“Hypnosis is nothing more than a state of awareness. You won’t do anything you wouldn’t normally do. You’re just going to be a little bit weird—a little bit silly.”
With that preamble, Jesse Lewis was off running, Nov. 6, as he had junior high students laughing like Queen Elizabeth, smelling each other’s feet, scratching their uncontrollably itchy posteriors and driving imaginary race cars.
Lewis is a hypnotist who came to the Jasper Junior/Senior High School as a fundraiser for the 2015 graduating class, and at one point or another, he had the entire audience, participating in the show, whether they were dancing, giving the participants a high five, or in the case of Tony Mastrianni, making fart noises into a microphone.
“It’s like the oldest man you know just farted,” instructed Lewis, as the kids squirmed around with displeasure, hiding their noses under their sweaters and holding them closed with their fingers.
During the hour-long show, Lewis had the youth falling in and out of consciousness, as they slumped low into their chairs, leaning on the person beside them only to be suddenly aroused by a command: “Imagine you’re laying an Easter egg!”
Lewis joked that with adults he has them imagine they’re giving birth, but with kids an Easter egg works just as well and gets the same sort of reaction.
That reaction includes a lot of thrashing, pushing and unattractive facial expressions.
“The egg is right stuck,” said Lewis into the microphone. “Push!”
Although the show drew a small crowd, everyone who attended shared a few hearty laughs and the youth who participated were buzzing with excitement when it was all said and done.
Check out photos from the event on the Fitzhugh’s Facebook page.
Nicole Veerman
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