A No, they pretty much duplicated each other.
Q So that in each nightmare the child was running around the room, sobbing and babbling, “Hothothot?”
A Yes.
Q And in each nightmare she was attempting to touch the window with her hands and recoiling as if in pain?
A Yes.
Q How long did this first episode of nightmares continue?
A Through the winter and spring of ’67. They became less and less frequent under Dr. Vassar’s therapy. By summer they had stopped.
Q At the time did you attribute their lessening frequency to something Dr. Vassar was doing in her therapy?
A Yes, of course.
Q So that when they finally stopped, you credited Dr. Vassar with having brought about their end?
A Yes.
Q Did Dr. Vassar ever discuss with you her opinion as to what triggered the nightmares?
A She said that Ivy was expressing some special fears of separation from me and that she appeared to have mastered them.
Q Then she never once confided to you any of the thoughts and suspicions she put down in her notebook?
A No.
Q Let’s move forward from the 1967 series of nightmares to the time when Ivy next experienced a nightmare. Am I correct in placing the date at October 22, 1974?
A Yes.
Q Please relate the circumstances of what happened on that night, to the best of your recollection.
A Yes. We sent Ivy to spend the night with a neighbor. We were expecting Mr. Hoover. He was coming to visit us, and we thought it best that Ivy not be around since—well, you know—because of the things he was claiming and the way he was acting.
Q Will you explain what you mean by “the things he was claiming and the way he was acting”?
A Well, he was claiming that Ivy was the reincarnation of his daughter, Audrey Rose. And he was very persistent in his claims, very assured of himself. Of course, we thought his claims outlandish and that possibly he was a mental case. That’s why my husband and I didn’t want Ivy around when he showed up. We didn’t know what he might do or say.
Q When did you first learn that Ivy was having a nightmare that evening?
A About an hour after Mr. Hoover arrived. Carole—Mrs. Federico—phoned us, terribly upset. She said that Ivy was having a fit and was running around the room, screaming and babbling, and that she couldn’t waken her. Naturally, my husband and I knew what that meant.
Q And you rushed down to the Federico apartment?
A Yes.
Q And what did you find?
A Ivy was in the midst of a nightmare. It had returned.
Q And this nightmare was similar in nature and content to the ones she suffered seven years before?
A Identical. Even her speech and movements were those of a much younger child.
Q So that during the first episode of nightmares, whereas she seemed to be duplicating the speech and displaying the muscular coordination of an older child, during this nightmare, she seemed to be duplicating the speech and muscular coordination of a younger child?
A Yes, it seemed that way.
Q What happened next?
A The same conditions prevailed. She was running about the room, falling over furniture, sobbing and pleading and babbling those words, “hothothot,” and trying to get to the window, but not being able to.
Q And as before, you could do nothing to help her?
A Yes. It was the same as before. We could only stand by and watch. Until—
Q Yes?
A Mr. Hoover came into the room.
Q What happened then?
A He said, “My God.” He seemed staggered by what he was seeing, and he said, “My God,” as if he suddenly realized the truth of what was happening.
Q And what did he do?
A He went to Ivy—she was near the window, sobbing and screaming terribly—and he called to her.
Q By name?
A Yes.
Q What name?
A Audrey Rose.
Q And did she respond to him?
A Not at first. It took some time. He continued to call to her and tried to break through her nightmare. He’d say, “Come to me! Come, Audrey Rose! It’s Daddy, I’m here! Come!”
Q And did she finally go to him?
A Yes. It was incredible. All at once, she seemed released from the nightmare, and she went to him.
Q How did she go to him?
A She ran to him. And threw her arms around him.
Q And then?
A He held her. And he comforted her. And soon she fell asleep. Peacefully.
Q What was your reaction to what you were seeing?
A I didn’t know what to think. I was amazed.
Q Did you discuss it with your husband?
A Yes, later.
Q What did he say?
A Bill thought he was some kind of hypnotist. That he had somehow cast a spell on Ivy and influenced her into doing what she did.
Q Did you agree with him?
A Yes.
Q Let us move on to the following night, Mrs. Templeton. The night of the twenty-third. Did the nightmare recur on that night?
A Yes.
Q Describe what happened on that night, to the best of your recollection?
A The same things happened. The screaming, running around, babbling—it was a duplication of what happened the night before, except Mr. Hoover wasn’t there to stop it. The nightmare continued for hours until the doctor arrived and gave her a sedative.
Q That would be Dr. Kaplan?
A Yes. He’s Ivy’s pediatrician. He’s taken care of her since she was born.
Q Let us move on to the night of the twenty-fourth. Your husband was out of town, I believe, and you were alone with Ivy?
A Yes.
Q Tell the jury what happened on that night.
A The nightmare started at about ten o’clock, and it was the most terrifying of them all. In trying to phone Dr. Kaplan, I accidentally left the bedroom door open and she got out. She fell down the stairs and hurt herself. She was bleeding, and there was nothing I could do to help her. She kept running away from me every time I’d approach. I’d never seen her so desperate and hysterical. She kept running around the living room from window to window, lunging at them and then pulling away, seeking to get out. I was terrified that she might accidentally go through one of them.
Q Did you have a visitor that night?
A Yes. Mr. Hoover. He came to the apartment house at about eleven.
Q Did you ask him up?
A Yes.
Q Why did you ask him up?
A Because I needed help.
Q But wasn’t the doctor coming?
A I needed help immediately.