Students who went to see nationally renowned hypnotist Tom DeLuca perform Wednesday at the University Student Commons Plaza probably expected to watch a group of attention-starved, class-clown types willingly submit to his pocket watch and imitate farm animals. But what they got was more of a pep rally, bachelor party and bodybuilding contest rolled into an epic and perversely entertaining two hours.
“My whole thing isn’t ‘bark like a dog’ and all that nonsense,” DeLuca said before the show. “I try to make it interesting. I don’t want people walking away saying, ‘Hey, he made that person look like an idiot.'”
DeLuca began the hypnotism showcase by inviting people to volunteer. Countless eager hands went up. After assembling a group, he turned his back to the audience and weeded out those not in the proper state, the first being freshman Shuja Zakaria.
“I guess my mind and my resistance were too strong,” Zakaria said. “I tried it before and it didn’t work for the same reason. I wasn’t letting loose all the way and I was worried about resisting it more than going into it.”
After five students were sent back, the remaining 13 were told that they were on a fishing trip. Suddenly, they were reeling in a catch, and it became obvious that most on stage were truly there.
As the show continued, the activities became gradually more intense.
Things got even more interesting when DeLuca asked each participant why he or she would win an imaginary bodybuilding contest they were in. When it was senior communications major Kacie Sutton’s turn she said: “Cause I’m the strongest one here, mother [expletive].” Asked later what she remembered of her time onstage, she claimed to remember nothing.
“Oh my God, no I didn’t,” she said after a friend recounted what she’d done. “I’m so embarrassed.”
When the participants were told they were sitting in front of the audience in only their underwear, April Watters, a freshman theater major, was one of only two who remained seated as the others huddled behind their chairs.
“I don’t remember, but it sounds like me,” Watters said. “I’m pretty comfortable with myself, so I would probably not really stress about it.”
Watters and Kristen Hill, a senior psychology major, later took part in what was arguably the most extreme act of the night when she and two others jumped from the stage and began giving audience members lap dances that seemed to prove that they weren’t just playing along.
“I seriously walked up there and 20, 25 minutes later I just walked down,” Hill said.
She was incredulous upon hearing about what she had done. When she learned that the show had been videotaped, she seemed to accept the reality that she had given a lap dance to a stranger in front of hundreds of people.
Even among the participants that couldn’t remember giving lap dances to strangers, whether or not what occurred was the result of actual hypnosis was up for debate.
Watters didn’t believe that DeLuca had hypnotized her.
“I wouldn’t have considered it being actually hypnotized but subconsciously the closed eyes, focus, and concentration at the beginning, put me, at least, in such a trance that I was physically open and mentally open to do whatever,” Watters said.
“I couldn’t stop; I got really pumped about doing the activities but I wouldn’t consider myself hypnotized. I was more tranced,” she said.
Participant Leanne Wilson, a first-year student, was also skeptical.
“I don’t think it worked, because I can tell you every thing that we did,” Wilson said. “I believe some of them were [hypnotized].”
When asked exactly what he was trying to get participants to do when they were onstage, DeLuca claimed that what happens is mostly up to them.
“I consider myself a guide, guiding people into this state that may be entertaining for them,” he said. “I won’t tell them what to do, that’s just air band . . . I just see what the people do themselves.”
According to Kelli Lemon, assistant director of programs and events for University Student Commons and Activities, 350 students attended the show. She said she believes the response was enthusiastic enough to have DeLuca return.
“We might bring him back again in the spring for those who missed it,” Lemon said, “because the buzz is going to be out there and bring him back every year.”
Lemon attended the University of Virginia, where DeLuca has become an institution.
“For four years I watched this man wow 3,000 people,” she said. “It is a huge, huge thing at UVA. They come out with signs, and I just could not understand why we didn’t have it here.”
One was convinced that fruits were sentient beings and implored DeLuca not to eat an apple. He then proceeded to talk to it and wrap it in his ‘do rag.