Scary Leprechauns

Ah, All Hallows. My favorite holiday. What a busy time, party and all. I got a favorable response to it so it should be fun. The cider is all ready to be spiced, the guided meditation written and my custume hanging on the shower bar.

Are you doing anything fun today?

And onto the scary stuff, no really, I mean scary. It is in the news again...someone having issues from a hypnotism show. What is the deal with this?

If you have not heard this one, it happened in Sydney, Australia at a Peter Powers hypnosis show on October 19. Same old story. Hypnotist hypnotizes skeptic. Skeptic feels bolts of lightening, itchy when triggered, and runs out of the show to chase leprechauns. At least the leprechauns is a charming touch. Apparently Chris (last name withheld from the press) ran out of the Enmore Theatre and into traffic to chase the little creatures. He says he felt terribly paranoid and confused and had reportedly run into traffic. His date to the show ended up calling him on his cell phone and this snapped him out of the hypnosis. He was on the other side of the city with no idea how he got there. This is what today's story said (see the first two articles under cited).

However, Monday's article says a little more. Powers said that he had removed the hypnosis and the man left the stage and theatre. Another audience member followed him, suspecting he was still under hypnosis. Chris was seen running through traffic and acting crazy, by police. Chris later told Powers that he had run because he thought someone was following him, which they apparently were. He had also told Powers this had frightened him. Well, yes, it might frighten me as well.

The disturbing thing is the subtle changes in two of the articles, both by Gemma Jones. Has indeed Chris changed the story and blamed it on Powers? Is the media slanting stories? So, I began wandering about leprechauns and how that got into the story. Early in the show, it was something Powers had participants do, so I think the two stories got blended.

Now as a person who tries to see the good side of things, here is the spin. Even though this seems like more bad press about hypnosis, ultimately it may not be. They do say there is no bad press. But all it really does, whether true or not, is potentially show how powerful hypnosis can be. It sort of plugs the notion of it in an awkward way, at the least the more recent articles do. The firstone really shows what may have happened. Chris got scared by being chased. Now perhaps he is trying to save face or something of the sort.

Your thoughts?

Sources:
news.ninemsn.com.au
Peters Powers 'victim' speaks out
Hypnotised man flees show into path of traffic