TRANCE AT A GLANCE

Gisborne Times, Volume LXXXIV, Issue 12905, 4 July 1936, Page 12

TRANCE AT A GLANCE

IRISH A lAN’S HYPNOTIC EYE —A young Irish labourer has a powerful hypnotic gift which enables him to soothe nerves and relieve suffering —yet which is making life full of difficulty for Km. He is Thomas Campbell, and so powerful i& the in- , fluenec which he ex raises that people have fallen into a trance at a single unwitting glance front him. Fellow workmen sooner or later fall under the same spell. Tiien they complain to the superiors—and. Air. Campbell ii- asked to leave the job. He has held mow than 30 jobs in various parts of Britain; hut his uncanny gift has eventually hern dLcovered. and he has had to s. ok employment elsewhere. M.edieal and scientific experts who have investigated his ease have been astonished at the potency of the influence he exerts—and baffled in their attempts to reach an explanation. Recently, in a small noom overlooking a busy London street, Afr. Campbell gave a demonstration of his power. In a full view of a number of independent witnesses he sent- three people two men and a girl—into ai e.cep trance; sewed the two arms of f a hypnotised man together by plmtg-UM ing a heavy needle through the ffesh; caused bleeding to stop and be icnewed at his command. In the first test the subject—a. .yung man—s it down in a chair faeii g the hypnotist. Almost immediately the eyes of the young man started to roll, then he slumped in h’s chair as though iu a deep sleep. At once Air. Campbell placed his anus together, pinched the fleshy part of the foraorm, and drove a. ' needle and thread clean through. 1 he. o|>cration was repeated until the two arms wore tightly sewri together. The- hypnotised subject! neither moved nor flinched, et the mail who posseses this strange power almost wishes ho had not got it-. “When I lived in Belfast, no ono would work with me,” lie said. “Ono day a man climbing a ladder was hypnotised became I thoughtlessly glanced into his eyes from abova where 1 was working. ) “H took me ten minutes to getCy him out of the trance, and all tins time he was in danger of falling. “Wherever 1 work it is only g que.q ion of time before one 0 f mV mates goes into a trance, and I am found mit. rhen they get frightened am! that means the sack for me ' 7, 1U 1 V 0 lravclled over Britain and had more than 30 jobs.”