What Dreams May Come
Epilogue
I HAVE JUST returned from Philadelphia.
Maybe it was foolish of me. It's entirely possible that the woman who brought me the manuscript was aware of the existence of Dr. Braningwell and his wife. There is no way of knowing for certain. I can only wonder again. If this is so, why should she go to all that trouble to deceive me?
At first, I thought of knocking on the Braningwells' door and telling them my story.
Rationality soon dispensed with that.
What I did was wait until their maid took the baby for a carriage ride. I walked behind her to a small neighborhood park, and, there, while she was sitting on a bench, I stopped and chatted with her briefly, glancing at the child. Feeling a perfect fool for doing so. But feeling something else as well as I stared into the eyes of that child.
Awe.
Does that baby boy possess the soul of my brother Chris? Will he really go to India when he has passed his thirtieth year, meet a young woman possessing the soul of my brother's wife Ann and marry her?
I wish to God I knew.
I'm sixty-three years old, however. It's obvious I'll never live to verify it. I could tell my children to check it out but I'm sure they'd find it difficult to retain interest in a vague, improbable event which may or may not occur decades hence in a country thousands of miles away.
So there it will, doubtless, end.
All I can do is repeat: If the manuscript is true, all of us had better examine our lives.
Carefully.
THE END Bibliography
Appleman, John Alan. Your Psychic Powers and Immortality. New York: Frederick Fell, Inc., 1968.
Atkinson, W. W. Reincarnation and the Law of Karma. Chicago: Yogi Publication Society, 1936.
Bayless, Raymond. The Other Side of Death. New Hyde Park, N.Y.: University Books, Inc., 1971.
---------. Apparitions and Survival of Death. New Hyde
Park, N.Y.: University Books, Inc., 1973.
Borgia, Anthony. Life in the World Unseen. London: Od-hams Press, Ltd., 1954.
---------. More About Life in the World Unseen. London:
Odhams Press, Ltd., 1956.
--------. Here and Hereafter. New York: The Citadel
Press, 1959.
Boss, Judy. In Silence They Return. St. Paul, Minn.: Llewellyn Publications, 1972.
Brandon, W. Incarnation. New York: C. & R. Anthony, Inc., 1936.
------. Love in the Afterlife. New York: C. & R. Anthony, Inc., 1956. -------. We Knew These Men. New York: C. & R. An-
thony, Inc., 1957.
-. Open the Door! New York: C. & R. Anthony,
Inc., 1958.
Brennan, J. H. Five Keys to Past Lives. New York: Samuel Weiser, Inc., 1971. Brown, R. Unfinished Symphonies. New York: William Morrow & Co., 1971.
Cayce, Hugh Lynn. Life After Death (cassette). Hollywood, Calif.: Dak Enterprises, 1975.
Colton, Ann Ree. Men in White Apparel. California: Arc Publishing Co., 1961.
Conan Doyle, Arthur. The New Revelation. New York: George H. Doran Co., 1918.
Crookall, Robert. Intimations of Immortality. Greenwood, S.C.: The Attic Press, Inc., 1965.
---------. The Next World--and the Next. London: Theo-
sophical Publishing House, 1966.
Daniels, Dr. John C. Incarnation and Reincarnation. New York: Pillar Books, 1975.
Delacour, J. B. Glimpses of the Beyond. New York: De-lacorte Press, 1974.
Desmond, Shaw. You Can Speak With Your Dead. London: Methuen & Co., 1941.
Dresser, C. Spirit World and Spirit Life. San Jose, Calif.: Cosmos Publishing Co., 1927.
Ebon, Martin. They Knew the Unknown. New York: The World Publishing Co., 1971.
Evans-Wentz, W. Y. The Tibetan Book of the Dead. New York: Oxford University Press, 1960.
Farthing, Geoffrey. When We Die. London: Theosophical Publishing House, 1968.
Findlay, Arthur. On the Edge of the Etheric. Great Britain: Psychic Press, 1931.
---------. The Way of Life: A Guide to the Etheric World.
London: Psychic Press, Ltd., 1956.
Ford, Arthur. The Life Beyond Death. New York: Berkley Medallion Books, 1971.
---------. Unknown but Known. New York: Harper & Row, 1968.
Fortune, Dion. Through the Gates of Death. London: The Aquarian Press, 1968.
Francis, J. R. The Encyclopedia of Death. Amherst, Wisconsin: Amherst Press, 1896.
Garrett, Eileen. Does Man Survive Death, ed. with Introduction.and Notes. New York: Helix Press, 1957.
Great Mystery of Life Hereafter, The. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1957.
Hampton, Charles. The Transition Called Death. Illinois: Theosophical Publishing House, 1943.
Heindel, Max. The Passing--and Life Afterward. Ocean-side, Calif.: The Rosicrucian Fellowship, 1971.
Heywood, Rosalind. Beyond the Reach of Sense. New York: E. P. Dutton & Co., 1961.
Hodson, Geoffrey. Through the Gateway of Death. India: Theosophical Publishing House, 1967.
---------. Reincarnation: Fact or Fallacy? Wheaton, 111.:
Theosophical Publishing House, 1967.
Jacobson, Nils O., M.D. Life Without Death. New York: Dell Publishing Co., 1973.
Keith, M. R. What Everybody Ought to Know About Heaven. Palmer Publications, 1968.
---------. So You 're Going to Heaven. Palmer Publications,
1969.
Kennedy, David. A Venture in Immortality. Gerrards Cross, England: Colin Smythe, 1973.
Langley, Noel. Edgar Cayce on Reincarnation. New York: Paperback Library, 1967.
Leadbeater, C. W. The Life After Death. India: Theosophical Publishing House, 1952. Leek, Sybil. Reincarnation: The Second Chance. New York: Stein & Day, 1974.
LeShan, Lawrence. The Medium, the Mystic and the Physicist. New York: The Viking Press, 1974.
Lodge, Sir Oliver. Raymond. New York: George H. Doran Co., 1916.
Loehr, Franklin. Diary After Death. Los Angeles: Religious Research Frontier Books, 1976.
Matson, Archie. Afterlife. New York: Harper & Row, 1977.
Medhurst, R. G. Crookes and the Spirit World. New York: Taplinger Publishing Co., 1972.
Michael, Russ. There Is No Death. Lakemont, Georgia: CSA Press, 1971.
Montgomery, Ruth. A World Beyond. New York: Fawcett Crest, 1971.
Moody, Raymond, M. D. Life After Life. New York: Bantam Books, 1977.
Moore-Douglas. Reincarnation. York Cliffs, Maine: Arcane Publications, 1968.
Moss, Thelma. The Probability of the Impossible. Los Angeles: J. P. Tardier, Inc., 1974.
Osis, Karlis & Nester, Marian L. ' 'Deathbed Observations by Doctors and Nurses,'' International Journal of Parapsychology, Vol. 14, No. 2.
Owen, The Rev. G. Vale. The Life Beyond the Veil in five volumes: The Lowlands of Heaven; The Highlands of Heaven; The Ministry of Heaven; The Battalions of Heaven; The Outlands of Heaven. London: The Greater World Association, 1964.
Panchadasi, Swami. The Astral World. No publisher or publication date given.
Pauchard, A. The Other World. London: Rider & Co., 1952.
Perkins, James S. Through Death to Rebirth. Wheaton, 111.: Theosophical Publishing House, 1961.
Ramacharaka, Yogi. The Life Beyond Death. Chicago: Yogi Publication Society, 1937.
Randall, Edw. C. Frontiers of the After-Life. New York: Alfred Knopf, 1922. Roberts, Jane. Seth Speaks. New York: Prentice-Hall,
1972. ---------. The Seth Material. New York: Prentice-Hall,
1975. Rogo, D. Scott. NAD, A Study of Some Unusual "Other
World" Experiences. New York: University Books,
1970. Sculthorp, F. C. Excursions to the Spirit World. London:
Almorris Press, Ltd., 1962. Sherman, Harold. You Live After Death. New York: C. &
R. Anthony, Inc., 1949. ---------. You Can Communicate With the Unseen World.
New York: Fawcett Gold Medal, 1974. Sherwood, Jane. The Country Beyond. London: Neville
Spearman, 1969.
Smith, Suzy. The Book of James. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1974. Spiritual Unfoldment: One. Hampshire, England: The
White Eagle Publishing Trust, 1972. Spragget, Allen. The Case for Immortality. New York:
New American Library, 1974. St. Clair, Mae Gimbert. On Life and Death: The Edgar
Cayce Readings. Compiled by. Virginia Beach, Va.:
Association for Research and Enlightenment, 1973. Steam, Jess. The Search for a Soul. New York: Doubleday
and Company, Inc., 1972. Sullivan, Eileen. Arthur Ford Speaks from Beyond. New
York: Fawcett Crest, 1975.
Thomas, The Rev. C. Drayton. Beyond Life's Sunset. London: Psychic Press, Ltd., 1940. Van Dusen, Wilson. The Presence of Other Worlds. New
York: Harper & Row, 1974. Vivian, Margaret. The Doorway. London: Psychic Press, Ltd., 1941. Watson, Lyall. The Romeo Error. New York: Doubleday,
1975. Weiss, J. E. The Vestibule, ed./written. New York: Pocket
Books, 1974.
Welch, William Addams. Talks With the Dead. New
York: Pinnacle Books, Inc., 1975. White, S. E. & H. Across The Unknown. New York: E. P.
Dutton & Co., 1939. White, Steward Edward. The Stars Are Still There. New
York: E. P. Dutton & Co., 1946. ---------. The Betty Book. New York: Berkley Medallion
Books, 1969. Willink, A. The World of the Unseen. New York: Mac-
Millan & Co., 1893. Wright, L. L. After Death--What? San Diego, Calif.:
Point Loma Publications, 1974.
Maybe it was foolish of me. It's entirely possible that the woman who brought me the manuscript was aware of the existence of Dr. Braningwell and his wife. There is no way of knowing for certain. I can only wonder again. If this is so, why should she go to all that trouble to deceive me?
At first, I thought of knocking on the Braningwells' door and telling them my story.
Rationality soon dispensed with that.
What I did was wait until their maid took the baby for a carriage ride. I walked behind her to a small neighborhood park, and, there, while she was sitting on a bench, I stopped and chatted with her briefly, glancing at the child. Feeling a perfect fool for doing so. But feeling something else as well as I stared into the eyes of that child.
Awe.
Does that baby boy possess the soul of my brother Chris? Will he really go to India when he has passed his thirtieth year, meet a young woman possessing the soul of my brother's wife Ann and marry her?
I wish to God I knew.
I'm sixty-three years old, however. It's obvious I'll never live to verify it. I could tell my children to check it out but I'm sure they'd find it difficult to retain interest in a vague, improbable event which may or may not occur decades hence in a country thousands of miles away.
So there it will, doubtless, end.
All I can do is repeat: If the manuscript is true, all of us had better examine our lives.
Carefully.
THE END Bibliography
Appleman, John Alan. Your Psychic Powers and Immortality. New York: Frederick Fell, Inc., 1968.
Atkinson, W. W. Reincarnation and the Law of Karma. Chicago: Yogi Publication Society, 1936.
Bayless, Raymond. The Other Side of Death. New Hyde Park, N.Y.: University Books, Inc., 1971.
---------. Apparitions and Survival of Death. New Hyde
Park, N.Y.: University Books, Inc., 1973.
Borgia, Anthony. Life in the World Unseen. London: Od-hams Press, Ltd., 1954.
---------. More About Life in the World Unseen. London:
Odhams Press, Ltd., 1956.
--------. Here and Hereafter. New York: The Citadel
Press, 1959.
Boss, Judy. In Silence They Return. St. Paul, Minn.: Llewellyn Publications, 1972.
Brandon, W. Incarnation. New York: C. & R. Anthony, Inc., 1936.
------. Love in the Afterlife. New York: C. & R. Anthony, Inc., 1956. -------. We Knew These Men. New York: C. & R. An-
thony, Inc., 1957.
-. Open the Door! New York: C. & R. Anthony,
Inc., 1958.
Brennan, J. H. Five Keys to Past Lives. New York: Samuel Weiser, Inc., 1971. Brown, R. Unfinished Symphonies. New York: William Morrow & Co., 1971.
Cayce, Hugh Lynn. Life After Death (cassette). Hollywood, Calif.: Dak Enterprises, 1975.
Colton, Ann Ree. Men in White Apparel. California: Arc Publishing Co., 1961.
Conan Doyle, Arthur. The New Revelation. New York: George H. Doran Co., 1918.
Crookall, Robert. Intimations of Immortality. Greenwood, S.C.: The Attic Press, Inc., 1965.
---------. The Next World--and the Next. London: Theo-
sophical Publishing House, 1966.
Daniels, Dr. John C. Incarnation and Reincarnation. New York: Pillar Books, 1975.
Delacour, J. B. Glimpses of the Beyond. New York: De-lacorte Press, 1974.
Desmond, Shaw. You Can Speak With Your Dead. London: Methuen & Co., 1941.
Dresser, C. Spirit World and Spirit Life. San Jose, Calif.: Cosmos Publishing Co., 1927.
Ebon, Martin. They Knew the Unknown. New York: The World Publishing Co., 1971.
Evans-Wentz, W. Y. The Tibetan Book of the Dead. New York: Oxford University Press, 1960.
Farthing, Geoffrey. When We Die. London: Theosophical Publishing House, 1968.
Findlay, Arthur. On the Edge of the Etheric. Great Britain: Psychic Press, 1931.
---------. The Way of Life: A Guide to the Etheric World.
London: Psychic Press, Ltd., 1956.
Ford, Arthur. The Life Beyond Death. New York: Berkley Medallion Books, 1971.
---------. Unknown but Known. New York: Harper & Row, 1968.
Fortune, Dion. Through the Gates of Death. London: The Aquarian Press, 1968.
Francis, J. R. The Encyclopedia of Death. Amherst, Wisconsin: Amherst Press, 1896.
Garrett, Eileen. Does Man Survive Death, ed. with Introduction.and Notes. New York: Helix Press, 1957.
Great Mystery of Life Hereafter, The. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1957.
Hampton, Charles. The Transition Called Death. Illinois: Theosophical Publishing House, 1943.
Heindel, Max. The Passing--and Life Afterward. Ocean-side, Calif.: The Rosicrucian Fellowship, 1971.
Heywood, Rosalind. Beyond the Reach of Sense. New York: E. P. Dutton & Co., 1961.
Hodson, Geoffrey. Through the Gateway of Death. India: Theosophical Publishing House, 1967.
---------. Reincarnation: Fact or Fallacy? Wheaton, 111.:
Theosophical Publishing House, 1967.
Jacobson, Nils O., M.D. Life Without Death. New York: Dell Publishing Co., 1973.
Keith, M. R. What Everybody Ought to Know About Heaven. Palmer Publications, 1968.
---------. So You 're Going to Heaven. Palmer Publications,
1969.
Kennedy, David. A Venture in Immortality. Gerrards Cross, England: Colin Smythe, 1973.
Langley, Noel. Edgar Cayce on Reincarnation. New York: Paperback Library, 1967.
Leadbeater, C. W. The Life After Death. India: Theosophical Publishing House, 1952. Leek, Sybil. Reincarnation: The Second Chance. New York: Stein & Day, 1974.
LeShan, Lawrence. The Medium, the Mystic and the Physicist. New York: The Viking Press, 1974.
Lodge, Sir Oliver. Raymond. New York: George H. Doran Co., 1916.
Loehr, Franklin. Diary After Death. Los Angeles: Religious Research Frontier Books, 1976.
Matson, Archie. Afterlife. New York: Harper & Row, 1977.
Medhurst, R. G. Crookes and the Spirit World. New York: Taplinger Publishing Co., 1972.
Michael, Russ. There Is No Death. Lakemont, Georgia: CSA Press, 1971.
Montgomery, Ruth. A World Beyond. New York: Fawcett Crest, 1971.
Moody, Raymond, M. D. Life After Life. New York: Bantam Books, 1977.
Moore-Douglas. Reincarnation. York Cliffs, Maine: Arcane Publications, 1968.
Moss, Thelma. The Probability of the Impossible. Los Angeles: J. P. Tardier, Inc., 1974.
Osis, Karlis & Nester, Marian L. ' 'Deathbed Observations by Doctors and Nurses,'' International Journal of Parapsychology, Vol. 14, No. 2.
Owen, The Rev. G. Vale. The Life Beyond the Veil in five volumes: The Lowlands of Heaven; The Highlands of Heaven; The Ministry of Heaven; The Battalions of Heaven; The Outlands of Heaven. London: The Greater World Association, 1964.
Panchadasi, Swami. The Astral World. No publisher or publication date given.
Pauchard, A. The Other World. London: Rider & Co., 1952.
Perkins, James S. Through Death to Rebirth. Wheaton, 111.: Theosophical Publishing House, 1961.
Ramacharaka, Yogi. The Life Beyond Death. Chicago: Yogi Publication Society, 1937.
Randall, Edw. C. Frontiers of the After-Life. New York: Alfred Knopf, 1922. Roberts, Jane. Seth Speaks. New York: Prentice-Hall,
1972. ---------. The Seth Material. New York: Prentice-Hall,
1975. Rogo, D. Scott. NAD, A Study of Some Unusual "Other
World" Experiences. New York: University Books,
1970. Sculthorp, F. C. Excursions to the Spirit World. London:
Almorris Press, Ltd., 1962. Sherman, Harold. You Live After Death. New York: C. &
R. Anthony, Inc., 1949. ---------. You Can Communicate With the Unseen World.
New York: Fawcett Gold Medal, 1974. Sherwood, Jane. The Country Beyond. London: Neville
Spearman, 1969.
Smith, Suzy. The Book of James. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1974. Spiritual Unfoldment: One. Hampshire, England: The
White Eagle Publishing Trust, 1972. Spragget, Allen. The Case for Immortality. New York:
New American Library, 1974. St. Clair, Mae Gimbert. On Life and Death: The Edgar
Cayce Readings. Compiled by. Virginia Beach, Va.:
Association for Research and Enlightenment, 1973. Steam, Jess. The Search for a Soul. New York: Doubleday
and Company, Inc., 1972. Sullivan, Eileen. Arthur Ford Speaks from Beyond. New
York: Fawcett Crest, 1975.
Thomas, The Rev. C. Drayton. Beyond Life's Sunset. London: Psychic Press, Ltd., 1940. Van Dusen, Wilson. The Presence of Other Worlds. New
York: Harper & Row, 1974. Vivian, Margaret. The Doorway. London: Psychic Press, Ltd., 1941. Watson, Lyall. The Romeo Error. New York: Doubleday,
1975. Weiss, J. E. The Vestibule, ed./written. New York: Pocket
Books, 1974.
Welch, William Addams. Talks With the Dead. New
York: Pinnacle Books, Inc., 1975. White, S. E. & H. Across The Unknown. New York: E. P.
Dutton & Co., 1939. White, Steward Edward. The Stars Are Still There. New
York: E. P. Dutton & Co., 1946. ---------. The Betty Book. New York: Berkley Medallion
Books, 1969. Willink, A. The World of the Unseen. New York: Mac-
Millan & Co., 1893. Wright, L. L. After Death--What? San Diego, Calif.:
Point Loma Publications, 1974.