sounds like “brate”?

  Sounds like a “brate.”

  All right…

  And you wish on it, and your wishes all materialize….

  All right.

  Um-hmm.

  Now, where did you go to dance? Where did you go to dance?

  Mrs…. Strayne’s. Had a hall.

  Well, what instruments, what instruments were used?

&nbs
p; There was a… lyre, and there was a… the pipes. Now I told you about the pipes, but don’t ask me how to spell ’em!

  [This sudden declaration was expressed with such emphasis that the witnesses—at the hypnotic session—could not help breaking into laughter.]

  [Laughing.] All right. All right. Now, what was your favorite dance?

  Oh, I… I just liked to dance. I liked some jigs… different jigs I liked.

  What jigs?

  Umm… There was the Sorcerer’s Jig…. That was a fast one.

  What kind of jig?

  Sorcerer’s Jig.

  All right. The Sorcerer’s Jig. All right.

  And the… There was the… Oh! My foot. My foot! [Gasp.]

  [Even though the tape recorder plays back these words very clearly, I missed this first reference to her foot. The microphones, you see, were placed very close to her mouth and ordinarily, therefore, did an excellent job of picking up all of Bridey’s utterances. On the other hand, when I leaned away from my subject in order to look at my notes—which I had begun to prepare since the second session—I sometimes missed a few words here and there; in this case I did not hear the remark about her foot.]

  What was the name of the place where you went to dance? The name of that… Did you say it was a hall?

  Mrs. Strayne’s hall. She was…

  Was that the same place you told us about before? Where you went to school?

  She had a hall. [Testily.] I didn’t go to school in the hall!

  All right. All right, now, now get the… Think about the time that Father John married you. Think about the time that Father John married you.

  He didn’t marry me. He didn’t ever get married.

  [Once again these words must be heard in order that the feeling be conveyed. Bridey seems very sad here, almost in tears.]

  I’m talking about the time that Father John performed the marriage ceremony for you and Brian.

  Oh… uh… Yes, he did.

  All right. Now I want you to think, and think out loud if you want to. Try to… try to remember what year that was. See if you can… see if you can think out loud and find out what year that was,

  … Uh… uh… hmph…. You see, I was… I was… uh… I was sixteen in 18 and 14. It was… 18… and…18. 18 and 18.

  How old were you? And we can figure it out for you. How old were you when you got married?

  Well, I was twenty when I got married. [Indignantly.] I figured it out myself.

  Oh, then it was 18—Oh yes. I see. I see. All right. All right now… Now, let’s talk again about that lifetime in Cork. Now, when you traveled from Cork to Belfast… when you traveled from Cork to Belfast, how did you travel from Cork to Belfast?

  I traveled in the livery.

  All right. Now I want you to name… I want you to name some of the towns, some of the places you went through from Cork to Belfast….

  From Cork—to go to Belfast… Hmmm… hm…

  Go ahead and think out loud. Think out loud and tell us what you’re thinking. What places between Cork and Belfast?

  [Here is another example of a question’s reminding Bridey of some associated episode. There was a pause while she seemed to be contemplating something; and then she finally spoke—to explain that she had been thinking of something other than my question.]

  … Forgive me. I wasn’t thinking about that.

  What were you thinking about?

  I was thinking that my father was so unhappy. You know, we took the horse, ’n’ he was a very worried man. And he felt he’d lost so much. … I was going so far away. He went… he went to the bed over it.

  Is that right?

  Oh, he was so upset. And I—I was unhappy to go then.

  And what… And you took the horse and you left?

  [When I interrupted Bridey here, all the witnesses in the room would have liked to pull me away. In short, they would have preferred to hear more of the personal “life and times of Bridey Murphy.”But our real job was to dig for the solid, evidential checking points, and I could not see how her father’s sentiment could help us in this direction. So I steered her back to the original question.]

  Um-hmm.

  Oh.

  Um-hmm. He was… oh… he was unhappy with me, and [rueful little laugh]… I…

  All right. Now think about that trip, think about that trip with the horse and the carriage. Tell me about some of the places you went through. Tell me about some of the places… the names of some of the places. You told us before….

  Well….

  You told us before, for instance, Carlingford.

  Well, yes, I’ve… You want to know the names of the places?

  Yes, the names of the places, tell me.

  That’s the name of the lough, you know, and the… the lough was there first, and then there was the… place. It was… Let’s see.

  Yes. What else?

  And we went through… mm… mm… Munster. We went through a little… place. We stopped for potato cakes…. Oh… potato cakes.

  What’s the name of the place?

  … ’Twas… umm… Starts with a D. I could see a D and an o… and a… b… D-o-b… and a y.

  All right.

  Do-by.

  All right. Now I want you to think about this for a moment.

  [Whisper.] Doby.

  I want you to think about this. You told us before there was a place by the name of Baylings Crossing.

  Ah, it’s just a spot, you know. [Little chuckle.] Well, where was it? Was it close to Belfast, or was it close to Cork?

  It was closer to Belfast.

  Closer to Belfast. All right, now what about Mourne? You told us about Mourne. Where was Mourne, closer to…

  Mourne is near Carlingford.

  Mourne is near Carlingford?

  Yes. Mourne… near…

  All right. Now can you see yourself in your mind, can you see yourself in your mind doing the Sorcerer’s Jig? Can you remember yourself doing the Sorcerer’s Jig? Can you see yourself?

  Oh, I’d do it with Brian….

  Uh-huh. Can you do the Sorcerer’s Jig by yourself without a partner?

  [Little snort of laughter.] I don’t believe so.

  All right….

  You have to do… You go round in a circle, you know, and hold hands.

  Uh-huh. All right. Now relax, relax. You’re going to feel fine after you awaken. You’re going to feel fine after you awaken. You’re going to feel even better than you do now. This is going to be very, very pleasant. Now, did you play a musical instrument yourself? Did you play a musical instrument?

  Hmph… hmph….

  [Once again it seemed as though she were thinking of some scene to which the question had deflected her memory. The indignant, staccato-like “Hmph,” which she repeated, indicated that, instead of directly replying to the question, she was reflecting on some other incident.]

  Did you ever play the lyre?

  Oh, I don’t… I played at it. You don’t want to say I played it.

  Uh-huh…

  My…

  Can you remember any tunes that you played on the lyre when you were “playing at it”?

  … Hm… Played just beginner’s pieces. I wasn’t enough….

  Do you remember any of the pieces you tried to play?

  I played… ah, I played… “Fairies’ Dance”.… I played “The Morning Jig”.… I played….

  You played “The Morning Jig”?

  [Jauntily.] Mm-hmm! Played “The Morning Jig.”

  All right, now one thing about your father… one thing about your father. What did you say your father’s name was?

  … My father?

  Yes.

  … Was Duncan.

  Are you sure that Duncan, Duncan Murphy… Are you sure that Duncan Murphy was a barrister?

  [This query was injected for a number of reasons. In the first place, even though it is quite possible that the daughter of a barrister might have married the son of another
barrister—this may even have had something to do with their meeting in the first place—still I wondered whether they were all really barristers. Or could it have been that Bridey, because she married a barrister’s son, was upgrading her social status a bit when she told us that her own father, too, was a barrister?

  Furthermore, she had told us that she lived in the Meadows, which she said was a district outside of town. I wondered, then, whether a barrister would have lived in the country.]

  That’s what he told my mother and me.

  You think he was a barrister?

  Yes.

  Did he do any other kind of work?

  He did some… cropping.

  Some what?

  [Impatiently,] Cropping.

  What’s that?

  [Quite annoyed.] Cropping! It’s to grow things.

  Oh, I see. I see. All right. All right.

  [With some distress.] My foot.

  What did you say?

  My foot.

  What about your foot?

  … Hmm… it’s…

  [This time I clearly heard the complaint about her foot; and as I could not perceive what the trouble was, I decided to awaken her. Witnesses at the session, and many who have listened to the recording, have pointed out that the complaint regarding her foot, in both instances, developed shortly after the references to her dancing the jig.]

  All right. I want you to rest and relax. I want you to rest and relax. I want you to rest and relax. I want you to rest and relax. You’re coming back to the present time and place. You’re going to forget about that lifetime in Ireland. And now you’re going to think about your lifetime in the United States. Now? I’m going to count to five. I’m going to count to five. And at the count of five, you’ll awaken and you’ll feel fine. You’ll be Ruth Simmons, and you’ll feel even better than you do now. You’ll feel just fine in every respect. And your foot will feel fine, your feet will feel fine, your legs will feel fine, your body will feel fine. Your head will be clear…. Your head will be clear. Your nose will be clear…. All will be clear. And in the future… in the future you will be free from allergies. After you awaken tonight, you will be free from allergies. You will no longer be bothered by allergies.