# High School Principal George Kenney hypnotized and school pays $600,000 to families of three. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 7, 2015, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-principal-george-kenney-hypnotized-and-school-pays-600-000-to-families-of-three/733817 "2015-10-07T14:57:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2015, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-principal-george-kenney-hypnotized-and-school-pays-600-000-to-families-of-three/733817/21 "2015-10-08T05:18:57Z")
Well, that seems to get to the questions I raised. It looks like at least one person noticed bizarre behavior in one of the hypnotized students, and it looks like that was new behavior that hadn’t been noticed earlier. Now that begins to look like maybe the parents’ lawsuits can haz legs. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2015, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-principal-george-kenney-hypnotized-and-school-pays-600-000-to-families-of-three/733817/22 "2015-10-09T01:09:39Z")
First a serious answer- The principal, not being a licensed hypnotherapist, had no business hypnotizing students. But, there’s no connection to the suicide. Second, an in character answer Hypnosis should be left to a proper Mad Scientist. Note that you’ve already followed my hypnotic suggestion too ignore and be unable to see the ten lines of large red type. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2015, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-principal-george-kenney-hypnotized-and-school-pays-600-000-to-families-of-three/733817/23 "2015-10-09T15:11:06Z")
Hm…I wonder if praying for a person who later commits suicide is also grounds for getting sued. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2015, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-principal-george-kenney-hypnotized-and-school-pays-600-000-to-families-of-three/733817/24 "2015-10-09T15:16:59Z")
Practicing hypnotherapy, unlike prayer, requires one to have a license. Also, as suggested above, the principal might have been negligent in not reporting that his students were suicidal or had other mental health issues. ---
**Author:** ![WF\_Tomba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d9b06d/32.png) [@WF\_Tomba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WF_Tomba)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2015, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-principal-george-kenney-hypnotized-and-school-pays-600-000-to-families-of-three/733817/25 "2015-10-09T15:50:47Z")
Plus hypnosis, unlike prayer, actually does something. ---
**Author:** ![Fubaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@Fubaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fubaya)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2015, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-principal-george-kenney-hypnotized-and-school-pays-600-000-to-families-of-three/733817/26 "2015-10-09T15:53:32Z")
There might be some liability if they convinced the person not to get help because they were praying for them. Sort of a faith healer type situation. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2015, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-principal-george-kenney-hypnotized-and-school-pays-600-000-to-families-of-three/733817/27 "2015-10-09T17:06:49Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Practicing hypnotherapy, unlike prayer, requires one to have a license. That varies by state. Apparently it does apply in Florida. But I don’t think this imbecile was charging the students, or necessarily claiming to be a hypnotherapist. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2015, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-principal-george-kenney-hypnotized-and-school-pays-600-000-to-families-of-three/733817/28 "2015-10-09T22:57:41Z")
Kreskin was quite a talented entertainer. Saw him many times on tv. I had completley forgotten about his 100,000 challenge to prove hypnotism trances are real. Kreskin and James Randi have been important in debunking magic that is claimed to be anything except a stage show. > **[Amazing Kreskin says ‘hypnosis is BS,’ bashes Florida principal trance scandal](https://www.nydailynews.com/2015/10/09/amazing-kreskin-says-hypnosis-is-bs-bashes-florida-principal-trance-scandal/)** > > The Amazing Kreskin wants you to snap out of it. The famed mentalist on Friday bashed believers of hypnosis, saying a Florida school district got fleeced into paying the families of three students … > [@](#): > > The Amazing Kreskin wants you to snap out of it. > > The famed mentalist on Friday bashed believers of hypnosis, saying a Florida school district got fleeced into paying the families of three students who died after allegedly being put in a trance by their principal. > > “Talk about a disgraceful abuse of scientific mumbo jumbo,” Kreskin wrote in a rant about the recent $600,000 settlement the Sarasota County School District reached with grieving families this week. “There is the immense power of suggestion but hypnosis is B.S.” > [@](#): > > Kreskin was sued in New Jersey court in 1986 by a hypnotist who unsuccessfully sought to demonstrate hypnosis. > > “My $100,000 offer which has never been taken on since that 1986 trial, has never been taken on by either a stage hypnotist, a psychiatrist, a scientist, or ruthless lawyer, says something about my position,” he said. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2015, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-principal-george-kenney-hypnotized-and-school-pays-600-000-to-families-of-three/733817/29 "2015-10-10T00:10:50Z")
NM ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2015, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-principal-george-kenney-hypnotized-and-school-pays-600-000-to-families-of-three/733817/30 "2015-10-10T05:23:50Z")
Bit of a hijack, but the thread title’s kinda misleading - it reads as though the\* principal\* was the one who’d been hypnotized, and some how was compelled to pay the student’s families. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2015, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-principal-george-kenney-hypnotized-and-school-pays-600-000-to-families-of-three/733817/31 "2015-10-10T05:37:03Z")
I left out students. I didn’t notice until after pressing send. High School Principal George Kenney hypnotized students and school pays $600,000 to families of three. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2015, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-principal-george-kenney-hypnotized-and-school-pays-600-000-to-families-of-three/733817/32 "2015-10-10T11:07:44Z")
> [@WF\_Tomba](#): > > Relevant: > [Creepy Case: “Hypno-Lawyer”](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=766382) > Calls into question the assertion that hypnosis can’t make you violate your personal boundaries. For certain values of “calls into question” and “can’t make you violate your personal boundaries” He violated her personal boundries, and she called the police. ---
**Author:** ![Spud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spud/32/347_2.png) [@Spud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spud)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2015, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-principal-george-kenney-hypnotized-and-school-pays-600-000-to-families-of-three/733817/33 "2015-10-10T13:59:18Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > It can help with **minor** bad habits like smoking but only if the person really wants to stop. (Bolding mine) So something like smoking that kills about a half million people per year is a **minor** bad habit? I’m not pro or con on hypnosis… I just think shrugging off smoking as minor is missing the mark by a huge bit. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-principal-george-kenney-hypnotized-and-school-pays-600-000-to-families-of-three/733817.md?page=1)