Trainee hypnotist accidently puts himself in trance using mirror

A newly trained hypnotist accidentally put himself into a trance for five hours after practising in front of a mirror. Helmut Kichmeier, 27, was found by his wife, Joanna, staring into thin air after the bungle in their north London home as they prepared for a tour .

Mr Kichmeier, whose stage name is Hannibal Helmurto, had learned the skill to put himself into a somnabulistic trance to help him swallow multiple swords on stage. He had been taught the skill by hypnotherapist Dr Ray Roberts to assist in a new act for the Circus of Horrors show.

But as he practiced the skill in front of the mirror at 10am he set himself into a deep sleep until 3pm, when he was found by his wife. It was only after she phoned Dr Roberts and put the receiver to Mr Kichmeier's head that he was able to be talked out of the trance.



Mrs Kichmeier said her husband had looked just like a zombie when she came into the room to find him. She said: "He was just starring at himself in the mirror, his pupils were tiny, which I know is a sign of someone under hypnosis.

"I tried to ask him what was wrong but he didn't answer and it was then I looked at the sofa behind him and saw a book named Hypnosis Medicine of the Mind. It was opened on page 45 and a chapter named hypnotic anaesthesia and I realised there was something wrong. At first I panicked and tried to talk to Helmut but he didn't respond.

"It was only then I noticed a letter next to the book a letter from his mentor, Dr Roberts, and I knew what I had to do." She quickly rang him and after the doctor spoke to him he slowly came out of the trance, with little idea of what had happened over the previous five hours. A person under hypnosis only responds to a voice of authority and as Dr Roberts had taught him the skill he was able to talk him down.