PART I

THE BEGINNING

Ellen relaxed on a comfortable sofa while I had her focus on her breathing and began to count her down into a deep hypnotic sleep. After reaching zero, I suggested that she would be in her dream. We started with the usual scene, outside of an old gray stone house where a little girl was standing. I had her describe what she saw, and when she had finished, I asked her to let herself go inside.

She began to describe a round-shaped room, almost entirely empty except for an old rocking horse and a small doll. The images came slowly as I attempted to move her around. She was unable to visit any other part of the house, just this one room, but it did seem as if no one was living there.

That was all we were able to discover in Ellen’s dreamhouse. After I brought her out of hypnosis, she was excited about her journey inside of her dream and was anxious to learn more. We decided to plan another evening of hypnosis to attempt to take her even deeper into the dream. The next time we would record it so that we could remember everything she experienced while she was in trance.

A few days later, with the tape recorder running, we began the adventure. Ellen slipped easily into trance, and when she was totally relaxed, I began to question her.

Do you remember the first time you visited the stone house?
When I was really, really small?

How old were you? One? Two?
I don’t know. Real small. Maybe a walking baby.

How did you first see the house?
It was there in my dreams.

Can you remember the day before the dream? Where were you when you dreamed that dream?

I wanted to “prime” Ellen’s memory by having her go to a period of time shortly before she had experienced her first dream of the little girl outside the old stone house. It is a common questioning technique when taking a subject back in time to a specific event. At this time the little girl in the dream was not mentioned.

I was in the bedroom.

Whose house were you in?
My mom’s and dad’s.

Was this the first house that you lived in?
No.

Which house was it?
Ring Road.

Describe that first dream.
I just saw a house, a gray stone house. It was just there. Big dark gray stones.

What did you think of this house?
It was just there.

Had you ever seen it before?
No.

Did the house scare you?
No.

What was the feeling you had about the house?
I just liked it.

What did you do?
I looked at it.

At this point in the session Ellen indicted that she was in the dream looking at the house. I followed this lead by attempting to keep her focused on the images coming into her conscious mind.

Where were you when you looked at it?
In front of it, kind of off to the side, just looking at it.

How did you get there in front?
I don’t know.

You could walk? Do you think someone brought you there? What time was it?

I wanted to know how she wound up in front of that house. Why was she there?

GETTING DOWN TO DETAILS

It must have been morning. The sun was just coming out.

What side was the sun coming from?
It seems to be coming from the back.

Were you looking into the sun?
No.

Was the sun behind you?
Yes.

Was it warm or cold?
Kind of medium.

I want you to allow yourself to be there. Now take a good look at the ground and tell me where your shadow is. Was there enough light to see your shadow?
I don’t even see that I was on the ground.

Were you floating to get there?
Yes, I was just kind of there by a wall.

By a wall?

We were beginning to get more information, bit by bit. Sometimes it takes a lot of time and patience to guide a subject under hypnosis to the point where they can easily access the information in their unconscious mind.

Just a little bit above it. I wasn’t really there. I was just dreaming.

I want to go back to your room where you were having this dream. I want you to separate yourself from the dream. I want you to step back and watch yourself while this dream is going on.
See myself inside my bedroom?

Yes.
In the middle of the bedroom the doll was there. There was this little tiny bed. We didn’t have much furniture.

Was it an old house or a new house?
I don’t know.

VERLDIN APPEARS

My intuition seemed to click in at this point as I asked a question off the top of my head. Looking back, I’m not sure where it came from, but it changed the focus of our session in an instant.

Did you ever have any imaginary friends you talked to?
Yes, Verldin. (Ellen’s answer came quickly as she casually said the name.)

Who’s Verldin?
We’re friends.

What did Verldin do?
I just played with her.

You just played with her?
Ahuh.

Did she just come and go as she wanted to?
She did.

Where did she live?
I didn’t really ever ask her.

Did she just come play with you?
Yes.

Can you describe what she looked like?
She had blond hair. She was pale. It was long hair.

How old was she?
A little bit bigger than me.