Emergency Hypnotist Called In To Undo Damage After School Show

SHERBROOKE, Que. - It was an end-of-year school activity featuring a hypnotism show and it didn't go quite as planned.

A Quebec all-girls high school said the activity went awry as numerous students had problems after the show — including one girl who remained stuck in a trance for four hours.

The incident occurred last week at a private school, College du Sacre-Coeur in Sherbrooke, during a lunchtime end-of-year event.

At least five students appeared to experience trouble after the show, given by a 20-year-old hypnotist.

Principal Daniel Leveille said Friday in a news release that at least one student remained in a trance for four hours — which the administrator described as a "deep sleep." In addition, 13 other students reported having headaches or nausea.

School administrators had to call in the hypnotist's mentor, who came to help deal with the problem. He brought the teens back to regular consciousness.

Administrators said they learned after the fact that hypnosis isn't recommended for people under the age of 14 because people that young are particularly susceptible to it. The school said through a spokesman Friday that it had no idea such a show could have those side effects.

Leveille said the administration plans to hold a news conference next Tuesday to provide updates. In the meantime, they're keeping tabs on students affected by the show.

"This incident raises questions about our practices, which we wish to discuss to ensure similar events don't occur again," Leveille said in a statement.

"We also wish to gather all relevant information before talking to the media about this unfortunate event which, fortunately, did not leave any consequences."

Some 450 students between the ages of 13 and 17 attend the Eastern Townships school, about 150 kilometres east of Montreal.