This event took place when I was a single, twenty-one year old college student.   I had been invited to a “theater party” put on by the cast of the latest play produced by the students of the college theater department.  I really liked these parties; they were always the best parties in town as far as I was concerned because there were always lots of interesting people, lots of food and drink, and many beautiful girls. I couldn’t ask for anything more.  These parties were attended by the gregarious theater types who seemed to know how to have lots of fun without just getting too drunk or stoned.  Even though I was never really part of their crowd, I was often invited and always felt welcome.

The theater party following the last performance of the latest play was lively and well attended as usual, but on this particular evening I didn’t feel in a party mood.  The party was being held in a large old Victorian home owned by one of the theater professors.  I just felt like sitting on a sofa in an out of the way room and observing the action from afar.  By early evening there were about thirty people milling around in the large living room, eating little finger snacks, talking and enjoying themselves as rock and roll music played in the background.

While I was sitting and watching the action, a nice looking girl came and sat down next to me.  We didn’t know each other, so I started making the inane small talk asking questions about where she was from, what her major was, and similar easy but not particularly important topics.  As is common for me, the conversation got around to a discussion of “non-ordinary” topics; topics of a spiritual or metaphysical nature.  At the time I was playing around with practicing transcendental meditation as presented by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, taking some beginning psychology classes, and periodically going to presentations at the college put on by traveling mystics and spiritual men. She seemed interested in these topics, which was a relief for me.

The conversation turned to the idea of hypnotism, a subject that has always fascinated me.  I had been attempting to learn how to do self-hypnosis, but had never successfully practiced it or watched anyone being hypnotized other than during small town-stage shows near my hometown of Sonoma.  I suggested that it seemed pretty easy to do from what I had read. She thought it would be a fun thing to try and asked me to hypnotize her so she could experience what it was like.

I was a bit nervous about this, mainly because I didn’t know what I would do if for some odd reason I were successful.  How would I know if she were really hypnotized?  If she was, what should I do then?  Should I have her do something dumb like act like a chicken?  Maybe do a strip tease?  I wanted to think of something that wasn’t too conspicuous at the party but since there was really no goal except to see if it could be done, I was at a loss about how I should proceed. I have since come to realize that practices such as this should only be done for a purpose, with some intention. 

However, she persisted, so I said I would give it a try.  That decided, the next problem was how to do it.  I thought about things that I had seen in movies such as a swinging pocket watches, but didn’t have one.  I considered all sorts of improvised things that could move back and forth, but was afraid that all of these approaches would be kind of conspicuous and might draw attention to us.  I finally settled on the simplest and least conspicuous of them all, just using my voice.  The method chosen didn’t really matter to me at the time because I was very confident that it would fail.  I was just humoring her in order to continue our time together; I had no desire or intent to actually hypnotize her.

I decided to count slowly from 10 down to 1.  I told her to follow my voice and to let herself sink further and further into a calm, deep sleep as I spoke each number.  I told her that she would remain aware of my voice and where she was.  Then I started counting down.  As I did so she sat back comfortably against the sofa we were sitting on, and relaxed.  By the time I got to 1, she was out!  At first I figured she was just relaxing so I waited a bit for her to open her eyes and talk to me.  However, that didn’t happen.  She just sat there in a very peaceful-looking state.  She was obviously not asleep, but not awake either.

I asked her some questions, such as whether she could hear me.  She indicated that she could, but clearly her response was from some place in a very deep trance.  She spoke as if she were a dreamy state, as if she were a million miles away.  At this point I didn’t know what to do.  I tried “testing” her trance by asking her to do some silly things like raise her arm, make funny noises, etc.  I had her hold her arm out in front of her and just hold it there.  No problem!  She was like a robot.  Whatever I suggested she do, she did! She would do what I asked, and then become perfectly still until directed to do something else.  It was all very weird, and a bit scary.

I wondered what the possibilities were.  Maybe this could turn into something pretty exciting, or pretty dumb, or sexy or something.  I thought about all of those options, and as attractive as they seemed, but taking advantage of her in any way clearly wouldn’t be the right thing to do. I finally decided that since we didn’t have a project to work on, and I didn’t have anything more to do, that we were done. However, it wasn’t obvious how to get out of this situation.  I started to panic a little as I realized that she had gone far beyond what I had expected, and far beyond anything that I was prepared for.  I worried that maybe she was psychotic or something and I had initiated a permanent episode or change. 

I recalled that I had read somewhere that hypnotized people wake up as easily as they fall into a trance.  So I tried the obvious, and had her follow my voice again.  I told her that I would count from 1 to 5, and that when I reached five she would wake up, feel very refreshed and content.  I then counted to her and when I reached 5, she just opened her eyes and smiled nicely at me.  She thanked me for helping her feel so nice, and got up and said goodbye.  So much for keep her around by entertaining her with this parlor game. She just walked out of the party and my life.  I never saw her either before he evening or since. 

The whole event spooked me to the point that it was many years before I attempted to hypnotize anyone again, and the one other time that I have tried since then I was not successful.  It was just so odd to watch her go so easily and deeply into a trance.  It seemed like there was a great opportunity to do good, or bad, with this tool – but I felt that I didn’t know enough about it to depend upon myself to make the right decisions. 

It was too much like riding a motorcycle to me.  I really love driving motorcycles: it is exhilarating and freeing.  However, I keep wanting to go faster and faster, beyond my skills and into great danger.  I finally stopped riding because I became aware that I was taking far too many risks.  Hypnotizing that girl felt similar.  It was neat and fun to be have the “power” of a hypnotist, it made me feel in control and important – but it also felt like it might be leading into dangerous territories where I didn’t have the necessary skills and experience.  It seemed best to just stay away from that particular game.