Hypnotist Chris Jones mesmerized the audience at Meier Hall on March 30. The BHSU Up-Team, a student organization that hosts events on campus, arranged for Jones to visit the college. The hall was full of laughter as various students were hypnotized. Jones was the performer, but his subjects stole the show.

Chris Jones introduced himself as “one-word chrisjones”. According to his biography on onewordchrisjones.com “a�� a 3rd grade teacher said he was impatient and spoke so quickly everything he spoke sounded like one word.” The name stuck so he is known as one word, “chrisjones.”

Jones, a Chicago native, is one of most energetic entertainers on the college scene. He has taken his hypnosis and comedy show to high schools and universities in all 50 states.

Jones has won several awards, including the 2015 “Hypnotist of the Year”, the 2014 “Best Variety Artist”, and in 2013 he was the runner-up for the “Fastest Rising Star” award. Bass/Schuler Entertainment lists him as the most-booked hypnotist in the college market.

According to his biography, Jones spent many years doing comedy and magic shows at hospitals, weddings, and nightclubs. In graduate school he learned hypnosis to enhance his act. While obtaining his Masters’ degree in Therapeutic Recreation, he perfected his show with his self-taught hypnosis. He studied Sociology and Psychology in college and said that he is a “social engineer with deviant motives.”

Before his show began, Jones talked about the benefits of hypnosis, including quitting smoking and help with pain management — even during child labor. He explained that people who were hypnotized would feel like they had taken a power nap. Jones explained that he was there to entertain and not to embarrass anyone.

He began his show with a group activity. The audience closed their eyes and followed his verbal instructions – music played in the background. Jones walked through the audience, touched the people who had fallen into a trance, and sent them into a deeper sleep. He told them they would not remember their name upon waking. This was the start of a laughter-filled evening.

The hypnotized students performed flawlessly and followed all of Jones’ instructions. They went from being zombies attacking fellow classmates, to dancers at a prom, and more. The hall was full of laughter as the performers acted for their fellow students. When they finally awoke, none of them had any recollection of what they had done. One student stated, “It is just weird. I don’t remember anything, but my friends said I was onstage.”

Some people cannot be hypnotized easily. A new study from the Stanford University School of Medicine shows how the brain works differently between those who are effortlessly hypnotized, and those who are not. David Spiegel and his colleagues performed MRI scans of the brains of 12 adults who were easily hypnotized and 12 adults who were not. The study found that those that were easily hypnotized had different connections in the brain, while the other group had little to no activity.

Jones’ performance proves that not everyone is able to be hypnotized, but for those who were, it provided the audience with a great show. Jones’ humor and talent enhanced the show even more, while he made the BHSU students celebrities for a night.