Nicholas P. Spanos

Virginia Tighe helped make past-life regression through hypnosis famous in 1952 when she was hypnotized and began speaking as Bridey Murphy, a nineteenth-century woman from Cork, Ireland. As Bridey Murphy, Tighe was able to recount many details of her life as an Irishwoman. She had many people convinced. Investigators swarmed to Ireland in search of Bridey Murphy. However, traveling out of the country was unnecessary. Bridey Murphy was found to be a neighbor of Tighe's from her childhood. What began as evidence of past lives ended as a vivid imagination.

Even so, past-life regression through hypnosis continued to grow in popularity. If a person in a hypnotic state could remember past lives, it would prove there is life after death. However, critics continue to argue that past-life regression is impossible and that hypnosis...