Long John Nebel

by Way Out World

And, as I look in retrospect, I don’t think an individual even moved in his chair.

  The suspense was so great that all of us just waited there, almost reluctant to take a deep breath for fear that possibly we could cause some disturbance that could kill the possibility of witnessing the phenomenon of teleportation that each one of us, individually, down deep in our hearts, knew would never happen. But none of us could afford to gamble against the remote possibility that this was the M.O.M. of our lives—the Morning of Miracles.

  We are now off the air, and Neff asked all of us to stand up—and he emphasized the fact that we should gradually, in a rather slow pace, move away from the table, and to sort of shape up in the center of the studio. He requested the handful of visitors who were in the studio also to become a part of this group standing in the center of the studio. He asked our engineers, Walter McDonough and Jack Keane, to also join the group standing in Studio 6.

  And then, as a great general would possibly guide his troops to an island that’s possibly just raised the white flag of truce, he marched us as a group from Studio 6, all following our leader, Dr. William Neff.

  At no time did anyone go back to that table. But I must admit that we all, as we left Studio 6, sort of took that last look at the center of that table where that heavy microphone was sitting on two sheets of paper, and we assumed underneath the paper, lying face down, was the dollar bill whose serial number we all knew.

  We’re now standing in the areaway that is the space between the doors of Studio 6 and Studio 7.

  The General—in this case Dr. William Neff—took a quick head count and realized that his troops were all intact.

  He asked Walter McDonough and Jack Keane to go first and open both doors leading into Studio 7. And I can honestly say that the closest thing to a group arriving simultaneously was certainly accomplished that morning.

  We all stood to one side of the studio in positions that made it possible for all of us to view the oak table, which was clear of everything with the exception of a piece of paper.

  Dr. Neff then requested that the three visitors—one the engineer’s wife who had participated in a portion of the experiment, as I’ve related it—stand one on each of three sides of the table, and then he asked me to be the fourth witness. At all times the balance of the group was able to see every movement.

  He then proceeded to tell us in beautiful, mystical phraseology that the bill in Studio 6 had left that studio during the time that the group was standing between 6 and 7. And he said the reason that he had to request the assistance of the two engineers, so that the double doors in Studio 7 would both be opened at the same time, was because he realized that the teleported bill for some reason which he could not explain had not sufficient mystical or teleportational power to go through the doors. And that’s why he needed the assistance of both engineers. Although he admitted later that the bill, when it was in this state of limbo between its presence in 6 and 7, was not visible to him in a tangible way, his keen ability to do eyeless vision enabled him to sense, through other powers that are difficult to describe, an object that gets stuck during teleportation.

  Let’s get back to the studio—that is Studio 7…

  The four of us are now standing around the table, and Dr. William Neff instructs me to lift the paper from the table. And as I did so, it was the first time in my life that I have ever heard a simultaneous gasp of awe on the part of a group.

  There was a dollar bill, face down.

  And then Dr. Neff suggested for me to lift the dollar bill from the table and read the serial number—which I proceeded to do.

  And as I read each digit, you could feel and hear the sense of mystification on the part of all those who participated in that teleportation experiment.

  Do I have the answer? Believe me, I don’t. But I’ve got about 184 additional questions that I would love answers to.

  CHAPTER 12—THE PROFESSIONAL ENCHANTERS

  “Everything that deceives may be said to enchant.”—Plato

  SOMETIMES I THINK that fifty million years ago one pre-man was standing on top of a rock saying:

  “Friends, I’d appreciate it very much if you’d step in just a little closer. I can assure you that if you miss a single word of the brief lecture I’m going to give on the wonders of hide reading you’ll shed tears as large as melons. Yes, I said, and I repeat, I’m going to show you this afternoon the wonders of hide reading. If any one of you within the hearing of my voice has a good skin—a dinosaur, a great bat, a python—I want you to bring it forward and let the master hide reader tell you what the future holds in store. Yes, my good friends, you’ll learn what’s going to happen tomorrow, you’ll also learn more about the things that happened yesterday. Yes, all of this—and much more—is revealed in the lines and conformations of your favorite dried-out hide.”

  In the modern sense, it began with Friederich Anton Mesmer, who was born in Germany in 1733. He went to the best medical school of his time and first made a name for himself by writing an important paper on the power of the planets over the bodies of men. According to him, the human being acted as a magnet with positive and negative sides. His theory was that disease and illness was caused by a “dislocation of the animal magnetism.” This “animal magnetism” was a fluid in the body which could be controlled by the mind—if the powers of concentration were strong enough. At other times, however, the situation was goofed up, and you ended up feeling beat.

  As a matter of fact, Mesmer’s own magnetic fluid seems to have gotten kind of twisted around. When he was at the peak of his operation, the French government decided to appoint a commission to investigate the action he had going for him. The bit they called “Mesmerism,” which was pretty much like our hypnotism of today.

  This panel of scientific men, including the visiting American diplomat Ben Franklin, brought in a very negative report and killed Mesmer’s whole pitch. He died twenty years later, broken and broke.

  The top man in the hyp department today is Dr. George Estabrooks, head of the Department of Psychology at Colgate University. He has presented fascinating theories on it, covering many different fields of human activity. Hallucinations, pain killing, multiple personality, mental disease, allergy, obsessions, asthma, crime and its detection, politics, dictators, vocational guidance, and many other subjects.

  Anyone not familiar with the inside gaffs of hypnotism usually has a stack of questions about this “mysterious art,” and there are a lot of false impressions connected with it. Take for instance the old routine about not being able to put a subject “under” against his will. Actually, except for rare cases, this would be true; but it isn’t also true that you have to have the subject’s consent. In other words, if you’ve ever put someone into a trance state you can condition him to go under again, in a matter of seconds, without his knowing it. This is accomplished with a post-hypnotic suggestion. It would work like this.

  You have a subject hypnotized. You tell him that in the future he’ll always “go under” when you, and only you, say the words, “I won’t try to hypnotize you.” You repeat this until it’s firmly implanted in the unconscious mind. You also suggest to the subject that he’ll remember nothing of what happens during the trance when he awakens. Then he’s brought out of the hypnotic state.

  An hour, or a day, later, you can be speaking with the subject and say to him: “I won’t try to hypnotize you.” Without his consent, without his even knowing what has happened, he’ll once more be in trance. That’s how a man may be hypnotized without his consent.

  Another fear you often hear about is that a subject will not wake up when he’s told to. Dr. Estabrooks states he never had this happen to him in all his years of experience, but that if it did there would be nothing to worry about. The operator would just let the subject rest quietly. In a matter of time, he’d slip from the trance into a natural sleep from which he’d simply awaken.

  As far as the bit about a person in the hypnotic state never doing anything
against their moral code, there are a lot of “ifs” in this claim. The truth probably is that in almost every case the subject will not do something that is contrary to his sense of morality, but it’s also true that a clever operator can disguise the action so that a person might do something he wouldn’t do normally, without knowing what he was doing. An example of this would be if the hypnotist put a subject into a trance state and gave him a pistol. The operator might now tell the subject that he was nine years old playing cops-and-robbers with his friends. He would point out that the gun was a water pistol and then urge him to shoot it at someone. Under these conditions, it’s quite possible that the subject would perform an act that would surprise, even horrify, him, when he came out of the trance.

  Of course, such things are very unlikely, although I did hear at one time that the police had suspected that one of the infamous plane bombings, as well as occasional murders, might have been pulled off by a hyp gimmick.

  In recent years, the medical profession has begun using hypnotism quite freely. Childbirth, dermatology, and hypnodontics have been areas in which hypnotism has been found to be helpful as an anesthesia, particularly where the patients were in physical conditions that made chemical types of anesthesias dangerous. The second area where it has been of considerable value, and where it seems to have a great future, is in psychiatry. In the treatment of neuroses, hysteria, phobias, obsessions, compulsions, and, in general, where the problem has a disturbed emotion basis, it has been brought into play. Now the uses of hypnotism in the problems of alcoholism and drug addiction are being looked into, and the future in this department appears promising.

  It’s highly interesting to point out, however, that there are scientists who are spending a lot of time in the study of the powers of hypnotism, who are not medical men. A major example is Dr. Wallace Minto, famous nuclear physicist, whom I’ve mentioned before. On one of the many occasions when I’ve had the privilege of having him on my show, Dr. Minto offered to demonstrate the use of hypnotism in the field of parapsychology, specifically astral projection. I readily agreed, since this type of bit always makes for a great radio program.

  After a brief discussion, it was decided that I’d suggest to the listeners that they send telegrams into the studio if they were interested in participating in the test. I then told my engineer to write down a number on a slip of paper, without telling me, or anyone, what it was. When that particular telegram came in (they’re all numbered automatically in order of reception) it would be handed to Minto and he’d give the address of the sender to his subject. In this way, only the engineer knew what number telegram would be selected, and he’d have no idea who was going to send that particular wire. Minto, on the other hand, would have even less idea of what would come up, and the subject would have no idea at all. In effect, it seemed like just about a foolproof test.

  Everything was arranged. Minto had the subject in trance. The selected telegram, number 34, came in (out of a total of 137). The address was noted. And the experiment began.

  “You will now sink deeper and deeper into a calm, quiet sleep, and activate your astral self. The address is 348 West 14th Street. (This, of course, was not the actual address.) Visualize your astral body and direct it to project toward this address. 348 West 14th Street, here in the city.” Minto’s voice was even and firm. The subject said nothing, but his breathing could be heard over the microphone which hung about his neck.

  You are approaching 14th Street,” the doctor continued. “Now you have found the house. You are to go to the third floor, rear apartment, right side. A lady is waiting there and you are to describe her apartment. Do you understand?”

  “Yes,” announced the subject in a startlingly strong voice.

  “Are you in the apartment?” inquired Minto.

  “Yes,” snapped the subject again.

  “Please describe it,” asked the physicist.

  “The room I’m in is about fifteen feet square. The walls are white and so is the ceiling. The floors are light and parquet. Two pictures hang opposite each other, and they are portraits in oil—one man, one woman. All of the furniture is quite old. The sofa is dark red plush. The two big stuffed chairs are dark green. Across one end of the room are two very high windows going down to the floor. In front of these is a huge black wood table with a lace cover. There are flowers and magazines on this table. Under the picture of the man is a wide marble fireplace, but it is covered with an iron plate. The opening, I mean. The carpet is red, green, gold and…”

  The description of the room was in amazing detail, and the young man never hesitated. He seemed positive about everything he “saw.” In a few minutes, when he had announced that he couldn’t think of anything else to tell about, Dr. Minto woke him up and he went out into the sponsor’s booth to watch the remainder of the program.

  In about ten minutes, a telegram came in from the person whose original message had been selected as the key to the experiment. This lady stated that there was absolutely no connection between her apartment and the place the astral projectionist had described. It ran something like this:

  “WU141 PD

  NEW YORK NY (Date) 2:21 A EST

  LONG JOHN WUX

  WITH REGARD TO THE YOUNG MAN WHO, UNDER DR. MINTO’S HYPNOTIC INFLUENCE, ATTEMPTED TO ASTRALLY PROJECT TO MY HOME AND DESCRIBE IT AND ITS CONTENTS, LET ME SAY UNEQUIVOCALLY THAT HIS REPORT BORE ABSOLUTELY NO RESEMBLANCE TO MY STUDIO WHICH HAS ALL ORIENTAL MODERN FURNISHINGS AND ONLY FIVE ABSTRACT PAINTINGS ON THE WALLS. UNFORTUNATELY, I ALSO HAVE NO FIREPLACE, BUT I WOULD HAVE THOUGHT THAT HE MIGHT HAVE NOTICED MY GIANT, AND I DO MEAN GIANT, BLACK GREAT DANE, WHO WAS AND IS LYING IN THE MIDDLE OF MY SMALL FLOOR. SORRY, BUT I HOPE HE USUALLY PROJECTS MORE SUCCESSFULLY THAN HIS PERFORMANCE OF THIS EVENING.”

  Well, neighbors, I’ll give you a square count. Although, naturally, I didn’t expect any success, I had hoped it wouldn’t bomb out this badly. Minto looked genuinely surprised for a moment and then observed:

  “I would say that if one was to put an evaluation on this test that it would have to be classified as unsuccessful.”

  “I’ll certainly buy that,” I laughed, and the show continued along other lines for a while. About twenty minutes had passed when another telegram arrived, which really shook me up and even seemed to unnerve Minto a little. It reads as follows:

  “WU143 PD

  NEW YORK NY (Date) 2:46A EST

  LONG JOHN WUX

  I DON’T KNOW WHAT TO SAY OR HOW TO SAY IT. FRANKLY, I FEEL A LITTLE SICK ABOUT THE WHOLE SITUATION. BUT TO THE POINT, AND THIS IS IT. THE DESCRIPTION GIVEN BY DR. MINTO’S SUBJECT MATCHES, TO A “T”, THE HOME I HAVE MAINTAINED AT THIS ADDRESS FOR OVER FORTY YEARS. THE PORTRAITS ARE OF MY FATHER AND MOTHER. THE GREAT TABLE BELONGED TO MY GREAT GREAT GRANDFATHER WHO ONCE SAT AT IT WRITING REPORTS TO GENERAL WASHINGTON. I AM TOTALLY ASTONISHED. I HAVE NEVER BELIEVED IN THE OCCULT IN ALL OF MY SEVENTY YEARS, BUT NOW I JUST DON’T KNOW.”

  (Signed)

  When we checked the message out, we discovered that the sender of the second telegram lived directly across the street from the sender of the first one. Both lived on the third floor.

  “Apparently,” speculated Dr. Minto, “the subject simply misread the street number, went up two flights, into the apartment, and began to describe the wrong place. I have no other explanation.”

  I could see no way for Minto or the subject to have “set-up” the original message, since they had no way of anticipating what number my engineer would select. As a matter of fact, I hadn’t thought of the experiment until the show had been on the air for at least an hour. Even if the whole deal had been gaffed, they certainly would never have had their accomplices send in a denial of the whole bit, unless they had also set up the second wire. All for a greater dynamic effect. And such an involved procedure would have been too complicated to be practical, anyway. However, the most important thing is that I knew Dr. Minto was far above employing any kind of deception in a scientific experiment of this kind.<
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  So, the old story was out in the open again. What is that? Why, that I didn’t buy it; but, I’ve got to level with you, I certainly couldn’t understand it either.

  To wrap up the hypnotism bit, I will, just mention that I recently received a book which promised to better your golf game through hypnotism, which was a new bit even for me, and I’ve heard most of the routines.

  A gaff which is probably a lot older than calculated and conscious hypnotism is astrology. This bit, which is generally considered pretty kooky today, can easily be called the beginning of science in general and astronomy in particular. It’s the occult art which is interested not in how to control others but in what controls us, and it dates back to the earliest recorded history—probably over ten thousand years ago. Apparently the gullibles always went for this kind of action since every civilization had a little astrology going for them. Of course, back in those days no one was sitting around writing notes on stone so the family tree is pretty vague, but the general opinion is that it all started in India, or maybe Babylonia.

  Ptolemy, who sort of invented astronomy, was an astrologist; and so was Hippocrates, who holds the same slot in medicine. Even a couple of thousand years before either of them were on the scene, the stars were influencing the course of history in the ancient courts, military camps and bedrooms.

  In 800 A.D., there was a school of astrology in Baghdad, in the 1400’s a Polish University had a department devoted to these studies, and it was under the personal direction of the king. The great mathematician Keppler was looking into the field 150 years later, and Galileo found it a fascinating subject. Elizabeth I of England had her coronation date decided by her personal stargazer John Dee, and today Mr. Adolph Menjou, the brilliant Hollywood actor, has stated in print that he makes no important decisions without checking with his astrologer.

  I remember one of the first times I ever tried to interview a practitioner of this particular area of the occult. I was a little green in the horoscopic department at that time, and so I wasn’t familiar with some of the proceedings used by a few of the astral (but not the same as projection) operators.