One child remained in hospital and 40 were released after being admitted in a trance-like state following a show by a hypnotist at their school in southern Colombia.
Magician Miller Zambrano Posada, the headline act of the 45-minute, 7:15AM show, hypnotized eight children on stage “with gazes and hands movements” said Daniel Mora, principal of the school in Mocoa, Putumayo department.
However as they returned to their classrooms, “some cried, some threw themselves on the floor, some yelled,” said Police Chief Johan Mercado who attended the show. “One child swore that she saw the devil and others were rolling on the floor,” added Mora. Only one child had been on stage with Miller the Magician, but 75 were affected.
William Orlando Galarza, director of the medical center which treated the children said “all of them presented, to a greater or lesser degree, collective hypnosis.” The children are aged between 12 and 16. In the afternoon, the majority of children were released from hospital although one had to be readmitted.
The magician, aged 31 from Valle del Cauca, was detained on the orders of the Prosecutor for Infants and Adolescents of Mocoa. The $0.40 show was attended by 590 students.