By MARGALIT FOX
Published: February 18, 2007
... Asked repeatedly whether he believed in reincarnation, Dr. Stevenson was publicly circumspect. But tucked away in a file cabinet in the Division of Perceptual Studies is an ordinary combination lock, which Dr. Stevenson bought and locked nearly 40 years ago. He had set the combination himself.
As a colleague in the division, Emily Williams Kelly, explained in a telephone interview on Wednesday, Dr. Stevenson based the combination on a secret mnemonic device — a particular word or a sentence, perhaps — known only to him.
“He did say, that if he found himself able, he would try to communicate that,” Ms. Kelly said. “Presumably, if someone had a vivid dream about him, in which there seemed to be a word or a phrase that kept being repeated — I don’t quite know how it would work — if it seemed promising enough, we would try to open it using the combination suggested.”
Thus far, Ms. Kelly said, the lock has remained firmly shut.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/18/health/psychology/18stevenson.html?_r=1&em&ex=1171947600&en=8be4cbb0db07118d&ei=5087%0A&oref=slogin