Are the stories in Fleetwood Mac's "Hypnotized" based on actual stories?

Cafe Society
1

I never heard this song on the radio until a year or so ago, when one of the local oldies stations decided for some reason to put it into rotation. It’s a weird gem from the part of the Mac’s era between when Peter Green quit and when Nicks/Buckingham joined the group, and it’s about a subject that I’ve always found interesting; the paranormal.

I’m not one to believe in such stories, but I do take in interest in hearing them and finding out the truth behind them. The first verse seems to describe a typical UFO sighting, but the second and third verses get more specific;

[QUOTE=Bob Welch]
I remember a talk about North Carolina
and a strange, strange pond
You see the sides were like glass
In the thick of a forest without a road
And if any man’s ever made that land
Then I think it would’ve showed
[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=Bob Welch]
They say there’s a place down in Mexico
Where a man can fly over mountains and hills
And he don’t need an airplane or some kind of engine
And he never will
[/QUOTE]

Now I know it’s a meaningless question to ask if these stories are right. :slight_smile: They’re obviously not, and that’s not the point of the song; it’s all about how things can exist in the real world that you would only think could happen in dreams.

The question I’m asking is; are the things described in the song actually things that existed in folklore or urban legend prior to the song being written? Is there some supposed account about a glass pond in North Carolina that predates Fleetwood Mac, or a legend about people in Mexico who are capable of flight?

I wouldn’t be entirely surprised to learn that those are tales Welch made up for the sake of the song, but I wouldn’t be surprised to hear that these stories are things that New Agers legitimately talked up in the '70s either.

2

The book The Teachings of Don Juan came out in 1968. I would assume that a man in Mexico who could fly over mountains and hills referred to the shaman in that book. That’s without knowing anything about when the song you mention was written. If it’s from 1965 I’ve got nothin’.

3

Out there on the Tripadvisor North Carolina Coast Travel Forum there’s a guy who posted what he claims to be a response from Bob Welch to that question about the pond. His response was:

[QUOTE=Possibly Bob Welch]
A guy that I used to work with from Winston-Salem told me the story of he and some friends riding dirt bikes 20 miles or so out in the woods when they came upon a strange “crater” in the ground with smooth sides like melted glass. It was a “pond” in the sense that there was some rainwater in it I guess.

There were no access roads or caterpillar tracks so it wasn’t a construction site. I think the location must have been near Winston-Salem. They all immediately got the feeling they should get out of there. Maybe it was a meteor impact ? I just liked the imagery for the song.
[/QUOTE]

I have no provenance for this story, and it may or may not be accurate. I found it here. It’s the fourth post.