By Erin Oliveri
Imagine feeling the sudden urge to use the restroom, but you’re stuck to a chair, or believe your feet are on fire, but you’re unable to take your shoes off.
Hypnotist Frank Santos convinced several willing students Tuesday night in Blackman Auditorium of these illusions after a hypnosis technique. However, these were the tamest of Santos’ illusions, as most were “R-rated.” The event, Santos’ fourth appearance at Northeastern, was sponsored by the Council for University Programs (CUP) and Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity.
At first, 28 students were brought on stage, and after a short elimination process, Santos wound up with 15 who he deemed fit to be hypnotized. Throughout the show, several students needed to drop out because the hypnosis had worn off.
Santos had volunteers sit with palms up and told them to stare at the ceiling, while he counted backward from five to zero until their eyes were closed. Next, he counted backward from 10 to zero until their heads and arms hung down.
The “key word,” “sleep,” was used to put the volunteers into an immediate dreamlike state anytime Santos uttered it.
At one point, while the volunteers were “sleeping,” Santos tapped them and convinced them that when they woke up, they would feel tingly all over, or extremely sexually aroused. Santos told the one male volunteer that anytime the hypnotist touched his head, his testicles would get very itchy.
CUP President Scott Hultman said students constantly talk about Santos’ show after he performs, so CUP and Pi Kappa Alpha keep bringing him back.
“He’s a great performer that always fills Blackman Auditorium,” Hultman said in an e-mail to The News.
Max Teller, head of public relations for Pi Kappa Alpha, said Santos is always able to draw a crowd.
“He’s a huge success. Everybody loves him,” Teller said.
At one point, a male audience member named Ben was brought on stage and Santos hypnotized the volunteers to think Ben had gone to the bathroom in his pants. Every time Santos said the name Ben, the stench would become more unbearable to those hypnotized.
“What’s it smell like over here?” asked Santos.
“Shit!” said a hypnotized female volunteer.
The illusions progressively became more lewd. One young woman was convinced she had grown a penis. Two other young women were convinced the young man sitting between them had a speaking penis that was making obscene sexual comments to them.
Later, Santos hypnotized all of the volunteers to think everyone in the audience was completely naked and having wild sex with one another, except for a lone young man on the stage who the volunteers thought was masturbating. The volunteers were repulsed, but that did not stop Santos from throwing water at them, making them believe they had been ejaculated on.
After a long segment of sexual hypnosis tricks, Santos’ routine became a little less risqu’eacute;. He convinced one young woman that she was a Las Vegas singer. She belted out “I Will Survive” while feverishly dancing around the stage. Four young women were persuaded that they were Backstreet Boys impersonators, and each sang their own parts to “I Want It That Way.”
For the last trick of the night, Santos made the young man believe he was “King Chip,” the head dancer of all the Chippendale’s performers. He took off his shirt, swung it around his head and danced on the laps of each young woman sitting on stage.
Many students said they came to the show because they had heard other students talk about the previous times Santos performed on campus.
Linda Holcomb, a middler criminal justice major, said she loved everything about the performance, but especially the more risqu’eacute; tricks.
“[I liked] the R-rated parts,” she said.
Others had seen Santos perform before and came back for more.
“We already saw him before and it was fun,” said Dana Blech, a freshman criminal justice major.
