Welcome
News and Events
Introduction
Historical Context
William J. Barker
Criticism
Counter-Attack
50 Years of Bridey
6 Recorded Hypnotic Sessions
Re-Search for Bridey Murphy
The Bernstein Family Home
Internet Links
How You Can Help
Other
Email Me


 

Recent Books

           M.J. Rose’s latest thriller, The Reincarnationist, is making a lot of noise in the book industry right now. USA Today, Amazon.com and others have reviews. The story involves past life memories and a whodunit search for answers that rivals Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code for thrill-a-minute adventure, some say. It demonstrates the enduring fascination of the public with reincarnation and past life memories started by Bridey Murphy over fifty years ago. Available from the usual suspects. The continued interest in these subjects begs the question: when will a new Bridey Murphy movie be made? Morey Bernstein and Virginia Tighe both expressed a desire in later years (I’m taking this from letters on file in The Bernstein Collection) to see the film remade. Bret Bezona has advocated the remake from the time I first met him. Stay tuned for more news!

 

            Lynn L. Sharp has written an excellent study of the origins of  reincarnationist thought in the West in her Secular Spirituality: Reincarnation and Spiritism in Nineteenth-Century France (New York: Lexington Books, 2006). This is a very scholarly but very readable account of the rise of spiritism in France and belief in reincarnation. This is a fascinating chapter in western religious history that has long been ignored by historians and social scientists.

 

            All Bridey Murphy fans will be happy to learn that the Hon. Ralph Shirley’s classic study, The Problem of Rebirth: An Enquiry into the Basis of the Reincarnationist Hypothesis (first published in 1936) has been reprinted! Morey Bernstein loved this book and often recommended it to people in his letters. It was reprinted by Kessinger  Publishing and their website is: www.kessinger.net. You might also want to check Alibris books or Amazon.com for a better price. This is a hard book to find used or even to obtain by interlibrary loan.

 

            Bridey continues to be popular in books about reincarnation. If you haven’t seen J. Allan Danelek’s  Mystery of Reincarnation: The Evidence & Analysis of Rebirth (St. Paul: Llewellyn, 2005), you need to check it out. It has a discussion of Bridey and some of the issues raised in the time since the publishing of The Search for Bridey Murphy.

 

Death of Ian Stevenson

 

           Dr. Ian Stevenson is a name known to most people interested in reincarnation. He founded the Division of Perceptual Studies at the University of Virginia (Charlottesville) in 1967 and is famous for his detailed studies of cases around the world of people who have had memories of previous lives. He passed away on February 8, 2006. Bridey Murphy fans will be interested to know that he and Morey Bernstein had a professional relationship and that he supported The Search for Bridey Murphy as one of the few authentic cases or past life recall. Bernstein's parapsychological foundation helped to fund some of Stevenson's research and publishing.

 

Sad Tidings

          It is with great sadness that we have to report that Hazel Higgins, the wife of Morey Bernstein, passed away on March 31, 2007. Most people do not know that she wrote My Brother Eddie, a book about her brother who was born without arms. This is the closest thing to a biography that exists for Eddie, Hazel and her eventual husband, Morey Bernstein. There are a number of fascinating passages about Morey and the writing of The Search for Bridey Murphy in her book. It is also contains a wealth of information about an America that is slipping into the past. Eddie and Hazel grew up on a ranch just south of Pueblo, Colorado.

Bernstein Collection Now Available!

          My Pueblo colleague has completed his work of editing and collating the hundreds of letters and other pieces of memorabilia connected to Morey Bernstein and The Search for Bridey Murphy. This is a collection of items donated to the Pueblo County Historical Society by family and friends of Morey in honor of the 50th anniversary of the publishing of the book in 2006. There were over 22 large boxes of material for him to work with, which should explain why it took him over a year to complete this task. History will forever owe him a debt of gratitude for his work. 

          The collection is very well organized and easy to use. Most of it comprises letters to and from Morey Bernstein, Virginia Tighe and others connected to them and the book. There are numerous nine-inch reel-to-reel tapes of Morey’s earliest experiments in hypnosis, as well as magazine and newspaper articles by the score. Copies of different editions of The Search for Bridey Murphy are on sale as well as the long-playing vinyl album. The society’s webpage provides information about the work of the society and their hours of operation at:
http://www.pueblohistory.org/. The collection is open to the public, but prior permission must be obtained from the society before viewing it. Contact the society to arrange use of the materials, and please handle all materials with care; they are irreplaceable. 

          The library is part of the Southeastern Colorado Heritage Museum, which is a delight in itself. It is located in the historic district of Pueblo, across the street from the Union Train Depot. Historians and nostalgia buffs will enjoy the many opportunities to indulge their interests in this interesting area of town. Parking is free, but limited, with many shops and restaurants within easy walking distance. The main branch of the Pueblo public library is close by, which has its own archives of Bridey and Bernstein-related materials, and this is all close to the famed Historic Arkansas River Walk of Pueblo. Check out this great website at:
http://www.puebloharp.com/.

Hearing Bridey Murphy

           Morey Bernstein always believed that The Search for Bridey Murphy should be both read and heard. He produced a long-playing vinyl album edited from the first hypnotic session with Virginia Tighe and wanted to produce five more to correspond with the six sessions he had with Virginia/Bridey. The storm of controversy he endured after the publication of the book discouraged him from producing anything more than the first album, but the original reel-to-reel tapes survived! My Pueblo colleague had these tapes professionally remastered and recorded digitally onto compact discs. These CDs are complete and unedited. We in The Bridey Murphy Foundation have asked ourselves whether we should make copies available to the public. What do you think? We honestly don’t know if there is enough interest in these CDs to mass-produce them. Dr. Pettit (hello again!) thinks that there will be significant interest in them and that we should make them available. I’m the only one at this point who believes this, so if anyone is interested in receiving a set of CDs, e-mail me at [email protected] and we will negotiate something on a case-by-case basis at this point. No serious student of Bridey Murphy or of reincarnation or hypnotism in America should be without these CDs! It is rare to have the opportunity to hear history in the making on this scale, so let us know if you are interested.


The Bernstein Family Home

          Morey Bernstein’s father built a beautiful home at 1819 Elizabeth Street in Pueblo in the 1925. He used an Italian style of architecture popular in that day. Morey never lived in the house, but rented it and it eventually fell into disrepair. It was purchased by a local businessman, Bret Bezona, in the spring of 2000. He became interested in the history of the house, Morey Bernstein and Bridey Murphy. He is now one of the largest collectors in the world of all things Bridey. He has been restoring the house to its former grandeur and it is listed as one of the historic homes of Colorado. Bret gives tours of the restored parts of the house every year for people who tour historic homes in Colorado. Dr. Pettit (that’s me) keeps nagging Bret about obtaining a federal grant to complete the costly renovations so the house can be listed on the national register of historic American homes. We will keep you updated on any new developments in this area. Bret is a very gracious owner and anyone who visits Pueblo to view the Bernstein Collection at the Pueblo County Historical Society should put the Bernstein Home on their list of places to visit. Bret may be reached at: (719) 544-0359 or e-mail him at: [email protected].



 

 

|Welcome| |News and Events| |Introduction| |Historical Context| |William J. Barker| |Criticism| |Counter-Attack| |50 Years of Bridey| |6 Recorded Hypnotic Sessions| |Re-Search for Bridey Murphy| |The Bernstein Family Home| |Internet Links| |How You Can Help| |Other|