Murder Me Twice story
At a dinner party, hypnotist Miles Farnham demonstrates his skills on Lucy Pryor. She speaks in old-fashioned English, claims to be "Dora Evans", and kills her husband with a pair of scissors. During the inquest, Farnham insists that Lucy was inhabited by the spirit of Dora Evans, a real woman who killed her husband in 1853. Farnham hypnotizes Lucy to prove this, but during the testimony "Dora" stabs Farnham, killing him. Lucy is set free, and when a journalist questions her if she planned it all, she replies, "Wouldst not thee like to know." Directed by: David Swift. Story by: Lawrence Treat, Irving Elman.
12 total · 1 choice · 3 major · 8 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| speculative hypnosis | choice | Lucy became inhabited by the spirit of a 19th century spouse murderer each of the two times she was hypnotized by the self-proclaimed meta-physician Miles Farnham, or so it seemed. Lucy was briefly hypnotically regressed to her nine-year-old self. In the prologue, Alfred Hitchcock was hypnotically regressed to his four-year-old self. |
| husband and wife | major | Lucy killed her husband in the opening segment of the story. |
| spirit possession | major | The spirit of the 19th century spouse murderer Dora Evans inhabited Lucy's body each of the two times Lucy was put under hypnosis, or so Lucy would have everyone believe. |
| spouse murder | major | Lucy, or possibly the spirit of Dora Evans in the body of Lucy, killed her husband by stabbing him in the back with a pair of scissors. An inquest was subsequently held to determined whether she should be charged with murder. |
| blackmail | minor | Miles tried to "cut himself in" on Lucy's scheme. |
| hatred | minor | Lucy mentioned the hatred she felt as Dora. |
| legal occupation | minor | A judge and some lawyers were doing what such people do at Lucy's inquest. |
| master and servant | minor | Lucy called in her maid Alma to make her aware that Miles Farnham was no longer welcome in the house. |
| murder | minor | Lucy killed Miles Farnham while under hypnosis and played it off as if it were the spirit of a 19th century spouse murderer that was in control of her body. |
| reminiscence about one's youth | minor | Both Lucy and Alfred Hitchcock were made to relate information about their childhood while under hypnosis. |