George Noory welcomed hypnotherapy expert Rick Collingwood for a discussion on hypnosis, evil spirits and exorcism. According to Collingwood, and despite popular belief, a well-trained hypnotist can get certain individuals to do whatever he wants them to do. "About 20 percent of people you could make do anything," he said, adding there are likely individuals in the world who have been hypnotically programmed a la The Manchurian Candidate. Collingwood shared some of his most compelling cases, including one involving a former amphetamine (speed) addict who claimed to have a spirit molesting her. Collingwood described hearing the girl speak in an creepily low voice as he was counting her down into a hypnotic state. During the session, she made growling sounds and a mist rose up out of her, he revealed.
People tormented by extreme trauma or drug addiction are more susceptible to invasion by such entities, Collingwood continued. "I think that a lot of the chemical drugs open up conduits... that enable these other energies to come through and attach themselves to certain individuals," he explained. Collingwood pointed out that these entities will attempt to attach themselves to him after they discover he can see and sense them, noting how most are not evil and are likely wanting only to ground themselves in someone else. "I don't think that [these entities] can do any harm to you until you become frightened of it," he added. Collingwood did, however, acknowledge the existence of powerful negative entities that must be dealt with by an exorcist.
He also talked about German doctor Franz Mesmer (for whom mesmerism was named) and a Scottish surgeon who utilized mesmerism to hypnotize patients and perform limb amputations with no pain or gushing blood. Collingwood presented a case of a young woman who suffered four to five seizures a week that was helped through past life regression therapy. She saw her past life as a beggar in ancient Rome, experienced a fall, and after she awoke never had another seizure, he reported. Collingwood also claimed to have been involved in cases where hypnosis led to remissions of various cancers and in the successful treatment of auditory schizophrenia.
The remainder of the show featured Open Lines.
News segment guest: Peter Davenport