HYPNOTISM BY RADIO.

Shannon News, 18 September 1923, Page 4

HYPNOTISM BY RADIO.

SUCCESSFUL 'IN AMERICA. Long distance hypnotism by radio has been successfully carried out in the United States. The New York "Times” vouches for the following incident. . Joseph Dunninger, hypnotist and mind-reader, speaking into the mi- ( otophone at Staten WHN., threw a subject, Leslie B, Duncan, into an hypnotio state in the Park Place office ten miles away. At about 10.30 o’clock the voice of Dunninger was heard from the large horn of the receiving apparatus. Duncan, a pale, slender youth of 20, stood directly in front of the horn, with his eyes fixed intently upon it. After a short silence, broken only by the hum of the instrument, the voice suddenly came again, speaking sharp, staccato, commands: "Duncan,” it said, ‘I am the horn, You see my eyes looking speaking to you, Look directly into into yours. I forbid you to. move, to look away. Your eyes are tired, your eyelids dropping. You will remain standing, your arms at your side, your body rigid." A few seconds after the metallic sound of the hypnotist’s voice was heard the eyes of the subject became fixed in a glassy stare. As the voice continued its commands the youth gradually threw back until he appeared to be staring at the ceiling with unseeing eyes through halfclosed eyelids. His body, however, was not rigid, although he stood motionless, his arms pressed to his sides. The hypnotist was informed over a private wire of the subject’s condition, and presently the voice was heard aagin, giving a sharp cornman to Duncan to “wake up.” The head came forward, the eyelids fluttered, and in a moment or two . the boy regained consciousness, though dazed and trembling. The experiment i was repeated after a few minutes’ interval, and this time a complete state of cataleptic rigidity was obtained. The body of the subject was placed across the backs of two chairs, where it lay extended like a log. It.did not even bend under the burden of a 170-pound man, who for a moment rested his entire weight across the slender body. This time, too- the subject was awakened without difficulty. For a third time the subject was thrown into a hypnotic trance. An attendant hastily sterilising small spot of the lower arm, thrust through the lifted skin a large needle, withdrawing it after a few seconds. There was no sign of flinching, no trace of blood, though the marks of the needle were plainly visible. Once more the subject was awakened, a little shaken, as before, but in no apparent pain.