The Search for Bridey Murphy (16 page)

And who sits on your right?

David.

David. David who?

Daniels.

All right. What is your favorite game?

Ummm… ummmmmmm… hopscotch.

Who is your best friend?

Jacqueline.

All right. What is your favorite toy?

Bubbles.

All right.

Doll. Doll.

Oh, I see. Bubbles is a doll?

Uh-huh.

What is your favorite dress? Do you have any dress that you like better than the others?

Uh-
huh!

Which one is it?

It’s a black velvet one… it has little tiny bows on the pockets… black velvet dress and big pockets…. I can put my hands in, with bows on it.

All right. All right. Now rest and relax because you are going still farther back in space and time. When I talk to you again, you will be three years old, you will be three years old. Now, now you are three years old. Now, do you go to school?

No.

You do not go to school?

Uh-uh.

What is your favorite toy?

Ummmm… dog.

Toy dog or a real dog?

Real one.

What is its name?

Buster.

All right. Do you have any dolls?

One little colored doll.

Do you know what it looks like?

Uh-huh.

Tell me what it looks like.

It’s colored like a colored baby… has black hair painted on its head… and it has a green and white polka-dot dress. No shoes. It has a diaper… it’s dirty… didn’t wash it, didn’t wash the diaper, nobody washed it….

That’s very good.

Dirty.

Do you have any playmates?

Just my sister.

What is your sister’s name?

Helen…. Helen.

All right. Don’t you have any other playmates?

No.

Isn’t there a little boy or girl who lives next door?

No.

What church do you go to?

No church.

All right. Now I am going to talk to you again in a few moments. The next time I talk to you, the next time I talk to you, you will be only one year old. Now, now you are one year old and you can answer my questions.

Now, how old are you?

One.

Do you have any toys?

Yes… some blocks and a… uh… a cotton dolly and I tore her dress and sucked on her… got her all dry and funny-looking.

What is her name?

Jus’ Baby.

What do you say when you want a drink of water?

Wa… wa.

What do you say when you want a glass of milk?

Uh… can’t say that.

Rest and relax. Now I will not ask you any more questions for a while. But I want you to think about what I am saying. I want you to think about the things I am saying. You are going back… back… back, ’way back into time and space. Now, for instance, you are going to be six years old. Think about the time you were six years old. Think about the time when you were six years old. And now slip on farther back to when you were five years old. Think about that. See yourself. See some scene. See some scene in which you were five years old. You don’t have to tell me about it, just think about it, and see it in your mind. Now go on back farther, four years old. See yourself, see something that took place when you were four years old. Now go on back farther, still farther. Three years old, see yourself when you were three years old. And now back still farther. Two years old, two years old, two years old. And now still farther back. One year old, one year old. See yourself when you were one year old. See some scene. Watch yourself. Be looking at yourself when you were one year old. Now go on even farther back. Oddly enough, you can go even farther back.

I want you to keep on going back and back and back in your mind. And, surprising as it may seem, strange as it may seem, you will find that there are other scenes in your memory. There are other scenes from faraway lands and distant places in your memory. I will talk to you again. I will talk to you again in a little while. I will talk to you again in a little while. Meanwhile your mind will be going back, back, back, and back until it picks up a scene, until, oddly enough, you find yourself in some other scene, in some other place, in some other time, and when I talk to you again you will tell me about it. You will be able to talk to me about it and answer my questions. And now just rest and relax while these scenes come into your mind….

Now you’re going to tell me, now you’re going to tell me what scenes came into your mind. What did you see? What did you see?

… Uh… scratched the paint off all my bed. Jus’ painted it, ’n’ made it pretty. It was a metal bed, and I scratched the paint off of it. Dug my nails on every post and just ruined it. Was jus’ terrible.

Why did you do that?

Don’t know. I was just mad. Got an awful spanking.

What is your name?

… Uh… Bridey.

Your name is what?

Bridey.

[I was under the impression that she had said “Bridey.”]

The others in the room, as they later told me, also thought she said “Bridey.” But we were soon to learn otherwise.]

Don’t you have any other name?

Uh… Bridey Murphy.

And where do you live?

… I live in Cork… Cork.

Is that where you live?

Uh-huh.

And what is the name of your mother?

Kathleen.

And what is the name of your father?

Duncan… Duncan… Murphy.

How old are you?

Uh… four… four years old.

And you scratched the paint off your metal bed?

Yes… scratched the paint off.

All right. Now see if you can see yourself a little older. See if you can see yourself when you’re five, or six, or seven, or see yourself when you’re an older girl. Are you a girl or are you a boy?

A girl.

All right. Do you see yourself when you are older?

Yes, I do.

What are you doing now?

Playing… playing house… playing with my brother.

What is your brother’s name?

Duncan.

What is your father’s name?

Duncan.

I see. How old are you when you’re playing house with your brother? Eight. What kind of a house do you live in? Uh… it’s a nice house… it’s a wood house… white… has… has two floors… has… I have a room upstairs… go up the stairs and turn to the left. It’s very nice.

What is the name of the country in which you live?

It’s Ireland.

I see. Do you have any other brothers or sisters?

Have one brother that died.

What did he die from?

He was sick. Had some kind of black something… black something. I don’t know. How old were you when he died? I was four… just four. He was just a baby. I see. Do you have any sisters? No. Do you know how old your brother was when he died? No. Just a… not one… yet. Don’t know. Now that you are eight years old, do you know what year it is?

No.

You don’t know what year it is?

Eighteen something. Eighteen-oh… 1806.

Eighteen hundred and six?

Uh-huh.

What do you have for breakfast? What do you eat for breakfast? Oh… uh… eat… uh… milk… milk…. Anything else? Muffins. Muffins? Muffins. Eat muffins and jam, ’n’ milk and fruit. Muffins mostly.

Where does your father work? Where does your father work?

He’s a barrister… downtown… a barrister… in the town and the village. What town? In Cork… in Cork.

All right. You say he goes downtown and what?

He’s a barrister. He’s a smart man.

What games do you play?

Play hide-and-seek. Look, and Duncan finds me.

Duncan finds you.

Uh-huh. Can’t find Duncan. He knows better places than me to hide. Duncan is older than you, isn’t he? Yes. How much older? He’s two years older than me. Now tell me about your father. Is he a tall man or a short man?

He’s tall.

What color hair?

Sort of reddish, like mine.

Your hair is red?

Uh-huh. It’s real red.

[Ruth’s hair decidedly is not red. It’s brown.]

And what is your name?

Bridey.

Why did they name you Bridey?

Bridey… Bridey.

Oh, I see, Bridey. Why did they name you that?

Named me after my grandmother, Bridget…’n’ I’m Bridey. I see. All right, now tell me about your mother. Is she a big woman or a little woman?

Just medium… she is.

What color hair?

Black.

Tall or short?

She’s just medium.

And what is her name?

Kathleen.

Uh-huh. What are the names of any of your neighbors?

Don’t have any neighbors… live outside the village….

All right. Now, see if you can see yourself when you’re a little older. Get older than eight. See if you can see yourself growing
up. See if you can see yourself when you were about fifteen years old. … Can you do that?

Uh-huh.

Do you have a job about the time you are fifteen years old? Are you working anyplace? No. Do you stay at home? Well, I go to Mrs…. Mrs…. Mrs…. uh… Strayne’s Day School, and I stay away from home all week.

Oh, you’re going to school.

Uh-huh.

What are you studying?

Oh, to be a lady… just
house
things… and
proper
things.

I see. Do you ever get married?

Yes.

What is the name of the man you marry?

Marry… Brian.

Who?

Brian.

Is that his first name or last name?

First name.

What is his last name?

MacCarthy.

All right. What does he do?

His father is a barrister too, and he goes to school. And we get married. He goes to school at Belfast.

Uh-huh. And is the marriage a happy one?

Yes.

You don’t have any fights?

Oh, some. Mostly just… little fights.

But you like Brian?

Oh yes.

Do you have any children?

No.

You never have any children?

No. No children.

I see. Do you always live in Cork?

No… go to Belfast.

Go to Belfast?

Uh-huh. Brian goes to school in Belfast. His parents live in Cork, but his grandmother lives in Belfast, and we live in a cottage in the back of her house while he goes to school.

Then he always provides well for you?

Yes.

But you have no children?

No children.

Do you live in Belfast?

Yes.

Do you like Belfast as well as Cork?

No.

Do you have any friends in Belfast?

Yes.

What are their names?

Mary Catherine and her husband… his name is Kevin. Have children, and we love to go over there.

What church do you go to?

I go to St. Theresa’s.

St. Theresa’s.

Uh-huh… in Belfast.

What is the name of the priest? What is the name of the father?

Father John. Father John.

Do you know your catechism?

Oh… oh… married a Catholic…. Don’t know as I should. Don’t believe…

Oh, weren’t you a Catholic when you were little?

No.

What were you when you were little?

I was a Protestant.

What kind of a Protestant?

Went to a little church. It was a… just a… non-sectarian sort of thing.

All right. What are some Irish words? What are some Irish words?

Oh… oh… you want to know. Oh, there’s a colleen ’n’ a… oh… I try to think of the word for the ghost…. What do you call a ghost? Oh, I
think
… 
mother socks
… oh. There’s a… oh… a
brate!

What’s that word?

Brate.

What does that mean?

Aw, that’s a… little cup… that you drink out of, ’n’ you wish on it. Very… very Irish, you know. Just something we think about all the time… wish on it. Drink and just wish on a brate…, Oh, I can’t think.

Are there any prayers… Irish prayers… with Irish words?

We always say the prayers from the Bible just… at our house.

Can you say any of them now, say any one prayer now? Say the prayer we say before our meal:

That’s before we eat.

All right. Now is there anything else that you can tell us about Irish customs, customs or traditions in Ireland, that you would like to tell us about? Have you ever been to a wake?

Oh yes, been to the wake before the funeral. Oh, it was… it was with Brian, ’n’ his uncle ’n’… they all stay up… and they’re all very unhappy. It’s always the day before, you see. It’s always the day before they take ’em to
ditch
them… in the grounds, and they all sit around and weep and drink tea, and everybody’s unhappy. Then the next day they
ditch
them.