The Search for Bridey Murphy (Paperback)

~ (Author) "When the phone rang, it was night-a stormy night, at that-and I was at the office, in the middle of picking a winter in our..." (more)
Key Phrases: Father John, Bridey Murphy, New York (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

The story of Ruth Simmons, who while under hypnosis recants the story of the life of Bridey Murphy under the care of one of the leading hypnotherapist of the day.. --This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 260 pages
• Publisher: Doubleday (July 1, 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385260032
• ISBN-13: 978-0385260039
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #218,469 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

37 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Strangely Compelling Book, December 20, 2000

By	delta (Memphis) - See all my reviews

This book is based on recorded transcripts done by Morey Bernstein on a patient, Ruth Simmons back in 1952. Dr Bernstein hypnotised Ms Simmons to talk about her early childhood events. During the course of these hypnotist sessions, she started talking about earlier lives. According to her account, she had several lives.

In one life she came as a baby who lived only briefly. She talks about her life with this family and her brothers and sisters playing with her and being ill.

The biggest past life she talks about is Bridey Murphy, a woman who lived in Ireland in the 1800s. She talks about her childhood and family and her husband and how she died. Bridey was named after her grandmother Bridgette. She died in her late sixties after a bad fall. After Bridey died, she was worried about her husband and apparently decided to stay in the house with him until he died. She says he was totally unaware of her presence even though she tried to communicate with him.

The whole book is a very interesting series of transcripts taken from the tapes of the conversations with Dr Bernstein. I am not a big believer in reincarnation, but I still found it the sort of book hard to put down. For those people who believe in reincarnation, this book is a must-read. For those nonbelievers, it is still an interesting book.

30 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Please Read the Book and Decide for Yourself, June 10, 2003

By	Nightshade (Toronto) - See all my reviews

No matter what you have read about this story and choose to believe, as the saying goes, "the proof is in the pudding." I would like to point out that Morey Bernstein never once in his life said that this story was proof of reincarnation. Not even close. He said that it definitely warrants further invesigation into the phenomenon. At the time the book came out, the western world was against any idea of reincarnation as it flew in the face of western thinking (Although, lets take a look: hundreds of millions of people take reincarnation as a fact of life as part of their religion). The discreditors of the story never once found any way to show the story was a fraud. In fact, the discreditor happened to be a Chicago TABLOID!!! The women allegedly named Bridey Murphy who lived across the street upon further investigation turned out to be the mother of the TABLOID's owner. The person below me mentioned occum's razor (the simplest solution tend to be correct) Think about that. In fact, when a more credible Chicago paper picked up the TABLOID's story, it had to cut out a whole bunch of arguments because they were just way too outrageous. ex: When Ruth Simmons was a girl she had a park accross the street which she played in many times. This explains why she would have said she lived in "the meadow."
Now that is just ridiculous, especially when a hand-drawn 1800's map of the city Cork, the area in which Bridey lived according to Ruth's sessions was called "The meadow." Now Ruth, living in America her whole life, and having never even heard of the town called Cork, recalls an area of only a couple square miles in the 1800's in Ireland. None of this was made up. Everything Ruth said under hypnosis has been verified to be real and not a hoax. am i saying that reincarnation exists? After reading the book, i believe. But please, read the book and don't read anything trying to close your mind to one of the most amazing cases of age-regression hypnosis ever told.

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very powerful story, May 27, 2005

By	M. Stier "life is an illusion" - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I read this story at the age of 16. That was 15 years ago and it still has an impact of my belief system today. It changed my beliefs in religion. I loved the way it unlocked the realization that the universe is so wonderfully complex and profound. Even if the story is just that it is wonderful and holds a special place in my heart.