Imagine eighteen students at the will of their own imaginations and one man’s desire to make them do embarrassing things in front of their friends. This is what took place on Sept. 24 in the Administration Auditorium at 9 p.m. when Hypnotist Frederick Winters took the stage. Only two ingredients are needed to make people respond well to hypnotism, "imagination and suggestion," said Winters. Winters asked for volunteers from the audience who would be under his hypnosis for over an hour and a half.

Winters ended up with more than enough students who were willing to be at his mercy. "With this number of students that volunteer, you know it’s going to be a good show," said Winters. Senior Dean Jaeger, Aurora, Colo., noticed when he began falling under Winters’ hypnosis. "I felt more relaxed," Jaeger said.

Freshman Megan Enderson, Watertown, also became more comfortable at Winters’ mercy. Her favorite part was "how relaxed it made me feel," Enderson said. Once the volunteers were under Winters’ spell, he told them that by the time he counted to ten, their hands would be completely cemented together. The volunteer students tried with all their might to pry apart their hands. "What’s wrong with your hands?" asked Winters. "What does it look like?" senior Baron Blanchard, Kindred, N.D. said.

Next Winters had the volunteers believing that they were watching the most hilarious movie that they had ever seen. Just as the volunteers were laughing so hard that tears just about came out of some of their eyes, Winters simply said, "Sleep," and all of the students on stage fell back into a deep hypnotic sleep. "That is hypnosis," Winters said. Later in the show it was Blanchard who had the audience laughing as he told Winters about his yellow-breasted wombat named Popcorn that could "crack pecans with its eyelashes.”

The audience roared with laughter once again when junior Chris Jung, Bowdle, jumped around the stage as if he were a cowboy riding his horse through the wild, wild west. "The spontaneity of the show," Winters said is the best part of being a hypnotist. "I think it’s a magical moment." Winters also loves "the fact that the audience laughs their socks off."

The laughs continued as Winters made Blanchard believe that he had lost his belly button and everyone else on stage laughed as they thought Blanchard was ridiculous. "Oh, who’s laughin’ now?" said Blanchard as the others on stage believed that they, too, had lost their belly buttons. Audience members were ransacked as the volunteers ran out to the audience and tried to find their lost bellybuttons. After the show, freshman Megan Kellen, Lakefield, Minn., only knew what her friends had told her about the show. "I lost my belly button," Kellen said.

The students on stage weren’t the only ones to fall under Winters spell. A female spectator in the audience also fell victim to Winters’ suggestions. When Winters said "rock concert," she became excited believing that Winters was the best rock star she had ever seen. However, as soon as she came within three feet of the stage, she realized it was just Winters, the hypnotist, and went back to her seat feeling embarrassed.

During one of Winters’ routines, he made the students on stage believe that his backside was naked, and Winters realized that his commands were also affecting another female in the audience. After outrageous laughter came from freshman Julie Laqua, Cavalier, N.D., she was asked to take a seat on stage and participate in the show. This wasn’t the first time Laqua fell under Winters’ spell. She had fallen under hypnosis in the audience another time when Winters was at NSU.

"I said after the last time I wouldn’t [become hypnotized again]," Laqua said. "I feel like a moron for all of it." Part of Laqua’s humiliation came from being able to remember most of the things that had happened. "I remember most of it," said Laqua. "You just can’t control it."

Controlling their imagination must have been a problem for Blanchard and Jung as Winters made the two believe that when he said "zoo," Blanchard was a mommy kangaroo and Jung was the baby that fit in the mommy’s pouch. Blanchard and Jung hopped across the stage together as mommy and baby. "I remember Baron and another guy jumping all around," said sophomore Katie Singrey, Hazel.

"The kangaroo was funny," said Laqua. Laqua caused more subtle laughter when she refused to let Jung sit next her because she believed he was the one that kept snapping her bra, when it was really her imagination. "This chick is crazy!" said Jung telling Winters what the commotion was about.

The men on stage were the gleam in every lady’s eye when Winters’ made them believe that they were ballet dancers as classical music was played. The ladies’ eyes lit up even more when "I’m Too Sexy" was played and the men believed that they were exotic dancers. Jaeger’s favorite part was "the end of it and people telling me what I did," said Jaeger. "I remember moving around, but I don’t know what I was doing," said Singrey.

"Everyone feels a little something," Winters said. "Some feel tired, but every person comes off [stage] thinking ‘now that was really wild.’"