9 People Who Committed Crimes Under Hypnosis

Susan Atkins was a key member of the infamous Manson Family cult. In 1969, Atkins and three others killed pregnant Sharon Tate and her friends in a Hollywood home, following orders from cult leader Charles Manson. This murder became one of American crime's most gruesome and famous events. It ended the 1960s hippie movement and showed a dark side of a modern cult.

Susan Atkins was convicted for the murder of Sharon Tate. However, Atkins never fully took responsibility, claiming she was"under the hypnotic spell"Charles Manson used this type of hypnotism differently than you might think. This brainwashing involved a long, drawn-out process, not a psychiatrist's chair. Cults became famous for following incidents likeJonestownand theWaco siege.

Atkins claimed Manson hypnotized her into total loyalty because he forced her to consume LSD, food, and water. She lost the ability to think for herself. Some people accept this claim, but the grand jury convicted her. Past courts sometimes accepted hypnotism as a reason for acquittal; the modern jury did not—perhaps because of theThe murders involved extremely brutal, calculated details.involved.

Themurder of Kansas man Thomas PattonIn 1894, this case was highly unique in American courts. Local wealthy landowner Anderson Gray was in a legal case then, and Thomas Patton testified against him. Gray planned to kill Patton, but Gray did not do the deed.

Gray traveled to Wichita, recruiting a local farmer named Thomas McDonald. Gray allegedly hypnotized McDonald, gave him a rifle, and took him to Patton's house. McDonald then shot Patton dead.

AMcDonald's jury of peers acquitted him.. They convicted Gray of the murder, seeing Gray's use of hypnotism as the cause and McDonald as having no control over his actions.

Los Angeles features dark, mysterious murders often. Few match the oddity of Jerome Ferreri's murder by his wife, Betty, their handyman Allan Adron, and a neighbor.

Jerome and Betty lived in the Hancock Park neighborhood of Los Angeles for years. Jerome frequently beat Betty, making her fear for her life. Jerome also cheated often, bringing women home with him. In 1948, Jerome returned home with a model. Betty chased the couple away with a pipe wrench. Their handyman, Allan Adron, arrived to protect Betty, and so did neighbor and local gangster Charles Fauci. Fauci gave Adron a gun. When Jerome returned, Adron shot him twice.Betty finished Jerome off.by striking his skull with a meat cleaver.

Betty, Adron, and Fauci all avoided murder charges. Betty and Charles Fauci were acquitted. Adron pled guilty but the court found him not guilty by reason of insanity. Two defense psychiatrists argued Adron became hypnotized by suggestion when he received the gun, thus hypnotized before shooting Jerome.Betty, Adron, and Fauci all avoided murder charges.Adron was hypnotized by the power of suggestion when he received the gun, which happened before he shot Jerome.

Augustin Gouffe, a Parisian bailiff, gained community fame for his sexual exploits. One summer day in 1889, Gouffe met Michel Eyraud. This meeting led Eyraud and his lover Gabrielle Bompard—who knew Gouffe's wealth—to plan a murder against Gouffe.Eyraud tempted Gouffe with a novel sexual exploit.

Eyraud invited Gouffe to Bompard's apartment, claiming they had broken up. Bompard wanted to see Gouffe's skills. When Gouffe arrived, the woman seduced him while Eyraud waited behind a curtain. A metal hook, threaded with rope, hung above the curtain. Bompard held a scarf, wrapped it around Gouffe's neck flirtatiously, and attached it to the rope. Eyraud then pulled the rope, hanging and strangling Gouffe.Eyraud hung and strangled Gouffe.

When Gouffe's body surfaced on a river bank miles south, investigators linked the crime to Eyraud. Soon after, Bompard became a police officer. She claimed Eyraud forced her to act as his accomplice by hypnotizing her and controlling her will. She described Eyraud's practice in the art of hypnotism.The police did not believe Bompard. They sentenced Eyraud and Bompard to death.The police lacked conviction. Eyraud and Bompard received death sentences.

Palle Wichmann Hardrup tried to rob a Copenhagen bank in 1951. He killed bank employees Hans Wisbom and Kaj Moller during the attempt. Police quickly captured Hardup, but he claimed he was hypnotized and blamed no illegal acts on himself.

When Anna Evan, known as "Ms. E," a 17-year-old German girl from Heidelberg, entered a train compartment in 1927, she met a man named Dr. Bergen. During the train ride, Dr. Bergen completely hypnotized Ms. E just by taking her hand and staring into her eyes.The spell lasted seven years.Hardup ran through the robbery steps, instructing others on who to kill. The justice system accepted part of the story. Ultimately, cellmate Bjorn Schouw Nielsen received a sentence for helping plan the robberies. Hardup went to a mental institution.

Anna Evan, known as "Ms. E," a 17-year-old German girl from Heidelberg, entered a train car in 1927. She met a man calling himself Dr. Bergen. During the train ride, Dr. Bergen completely hypnotized Ms. E simply by taking her hand and staring into her eyes.The spell lasted seven years.. The spell went on to last a total of seven years.

Dr. Bergen acted as a con artist named "Walker," not a doctor. During Ms. E's hypnotic period, the fake doctor convinced her to give him money and sex with him and his friends. The hypnotism seemed to work, but this stopped when Ms. E met and married Mr. E a few years later.

Mr. E saw trouble in their relationship fast. He tried to break Dr. Bergen's spell over his wife. Mr. E went to the police, but Dr. Bergen managed to convince Ms. E totry to kill her husband.She tried to poison him and ruin the breaks on his motorcycle, but Mr. E lived.

Police eventually caught Dr. Bergen. The court sentenced him to 12 years in prison. Ms. E spent over a year at another hypnotist's office trying to end her initial hypnosis.

Sirhan Sirhan appeared at Bobby Kennedy's parole hearing in 2011. Sirhan's lawyer showed new evidence: he was..."hypno-programmed".Sirhan was programmed to shoot and could not recall anything from the incident 43 years earlier.

Sirhan initially confessed and took full blame. However, other theories suggest Sirhan was brainwashed, and a second shooter was actually present at the shooting.

Sirhan himself stated, a woman in a polka dot dress hypnotized him. Allegedly, the woman led him to the hotel pantry before the shooting and pinched his shoulder, signaling the start of the shooting. Other witnesses confirmed this claim, but the parole board denied his request because he did not show enough regret for the murder.

Georges Gilles de la Tourette, the neurologist for Tourette's Syndrome, was shot in the back of the head by a woman who claimed to be hypnotized and made to shoot by another man.

On December 6, 1893, Tourette was going home from work at his Parisian hospital. A young woman waited outside his door and asked for money. The woman was Rose Kamper, whom Tourette hadhypnotized during at least one therapy session.Tourette gave Kamper his address in passing. Kamper claimed the hypnosis took her will and stopped her from earning money, so she needed cash. As Tourette moved to his home, Kamper shot him twice in the back of the head.

Tourette survived with only small injuries. The woman later became declared insane with a diagnosis now called paranoid schizophrenia and was sent to a psychiatric facility.

Gift Wahab, a 20-year-old woman in Lagos, Nigeria, stabbed her boyfriend to death in early 2015. After the act, she told the police:"In fact, I was under a spell. I was hypnotized"

Ebi Amadu, Wahab's boyfriend, received 200 Nigerian Naira daily for food. On the day Wahab was murdered, they spent all the money drinking. When Wahab asked for more food, a heated argument started on the street. Amadu beat Wahab hard. Blood gushed from Wahab's nose. Something broke in Amadu. She broke free, ran into the house, and returned with a knife. She stabbed Amadu once in the neck, killing him.