Swine Week 2023 is finally here, and to kick it off, Edmond Memorial High School (EMHS) is holding nightly events for all students to enjoy. The first night event of Swine Week started off with the bewildering hypnotist Jonathan “Hypno-Meister” Yeager. 

Yeager started the wild experience by breaking down some of the rules for the audience and participants on stage to follow. Yeager then asked for 20 students to volunteer to be hypnotized by the wizard himself. Once everyone was on stage, about five to six of the volunteers were kicked off stage by Yeager because he could tell that a few people were less prone to hypnosis than others. 

After all of the drama, Yeager started playing very calm music and instructed the volunteers to close their eyes and remain focused on what he was saying. Yeager then went on to tell a story and as he went on, the volunteers were put into a calmer and calmer state of mind. Finally, Yeager went in front of all the volunteers, shook them and put them to sleep. There were a few people that seemed like they were faking the hypnosis and weren’t actually asleep, but for the most part everyone was completely passed out. 

After everyone had fallen asleep, Yeager went around some of the volunteers and placed ideas and situations in their mind that they were made to believe. Some examples of this were: deceiving someone into putting eight band-aids on their face, tricking someone into thinking they had Cane’s sauce on their hands, and misleading someone into becoming angry at Yeager when he said the word ‘thanks’, etc. The guy who was hypnotized into thinking that “thanks” was the worst word on the planet, was my personal favorite part of the show. At one point he started to shout at the top of his lungs for Yeager to stop saying the word “thanks” and repeated that he would fight him. 

After they woke up, some of the volunteers did what they were commanded to do. One of them started screaming like a chimpanzee, which was the only way they could communicate, and then another volunteer started to freak out because someone in the audience took their belly button. Watching this all unfold in the audience was amazing and was one of the most bizarre moments that I have ever seen in my life. 

For the final act, Yeager woke up all of the volunteers, with one exception being that they all must not open their eyes. After waking up, Yeager then told the volunteers that they were driving around in their fancy sports cars. Seeing the expression on their faces was so funny, and many of the volunteers really dived into their fake scenarios. As a finale, Yeager turned on the sound of a cop car and told the students that they were pulled over by the police. He also told them that they had to come up with a crazy excuse about why they were speeding. The stories were hilarious, and one volunteer stated that his grandma was in labor as an excuse.

After many more jokes and funny scenarios, Yeager ended the show and said thank you to everyone for coming to watch. This show was amazing, and since it was my first ever hypnotism show, it was insane to be a part of. I’m glad I was able to come. 

Contact Ryan White at [email protected]