A Florida school board has this week heard how three teenagers died after being hypnotised by their high school principal.
According to a report in the local Sarasota Herald-Tribune, North Port High School’s principal George Kenney had taken it upon himself to hypnotise students and members of staff as a form of therapy.
Concern over his methods was first raised in 2011, when 16-year-old Marcus Freeman died in a car crash on his way home from a dental visit. Sources told the board that Kenney had taught Freeman how to hypnotise himself in order to deal with pain during football games.
There was widespread alarm just one month later, when 16-year-old Wesley McKinley hanged himself after being hypnotised by Kenney on three occasions. Friends of the late teen reported how McKinley couldn’t even remember his own name after hypnosis sessions with Kenney.
The third tragedy struck five months later, when 17-year-old Brittany Palumbo hanged herself following hypnosis sessions to improve her exam scores.
An investigation was launched shortly after the deaths, with authorities discovering that Kenney had hypnotised up to 75 people in the school.
A psychologist commenting on the case told local media: “He [Kenney] altered the underdeveloped brains of teenagers, and they all ended up dead because of it.”
Kenney proceeded to resign in 2012; he pleaded no contest to two misdemeanor charges and went on to serve one year of probation.
This week, the Florida school board agreed to pay out $600,000 to the families of the three late students.
