Authors: Unknown
A Yes.
Q Does your eyewitness account of the nightmares differ from that of Dr Vassar’s?
A No.
Q How often did these nightmares happen?
A The first few weeks they came about every third night, then increased as time went on. By the time we went to see Dr Vassar they were happening every night.
Q Did the nightmares ever vary in nature or content?
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 neighbour. 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 paediatrician. 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.
Q Then why didn’t you call the police or send for one of the men on duty in the apartment house?
A I needed Mr Hoover’s help!
MR VELIE Your Honour, if the court please, it has come to my attention that Mrs Templeton suffered a severe trauma yesterday brought about by the injury of her daughter in an accident. Mrs Templeton is in a highly agitated and emotional state, and I feel she should be spared the burden of testifying at this time.
MR MACK Your Honour, this is patently a device by the prosecution to prevent this witness from testifying because the witness’ testimony will destroy the prosecution’s case.
MR VELIE I’m sure the defence joins the prosecution in wanting to get to the truth of this matter; therefore, it is important that the testimony being presented be given in the absence of disturbing emotional influences. I believe that a recess until tomorrow morning in order to give the witness an opportunity to calm herself so that she may answer questions with some degree of responsibility is in order. I believe it not only is the humanitarian thing to do but will best serve the ends of justice.
MR MACK It is because the defence wants the truth to come out that it believes this witness should be permitted to testify here and now, and I object to Mr Velie’s statements concerning Mrs Templeton’s condition and state of mind which imply that she is incapable of testifying honestly and truthfully at this time, and I request that his statements be stricken from the record and that the jury be instructed to disregard them.
THE COURT I won’t strike the remarks from the record, but I will instruct the jury that arguments made by either side are not to be considered as evidence. Mrs Templeton, are you able to continue?
MRS TEMPLETON Yes, I’m all right. I want to continue.
THE COURT Proceed, Mr Mack.
Q by MR mack You said you needed Mr Hoover’s help, Mrs Templeton. What help did you need from Mr Hoover?
A I needed him to help stop my daughter’s nightmare, to bring it to an end, as he did before.
Q And did you ask Mr Hoover to help you?
A I didn’t have to. He came into the apartment and immediately began saying those things to her.
Q What things?
A You know, calling to her, telling her he was here now, and that everything was all right. He said, ‘Audrey Rose! It’s Daddy! Here, darling! I’m here!’
Q Did that help your daughter?
A Yes, almost at once. She seemed to recognize him, as she did on the previous night, and rushed into his arms, and then, as he was comforting her, she Just fell asleep. Peacefully.
Q What happened after he calmed your daughter?
A He carried her upstairs, and he washed her wounds and then dressed them. And he put her to bed.
Q Was this done with your consent?
A Yes.
Q Did you have a discussion with Mr Hoover at that time?
A Yes.
Q What did he say to you?
A He said that Ivy was in danger. That his daughter’s soul - that is, Audrey Rose’s soul - was crying out to him for help through Ivy’s nightmares. That Audrey Rose was very unhappy and was seeking to escape this earth life, and because of that, she would be pushing Ivy into dangerous moments.
Q Did he say anything else?
A He said that since her soul was crying out for help, he must take an active part in providing it with the help it needed, that we would have to form a bond between us, a bond so tight with all the love I had and all the love that he had that together we might mend and patch it and put the soul of Audrey Rose to rest again.
Q Did you believe what he was telling you?
A No. I just couldn’t comprehend this kind of thinking. It was foreign to my upbringing and religious training. I just couldn’t believe it.
Q Mrs Templeton, is your belief as to what Mr Hoover told you the same today as it was that night?
A No.
Q Tell us what way your belief has changed?
A (Answer unclear.) the court Will the witness please speak up?
A I said, I believe now in Mr Hoover and what he is claiming.
MR VELIE Your Honour. I object.
THE COURT Yes, Mr Velie? What is your objection?
MR VELIE I’ve changed my mind. I withdraw the objection.
THE COURT Continue.
Q by MR mack Are there any reasons, Mrs Templeton, that you can describe that have caused you to change your opinion of Elliot Hoover?
A Yes, a number of events have happened recently to convince me that Mr Hoover’s fears were justified.
Q What, specifically?
A Well, my husband and I made the decision to send Ivy to a boarding school out of the city for at least while the trial lasted.
I thought she would be safe there, away from the influence of Mr Hoover. I thought that Audrey Rose, if indeed she were the force that triggered the nightmares, would remain subdued away from Mr Hoover’s close proximity. And indeed the nightmares did stop, but other things started happening. Subtle things.
Q For example?
A Well, she caught a cold. Most of the girls at the school had colds, but Ivy’s cold developed into a severe bronchial infection. She was up half the night - that was this past Saturday night - having terrible coughing spasms. And she had a fever. I didn’t have a thermometer, but I could feel her head all flushed and feverish. I don’t know how we managed to get through the night it was so terrible, and the next morning Bill suggested we take her back to the city to see Dr Kaplan. But I was afraid to take her back to the city, because of Mr Hoover’s being there, so we took her to United Hospital in Port Chester instead, since it was Sunday, and the few doctors we called in Westport were unable to see her. Well, when we got to the hospital, the fever was gone, and so was the bronchial infection. The cough had completely subsided, and the doctor who examined her found her perfectly normal, except for a slight redness in her throat.
Q And what greater significance did you place in this, other than your daughter had suffered a slight cold?
A Well, I saw the whole thing as a ploy to get Ivy back to the city. The coughing spasms and fever were meant to frighten us into taking Ivy down to see Dr Kaplan. And it almost worked.
Q You say, ‘a ploy to get Ivy back to the city,’ Mrs Templeton. Who was behind this ploy?
A Audrey Rose, of course.
MR VELIE Objection. The witness’ answer is unbelievable. Her reference to a mythical Audrey Rose is compelling proof that she is under such an emotional strain as to be incapable of giving competent testimony.
THE COURT Objection sustained.
Q BY MR mack Did anything else happen?
A That same night, Sunday night, I remained in Westport with Ivy while Bill returned to the city. Well, that night I was awakened by a noise coming from Ivy’s room. When I went to investigate, I found Ivy in the bathroom, standing naked in front of the mirror, looking at herself and giggling and whispering, ‘Audrey Rose,’ as if she were calling to her, as if Audrey Rose were hiding somewhere inside her body and Ivy were trying to reach her.
Q Did your daughter know about Audrey Rose at this time?
A Oh, yes, we had told her everything the night before. Some of the girls at the school found out what was going on down here and quickly spread the word around, so we thought it best to tell Ivy everything.