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Is this just a lazy publicity stunt (intended or otherwise)?

"Hypnotist's Mishap Leaves People In Trance" Via Sky News

I'm sceptical of hypnosis, but haven't seen anything definitive either way.

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(Where's Chris Angel when you need him?) ;-P – Randolf Richardson Jun 4 '11 at 18:24
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What's the claim that you are skeptical of? That three people stayed for ten minutes in a trance while people left the room? – Christian Jun 4 '11 at 18:35
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That the show participants could be "left in a trance" at all. My assumption is that the hypnotist had an unfortunate accident, which left him out cold for a few minutes, and later decided that it would make for a good news piece and publicity for his show. As much as I try, I can't find out a definitive answer for whether or not hypnotism is at all possible! Like I said, I'm sceptical, but I haven't seen anything that proves or disproves it - just what I see in clips and in news articles. – James Jun 6 '11 at 20:05
Can you define what you mean by a "trance"? – Brian Fenton Jun 27 '11 at 16:03
Umm... Not really, as my definition might be different to Sky News'! My assumption would be that they mean something along the lines of "an altered state of consciousness". – James Jul 4 '11 at 22:15

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