Hypnotize Someone: The How To Guide

Continuing on from our previous part on How To Hypnotize Someone And Make Them Forget It

Excerpt:

Another : In L, , New York, a very bright lad of thirteen

or fourteen years of age was on the

stage with me three or four nights. On Saturday

night his mother and sister came to me in the

dressing-room and said they could do nothing with

the boy, that every time they told him to chop the

wood or draw water, he would fall over asleep, and

they said they were going to have me arrested. I

asked her if she would do exactly as I told her, in-

forming her if she would she would have no more

trouble with the boy. The mother, being a good,

sensible woman, said she would. I told her to take

the boy's pants down, lay him across her lap face

downward, and warm him with her hand, which

she did. Some three weeks afterward I met her

and she told me she had no further trouble.


A few years ago professors (?) in the dime

museums of the large cities used to put subjects

to sleep and, failing to awaken them, would send

for physicians. The learned ( ?) doctors, after ap-

plying electricity, cautery, et cetera, in the course

of eight or ten hours awakened (?) them, only they

didn't; the hypnosis passed off. Why is it that

every operator excepting myself, and I state this

unreservedly, has had trouble many a time in

awakening his subjects. In a town in Illinois I

arrived late. The subject they brought me was

one that, after experimenting upon, was always

left to lie on the floor from six to ten hours, as they

could not awaken him and he had to "sleep it off."

Never fail Now, to answer the question previously asked,

to awaken "Why is it that I have never failed and all others

do fail ?" The reason is simply this : That when

we put the thought of sleep into a subject's "mind,"

it must be done with a firm voice. If you know anything

about hypnotizing someone, this will come as quite

an understanding to you. That is the key.

The moment we become doubtful or fright-

ened, we have lost the firm voice ; inasmuch as the

voice is the utterance of the "mind," and what we

think, we say in tone and in action ; if we are fright-

ened and say, "All right," to the subject and clap

our hands, he doesn't respond to it because we

have lost the key ; but if we never get rattled, there

is no possibility of failing to awaken the subject.

It may be that we will be obliged to use language

expressed by dashes — such a case happened in a

city in Arkansas. A young lady had been reading

about the woman who had been asleep in St. Louis

for thirty days, and whom none had been able to

awaken. Of course, she was a neurotic. When

I said, "All right," and clapped my hands, she failed

to awaken. Her friends in the parlor became

greatly frightened, so I asked them to retire ; then

quietly informed the lady that if when I said, "All

right," and clapped my hands, she failed to awaken

I would have to do things that would be very

inelegant, seemingly ungentlemanly, and above all

things I was not there to be made a fool of.


I then said, "All right," clapped my hands, and she

was wide-awake. Keep your nerve, always treat a

hypnotized subject as a rational being, and there

will be no trouble. If you are possessed of a doubt

as to the subject awakening, you are lost; he may

be awakened to the degree of "lack of doubt," but

not thoroughly. The operator's voice is the

thought (in action).


Man is like a piano keyboard, played upon by his

environment ; as we touch the keys, so is the re-

sponse. Hit vigorously and there will be a cor-

responding result. When we strike key "A," do

the other notes refuse to respond, or have we failed

to force (suggest) them ?


My audiences have wondered why it is that when

I get a subject whom some one else has operated

on (as I call it "handled"), and he goes through

many gyrations while going into hypnosis, that I

say to him, "Now, my dear fellow, there is no need

of this 'monkey-shine.' You go quietly to sleep ;

otherwise, you and I will have trouble," after

which I have but little trouble with the subject, and

the people say, "That's funny; I wonder if he was

'faking?' How can he talk to them as he does?"

A hypnotized subject must comprehend ; that is,

his Abdominal Brain must respond and words

when given him must arouse thoughts. The oper-

ator should know how to use words with the

proper emphasis and construction.


The first attribute of all consciousness is "place,"

and the subject, when he opens his eyes, is always

in the place where he went to sleep unless that

place has been changed by the operator. There-

fore, first place the subject, then give him the attributes,

naming each sense, thus: "When you open your eyes, you will

find yourself in a certain place, and

you will see so and so, and you will hear so

and so, and you will feel so and so," covering feel-

ing, seeing, hearing, and feeling as to minor attri-

butes.


Inspiration Assuming that we desire the subject to go

through the actions of milking a table for a cow,

the inspiration should be as follows: "When you

open your eyes, you will find yourself seated on the

back porch of a farmhouse. You will see a small

cow before you in the yard. The cow requires

milking; there is a milk bucket at. your feet. You

will be careful with the cow, inasmuch as she is

very nervous, and as the flies bother her, she is

likely to switch her tail. You must refrain from

swearing as the ladies can hear any remarks which

you make." If you should say, "You must not

swear as there are ladies in the audience," what

would be the result? The subject, when he

opened his eyes, would sit still, because the word

"audience" rearouses the thought of where he went to

hypnotize someone.


One picture to sleep. Only one picture at a time can be held

at a time j n f- ne " m ind," and that picture must be thor-

oughly consistent, for if at any time through the

misunderstanding of correlation you step without

the picture, you will either get no effect or a

"dopy" subject.


Awakening If I hypnotize a subject can anyone other than


myself awaken him? Decidedly not. What will

awaken him ? My telling him that he is awake ( ?)

or my saying, "All right," and clapping my hands.

If anyone else tells him he is awake will he

awaken? No. Because he does not hear (respond

to) them. As far as the general public is con-

cerned, being in hypnosis consists only of taking

a thought from the operator's voice. If he could

hear (respond to) anyone else, he could hear

(respond to) all sounds and each and every sound

would arouse some thought, and he would be

wide-awake. The consciousness or realizing is

"being awake." Those put to sleep by magnetic

(?) passes can be awakened by another operator,

as the subject goes to sleep with his sense of feel-

ing acute, and has been taught that when he feels

upward strokes he will awaken. He has no way

of distinguishing ( ?) who is the one that is making

the strokes; yet a super-sensitive subject, very

familiar with the operator, will unconsciously be

able to distinguish, or, more properly, will respond.


What things can you most readily put a subject

at doing? Things likely to occur to him at any

time.


Reader, I am still afraid you are not a hypnotist.


We will assume that you are a gentleman and

you have one of your companions, a gentleman,

hypnotized, seated in a parlor that is filled with

your lady friends. You desire him to take off his

coat. What would you say to him? You would

say, "W T hen you open your eyes, you will find that

your coat is on inside out." What would he do?

Being a gentleman, and in the presence of ladies,

he would look abashed and might go into the hall

and change his coat, but we desire him to take his

coat off in the parlor before the ladies. What

must we do ? Give him a new environment. Tell

him that when he opens his eyes he will find him-

self in his bedroom, it is evening, and excessively

warm. "Now open your eyes." Is he now in the

parlor filled with ladies, or is he in his own room ?

Man is ruled by his environment. First place your

man, then give him the attributes.


A bad In a city I visited last winter a doctor informed

inspiration me that the year before a hypnotist had visited

their city, given some very enjoyable performances,

besides putting a man to sleep in a window; that

he thought the hypnotist was a fraud inasmuch as

that one day he was in the store where the fellow

was sleeping, and the hypnotist said, "Doctor, feel

of the man in the window, he is stiff." The doctor

said, "And when I felt of him I very decidedly felt

him become rigid, which satisfied me that the

operator was a fraud."


That was not the case, the operator did not know

how to give his inspiration ; the subject necessarily

is forced to respond to the operator when the

operator's voice is firm. When he said to the

doctor, "Feel of him, he is stiff," he told the sub-

ject, "When the doctor feels of you, become stiff."

Correct But if he had said to the doctor, "The subject is


inspiration stiff, feel of him," when the doctor got hold of him


he would have found him stiff.

Frauds (?) The alleged fraudulent hypnotists are simply


fools who do not know how to convince their

audiences or handle their subjects. Subjects can-

not "fake." When you credit the hypnotist with

being able to teach the element that goes on the

stage to act their parts, you credit both with hav-

ing more intelligence than our best stage managers

and actors, and my experience teaches me that

their faces would instantly deny any such credence.


One "authority," in Chicago, concludes his work Authority

by doubting hypnosis. Quotations from him

show his lack of knowledge of the Law of Sugges-

tion. The following example was the one that

shook his faith most: The subject was lying in

hypnosis on an operating table, and several spec-

tators were challenged to awaken him. They tried

many ways and failed, then asked if they might spit

in the subject's face. The "authority" said, "Yes,

you may spit in his face if you wish." They did so,

and the subject immediately awakened, thus satis-

fying the "authority" that the subject had not

been in hypnosis. Dear reader, need I explain

this? If so, throw the book away or go and give

yourself to the authorities having charge of a

school for imbeciles.


In the "handling" of subjects two tones should Two tones

be used, one for the inspiration, and one to em-

phasize (force) minor actions.


In my early days, while giving exhibitions in the

South, at the conclusion of an entertainment a

Southern gentleman came onto the stage with a

friend and said, "Mr. Santanelli, this gentleman

does not believe that young man was hypnotized.

Will you "hypnotize" that nigger (pointing to one)

and prevent him from picking up this one hundred

dollar bill? If he picks it up, he can have it." I

"hypnotized" the negro, put the one hundred dol-

lar bill at his feet and told him he could not pick it

up. The negro immediately became cataleptic,

rigid, and failed to move. I wanted him to stoop

and put his hand on the bill and attempt to pick it

up, knowing that if he could not pick it up he must

shove it to the floor, so I said "Oh, yes you can ; go

ahead, pick it up." The negro failed to respond

for a moment, then bent over and took hold of the

bill ; I saw that he had responded to my last remark

as an inspiration, so I immediately called to him

that he could not move. Cold chills passed up my

back, as I could not afford to lose one hundred

dollars ; and, of course, would not have allowed my

friend to do so provided I had it. Since then I

always use two tones, for fear of the subject mis-

taking or not comprehending (responding to) the

difference in the tones, I always finish in this man-

ner : "Go ahead, pick it up. Go on, but you can-

not."


No stages There are no stages in so-called hypnosis. The

subject is either hypnotized or awake.


Catalepsy Catalepsy is not a stage of the hypnosis, it is

simply an inspired condition. Any subject can be

made cataleptic if he knows how to become so.

The inspiration I give to produce catalepsy is as

follows : "Put your feet together, put your hands

to your sides. When I call 'now' you will take a

long breath, pull your muscles together and you

will be stiff, stiff as iron." It is very rarely that a

subject fails to respond to this. Sometimes they

will draw their knees and arms up, not knowing

how to become rigid in the position I give them.

Many operators tell a subject to hold his arm up

and then that he cannot take it down, and the spec-

tator, noting the tightening of his muscles when

he gets the inspiration that he cannot put his arm

down, believes the subject to be "faking." If the

operator will remember that all negations are Negations

affirmations against, and would first put the

muscles at the tension or in the position he wants

them and then deny, there would be no such action.

Tell a subject to hold his arm up and close his fist ;

the muscles are now contracted, and by telling him

he cannot put it down, you are really saying to him

to keep the muscles in the position they are in. If

you wish to produce a condition of the muscles,

first put the muscles into the desired position and

infer that he cannot release them, because if he

cannot, he must hold the position.


How many ways are there of inducing hypnosis ?

Only one. Understanding this is the key to understanding

how to hypnotize someone discreetly.


When I was in Utica last winter, on the second

day of my return engagement, a lad called on me

•and said, "Mr. Santanelli, how many ways do you

know how to hypnotize?"


I replied, "But one, my lad."


He looked surprised, saying, "Why that is

strange, I know of nineteen ways."


"Good for you, lad. Can you lay them out on

the floor as I do?"


"No, sir, that is the funny part of it ; I cannot get

any of them asleep. You have only one way; I

have watched you nightly and so far you only failed

to hypnotize two, and three-fourths of them were

new ones every night. What is your way?"


"The right way."


"Well, can 'some' of mine be right?"


"No, there is but one way, and that is the right

way; that is the reason your nineteen ways are

failures, none of them are right." If hypnosis con-

sists of five attributes, the shortest, quickest

method of bringing these five together is the right

way. All others are wrong. A Chicago firm pub-

lishes fifty ways, or the promise of teaching fifty

ways, to induce hypnosis. That is in the line of

modern science (?).


"Still, Mr. Santanelli, I have hypnotized many

subjects without using any of the attributes you

name as necessary to hypnosis; how is that?"


"Very simple, my dear sir. First, you do not

hypnotize ; you lead another into hypnosis. After

a subject has once been taught the way to the post-

office, he can go without any guidance on your

part. Twenty-seven per cent of mankind are what

is known as "sensitives" — somnambulists, sleep-

walkers. Unconsciously knowing the way into

hypnosis any method you use is satisfactory. You

can tell him to go to the postoffice over the tele-

phone, you can tell him every time he hears the

whistle of the factory he will go to the postoffice ;

there are a hundred suggestions that may cause

him to go to the postoffice. So it is with the

sensitive, he knows the way; your method is

nothing. You can only hypnotize ( ?) three in ten ;

with my method I can "hypnotize" one hundred

of one hundred, provided they give me their atten-

tion."


Auto-suggestion can only exist in the case of a

sleep-walker, proven by the fact that he responds

to no one's voice. It is spontaneous, and is the

nearest to being self.


In my experience, subjects have pre-inspired

themselves with the thought of leaving the stage,

which each time was successful. This is one aspect

that can be used to hypnotize someone. The first hap-

pened in a little town in Tennessee. My reader

must understand this, that a certain portion of

my evening entertainments were always the same ;

that is, I laid the subjects on the floor, produced

the catalepsy, built the "log-pile," then caused

them to rub their ears, then their knees, and then

lake a seat on the chairs. In the instance I have Pre-inspira-

in mind, the young man, who was some twenty- tl0n

two years of age, although not larger than a lad

of twelve, came onto the stage several nights and

proved himself to be an extremely clever subject.

I think it was on the fifth night when he was laid

on the floor, after having been used in the "log-

pile," he immediately got up and joined his com-

panions in the orchestra seats. I was greatly sur-

prised. No comment was made, but that night

after I went to the hotel I did considerable

"thinking," and at last concluded as to how he

succeeded in doing so.


I was so successful in the city that I remained

over ai d played the following week, and on

Wednesday night this young man and his friends

were again in the opera house. I invited him

to come onto the stage. He said, "No." I asked

him why, and he replied, "You will make it hot

for me."


"No, I will not. I would like you to come up

and repeat the experiment." He looked at me a

moment and said, "This is not a trick?"


"No, I wish to see if you can repeat what you

did last Friday. It is a matter of science. You

have proven your side of it, and I want to see

what I can do with mine."


The young man came onto the stage, took on

hypnosis and when I awakened him, some thirty

minutes later, and asked him why he hadn't taken

his seat, he looked puzzled, and said, "I don't

know." I did; do you, dear reader?


The form of pre-inspired thought that this

young man took was this : "After I am laid on the

floor in the unbuilding of the 'log-pile,' I will

awaken." Now, mind, he was to awaken when he

was laid on the floor out of the "log-pile." I

omitted putting him in the "log-pile," therefore

the suggestion that was to awaken him did not

occur, hence no awakening. There is no effect

without a cause (suggestion), of course without

understanding this cause and effect model, you cannot

begin to hypnotize someone.


Last winter, in Erie, three subjects left the stage

one night during the "statuary," in the latter part

of the second week of my engagement. They had

watched the performances all of the first week

and had been on the stage several nights, were

good subjects, and this night took a pre-inspira-

tion that at the fourth inspiration given in the

"statuary" they would awaken. They did so, left

the stage, said the whole thing was a "fake," but

failed to impress any of the audience.


I immediately caused a subject to do a little

more difficult act than that, and one I inspired,

instead of the subject taking a pre-inspiration. I

told the subject that when he opened his eyes he

would find he had a couple of dice and would

throw craps, and that at the end of three minutes

he would awaken, which he did. Afterwards he

pre-inspired himself with the thought that when

he opened his eyes he would think of one of the

most amusing incidents he ever witnessed, and at

the end of a minute and a half would awaken.

He did so, the audience holding their watches

both times, and both times he awakened to the

instant.


Any subject, after he has been in hypnosis four

or five times, should very readily go into that

condition with a pre-inspiration of awakening

upon the occurrence of a certain event, and if the

event takes place he will awaken, demonstrating

nothing except the subject's ability to accept a

pre-inspiration.


All dime museum freaks, such as the human

pin-cushions, poison eaters or snake eaters, work

under pre-inspiration. In the course of time the

merging of the "normal" into the pre-inspiration

becomes second nature and can be very rapidly

and almost imperceptibly done ; still, an expert,

understanding the "reflexes," by closely watching

the subject can comprehend that he is not in the

so-called normal condition and may note the

change.


It is this quick merging that has given many

of the alleged exposers a standing with superficial

newspaper men, who have accepted their word

that they were not in "hypnosis" when they repro-

duced the work that the operator caused them to

do on the stage.


The martyr burning at the stake is an example Martyrs

of pre-inspiration, the entire environment forcing

and maintaining in the "mind" of the subject or

person the thought that he will not suffer and will

have no pain. The snake dancing of the Mokis is

done under "hypnosis" ; also many of the endur-

ance and religious tests of the adepts of the East.


How long will an inspiration last? The public

fears, forever.


My experience is that great skill is required to

force a thought to remain over one minute with

a new subject working by himself. Training them

to hold a thought (no; training sounds "faky,"

develop them, sounds better) requires experience

on the part of the operator. Lead into hypnosis

a new subject, start him brushing a fly, if he con-

tinues for one minute you have a good subject.

Put two working together, and you may keep

them at work for two minutes. Three or more

subjects working together will hold out for a long

time. To work one subject alone is very hard.

Three or more, easy.


You desire to cure a headache, to let your

patient go home. If the patient is a "good" sub 7

ject (has been in hypnosis often), perhaps it will

be an hour until he again feels the headache. Only

a nervous headache can be "cured" through

hypnosis. In all other cases there is no cure,

simply the producing of "no feeling." Might just

as well give the patient a dose of morphia.


"But, Mr. Santanelli, I am a doctor; you have

taught me of the many ills that can be relieved

through hypnosis. My patient is free from pain,

yet I wish to force certain changes physically. The

patient has never been hypnotized and the holding

of the thought for one minute is of no value to me.

What is to be done?"


Induce hypnosis while the patient is lying on a

sofa; return every five minutes and re-inspire by

saying, "Stay deep asleep, deep asleep." Keep

the patient there for two hours, renewing every

fifteen minutes during the last hour. You can

rest assured that when the patient leaves he will

retain the thought for an hour and a half. After

that, the time will lengthen one-third with each

inspiration up to twenty-four hours. None will

hold an inspiration over twenty-four hours, but

can so be trained or developed that a very slight

suggestion will continue the inspiration. I am

certain that subjects making the long sleeps in the

windows, are re-inspired by the suggestion of

their environment every twenty-four hours. If

a subject is willing to sleep but twenty-four

hours, can I force him to sleep forty-eight? No.

The thought (action) is not there to be brought

out, and I cannot play off from the cylinder what

is not on it. Therefore, the operator is always

"in the hands" of the subject, and the work is

co-operative. Any subject can seemingly refute

or destroy the claims of any operator.


Writing of training or developing a subject —

what can be "taught" them? Absolutely nothing.

We say to a subject, "When you open your eyes,

you're alongside a fishing stream ; you see beside

you bait, lines, hooks, et cetera, now open your

eyes." If the subject does not possess the ideas

(actions) to be forced by the "ghosts" just men-

tioned, no action is possible. If there is no action

in the subject, i. e., ideas associated, no ghost to

Simulation be aroused, then the subject must act (?). His

impossible cerebrum is inactive, he is possessed of absolutely

no ideas relative to the thought; therefore, if

unconscious (cerebrum inactive), he possesses no

action, he would not know what to do. "From

nothing only nothing can be produced." Again,

words mean nothing.


If I put three subjects in a photograph scene;

one the photographer, one the dude, the other the

girl, they having never been in a photograph gal-

lery, I get no action. I rehearse it — all right. If

the words and actions of all three are not perfect

the act will fail. Theatrical companies rehearse

a play at least six weeks and are on the road at

least two months before the performance runs

smoothly. In all the smaller cities where hypnosis

is popular, local subjects and different ones every

night the hypnotist must have, if he expects to

make a living. Assuming that in the photograph

scene I use two of my "horses" (subjects I carry

with me) and one local man, my subjects do not

know what he will do or what he will say. My

rehearsal would have been useless. But in

hypnosis I force them to see a certain environ-

ment, and all photograph galleries are so similar

that if they have ever been in one, the general

environment that is now constantly around them

will force them as automatic beings to an ultimate

end, which would be impossible if all three did

not see the gallery. Seeing the actual environ-

ment and each guessing what the others would

do, would produce confusion. They all see the

same general picture, therefore act in unison.


A hypnotic "horse" is simply a good subject ^'Hypnotic

who travels with a hypnotist, generally possesses

a good singing voice, the ability to make stump

speeches, or with a humorous personality. Never

of any use after a year, as he gets so at home

in "hypnosis" that the public will no longer accept

him as "hypnotized." What I call a good subject

the public will not stand for. What the public

calls a good subject I have no use for.


One season I had traveling with me a Swede

named Carl, whom I used to inspire thus:

"When you open your eyes, you will find yourself

seated on the stage of the theater in La Crosse,

W T is., to give the people a speech, as the boys

have decided to run you for mayor, provided you

tell them what you will do if elected, and your

Swedish dialect is very pronounced." (Note that

the inspiration is in one sentence, properly corre-

lated connected with "ands," "buts," et cetera;

no possibility of it being made other than one

thought.) "Now open your eyes." Carl opened

his eyes, made his bow and in the most pro-

nounced dialect gave an illiterate, asinine speech

that provoked roars of laughter. Carl could give

but two speeches. Nightly the audience demanded

a speech. While in Philadelphia, I had a speech

written for Carl and had him learn it. Then I

was stuck. How could I inspire him to get the

speech that was written for him ? If I said, "You

will deliver the speech you learned," he would

have tried; I did, and the effect was worse than

bad. He simply did what he would have done

had he not been hypnotized. He could not prop-

erly deliver it ; it lacked personality, individuality

and spontaneity. It was simply like a school boy,

delivering, parrot-like, a speech of Henry Clay

or Daniel Webster, and just as assinine. The only

teaching is to allow the subject to watch many

subjects in an act that sometime in the future you

expect to put him in, that he may "absorb" some

of the better actions. Professional In the cow act, milking a

table for a cow, I subjects use a feather duster as the cow's tail to switch the

milker in the face. One young man, who was

very funny in the act, I nearly always used. After

a few months, instead of watching the place for

the cow's tail, he watched (?) me and dodged

every time he saw the duster coming towards him.

He quickly learned (feeling) that he was hit from

behind instead of by the tail of the cow, and I

could no longer put him in the act. Professional

subjects last but a short time, and when dis-

charged, often make exposes (?).

Crime What makes a man steal? Does he choose to


steal, or is the stealing forced upon him? If a

man's actions are caused or forced on him by his

environment, he steals because he responds minus

to that environment. Why does he respond minus

to this environment when others do not? Be-

cause his ideas (actions associated) are positive

against, where the so-called normal man is posi-

tive for. If it takes ten parts to make the whole,

and you possess nine, you lack the entirety.

Therefore, the criminal steals the moment the ten

parts are brought together. Can he be made to

steal in hypnosis? No. Why not? First, if the

nine parts only were brought together and one

was missing, he failed to steal. After we lead

him into hypnosis, we are unable to furnish the

other part, saying nothing about knowing what

attribute to furnish. How about a confirmed

criminal ? If we tell him when he opens his eyes

he will go down and break into a bank, he will say,

"Go break into it yourself. Why should I steal

for you ? J "


Man docs nothing because he is told to.

 

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