The Press: Yes, Virginia, There Is a Bridey

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In the national furor over The Search for Bridey Murphy (TIME, March 19), one rational theory gained ground to explain how a hypnotized housewife in Colorado could "recall" a 19th century existence as Bridey, a redhead in Cork. The theory: Housewife Virginia Tighe, under hypnosis, had simply woven the story out of odds and ends that lay in her subconscious mind from childhood. That was the trail that Hearst's Chicago American took in searching for Bridey Murphy. Digging into Mrs. Tighe's Chicago childhood, American reporters found a wealth of names and incidents that looked plainly like the raw material for the Bridey story. This week the American topped off its series by finding the source of the elusive heroine herself: Mrs. Anthony Corkell, nee Bridie Murphy, 59-year-old mother of seven who lived just across the street during young Virginia's impressionable early years. The little girl was curious about the Corkell family's Irish background, had a crush on a Corkell boy named John, the anglicized version of Sean—the spectral Bridey Murphy's husband. A onetime neighborhood playmate remembered Virginia well: "She had a good imagination. I always thought she could write a book."