"Murder Me Twice" Hypnosis
@chireerocks recently created a post titled "Hypnosis Opens The Door Of Past Life?" Also within the last few days in a @dbuzz post @honeysaver wrote:
Hypnosis has a negative reputation for many people, maybe because it is often associated with something as a precursor of a pre-meditated crime, like robbery or rape. ...
Yeah, it could be robbery or rape. It could also be a precursor to murder most foul. What happens when you open the door to a past life and your previous life wasn't entirely law abiding?
This post is about a fourth season episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents titled "Murder Me Twice".
The episode begins with a house party in which hypnosis is being discussed. A man named Miles Farnham (Tom Helmore) who teaches a parapsychology class pontificates about the misconceptions most people have about hypnosis.
One of the party members, Lucy Pryor (Phyllis Thaxter), volunteers to be hypnotized. After the party members all gather around a table Mrs. Pryor focuses her attention as Farnham directs her into a deep hypnotic state.
Farnham regresses Mrs. Pryor to a time when she was 9 years old. Farnham asks her a few questions and Mrs. Pryor responds answering in the manner of a nine year old.
Image Source: Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Farnham then directs Mrs. Pryor to progress forward 15 years to when she is a married adult who has taken her husband's last name Pryor. The hypnotized Mrs. Lucy Pryor corrects him by stating her name is Dora.
As a parapsychology teacher Farnham surmisses that Lucy Pryor had actually regressed further into a previous life and asks some questions to confirm his hypothesis. Mrs. Pryor articulated as a mid-19th century woman. She identified herself as Dora Evans and gave a residence address in Philadelphia. She also stated that the year was 1853.
When the hypnotized Lucy Pryor was asked about her 1853 counterpart's husband she was reticent to mention anything about that subject.
When asked about her past counterpart's pastimes she lovingly expressed pride in owning a lovely garden.
Image Source: Alfred Hitchcock Presents
When Farnham asked if she would show him her garden Lucy Pryor got up out of her chair and started walking around the room elucidating the various garden features presumably she saw in her altered state of consciousness. She made her way to a window with curtains; identifying it as her rose arbor where she made her "decision".
As Mrs. Pryor walked across the room to stand behind her husband she described covertly entering the house where her 1853 counterpart's husband sat in the parlor. As Lucy Pryor described her past life counterpart sneaking up behind her unsuspecting husband sitting in the parlor Mrs. Pryor grabbed a long pair of scissors off a nearby desk and stabbed Mr. Pryor (Alan Marshal) in the back.
As Mr. Pryor fell dead on the floor and the other party members gathered around the dead body Lucy Pryor stood fixed seemingly still in her trance.
Image Source: Alfred Hitchcock Presents
This is where I'll end for now. There is a second hypnosis scene in this episode that takes place in a courtroom and this episode was remade in 1985.
As the IMDB page for this episode states while Farnham was questioning Lucy Pryor about her past life she stated that Benjamin Pierce was president but the correct name is Franklin Pierce. I suspect that was an intentional detail, not a mistake, to show Lucy Pryor was feigning the trance. Lucy's final line after the inquest into her husband's death strongly suggests that it was all an act. I plan to eventually make a post about whether or not Lucy Pryor was faking her hypnotized state in the Fan Theories community using my main @holovision account.