Black Eye For Hypnotists

10/16/07
HYPNOTISTS SHOW GONE BAD
LOGAN, Utah (ABC 4 News) - It was a hypnotist's show gone bad at Logan High School. As part of a fund raising event last week, students paid to see a hypnotist put friends in a trance, but the night ended with a girl in the hospital.

One student was taken away from the event in an ambulance and from what students tell us, there were dozens who had trouble coming out of their hypnotic state. So, the night that was supposed to be full of laughs ended up with a lot of crying and scary moments.

Mike Hlavaty says, “I couldn't really tell what was going on because people were just crying and it seemed like they were totally normal and awake but I guess they were in a trance or something, it was weird.”

Students at the show say the hypnotist could not get some of the kids to snap out of it. Hadlie Harris says, “He said that he'd never seen that happen before and he didn't know what was going on and he didn't how to explain it because that had never happened at one of his shows before.”

In a statement from the Logan City School District, "The hypnotist followed the same script that he has for years, without experiencing prior incidents. On this particular evening, two students had a negative reaction."

School officials say everyone at the show - hypnotized or not - are doing fine. The student who was sent to Logan Regional Hospital was treated and released the same day.

Also in the school district's statement, it says future shows of this nature will not be sponsored by the school district.

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Permalink Reply by Lee Darrow on October 20, 2008 at 5:15pm

Perhaps, Michael ans perhaps this was the Salem Effect - someone seeking attention and mob psychology taking over. It's happened before and it will undoubtedly happen again. Look at the whole "Satanic Panic" that brewed up in the late 80's ad into the 90's as a great example of how such mob hysteria can grab hold of even rational and skeptical individuals such as law enforcement officials and social workers.

Remember I was part of the crowd that debunked that whole mess by calling on the crematoria manufacturers and finding out that there wans't a "portable crematorium" available at the time - and even the FBI wasn't aware of that little fact until I did the legwork on it!

So it's quite possible that one or two people who acted out, either deliberately or not, grabbed the attention of several other highly suggestible people on stage and in the audience that evening and caused what amounted to a mini-riot.

The botton line to the whole mess is that the hypnotist on site did not handle the situation well, at all, judging from the reports.

Respectfully,

Lee Darrow, C.H.
"The Stage Hypnosis Safety Guy"

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Permalink Reply by Tommy Vee on October 21, 2008 at 8:50am

Does anybody know what the outcome of the trial was? I believe it ended earlier this year.

I received an email from Chris Cady regarding new, important information that we could all use regarding protecting ourselves on stage. Have any of you received this or heard anything since?

Tommy Vee

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Permalink Reply by Richard Rumble on October 21, 2008 at 9:24am

Perhaps we should see about asking Chris to come on and discuss the issue in a safe..non-judgemental forum so we can see what REALLY happened on stage that night... what happened afterward and how it all turned out. Nothing like having the ACTUAL experience related to you first hand to learn the proper lessons that come from these kinds of things...

If you Know Chris Cady personally... PLEASE invite him to come online here and we can all learn from his experience.

Richard Rumble
Mister Hypnosis

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Permalink Reply by Michael Ellner on October 21, 2008 at 10:21am

Great Idea Richard!

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Permalink Reply by Don King on October 21, 2008 at 10:51am

I did a little research on the web and the following are all the articles about this event that I found. I believe one or two haven't been listed in this thread yet.

http://www.abc4.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=082e7301-203d-... 10-16-07

http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/hourlyupdate/206752.php 10-17-07

http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,695218909,00.html 10-15-07

http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,695219407,00.html 10-17-07

http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=1984630 10-16-07

Some basic facts I gleemed from the articles:

The show took place in Logan, Utah in the middle of October, 2007, during Homecoming at the Logan High School, as a fund raiser for the Logan High School Drill Team.

There were "hundreds" in the audience.

The hypnotist's name was Dale Bowman and he had done several shows for the school in previous years - exactly the same as the show he was presenting that had the problems. Mr. Bowman's job is identified as the manager of the bus depot in Ogden, Utah.

The following seems to me to be the best first hand description of the incedent, it was publuished in the Desert News, October 15, 2007:

Quote:

Logan Police Capt. Eric Collins said he was attending a girl's volleyball game next to the auditorium and came out of the gymnasium to see the 17-year-old girl being wheeled into an ambulance.

"She was hyperventilating and very panicky," Collins said Monday. "I went inside to see what was going on, and it was kind of chaotic. The hypnotist was in the audience going around to different people in the audience attempting to get them out of a state of hypnosis.

End Quote.

One or more of the articles say that more than one girl was hyperventilating and feeling nausous, but only one was taken to the hospital.

The girl taken to the hospital was treated and released.

One of the articles quotes the school's principal that she did not have any problem with Dale Bowman: "The school's principal, Patricia Hansen, said Bowman did a good job trying to get "people back to their normal state of mind." From The Desert News article dated October 17, 2007.

The hypnotist stopped the show when problems began occuring in the audience and then went into the audience to help the poeple who were having problems.

None of the articles indicate whether there were volunteers on the stage. The only indication as to when the problems occured is that one article states that the show was stopped early in the show, before the intermission. None of the articles mention volunteers being on stage.

-- Don

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Permalink Reply by Rich Wilson on October 21, 2008 at 12:34pm

I wrote to Chris Cady and below is his response.

HypnoRich
------------------------------------
Thank you for your email.
I was NOT the hypnotist in Utah. Please put a correction on your web site.
I keep getting hostile emails from people in hypnosis accusing me of working at abus depo and moon lighting as a hypnotist.

Again I was no the guy in Utah and I do not , have not ever worked at a bus depo.

Please do me a favor and remove my name for your psots if you dont mind.
thanks
Chris Cady

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Permalink Reply by Richard Rumble on October 21, 2008 at 1:47pm

well... that solves THAT issue... How, I wonder did He get associated with the show in Utah?

Two.. perhaps we need to follow Don King's great research and find Dale Bowman and see what we can learn fro HIM....

Richard Rumble

OH YEAH... and anybody who is on any of these lists that is sending hostile emails to anyone needs to take a chill pill and back off a bit. Discussion ON the list about stuff is fine.... going off the list and attacking the people who are NOT involved in the discussion is totally out of line.

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Permalink Reply by Lee Darrow on October 22, 2008 at 4:40pm

My guess is that some of the "new" information includes the fact that most of the liability coverage out there is in the form of an "umbrella" policy - that is a policy that creates a "pool" of money to protect the entire insured base - all of the insured subscribers - with an aggregate coverage of a specific dollar amount. One popular program has a $2 million aggregate coverage.

Many people seem to think that policies of this type offer each insured $2 million in coverage. This is not the case and, like anything in the insurance game, everyone should read their policies, carefully - and ask questions about anything that they do not understand.

An aggregate coverage policy puts a set amount of money aside to cover the entire insured group that it is intended to cover - in the example above $2 million. This means that, in a group of 10,000 insured people, that $2 million will have to cover ANY CLAIMS PAID for th ENTIRE GROUP.

Once the money is spent, there are various options open to the insurer(s) at that time, including termination of coverage for the group, as a whole, which is the usual and customary route that the insurers take in small group liability coverage programs according to my sources in the industry.

When one considers that one case, in 2007, cost one insurer in excess of $340,000 to settle ONE claim, one can see how shallow that pool can be.

So, when one decides to purchase insurance, one needs to take a close look at the type of coverage one is purchasing. Aggregate plans, like the one that seems to be the most popular out there, as well as one of the least expensive, have the upside of being very affordable. The downside is that, if claims exceed the insurance coverage "pool" amount, coverage may be terminated in some cases.

My guess is that the "new" information that's allegedly out there is that those of us who are covered under an aggregate policy may not be as securely covered as might have been originally thought.

Lee Darrow, C.H.
Originator of the First Stage Hypnosis Safety Education Program
Licensed Insurance Agent (Life, Health & Accident Only, in Illinois, Only)

This is not a solicitation for the sale of insurance products or services. No agent will call on you. (legally required statement under Illinois law)