Hyp-no-tize me!

I'm still finding it difficult to believe in hypnosis. (This isn't just a random thought on a Sunday night.) Some friends and I went to the Wilson County Fair recently happened across a hypnosis show. The show was about half-way through and there were about a dozen people on stage all flopped over like ragdolls. I was intrigued enough to make a note of the next showtime, so I could watch the "antics" from the beginning.

It seems that the hypnotist is quite popular because we arrived about 15 minutes prior to the start of the show, yet there were no seats left. We were relegated to propping ourselves up next to the TN Lottery trailer. It wasn't a chair, but at least we could lean (we'd been on our feet for hours, literally!) Next to us stood a man and his son. I'd say the boy was probably 10 or 11 years old. The hypnotist got on stage and asked everyone in the audience to participate...close your eyes, put your arms out in front of you palms up, deep breath. Ok, so I did it and felt totally goofy. The hypnotist then told us that in our left hand is a very heavy bucket of sand. Oh, crap. Which one is my left hand? I totally can't tell with my eyes closed. Seriously. I have to look at my hand and check which one makes an L with the thumb and forefinger. (It's one of my more endearing qualities.) This left-hand-holding-a-bucket-of-sand suggestion clearly isn't going to work, so I open my eyes to look at my hands. You have got to be kidding...the boy next to me is struggling with the weight of the bucket of sand. Obviously he knows his left from his right. AND the same goes for about 30% of the audience. Fake fake fake! Then hypnotist dude says that your right hand is holding a bunch of helium balloons and wouldn't you know it--the kid next to me and bucket wielding audience members raise their right hands. What is up with that? (Some people will do anything to get on stage.)

I figure that's how he gauges who in the audience will "work" for his show. So he gets volunteers to come up on stage and sits them down in front of everyone. Then he puts them in deep relaxation. So deep that the boy next to me falls to the ground. Yes, reader(s), he FALLS TO THE GROUND! He's out. Limp. Totally hypnotized. Oh, it gets better.

I should probably mention that the hypnotist very clearly stated that his show was copyrighted and all videos were completely prohibited, against the law, etc. He didn't mention anything about writing about the sequence of events. So I feel it's safe to continue...since no names are being mentioned.

At this point there are quite a few people in the audience, besides the people on stage, who are completely out. They are slumpped forward, leaning on their neighbors, or in the case of the boy next to me, laying flat on the ground. It's really strange. The hypnotist then addresses the audience and tells them that they will no longer receive suggestion, they would be awake, alert and ready to enjoy the show. The boy next to me woke up...until the hypnotist told the volunteers that the ground was very hot. I looked to my left (yes, he was on my left...L...) and he was picking up his feet to keep them off the ground. He was still hypnotized!

Some of the people around us thought he was faking, but you could see it in his eyes. This kid was totally gone. Here's what I want to know. Is there a hypnosis that will work on a 15 year old who doesn't want to do homework, clean his room, empty the dishwasher, mow the lawn? Actually the possibilities are endless! Which brings up another question...has the guy ever hypnotized his wife? And would she know if he did??? I'm totally creeped out by that thought. All this stuff is going through my head as the boy next to me is doing everything the hypnotist suggests. He's watching a funny movie, he's 3 years old (and sucking his thumb!), he's singing along with Barney, he's watching a sad movie, he's on a roller coaster. The boy was much more entertaining than the show on stage. I was crying I was laughing so hard. The boy's dad was enjoying it also!

I'm not sure what triggered the boy to "wake up" but he just popped out of it, as did another woman on stage at about the same time. The boy had no clue why he was on the ground, had no recollection of the hypnotist show. Nothing.

So, how does that work? I mean, the hypnotist literally told everyone to close their eyes, put their arms in front of them and take a deep breath....that was it. The next thing you know a woman is running through the audience speaking in Chinese and trying to get everyone to quit laughing. One thought she was on The Price is Right. A guy told everyone he was wearing women's underwear. Another girl went to a concession stand and ordered 20,000 grilled cheese sandwiches and told them to charge it because the aliens just landed. I don't get it. I can't say that I don't believe it because the boy next to me was clearly in a trance. (No 11 year old boy is going to suck his thumb in front of strangers at a county fair.) I just don't think I could ever get hypnotized, even if the hypnotist didn't start out with something really hard like right hand, left hand. I was doomed from the start.