Fifty-five years ago this month, Pueblo was on its way to becoming the center of the reincarnation cosmos.
On Nov. 29, 1952, Morey Bernstein, a successful local businessman and amateur hypnotist, sat down with housewife Virginia "Ginni" Tighe for the first of six hypnosis sessions that would form the basis of his best-selling book, "The Search for Bridey Murphy." The book sold more than 6 million copies and triggered a passionate worldwide discussion on the then-controversial topic of reincarnation.
Bernstein's original intent was to hypnotize Tighe to see if he might be able to cure her allergies; instead, the woman began speaking in an Irish brogue and identified herself as Bridey Murphy, an Irishwoman who lived in County Cork and Belfast from 1798 to 1865. In subsequent sessions - all captured on reel-to-reel tape - throughout the next year, Tighe provided explicit details about her previous life and death (she said she died at age 66 after falling down the stairs) in 19th-century Ireland.
Bernstein turned Tighe's astounding information into the book, which was published in 1956 and became an instant phenomenon. It zoomed to the top of the best-seller list for 26 weeks; was published in 34 countries and 30 languages; became the focus of countless magazine and newspaper stories; was made into a movie; and spawned at least a half-dozen songs, including tunes recorded by Stan Freberg and Peter Nero.
http://www.chieftain.com/life/1193902231/3
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