{"id":7,"date":"2010-10-10T00:00:08","date_gmt":"2010-10-10T04:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hypnosisinmedia.com\/blog\/?p=7"},"modified":"2012-05-21T13:57:06","modified_gmt":"2012-05-21T17:57:06","slug":"secrets-of-the-sleep-merchants-by-william-lindsay-gresham","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hypnosisinmedia.com\/blog\/7\/secrets-of-the-sleep-merchants-by-william-lindsay-gresham\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cSecrets of the Sleep Merchants\u201d by William Lindsay Gresham"},"content":{"rendered":"

Back\u00adground<\/em>: In junior high Eng\u00adlish class, one of the exer\u00adcis\u00ades was to take a card from a rack, read the arti\u00adcle or sto\u00adry on it, then answer a series of ques\u00adtions based on that arti\u00adcle or sto\u00adry. The racks were divid\u00aded by read\u00ading lev\u00adel, and most of the stu\u00addents, includ\u00ading myself, were giv\u00aden cards from the aver\u00adage lev\u00adel read\u00ading lev\u00adel. The prob\u00adlem was that even then, I was read\u00ading at a col\u00adlege lev\u00adel (I read one of my old\u00ader broth\u00aders\u2019 text\u00adbooks, \u201cMythol\u00ado\u00adgy\u201d<\/em> by Edith Hamil\u00adton, at the age of 8, and was then answer\u00ading whole columns (in the form a ques\u00adtion, of course) labeled \u201cMythol\u00ado\u00adgy\u201d while watch\u00ading \u201cJeop\u00adardy\u201d<\/em> soon after\u00adward ) and the selec\u00adtions I was giv\u00aden were rather bor\u00ading. That was when I decid\u00aded to try some\u00adthing from the advanced rack, and it turned out to be one of those strange hyp\u00adno\u00adsis-relat\u00aded coin\u00adci\u00addences that pop up every so often in my life.<\/p>\n

The arti\u00adcle was enti\u00adtled \u2018Secrets of the Sleep Mer\u00adchants\u2019<\/em> and it described how carny stage hyp\u00adno\u00adtists of the ear\u00adly 20th<\/sup> Cen\u00adtu\u00adry used tricks like chlo\u00adro\u00adform or hashish to help induce their sub\u00adjects. Every\u00adthing was told from the point of view of the author describ\u00ading how his father used these tricks. It was a remark\u00adable coin\u00adci\u00addence, as by even then I had a strong inter\u00adest in hyp\u00adno\u00adsis. At that time, I decid\u00aded I would find a copy of this arti\u00adcle for myself, as this was only an abbre\u00advi\u00adat\u00aded ver\u00adsion, so I was sure that I mem\u00ado\u00adrized the title of both the arti\u00adcle and the mag\u00ada\u00adzine it was in, \u201cTrue, the Men\u2019s Mag\u00ada\u00adzine\u201d<\/em>. Unfor\u00adtu\u00adnate\u00adly, I soon dis\u00adcov\u00adered that the libraries did\u00adn\u2019t col\u00adlect the mag\u00ada\u00adzine. For years, I would peri\u00adod\u00adi\u00adcal\u00adly make a slight effort at locat\u00ading the arti\u00adcle or the mag\u00ada\u00adzine, with no suc\u00adcess, search\u00ading at paper col\u00adlec\u00adtors con\u00adven\u00adtions and approach\u00ading col\u00adlec\u00adtors, and, then, lat\u00ader, search\u00ading eBay: of course, it did\u00adn\u2019t help that I could only remem\u00adber the year of pub\u00adli\u00adca\u00adtion, 1955 (my birth year) but not the month.<\/p>\n

Flash for\u00adward three decades. One day I got the idea of search\u00ading the Inter\u00adnet for the arti\u00adcle title, and I struck gold. \u2018Secrets of the Sleep Mer\u00adchants\u2019<\/em> was list\u00aded as part of the online bib\u00adli\u00adog\u00adra\u00adphy of writer William Lind\u00adsay Gre\u00adsham<\/a>: this same bib\u00adli\u00adog\u00adra\u00adphy also list\u00aded his lit\u00ader\u00adary agent. A polite let\u00adter to the agent pro\u00advid\u00aded me the month of pub\u00adli\u00adca\u00adtion, and I was able to pur\u00adchase a copy of the right mag\u00ada\u00adzine the next time it appeared on eBay.<\/p>\n

I also learned a bit about the author: Gre\u00adsham was pri\u00admar\u00adi\u00adly known for his noir nov\u00adel \u201cNight\u00admare Alley\u201d<\/a><\/em>, about a car\u00adni\u00adval men\u00adtal\u00adist turned high-soci\u00adety spir\u00adi\u00adtu\u00adal\u00adist and his even\u00adtu\u00adal fall and dis\u00adin\u00adte\u00adgra\u00adtion, which became a movie of the same name star\u00adring Tyrone Pow\u00ader and Joan Blondel. He was also a stage magi\u00adcian who authored a biog\u00adra\u00adphy of Hou\u00addi\u00adni. I also dis\u00adcov\u00adered he was an abu\u00adsive hus\u00adband, whose wife fled him and moved to Eng\u00adland with their chil\u00addren, where she mar\u00adried C S Lewis (the sto\u00adry of which is told in the movie \u201cShad\u00adow\u00adland\u201d<\/em>.) Gre\u00adsham sur\u00advived a bout of tuber\u00adcu\u00adlo\u00adsis but even\u00adtu\u00adal\u00adly suc\u00adcumbed to alco\u00adholism and com\u00admit\u00adted sui\u00adcide in 1962.<\/p>\n

The Arti\u00adcle<\/em>: \u2018Secrets of the Sleep Mer\u00adchants\u2019<\/em> breezi\u00adly cat\u00ada\u00adlogs a vari\u00adety of tricks used by stage hyp\u00adno\u00adtists in Gre\u00adsham\u2019s father\u2019s time and pos\u00adsi\u00adbly before. How\u00adev\u00ader, I have not been able to locate any infor\u00adma\u00adtion about whether his father was actu\u00adal\u00adly in <\/em>the carny busi\u00adness: much of the infor\u00adma\u00adtion about the carny trade appar\u00adent\u00adly comes from his asso\u00adci\u00ada\u00adtion with one \u201cDoc\u201d Hal\u00adl\u00adi\u00adday, an old carny.worker and friend of Gre\u00adsham\u2019s. Oth\u00ader mate\u00adr\u00adi\u00adal about the world of carny can be found in of his non\u00adfic\u00adtion work \u201cMon\u00adster Mid\u00adway: An Unin\u00adhib\u00adit\u00aded Look at the Glit\u00adter\u00ading World of the Carny\u201d<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The arti\u00adcle starts with a sto\u00adry Gre\u00adsham\u2019s father told him, how he was going to be pro\u00adfes\u00adsion\u00adal hyp\u00adno\u00adtist\u2019s \u201chorse\u201d or plant. Once on stage, he was placed between two chairs and a block of stone was placed on his stom\u00adach: the intent was that the hyp\u00adno\u00adtist was going to demon\u00adstrate body rigid\u00adi\u00adty by break\u00ading the stone with a sledge\u00adham\u00admer. His father\u2019s moth\u00ader, how\u00adev\u00ader, want\u00aded her son to have noth\u00ading to do with being a \u201chorse\u201d and quick\u00adly marched him off-stage. Gre\u00adsham would lat\u00ader explain the secret behind the trick: his father (as a young man) was specif\u00adi\u00adcal\u00adly select\u00aded for his rel\u00ada\u00adtive\u00adly short height, that he was placed on the two chairs on his shoul\u00adders and calves (a very easy posi\u00adtion to main\u00adtain) and that the block of heavy-look\u00ading stone was actu\u00adal\u00adly sand\u00adstone, a rel\u00ada\u00adtive\u00adly brit\u00adtle rock.<\/p>\n

After that, once we get past a brief but accu\u00adrate of the stage hyp\u00adno\u00adsis process, the arti\u00adcle then describes a num\u00adber of tricks and strat\u00ada\u00adgems used to beguile the audi\u00adence into becom\u00ading good sub\u00adjects. A num\u00adber of the tricks described include:<\/p>\n