This is going to seem bizarre... and it is. But, it's a true story (and a long story, give yourself some time for this one).
Years ago I was living in Tucson, AZ, working for Interim Corporation. A position opened up that allowed me to move to Las Vegas so I happily took it. I was extremely over-worked: 80-90 hours a week, on salary of $30,000 a year. It got old fast and I eventually moved on. I ended up taking a part-time job at The Psychic Eye book shop on Tropicana. This was 1999 to the best of my recollection.
While at the Psychic Eye I met Jennifer Johnson. For reasons that wouldn't come clear for more than a decade, I instantly fell for her. She was a hypnotist and psychic and she had targeted me for an atrocious turn of events.
The first time I met Jennifer I didn't particularly like her. Concerning dating, I really didn't find Jennifer attractive in any way: she was loud, forceful, and boisterous, she was very over-weight [which made a difference to me at the time], she was single and had a 7-year old daughter [which made a difference at the time], and she was overbearing. She was not someone I would have considered dating. But, seemingly without justification, I asked her if she wanted to go out with me. She quickly arranged a sitter for her daughter and we had a date for the next evening.
I don't remember the date... I do remember one moment though: she asked if she could hypnotize me. I was naive and trusting and I said yes.
The next eight months would be a blur. I still don't have much recollection of what I did during that time save for a few smatterings of odd situations.
Soon after our first "date" I was happily helping Jennifer, at midnight, move her stuff out of an apartment and into a moving truck, and the next morning from that moving truck into my apartment! I have one memory, and only one memory, of that morning: Jennifer sitting on my couch watching TV while I moved load after load of her things into my home. I was sweating and breathing hard and the one thing I remember is her bellowing at me that she had a bad back and how dare I stop working to criticize her inability to help, making her feel worse about not being able to help. She never had "a bad back" after that day.
The next eight months were a blur. I could write a book about what I remember now, but at the time I was a mindless automaton doing her bidding, cooking her meals, and signing my paycheck over to her.
For eight months Jennifer had me telling stories from my past, which she would then alter to make my life a horrid failure - my memories filled with regretful actions, a sad lonely childhood, and a (apparently) new belief that I had multiple personalities. I would find out that Hypnosis allows easy access to memory and with Jennifer's expertise she made me into a an entirely new person. She had assigned various personalities to me which she could switch at will with a key word or phrase.
Luck smiled upon me one time when an off-duty co-worker witnessed me go through a transition in front of an ice cream store. Jennifer was showing off her latest toy - an absolutely fearsome "me" - to her friend. I switched from Bodhi, a fun-loving surfer mentality, to the fierce protector. When Jennifer said the key word I switched personalities and ran-off the friend of ours. I chased him and followed him, not remembering I knew him, threatening to kick his ass. I still remember the rage. The following week the person from my job asked me about the situation to which I replied a canned response, set by Jennifer, about how I was practicing for a show. The woman from my job didn't seem to buy it but I was unable to recall any of the ice cream store scene in that current personality.
I eventually escaped Jennifer's control and hopped on a Greyhound bus to Maryland where I would live with my sister Judi. But that physical escape wasn't enough.
Enter "post-hypnotic suggestions".
One of Jennifer's greatest accolades was creating responses to events which hadn't happened yet, called post-hypnotic suggestions [PHS]. There are many, many things I'll share concerning this but I will focus on just one for this post because it offers a direct proof of post-hypnotic suggestions in action.
This Las Vegas situation happened around 1999-2000 but this particular post-hypnotic suggestion came to fruition in 2012. Jennifer had searched for future events that could trigger me so she had me relate events to my 25th high school reunion, a decade in the future. Here's the story...
I went to Santa Clara High School and graduated in 1986. Jennifer, in 2000, had me recall my high school days and asked if I knew anyone who was gay. I didn't know but I remember mentioning Chris Hall. She had me recall a specific experience of Chris. I remembered unlocking my bicycle after school one day and Chris was being picked up by some friends in a car.
Jennifer changed this inane after-school event to the following un-true situation. Instead of unlocking my bike I decided to go with Chris and the people in the car. Jennifer implanted the false memory that while riding in the car I wanted to show them my penis, and when I had, I offered to give Chris a blow job. This never happened and I hardly knew Chris but the story was created to allow a future post-hypnotic suggestion [PHS] to come into play.
Before my 25th high school reunion, in real life 2012 I became triggered by the post hypnotic suggestion, I sat down at my computer and tried to find Chris Hall on Facebook. I was successful and in chatting with him I brought up the event in the car (which I believed was a true memory). He didn't remember that event (obviously) but said he in fact was gay and wondered if I was back then. We got into a conversation, which I don't actually remember now because I had been forced into "Greg", a personality which is gay - very flamboyantly gay and an activist for gay rights, etc. I carried on a conversation with Chris, typing on Facebook chat, about a typical clothing choice I wore in high school: khakis and a long-sleeved, light blue polo shirt, with beige top-siders. [yes, my parents paid for my clothes and that was actually in style back then.. ugh]. Chris and I laughed about it.
During the conversation on Facebook (with my Greg personality) Chris found out I was gay (not in actuality but while in the Greg personality I believed I was). I wasn't "out" so he and I decided we would wear matching outfits, the very same khakis, blue shirt, and topsiders (part of the post-hypnotic suggestion) and that I would come out during my 25th High School Reunion! I made sure to tell him to call me Greg at the high school reunion. Someone calling me by name, as Greg, could trigger the personality to come into play.
The evening of the High School Reunion I was getting dressed and actually started looking for khakis and a blue shirt! My wife wondered what the heck I was doing, because I would NEVER wear something like that currently. I laughed it off, my head swimming, and decided on black pants and a black shirt.
That night at the High School Reunion I saw Chris Hall - standing there in his khakis, blue shirt, and top-siders. He looked hilariously out-of-place in the dated garb and it struck me funny that he looked exactly like how I did in high school. He walked up to me and said "Greg!"... I was caught off guard by this. I looked at him for a moment, a little confused as the PHS had a chance to engage. He said "greg?"...
fortunately I had dealt with Jennifer's wrath for many years and had been able to recognize the false memories on occasion. Although I faltered for a moment, confused, I said "Jay, my name's Jay".
Chris said, "Is there something you wanted to say to everyone?". I was confused and a little weary, unsure why I was feeling so weird. I didn't know what he was talking about so he referred to the facebook chat we had. I didn't remember it at all (because I wasn't currently in the Greg personality, and the "Greg!" key word hadn't caused me to switch). He said, "Did you change your mind?" to which I again was confused. He said "didn't you want to come out at the reunion?". I told him I wasn't gay but I'd be happy to support him if he wanted to. He declined as he'd been out for many years and many people from SCHS knew that about him.
We ordered a drink and it arrived quickly. It was an open roof-top patio filled with our high school reunionees. When we got our drinks we sat down and engaged in conversation with two women whom we knew. Chris outwardly stated that I was "his first"... I was more shocked than mortified by this, that I didn't know my past and my having messed-up memories had become normal, a decade post-Jennifer. I cautiously said, "'your first' has a kind of sexual connotation. I don't quite follow.." Chris said, "well you weren't my first, but you were the first person I came out to." I sorta flipped out I guess because I quickly knocked his drink to the ground, as if some deep instinctive survival mechanism kicked in! [not that being gay would be an issue, but rather because I was in a situation where people could discern that I had a serious mental issue.] I quickly jumped up and offered to leave and get him a new drink, "Scotch, right?"
Chris left to clean up and get another drink. I was dumbfounded and felt utterly dazed by this odd turn of events, feeling slightly familiar as the PHS kept trying creep in. One of the women, whom I felt comfortable with, said precisely this, "It's ok, that was really uncomfortable; I would have knocked his drink down too!". I told her I was feeling a little confused and she said the most wonderful thing to me, "Hey Jay, I know you. You're safe here. Just kick back and we'll talk about something else." I was relieved. I felt happy in my all black outfit, confident with my self, remembering my shy high school days and how much I'd changed. I enjoyed the evening and had more conversations with Chris and many others. Nothing more was said about the strange events, the funny clothes, or the drink on the floor.
More things happened at that reunion but I'll refrain from sharing at this time.
I have been utterly amazed at the power of Hypnotism. To be entirely honest I still don't know if I have always had Dissociative Identity Disorder and had good control over it, or that I am just more able to slip into sub-personalities that are a normal part of our lives, at least according to one of my Philosophical heroes, Roberto Assagioli and his exceptional Psychosynthesis theory.
I'm still making progress in understanding myself. I live a happy stable life with my wife, Anne, and my daughter Caitlyn. I'm not sure yet what I'll do about Jennifer's deeds - imagine telling ~that~ story in Court!
Please don't ever let anyone hypnotize you unless you truly trust them deep down to have full access to your mind!
