The Case of Hannah Cotrell/Lucinda Morgan Bryant

This casefile was compiled by Alva Keel through witness interviews and observations conducted by SQ.

      A teenage Amish girl, residing in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, was brought into hospital one morning with a high fever and blood oozing from her wrists. Mr. Callan and I were called by a hospital orderly to investigate this case of possible stigmata (wounds on the body that appear spontaneously and that resemble the crucifixion wounds of Jesus). Usually, in these cases, there are found to be real wounds that are the source of the blood, but in the case of Hannah Cotrell, there were no wounds at all on her wrists. It was not a case of stigmata, nor was it a suicide attempt - it fell on Mr. Callan and myself to sort out what was happening to Hannah. Before she has been brought into hospital, while she was lying on her bed appearing to bleed from the wrists, she began to chant, "You don't know me." This would prove to be quite significant.
      Once Hannah had been brought home, we questioned her younger sister, who stated that Hannah had been acting strangely lately - sleep walking, acting out of character, and had even been found dancing on the roadside in the middle of the night. Not exactly common behavior for an Amish girl, especially. The sister also informed us that their father died had ten years before, when Hannah was seven. She had fallen through the ice and purportedly drowned. Her father tried to save her, but he himself drowned and could not be pulled from the water until it was much too late for him. Hannah, however, was revived after a few minutes of not breathing. She was never the same since, her family said. This occured on December 12th of that year.
      During the course of our interviews, Hannah began to laugh hysterically, attempting to draw our attention away from our queries. Mr. Callan spoke with her, but she did not seem to be the same person in the least. She spoke of all the doctors she'd seen and how tired she was of them, talked sarcastically of her "mother from Hell nazi," asked Mr. Callan if he had any alcohol on him for her to drink, and even flirted with him. The girl discussed having itchy wrists and how her mother hid her alcohol so she couldn't go on a "binge." Oddly, Hannah did not seem to recognize her mother standing right there in the room; it was as if the mother she spoke of was someone else. Hannah stood at a window and described what she saw, which she claimed was the view out of a high-rise apartment, nothing like Hannah's view of an Amish farm from her second-story bedroom. At this, Mr. Callan asked her who she was. She replied Lucinda Morgan Bryant, nickname "Cinda." When Mr. Callan asked how he could contact her later, she wrote a telephone number on the back of his hand.
      Mr. Callan and I discussed what could be happening to Hannah, such possibilities as Multiple Personality Disorder or that she could be simply faking it for the sake of garnering attention. The girl did have dissociative consciousness, childhood trauma (the death of her father), and a repressive life (the Amish lifestyle), which are all common factors for people who develop MPD. However, there was still the telephone number. Once Mr. Callan had figured out exactly what the numbers were (a hand makes a poor writing tablet), he tried the number and got through to a Mrs. Bryant in New York City. She reported that Cinda had been her daughter, and that she had committed suicide ten years before, on December 12th.
      The next day, we conferenced with Ms. Santos on the Bryant family of New York City. She had been able to find quite a bit of information on Cinda and her parents on the Internet, including a picture of the teen. Also, the Bryant phone number turned out to be listed in the telephone book. If Hannah had a library card, she would have access to the Internet, but it was unclear at the time if an Amish girl like her would be given this kind of access to computers. I spoke with Mrs. Elizabeth Cotrell, Hannah's mother, who showed me drawings young Hannah had done of herself and an imaginary friend. An imaginary friend named Linda. According to her, Hannah had drawn Linda obsessively after her father's death. Meanwhile, Hannah was having dreams of falling into cold darkness.
      I was thinking at this point that we were dealing with a type of reincarnation where a soul is reborn as the same person, but in an already living body. Typically, when someone is reincarnated, they are completely reborn as an infant, given a new name and a new life. Sometimes they remember pieces of their old lives, and retain some abilities and interests, but they are technically an entirely new person. In this case, we had a child who had died temporarily, a teen girl who had committed suicide at the same time, and now they inhabited the same body. It appeared that the soul of Cinda Bryant was making her final attempt to claim that body for herself, and intended to work out the last moments of her life to see if she could have a second chance at it.
      Unbeknownst to us at first, Hannah ran away from home and headed for the Bryant home in New York City. Coincidentally, Mr. Callan also went to see the Bryant couple, to interview them, just in case there was a connection between the two families that could establish how Hannah could be faking this. We received the results of blood tests then - the blood on Hannah's bed sheets did not match her blood type, but it did match Cinda's. The fact that this child was faking her condition had become more and more unlikely as time passed. It appeared as if Hannah's time was running out. The Bryant couple informed Mr. Callan that their daughter had had problems with drugs and alcohol for years before killing herself. Suddenly, Hannah showed up at the Bryant home. She acted like Cinda again, and reacted to the changes that had been made to the apartment since Cinda had died. She did not seem to be aware that she was dead. "Cinda" called for a family dog that had died in the ten years since her suicide. Her parents reacted to Hannah as if she was Cinda. If this was all an act, it was very convincing.
      After this, with Cinda upset over all the confusing changes, Hannah had a bout of vomiting. Mr. Callan witnessed her bring up what seemed to be icy water. She breathed out in clouds, as if the air in the apartment was frigid, though to everyone else, the home's temperature was comfortable. It was as if she was reliving her own brief death.
      I called Mr. Callan to find out if Hannah was there at the Bryant household, as her absence in the Cotrell home had been noticed. Because she had gone there, I decided to bring Hannah's mother there, as well. Hannah did not seem to be able to hold on; she told Mr. Callan that she blamed herself for her father's death, and seemed to want to let go. She asked him to tell her mother she loved her.
      When I arrived with Mrs. Cotrell, Hannah acted as if she didn't even know her. There was no recognition there at all.
      Shortly after, Hannah/Cinda disappeared again. She had written, "You don't know me," on a mirror in lipstick, then stealthily left the apartment; we discovered from questioning the Bryant couple that these words formed the last line in Cinda's suicide note. They also informed us that the slitting of her wrists was an unsuccessful suicide attempt from two weeks prior to her actual death. Cinda had actually died from jumping from the roof of their building. Falling through cold darkness. These events could explain why Cinda did not seem to know that she had died - she was reliving the last two weeks of her life through Hannah, and intended to once again commit suicide, because she still could not work things out.
      We rushed up to the roof to find Hannah/Cinda standing on the ledge, seemingly ready to jump. Mrs. Cotrell made a great sacrifice by talking Cinda down off the ledge, telling her own daughter that she was Lucinda Morgan Bryant. This got through to Cinda, who almost stumbled off the ledge while coming down, but was caught by Mr. Callan. She came down to the waiting arms of the Bryant couple.
      Mrs. Cotrell has allowed Hannah to remain with the Bryant couple in New York City, as it seems to be what is best for both girls at this time. Lucinda Morgan Bryant has, for unknown reasons, been given a second chance at a life she threw away, a chance most of us do not get.
      Hannah Cotrell has not returned.
      Though we will keep tabs on Hannah/Cinda's progress, this case is closed.

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