Comments on: Hypnotic Trance or Mass Delusion

By: Freddy the Pig

Freddy the Pig — Sun, 21 Oct 2007 06:42:05 +0000

Mass hysteria can produce significant physical reactions. There was a case in Calgary several years ago when a school choir performing in the downtown business district appeared ot suffer a case of mass food poisoning (with real symptoms) which turned out be mass hysteria. There was also a case somwhere else in Canada where some students were apparently affected by exposurea pesticide or herbicide that had been innapropiratley applied in on area of the schoolyard. The symptoms rapidly spread throuout the school to students who had not been anywhere near the affected area.

By: decius

decius — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 19:42:02 +0000

A few weeks ago, out of curiosity, I downloaded a couple of manuals on mentalism written by professionals. The general impression was one of stupor and mild disappointment, when I found out how simple many tricks are and how deceivingly elaborate they look to the audience. A conspicuous part of one of such manuals was dedicated to stage hypnotism.

Remarkably, the first notion taught there, was that stage hypnotism doesn’t even induce real hypnosis at all (whatever real hypnosis may be). In fact there was a stark warning not to attempt to hypnotize anyone, as it is against the law of many countries for the conjuror -who isn’t a certified hypnotist as well- to do so. The author went on explaining how to perform tricks, once again based on deception, designed to convince the subjects that they are actually hypnotized. The subject’s unconscious will to please the conjuror and to “fit-in”would do the rest.

Dear Steven, I am not going to get into much more detail here, since I know that mentalists don’t like their tricks being publicly revealed, but I am sure that Randi can fill you in better than I ever could. However, if you want to read the manual for yourself, just let me know.

By: GenericSteve

GenericSteve — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 16:18:34 +0000

Ah ha! A little more sleuthing led me to the desired answer to my query.
http://www.kutv.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=5feec6d4-83b9-4e6a-8062-b65cd5efb18a
I guess she was nauseated and was a little short of breath. I think I should book this hypnotist. He sounds better than a horror movie.

By: GenericSteve

GenericSteve — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 16:13:58 +0000

Maybe I missed something…Why did the girl end up in the hospital? Did she fall? Did she start speaking in tongues? Did another student bite her? I can’t stand it when news articles do not provide important details.

Great post as always Dr. Novella.

By: jonny_eh

jonny_eh — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 14:57:02 +0000

Sounds like some kids wanted to skip their quiz in the next period, so decided to pull a prank and cause mayhem. They could have faked suggestibility (very easy to do), and then at the right moment, pretended to not leave the ‘trance’.