Page 166 - Hypnotic Writing - How to Seduce and Persuade Customers with Only Your Words

How to Create Hypnotic Stories
I learned about the power of stories from Jack London, Mark Twain, Robert Collier, Shirley Jackson, and from the greatest hyp- notist of all time: Milton Erickson.
Erickson was an eccentric, highly skilled therapist. He used the patient’s problem to solve their problem. If someone walked in complaining of a nervous tick, Erickson might use that tick in some hypnotic way. He might ask the person to see if they could speed it up, or slow it down. Erickson, in short, helped people re- gain control.
What I just told you is a hypnotic story. It is entertaining, educa- tional, and even hypnotic. It conveys several messages. Some you got consciously. Some you got unconsciously.
Do you see the power in a story?
Let me share with you one of my popular articles on the magic power of a good story.
How One Hypnotic Story Brought 15 Automatons to My Door Joe Vitale
In 1844 the great circus promoter P.T. Barnum bought an au- tomaton from the famous magician, Eugene Robert-Houdin. An automaton is a mechanical device that imitates life. Think of them as early robots. In the middle of the eighteenth century, automatons were all the rage: mechanical ducks and elephants, pictures with moving parts, even human androids that could write, draw, and play musical instruments. They were haunting, magical, intricate, detailed, and usually metic-
ulously crafted out of watch parts, metal, and wood.
The one Robert-Houdin created was a life-sized figure able to write and draw, and even answer simple questions. He once displayed it before the king of France. Barnum heard of it on his tour in Europe with General Tom Thumb and bought it. But that legendary automaton was lost in
one of Barnum’s many fires.
I spoke to a few people who still build automatons—
which is an almost lost art today—to see if someone could
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