A Hypnotizing ‘Devils Den @ 10’

Julia Conant, Arts & Entertainment Editor

 

Looking for a fun way to spend a late night at Central? How about watching a bunch of your peers unknowingly make a fool of themselves.

Last Thursday’s “Devils Den @ 10” event brought hypnotist Doug Thompson to campus for a humorous show that had the crowd constantly clapping and laughing.

To see who was capable of being hypnotized, Thompson first conducted a test for the whole audience. He had everyone clasp their hands together, stick their pointer fingers out and hold them an inch apart. Then he said to imagine a magnet pulling the two fingers closer together. If your fingers actually got closer and touched, you were supposedly able to be hypnotized.

After this exercise Thompson asked for volunteers. A handful of willing students ran on stage. Thompson asked the crowd for complete silence as he prepared the students to be hypnotized. He told the volunteers on stage to relax and to only pay attention to the sound of his voice.

Once the process was over, Thompson messed with the students a bit. He made some think they were the best river dancers in the world, some thought they were in a band and he made one student think their name was Jojo. Every time Thompson referred to “Jojo” as a different name, “Jojo” became furious and corrected him, yelling that his name was Jojo.

Thompson also made the students believe a monkey was on stage with them. He told them the monkey might have fleas and lice, throwing a stuffed monkey directly at some students. They flipped out and got as far away from the monkey as they could. Then Thompson told the students that the monkey got run over. All of them were visibly upset, and one girl dropped to her knees crying.

To lighten the mood, Thompson said the students were part of a dance contest that Christopher Walken would be judging. The crowd cheered as the students on stage showed off their dance moves. “Walken” (Thompson doing an impression of Walken) didn’t end up saying who won the contest because all of the students got a call on their “cell phones” (shoes). The students all took their shoes off and held them to the sides of their faces.

The show ended with the students all taking a shoe selfie together. As “Jojo” took the photo, the students simultaneously said, “I pooped my pants!”

Regardless of whether the audience believed in hypnotism or not, most of them left the show giggling and recounting their favorite moments.