Mind control by remote

By JULIE MIDDLETON

"And Peter," says the authoritative northern English accent, "Sleep!" Peter Williams stops mid-sentence, his eyes snap shut and his head slumps on to his chest.

The people standing nearby erupt in noisy laughter - but his face doesn't flicker.

The only noise that appears to register with the hypnotised Williams, 19, is that of puppet-master Peter Powers, relayed through headphones. Swinging watches are not required: Powers is on the phone from his home in Lancashire, England.

A hypnotist for the past 18 years, 38-year-old Powers will start a New Zealand tour next month.

It will include stage shows and a free, public, stop-smoking hypnosis session in Wellington's Civic Square on October 7, supported by the Cancer Society and the Health Sponsorship Council.

Yesterday, The Edge radio station's breakfast show, Morning Madhouse, invited Powers to mess with four volunteers' minds, remotely.

Hypnotised off-air, via speakerphone, the four move as normal - except their faces are slack and their glassy eyes gaze through you. They are told to "sleep!" while awaiting instructions, and there's no small talk: they respond to Powers' voice only, and do exactly as he asks.

It's hilarious from the outside. Mr Williams, a communications student, is told to "see" that 30-year-old show host Dominic Harvey is naked. Mr Williams appears genuinely aghast - "Put some clothes on, bro!" - and covers his eyes.

Hands on heart, he then is instructed to profess florid and undying love to Mr Harvey's fellow host (and fiancee) Jay-Jay Feeney, 29. Next task: Squawk to a rock ballad in "Chinese".

Hairdresser Donald Hollingsworth, 33, is told to accuse the third host, Jason Reeves, 28, of stealing a body part. Then he's told that said body part has been returned, but tripled in size. "I can feel it, down by my knee!" he says, astonished.

Then, as requested, he rains kisses on Reeves and follows that up by laughing hysterically at him.

The women, Edge promotions staff Rachel Patterson and Linda Wilson, both 24, get off relatively lightly. Told to sleep while standing, they slide down the wall to foetal positions on the carpet, undisturbed.

They are told to smell a gag-making odour: Ms Patterson, complaining vigorously, clutches her chest and dry-retches.

Powers says that what he does is to "get the person to focus consciously on something" - in this case, his voice.

"Then you plant suggestions in the subconscious." It takes 15 minutes, 20 tops, he says, to succumb.

After 90 minutes, the quartet are woken, the instruction that they will feel good.

Mr Williams feels like he "could take on the world. I feel a lot more alert".

Their recall is hazy, and probably just as well: "I actually thought the whole way through that I'm not under, this hasn't worked, I feel fine," confesses Ms Patterson. "Then I woke up on the floor.