walked into my office and claimed prenatal memory that’s really recent.” He paused. “You’re sure these dreams never vary? There’s never anything new?”
“No.”
“Interesting. I’ll use a better word than that: fantastic. Sam Goodman was right.”
“The question is—can you help me?”
“I don’t know. I’m still trying to digest what you’ve just told me.”
“I wish to God I knew what was happening to me. If you have any idea at all …”
“Let me put it this way. If men like Staub don’t know, then I can’t illuminate your problem any further. That is, not on
their
terms. But without going into a long song and dance about some of the work we’ve been doing in the Psi area, I can tell you this. We have some reason to believe, in our limited frame of reference, that recurring dreams like yours may be an indication of genuine prenatal memories. The fact that the same details accurately repeat themselves overand over makes the possibility even stronger. And the fact that they are almost contemporary makes them even more intriguing. However, from your point of view, they’re tormenting and debilitating, both mentally and physically. And in time they could be dangerous. It’s important to penetrate through to them, if we can. My suggestion, Dr. Proud, is that we try regressive hypnosis.”
“Regressive hypnosis?”
“Yes. Once in a great while, we’re able to regress people in a trance state back to prenatal memory. Presumably, they’re able to remember details of their previous lives. I’d like to try that with you. If it works, we may open up a very important door.”
“What do you mean?”
Bentley took a deep breath. “Dr. Proud, in every case I’ve ever known about in which a subject regressed to a prenatal state, the ‘memories’ have always gone far back in time—so far back that nobody can check to prove the reincarnation. Even the celebrated Bridey Murphy goes too far back for easy and conclusive proof. She is supposed to have been born in 1798 and died in 1864. The controversy about her is still going on, and it’ll go on for a long time, because there’s no way of checking it out.”
Bentley paused. “Now you walk in here and drop a bombshell in my lap. Without any regressive hypnosis at all, you’ve experienced dream fragments just a few years away from being contemporary. All of them fall into the same time frame—according to the Automobile Dream, as you call it, sometime in the forties. Mind you, that’s what the hallucination says. That doesn’t mean it’s true. I’m not buying it, at least not all the way. It’s still possible you saw a picture of that car, or even the car itself, a long time ago and stored it in your memory bank. In none of your dreams can you recall any names whatever—names of people, the town, anything we could follow up and
prove
. But if we can regress you back into prenatal memory, and it’s a very big IF, then maybe you’ll come up with something—the name of this town you lived in, your own name,or, rather, the name of the man you call X. If you knew the name of the town, for instance, you could go back and visit it. Find some answers. Obviously, if it exists in reality, it’ll still be there.”
“My God,” Peter said softly. “That’s—frightening.”
“I know,” said Bentley dryly. “It’s an interesting scenario. But don’t count on it. We ran out of miracles long ago, and I don’t think anything’s changed. But if you agree, I’d definitely like to try it. And if it doesn’t work, we’ll try to attack your problem through suggestion hypnosis. That means that I’ll try to get rid of the hallucinations through suggestion—exorcise them, so to speak. Well, what do you say?”
“I’ll try anything at this point.”
“All right. Suppose you be in my office tomorrow morning at ten o’clock.”
When the door closed, Hall Bentley leaned back in his chair and shut his eyes.
It was enough to stagger
“No.”
“Interesting. I’ll use a better word than that: fantastic. Sam Goodman was right.”
“The question is—can you help me?”
“I don’t know. I’m still trying to digest what you’ve just told me.”
“I wish to God I knew what was happening to me. If you have any idea at all …”
“Let me put it this way. If men like Staub don’t know, then I can’t illuminate your problem any further. That is, not on
their
terms. But without going into a long song and dance about some of the work we’ve been doing in the Psi area, I can tell you this. We have some reason to believe, in our limited frame of reference, that recurring dreams like yours may be an indication of genuine prenatal memories. The fact that the same details accurately repeat themselves overand over makes the possibility even stronger. And the fact that they are almost contemporary makes them even more intriguing. However, from your point of view, they’re tormenting and debilitating, both mentally and physically. And in time they could be dangerous. It’s important to penetrate through to them, if we can. My suggestion, Dr. Proud, is that we try regressive hypnosis.”
“Regressive hypnosis?”
“Yes. Once in a great while, we’re able to regress people in a trance state back to prenatal memory. Presumably, they’re able to remember details of their previous lives. I’d like to try that with you. If it works, we may open up a very important door.”
“What do you mean?”
Bentley took a deep breath. “Dr. Proud, in every case I’ve ever known about in which a subject regressed to a prenatal state, the ‘memories’ have always gone far back in time—so far back that nobody can check to prove the reincarnation. Even the celebrated Bridey Murphy goes too far back for easy and conclusive proof. She is supposed to have been born in 1798 and died in 1864. The controversy about her is still going on, and it’ll go on for a long time, because there’s no way of checking it out.”
Bentley paused. “Now you walk in here and drop a bombshell in my lap. Without any regressive hypnosis at all, you’ve experienced dream fragments just a few years away from being contemporary. All of them fall into the same time frame—according to the Automobile Dream, as you call it, sometime in the forties. Mind you, that’s what the hallucination says. That doesn’t mean it’s true. I’m not buying it, at least not all the way. It’s still possible you saw a picture of that car, or even the car itself, a long time ago and stored it in your memory bank. In none of your dreams can you recall any names whatever—names of people, the town, anything we could follow up and
prove
. But if we can regress you back into prenatal memory, and it’s a very big IF, then maybe you’ll come up with something—the name of this town you lived in, your own name,or, rather, the name of the man you call X. If you knew the name of the town, for instance, you could go back and visit it. Find some answers. Obviously, if it exists in reality, it’ll still be there.”
“My God,” Peter said softly. “That’s—frightening.”
“I know,” said Bentley dryly. “It’s an interesting scenario. But don’t count on it. We ran out of miracles long ago, and I don’t think anything’s changed. But if you agree, I’d definitely like to try it. And if it doesn’t work, we’ll try to attack your problem through suggestion hypnosis. That means that I’ll try to get rid of the hallucinations through suggestion—exorcise them, so to speak. Well, what do you say?”
“I’ll try anything at this point.”
“All right. Suppose you be in my office tomorrow morning at ten o’clock.”
When the door closed, Hall Bentley leaned back in his chair and shut his eyes.
It was enough to stagger
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