Credit: Morey Bernstein, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons
The BRIDEY MURPHY CASE He became famous in the United States following the publication of the book The Search for Bridey – “Looking for Bridey Murphy”, written byhypnotist Morey Bernstein. The work told the surprising History of Virginia Tighean American woman who, during one regressive hypnosis sessionclaimed to be the Reincarnation of BRIDEY MURPHYlived in Ireland in the first half of the nineteenth century, over a century before the birth of Virginia.
The media clamor was enormous And he attracted the attention of journalists, psychologists and scientists, who began to investigate the case. The research revealed that many of the memories told by Virginia were nothing more than Fragments of stories listened to during childhoodremained buried in memory and then resurfaced under hypnosis. Under the influence of the suggestion, the woman had unknowingly reworked them as experiences experienced in the first person, a phenomenon called cryptomnesia.
The case of Bride Murphy was born in 1956: the woman who lived twice
In 1956, America was shaken by a case that soon became a mass phenomenon, spreading with wildfire: a thirty -year -old young man from Colorado, Virginia Tigheclaimed to be the Reincarnation of BRIDEY MURPHYa woman lived in the First half of the nineteenth century in Ireland. The story exploded after the publication of the book The Search for BRIDEY MURPHY (BRIDEY MURPHY’s search), in which the young man amateur hypnotist Morey Bernstein he told in detail the sessions of regressive hypnosis – A technique, never scientifically validatedwhich would pretend to resurface removed memories – conducted on Virginia. It is Bernstein himself who describes how, once he entered in a trancethe woman began to tell, with a Perfect Irish accentthe events of the life of BRIDEY MURPHY and to describe with surprising precision places, customs and customs of nineteenth -century Ireland. Yet Virginia He had never been to Ireland And normally he spoke with an impeccable American accent. For the media and public opinion of the time, there were no doubts: Virginia Tighe was to be the reincarnation of BRIDEY MURPHYand the regressive hypnosis sessions had reactivated the memories of his previous life.
Reincarnation or self -refugement? The media dig in the past of Virginia
Virginia Tighe – or rather, BRIDEY MURPHY – He was able to tell his presumed previous life in detail. Born in Ireland in 1798, she said she had Transferred to Belfast After marrying the lawyer Sean Brian McCarthyprofessor at Queen’s University of Belfast. He said he had lived as a child in a small wooden cottage (called The Meadows) near the city of Corkand described with considerable precision Irish landscapes and places of his childhood.
Just the wealth of detailsHowever, he attracted the attention of journalists and researchers, who began to investigate more deeplyalso for the implications that such a discovery could have had. Examining the registers of the time, they emerged immediately different inconsistencies: in the first half of the nineteenth century it did not appear No woman called BRIDEY MURPHYnor a lawyer or professor named Sean Brian McCarthy. Moreover, Queen’s University it had not even been founded At the time when BRIDEY would live. Also the descriptions of the places and customs they did not correspond to those to the early nineteenth century Irelandbut rather to a subsequent period.
But who was Bridey Murphy then? Digging in the past of Virginia, it was discovered that he lived next to his childhood house Bridei Corkellone Irish woman Which in 1908 had left his hometown to emigrate to America, where shortly after he had married an American man. Questioning the woman, it was discovered that Many of Virginia’s told corresponded to episodes of Life of Mrs. Corkellincluding the descriptions of places and landscapes. Moreover, BRIDEI Corkell’s Surnish Da Nubile was just Murphy. His full name before the marriage was, therefore, just Bridie Murphy. It should also be noted that according to Virginia’s stories BRIDEY MURPHY It was originally from Cork, a name very similar to Corkell.
At that point The explanation became evident: as a child, Virginia had unconsciously absorbed The stories of the neighbor. Those memories, which remained buried in memoryhad resurfaced years later during the hypnosis sessions, confused and reworked under the effect of suggestionuntil he convinced her to be the reincarnation of that woman. And theIrish accent What Virginia assumed under hypnosis? It was discovered that Virginia as a young man had participated in a theatrical show, playing the role of a Irish woman.
In short, put all the clues together, not More doubts remained: the case was disassembled piece by piece and each paranormal interpretation It was definitively denied.
Virginia hadn’t lied, he had been suggested by Morey Bernstein during the hypnosis sessions
BRIDEY MURPHY’s story is one of the best known cases of cryptomnesiaa deception of our brain that occurs when a person is convinced that an idea, an episode or an intuition are completely new and original, when in reality it is forgotten or long -term memories for a long time in the subconstate. These states can emerge, in particular, during hypnosis sessions. Hypnosis is in fact a state of altered consciousnessin which the hypnotizer can induce a form of dissociation characterized by extreme focus of attention. In this state, the subject becomes particularly suggestable, that is more inclined to follow the indications of the hypnotizer without questioning them.
After the case exploded medically, discs containing the recordings of the hypnotic sessions were products, which today can be heard on YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8urxktkki9c
Listening to them, it is clear that Most of the information was suggested by Bernstein and subsequently processed by Tighemade more manipulable by the trance layer. This is one of the most common risks related to practices (we repeat, never scientifically validated) such as theregressive hypnosis with past screw: the hypnotist, even unconsciously, can implant false memories that the subject can live like they were real because of the strong suggestibility.
It was therefore not a lie: the woman had simply woven the plots of the story of BRIDEY MURPHY drawing on Fragments buried in his subconscious since childhood.
What can we learn from the story of BRIDEY MURPHY
This story, while going up to the last century, can teach us one valid lesson Still – and above all – today. The biographical details provided by BRIDEY during the trance states they were not controlled with penalty before the publication of the book. Morey Bernstein himself, hypnologist and author of the book, had none medical or scientific training And, immediately after the story, he abandoned hypnosis to devote himself to the business world. In short, this story reminds us that, however certain news it may seem incredibly fascinating and likely, it is essential to verify its truthfulness through official and authoritative sources, reported by experts with solid scientific bases.
