Hypnosis Hess and the OES
Having been involved in the clinical practice of hypnosis since the late 1980’s I have always been fascinated as to where some of the remarkable misconceptions as to what hypnosis can and cannot do come from. I have just heard one of the most fascinating just this morning. I am a bit of an amateur historian and have a real interest in the Second World War.
Now even non historians know of Rudolph Hess’ abortive attempt to reach the Duke of Hamilton in Scotland to try to gain access to the King and negotiate peace between the Germans and the British. What many do not know, including myself, that there was a plan to use Hess to assassinate Hitler.
The plan was created by the OES, or Churchill’s Secret Army and it was simple. Hess would be hypnotised to assassinate Hitler assuming that if he returned to Germany that he would be welcomed back into Hitler’s inner circle.
Now of course, this is a preposterous ides but it does go to show that many of the misconceptions as to what hypnosis can do came from real live scenarios. Stories like this keeps me really interested in the history of what I do for a living.
