“Close your eyes and focus on the sound of my voice,” began hypnotist Christopher Carter as he mesmerized 18 University of Wisconsin student volunteers on Saturday evening. The event was part of the UW spring welcome events.
The student volunteers that appeared on stage entertained the audience by reliving five-year-old perspectives of scary movies, performing as prima ballerinas or being sumo wrestlers and speaking a form of foreign gibberish.
Carter’s interest in hypnotism began when he was in high school. As a skeptical participant in another hypnotist’s show, he found, to his surprise, that he ended up falling into the “feta state” and not remembering any actions or comments he made during his time put under.
“The feta state is halfway between being awake and being asleep,” Carter said. “It happens to the subconscious mind and it unlocks your unconscious imagination.”
After being hypnotized himself, Carter’s fascination with psychology and hypnotism intensified. He has now been traveling across the country for 13 years, to over 200 college campuses a year, hypnotizing student volunteers.
“Being hypnotized is not emotional or intellectual,” said Carter to the hundreds of UW students in the audience. “If you are hypnotized, the more others laugh, the funnier you will be. The best part is that you might not remember any of it — but that’s what friends are for.”
Carter enchanted the crowded room of spectators as he transformed the 18 volunteers on stage into the feta state. Once the volunteers entered this state, Carter was able to reach their unconscious imaginations.
In one part of the show, Carter convinced the participants that every time he mentioned the word “Madison” the female volunteers would feel a sharp pinch on their backsides. Inevitably, one of the male volunteers sitting near them was blamed.
Several of the performance bits included word associations. Volunteers heard the word “red” and then smelled a horrible odor. There were music associations, where participants heard a certain song and danced to it in a specific style. Carter also orchestrated complete identity transformations of his volunteers into celebrities or cartoon characters.
“A lot of these bits are classics,” Carter said. “Yet, I like to make up my own from the world around.”
Currently, Carter is working on a new bit to use on future hypnotized volunteers using voodoo dolls. He got the idea from the TV show “Fear Factor.”
The group of 18 student volunteers fluctuated as the event continued. People on stage would fall out of their feta state and were replaced. Several audience members were selected because, by watching the volunteers and listening to Carter, they had fallen into the feta state in their chairs.
Chuck Wastell, Ben Burns and Carl Moeller agreed that Carter was one of the funniest and best hypnotists they have seen. With one of their friends on stage, the event was even more memorable.
“I have seen three different hypnotists,” said freshman Wastell. “He was definitely one of the better ones.”
“It was great but weird,” said freshman Mark Rose, who was hypnotized on stage throughout the event. “I really concentrated and now I feel like I have more energy, but it was so weird.”
