School speaks about hypnotism act that went awry

SHERBROOKE, Que. – A private girls’ school has learned a lesson of its own — don’t hypnotize your students.

Officials at the College du Sacre-Coeur in Sherbrooke, Que., explained today that they didn’t know 14-year-olds were more susceptible to hypnosis than other people when they booked an end-of-year hypnotism act to entertain students.

But the act went awry and one girl was left in a four-hour trance after the show by the young hypnotist, who had to bring in his mentor to snap people back to normal.

Five other students were in a daze and 13 students reported feeling nausea and headaches after the act.

Daniel Leveille, the school’s director-general, said there were no long-lasting ill effects following the performance and everyone is back to their old selves.

He says 450 students between the ages of 13 to 17 years attended the show, which had gotten good reviews from other schools that hosted it.

Myrianne Cloutier, the mother of one of the affected students, says she’s satisfied with the way the school handled the incident.

She says she still has confidence in the institution.