I am saddened to report that Ormond McGill passed away in his home in the US, on Wednesday, October 19, 2005. He has been affectionately known as the "Dean of American Hypnotists" for a number of years due to the high respect that so many people pay him. He’s been around for a very long time, over seventy years performing hypnosis, mentalism, and stage magic professionally as well as teaching and practicing hypnotherapy. At one time, he was performing a stage seance mentalism show and used the stage name Dr. Zomb for long enough for it to be readilty associated with him. However, most folks today know him as Ormond McGill and think of him as a kind, gentle, and giving person.
In his professional life, Ormond traveled the world and more. He is very well known for his stage shows and his "Concert of Hypnotism" is still the primary model from which so many folks structure their own stage hypnosis shows . . . even if they are unaware of the origins of the structure they use.
He was an extremely prolific author of magic and hypnosis related books. I’ve included a selection here for you to browse through if you’re unfamiliar with some of his more well known work or some of the more esoteric pieces. The current pieces that are most notable are:
- The New Encyclopedia of Stage Hypnotism which is considered the, considered by most to be the single best text on stage hypnosis in print today. Ormond had a number of other stage hypnosis books published over the years but I would strongly suggest this is the one to get.
- McGill’s Hypnotherapy Encyclopedia.
- Secrets of Dr. Zomb: The Autobiography of Ormond McGill, Ormond’s autobiography with many explanations of his stage magician act and his hypnosis shows.
- Grieve No More, Beloved: The Book of Delight, Ormond’s personal account of his feelings of grief and despair when his wife of many many years passed on and then his journey into discovery as he recounts her contact with him from the other side.
- Secrets of Stage Mindreading
- The Secrets of Hypnotizing Women , one of the classics of its type (sorry to say, but I don’t actually have this title as we can’t seem to order it here).
For those wishing to see truly historic footage, you can also see his more esoteric hypnosis inductions in action via his The Secret Hypnosis Trance Inductions of Ormond McGill video seminar.
Folks on this side of the big blue pond will note that he co-wrote a number of books with Tom Silver and Timothy Huang that have been published here in Taiwan.
Other books of note by Ormond McGill which give you an idea of just how wide his interests and experiences were:
- The Amazing Life of Ormond Mcgill: Dean of American Hypnotists
- The How-To Book of Hypnotism
- Hypnotism: A Hypnosis Training & Techniques Manual: The Real Questions And Answers
- The Secret World of Witchcraft
- How to Produce Miracles
- The Search for Cosmic Consciousness: the Hypnosis Book Einstein Would Have Loved
- Seeing the Unseen
- The Mysticism and Magic of India
Of course, he wrote many many more as well as starring in a large number of performance and training videos.
Tom Silver tells me that he spoke with Ormond just a few days ago and he was in high spirits. Marlene was with Ormond at 3:00am when he performed his final disappearing act and she tells Tom that he was at peace and even joked about leaving when his vitals became normal and he just left. Exeunt, one of the greatest stage hypnotists of the modern era.
All who knew him knew him to be gentle, giving, and very loving. His influence upon contemporary hypnosis will be long felt but his impact upon the lives of those who he touched, in person and by proxy, will be felt for an eternity.
There is a "memorial" forum for folks to post their thoughts here.
Dr. Zomb, thank you for sharing yourself with us.
All the best,
Brian