When you wake up
Hypnotist clouds the minds of students
Article by:
Laurel Marselle - Staff Reporter
• lmarselle@northernstar.info
Belly dancers, police officers and kangaroos all could be found running
around the stage at the Holmes Student Center’s Duke Ellington
Ballroom on Wednesday night.
Sponsored by the Residence Hall Association, hypnotist Frederick Winters
performed a show in front of NIU students, picking 18 from the audience
to be hypnotized on stage.
“Hypnotism is one of the only things where no one knows what is
going to happen,” Winters said. “But it’s important to
know when you’re hypnotized, that you don’t black out and
you know what you’re doing.”
Participants began the hypnotizing process by listening to the sound
of Winters’ voice, focusing on a small light in the middle of the
stage and relaxing their entire bodies.
Once completely under, participants were said to be in a state of “sleep,”
as Winters called it, and the stunts began.
Made to believe they were in a movie theater, participants chomped
on their pretend popcorn and laughed hysterically at a funny movie,
hid their faces from a scary movie, and pointed with embarrassment at
a risque beach flick starring somebody they knew.
Under the direction of Winters’ voice, students invented an animal
with a special ability or trick. Soon, they all shared with Winters
and the audience who their pets were, including a walrus named Tito
and a purple hippo that could do backflips.
After being waken from the following sleep, all participants forgot
their names as Winters tried to question them. Later in the performance,
Winters snapped his fingers in front of their face and they remembered
their names.
One selected student tried to count all his fingers, and after constantly
forgetting the number four, couldn’t figure out why he had 11 fingers.
Participants were later transformed into children between the ages
of 2 and 4, having a funny face contest, sharing what they wanted for
Christmas and ending with a sing-a-long to Barney.
Prompted by key words from Winters, students constantly ran off-stage
in fear of a giant, man-eating snake, turned a sweater inside out and
hopped around the stage like a kangaroo with its baby.
The show ended with an MTV dance contest when Winters said the word
“New York,” and the hypnotism stopped soon thereafter.
Students in the audience thought the show was fun to watch.
“It was very funny and very entertaining. I had never been to
a hypnotist before and I wish I could have been a part of the show,”
said junior sociology major Ariane Dickerson.
Winters sold hypnotism CDs dealing with self help after the show for
$5. For more information about his performances or his CDs, visit www.frederickwinters.com.
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