Dangerous Hypnosis or Dangerous Misconceptions about Hypnosis? More afoot at the Hypnosis Technique Exchange. A bit of the one and less of the other but the damage gets done nonetheless.

In HypnoMasterMind there was a recent post about an account of a woman who says as a child she witnessed a stage hypnosis show in which the hypnotist did full body catalepsy with a girl and then the human bridge whereby he stood upon the girl and she was killed from the injuries. A number of folks objected to the story as being an urban legend as there are commonly no known substantiated cases where human harm has been directly linked to the effects of hypnosis or a hypnotist’s direct suggestions and so these folks asked for clarification which then posted. This is my reply to that clarification post. See the original group for the full thread.

In the original post, the account was posted that a woman went to see a stage show when she was in high school and that the hypnotist did full body catalepsy, stood on his subject, and then she died. The clarification post changed the details a bit to the woman being an elementary school student (Washington Elementary in San Leandro, California, circa 1956-1957) and that the girl died from being stood upon by the hypnotist.

While the clarifying details are helpful, the clarification doesn’t agree with the original story.

High school students are not the best witnesses but they certainly are more reliable than kids of eight or nine years of age. I have an eleven year old who I trust completely but would not have considered a completely reliable witness for such events now or even when she was eight years old. There would be too much to process that a child that age would not understand.

If the hypnotist did do the human bridge effect with a high school student, he was being extremely irresponsible. If he did it with an elementary school child, then he must have been insanely irresponsible. The high school example, I can imagine, but not the elementary school child. If the child was watching an adult show, it seems more likely that she would have witnessed the human bridge but it is still doubtful that there was a wrongful death case here, more likely an injury or some sort.

If she says she saw it happen, then it is her first person account and you are delivering it as a secondary account. That’s not really to the point.

Records from newspaper accounts from fifty years ago are not as easily accessible via the web so I will leave anyone poking around for references to do so in the US where they can get at microfiche newspaper morgues. Any Life of Brian readers who would like to take a peek at the records and tell us what they find, please feel free to post in the comments . . . albeit, given the sketchiness of the details, not finding the evidence does not really mean it didn’t happen as reported.

While I am extremely doubtful of the wrongful death claim in this case in regard to the hypnosis . . . I would not be surprised if someone were injured. There was for a time something doctors used to call "stage hypnosis syndrome" in the UK and US where folks would come in for back injuries caused by stage hypnotists who did full body catalepsy or other effects without concern for the subject’s safety (one of the reasons for the stage hypnosis licensing law). Albeit, this does not point to a danger in hypnosis . . . full body catalepsy for the human bridge is NOT a purely hypnotic effect, it can be done quite easily without any trance state . . . it does point to a need for stage performers of any type who work with the public to be responsible and conscious of the safety of members of the public who are their guests on stage.

In the nineteenth century, stage hypnotists and mesmerists would fire guns next to the ears of hypnotized subjects to demonstrate their insensitivity to sound (in a number of cases, permanently damaging the subject’s ear drums – see both Mesmerized and The Table Rappers for excellent descriptions of the practice of stage hypnotists and other hypnotists in the nineteenth century based upon credible and well-researched source material) or a practice that was still commonly done in public up until the last thirty years or so is the needle through the arm routine which can cause infection or worse if not properly done (albeit, while this trick is still done today, it is often being done by stage magicians who dress it as a hypnotic effect when in fact it is a gimmick – in much the same way the body catalepsy and levitation trick has now become a magician’s staple rather than a trick performed by hypnotists who are misinforming the public for their own gain . . . glass walkers, fire breathers, etc.)

While effects are very startling, personally, I choose to minimize the risk to my guests on stage and strongly encourage others to use purely suggestive rather than gimmicks or physical challenges. Even so, the suggestions should be given with care and respect but even when someone who is a bit wilder than the average person does cross the line with some very strange suggestions they are less likely to have permenent effects as most members of the audience are aware of the rougher or highly edgy reputaton of the hypnotist . . . albeit, personally, I would not condone those particular type of suggestions (stage hypnotist Tony Lee’s bit of having folks imagine their favorite pet as he walks down the line killing each pet one by one in a gruesome fashion comes to mind or his "you’re having the best sex of your life with a really hot chick and now you take the bag off her head and just as you cum you can see it’s your Mom" bit cross into the realm of more than a whole bucket of extreme bad taste – albeit, I still find his shows very compelling adult entertainment and do reccommend them but only to those who go in with full knowledge that this is very raw, very edgy, and very much well ouside the boundaries stuff – and his audiences are informed of the nature of the show).

The story that was crossposted on a number of lists recently about the young British woman who died after participating in a stage show wherein she had been given a suggestion of a powerful electric shock rushing through her body without the hypnotist knowing she had a phobia of electric shock is an example of a case that has grown into fear where it was more likely unfortunate coincidence (don’t get me wrong, I don’t think anyone should be using the "electric chair" suggestion in ther acts as I find it offensive to cause even slight physical discomfort in one’s guests on stage that way and creating genuine fear of that type is reprehensible). However, the coroner’s inquest did not find the hypnotist at fault. She was drunk and she threw up and drowned in her own vomit. The hypnotist may have scared her with his suggestion, but he did NOT scare her to death. There is a "thesis" beind distributed online that calls into question the coroner’s decision but when one looks closely at the details and research, it is circumstantial insinuation at best.

While occassionally hypnotists are convicted of crimes related to their practice of hypnosis (the recent to-do over the American-based British hypnotist who had affairs with his clients comes to mind), the actual hypnosis usually has little to do with the actual crime. There are a number of online resources which do make such claims, often filled with MK-Ultra style brainwashing, murder, intrigue, sex, slavery, and wanton wickedness but one needs to be very careful when evaluating such sources. They are often biased (a number from a religious standpoint) or use uncredible sources (at least one resource that a large number of these sites will quote is a book written by a woman whose mission to expose hypnosis came to her via a message from an angel who appeared to her while watching television and her highly credible factual resources include a discussion of the epitome of evil hypnotists, Svengali, a fictional character from the novel, Trilby, which she asserts is a factual account – although, in all honesty, I’m doubtful that she’s ever actually read the novel as her summary fits the John Barrymore film more than the events of the novel itself).

Take any extraordinary claims regarding hypnosis . . . danger or miracle . . . with a bucket of grains of salt and always doublecheck the sources as sometimes even seemingly credible sources have been misinformed in very unusual ways (a university professor recently asked me how it was possible for me to physically travel back in time as he had read it was possible in the newspaper . . . someone’s seems to have taken the film version of Richard Mattheson’s novel Somewhere in Time a little too literally . . . btw, in the novel, we are left wondering if it’s hypnotic time travel or brain tumors that account for the experience of the leading character . . . the author revisted hypnosis in other works as well, usually with a twist . . . after the film version of Stir of Echoes came out, I had multiple requests from folks who wanted me to hypnotize them so they too could see ghosts also a la Sixth Sense and I’m still getting requests for memory erasure or artificial repression a la Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind or Butterfly Effect which aren’t technically hypnotic films but the association to hypnotic memory techniques is still quite powerful in the public mindset).

Unfortunately, while I have my doubts about the particular facts regarding this case of the girl killed via the human bridge effect . . . the public gets all sorts of misimpressions and misinformation . . . some of it based upon actual cases that have been misreported (the "hypno rapist" stories regarding the fellow who had inappropriate but consensual sex with his clients) or fiction that has been represented as fact (a clear example of this is one of Edgar Allen Poe’s short stories that appeared in European newspapers of the day as an actual case history rather than as a short story) or just as an impression (the Svengali Effect) or even as deliberate misinformation to enhance a hypnotist’s prestige and power by appearing to have near supernatural powers above those of mortal man (recent media reports here in Taiwan have covered a local hypnotist (who happens to be a major player in the local chapter of a very large and influential hypnosis organization as well as a media fixture) who has made claims that she is the only really powerful and properly trained and skilled hypnotist in the country in part because she is an incarnation of a goddess and that demons fear her so her hypnosis is the best . . . really, you can’t imagine how frustrating this is to those of us who live and do trancework here . . . I have had to "re-educate" quite a number of folks about the whole supernatural vs. hypnosis link on more occassions than I’d like to remember . . . especially as she is dovetailing in with some local television specials that have asked the question "what is hell like?" where they have hypnotized folks to imagine they are walking through the gates of Hades and then describe all the terrible things they see and it is being presented as fact rather than phantasy . . . grrrrrrrrrrr).

Of course, in addition to media misinformation, some hypnotists are hurting us . . . there are certainly quite a few poorly trained, unskilled, or just downright suckful hypnotists out there who overstep the bounds of their ability, of good sense, good taste, or even the realm of what-the-hell-do-you-think-you’re-doing-with-that-meat-cleaver.

Our best recourse is to educate and inform and dispell misconceptions and misgivings and do the work . . . do it right and do it well . . . and point to all the wonderful examples of hypnosis being done right and well and for much good in as many positive contexts as possible . . . therapy, entertainment, recreation, the whole ball of wax.

All the best,
Brian