‘Mischievous Magician’ Puts 75 Schoolchildren Into Hypnotic Trance

Here’s one of those random news stories that makes me think the world has gone mad. According to Colombia Reports,  a “mischievous magician” has been arrested after hypnotizing 75 schoolchildren in the southern Colombian village of Mocca.

Miller Zambrano Posada (aka Miller the Magician) was the headline act of a 45-minute morning show on Thursday. According to school principal Daniel Mora, he hypnotized a child on stage “with gazes and hand movements.” Turns out 75 kids were affected instead.

“Some cried, some threw themselves on the floor, some yelled. Once child swore that she saw the devil and others were rolling on the floor,” police chief Johan Mercado told the paper.

Most of the affected children were sent to an urgent care hospital and, according to the report, angry parents begged authorities to let the magician into the hospital to bring the children out of their trance. As of this afternoon, one child remains in hospital and 40 have been released.

All of the kids, aged12 to 16, presented “collective hypnosis,” according to medical center director Orlando Galarza.

Pretty trippy, right? Makes me think twice about booking”Tricky Ricky” for my son’s next birthday party (he’s a hot-commodity magician). Just kidding. But, really, how messed up is this story? Could you imagine getting a call from the local hospital informing you that your child has been placed into a hypnotic trance? I’d think I was being Punk’d, for sure.

(Photo: Thomas Northcut)