THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 23, 1995 TAG: 9507200199
SECTION: CAROLINA COAST PAGE: 08 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JENNIFER CHRISTMAN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NAGS HEAD LENGTH: Medium: 82 lines
``I 'M THE LAST of the red-hot lovers!''
One night with Dan ``The Amazing Sandman'' Sanders was enough to prompt this shameless declaration from a woman to a roomful of restaurant patrons.
But Sanders, who mesmerizes people into trances with his breathy, baritone voice alone, is not a career Cassanova. He's a stage hypnotist and entertainer.
His show, in which he elicits similarly silly statements and stunts from hypnotized volunteers, runs Mondays through Saturdays at Miller's Waterfront Restaurant & Lounge.
Sanders, a Kill Devil Hills resident who has practiced hypnosis for a year and a half, has performed at high schools and universities. This fall, he will hypnotize cruise ship passengers.
Before persuading about 10 audience volunteers to sit on stage and undergo hypnosis, Sanders explains the process to secure the crowd.
``There is absolutely nothing to fear from hypnosis - you hypnotize yourselves,'' Sanders says. ``I'm simply the tour guide. Hypnosis is simply a state of sleep when the conscious mind takes a little nap. You are still in control.''
Sanders says he is frequently asked what happens if a person doesn't wake up.
``That's simple,'' he tells the audience jokingly. ``I take your credit card and go have a good time.''
On the night that some friends and I watched Sanders at work, nine volunteers ventured to the stage. During a 10-minute induction period, Sanders plays relaxing music and counts, while volunteers watch a flickering red lightbulb until they feel their eyes close.
``Let yourself fall into a deep, deep, relaxing sleep,'' he repeats. ``The deeper it gets, the better it feels.''
Only three people - two women and one man - remained on the stage after the induction. Although Sanders says all people have the potential to be hypnotized, it is typical that some volunteers grow distracted or simply cannot undergo hypnosis at a particular time.
Sanders says people will not do anything under hypnosis that they would refuse to do while conscious.
By that definition, this group has no reservations about shimmying their hips and flailing their arms like washing machines on spin-cycle while conscious, too.
Thumbs wedged under armpits, the volunteers flapped their wings like seagulls. As they flapped, the two women volunteers smiled, trying to stifle giggles.
Sanders hypnotized Matt Franklin, 20, to say a different female name each time he was asked for his name. In the course of four minutes, Franklin became Jen, Amy, Kelly, Linda, Margaret, Tara and Stephanie while the audience roared.
When he was not busy introducing himself as a girl, Franklin was flipping his T-shirt around. Sanders hypnotized him to believe his shirt was on backwards each time he said the word ``hypnosis.''
``I'm Tinkerbell, the biggest fairy in the Magic Kingdom,'' hollered Amy Roule, 31, when Sanders said the word ``Disneyland.''
So, did the volunteers believe they were truly hypnotized?
Yes, says Franklin of the many female pseudonyms.
``It was neato,'' Franklin says. ``I do think I was hypnotized. I felt completely relaxed.''
While Roule admitted she did not actually hear music coming from her neighbor's shoes - one of Sanders' suggestions - she believes she was hypnotized.
``When I listened, I felt compelled to do the things he said,'' Roule says. ``I knew I was supposed to do things, and I was reacting as if I was really experiencing them.''
While the true wonders of hypnosis cannot fully be known, Sanders definitely hypnotized one person.
During his show, a little girl laid her cotton Barney blanket on the floor, clasped her stuffed panda and drifted to sleep. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by DREW C. WILSON
Five volunteers succumb to the hypnotic charms of Dan ``The Amazing
Sandman'' Sanders.
by CNB