Look into My Eyes: Is Hypnotism Real or Just Suggestion?
Since Franz Mesmer in the 18th century, many claims have been made about the power of hypnotism, but is it really just down to our innate social obedience?
“HYPNOTISM — MENACE OR MYTH?”
So begins the 1951 British Pathé short film profiling the work of hypnotist Peter Casson. This question—whether hypnosis is genuinely harmful or some kind of fiction—has plagued the topic ever since the 18th century, when Franz Mesmer claimed he could affect cures by controlling the magnetic streams in the human body. By the mid-20th century, the claims of mesmeric magnetism had disappeared, but people in theaters across Britain were still falling into a trance, this time under the influence of stage hypnotists like Casson:
Casson was particularly famous because some years earlier, in 1946, the BBC had invited him to their studios at Alexandra Palace to be interviewed. They conducted a test of Casson’s powers by having him hypnotize…
