A Psychological Effect

This story I’m about to share with you may sound incredible. Like something straight out of the minds of Madeleine L’Engle, Haruki Murakami, Eileen Myles and Kazuhiro Okamoto. I wouldn’t blame you if you’re starting to get skeptical. I should have kept this epic tale under strict confidentiality.

I was real incredulous too when I first heard Rosemary Clooney’s invisible beliefs. She spent months on trying to convince me that she could turn herself into becoming a superhero by becoming transparent like The Invisible Woman (Susan "Sue" Storm Richards) of the Fantastic Four.

I mean, how could that be possible? Could she bend light too? My mind got to thinking can she advance a camouflage method like the Predator did on Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger and his comrades? Can she make her bodies molecules invisible? Fortunately, I knew none of these methods are practical or pragmatic. But the method she claimed she was taught takes a different approach to her unbelievable transformation. One that I am not sure I even want to tell anyone about it.

Rosemary jumps up from the couch and whispers in my ears that to all human eyes, she will be totally invisible. I will be able to make objects appear to float around the room, I'll be able to walk freely in and out of restricted areas without fear of being spotted. I wanted to whisper back if you do any of those things you just mentioned I’ll contact that priest in the Exorcist Movie Father Martin.

Suddenly she takes three steps from my disbelieving ears and shouts that she is free to use her powers as she wishes. I’m wishing at that moment that I’m merely dreaming.

I interrupt her in mid madness and say will animals, spirits, ghost, Michael Jackson or security cameras be able to see you? She replies, it’s A Psychological Effect. It's not hypnosis and it will work on over 99.9% of the people I will encounter on my invisible travels. I must have represented that 1% because she was still standing several feet from me as solid as a rock.

Hush she unifacially shouts Dr. Shaw, it requires a lot of mental effort on my part to sustain the invisibility, so plenty of practice and patience was required to do this. To begin with, Dr. Benjamin Shaw I may experience only moments of partial transparency, but with much training I have been able to go for over an hour in full invisibility.

Rosemary proudly stated that her personal record was over 92 minutes of sustained transparency! In 9 months I was waiting to see her to make herself  invisible for 9.2 seconds at least. She went on to say there is a large psychological element to her invisibility. Explaining that this means that although people won't see me, cameras will. Trying to perform the effect on television will only make me look like an idiot. The people in the studio might not see me, but everyone at home will know exactly what I’m up to. She knew just when to use rationality. Especially them guys wearing a white uniform who carry around one or two of them straight jackets I thought will definitely see her first.

Rosemary tried in vain to convince me that, that's the beauty of her psychological effects and that it's not just her yellowish skin tone that becomes invisible, it's her whole being, which also includes anything she might be wearing. Once I become invisible, I'll be able to manipulate objects that are currently in view of observers, but anything on me at the time I perform the transformation will be included.

After that last statement I realized that it would be more beneficial to my patient Rosemary to seek the help of  some of the most famous psychoanalyst like Carl Jung, Wilhelm Reich, Ernest Jones, Nancy Chodorow, Alfred Adler, Juliette Favez-Boutonier and Melanie Klein. 

Then I thought better of it and asked Rosemary would she agree to be hypnotized. Of course, she quickly agreed.

Under hypnosis she revealed the secrets of how to obtain true invisibility. It starts simple, with a mental exercise that you can practice whenever you have a quiet moment. Here's what you have to do: Sit somewhere you can feel relaxed and close your eyes. Imagine what it might feel like to be invisible. Picture your self being a superhero. After about five minutes of this, concentrate on one part of your body such as a fingertip and will it to become invisible. See it in your mind's eye as it slowly becomes transparent, revealing what is behind it. Once it is invisible in your mind, hold that thought for as long as possible. You may find your mind begins to wander. If it does, don't worry, relax. Wait a while and try again. To begin with you may only be able to hold that thought for a few seconds, or perhaps a minute at most. Keep practicing. You'll need to be able to hold that thought uppermost in your mind for at least 5 minutes before continuing on to stage 2. Distractions are, unfortunately, inevitable, but with enough practice, you'll find you are able to ignore them. Keep repeating this exercise for at least three weeks. The best way to time yourself is to glance at a clock before you begin to concentrate. When your mind begins to wander however slight it may be open your eyes again and check the clock.

I woke her up before she got to stage 2. She looked at me with those emerald green eyes and said that was the longest period of time she had allowed herself to remain invisible. I was tempted to put her back into that invisible state but thought better of it as she pranced around my office as if she was butt naked doing the catwalk like a super invisible model.

The next weekly session she revealed stage 2 while under my Étienne Eugène Azam spell. Now that you have the ability to hold a thought about having a part of your body transparent, it's time to move on to stage 2. Before beginning this exercise, make sure you have eaten nothing for at least one hour, and drunk nothing but water in the same time period. I got to thinking that a surgery patient should not eat or drink anything after midnight the night before their surgery. This includes gum, water, mints and vitamins unless their anesthesiologist has given them special instructions stating otherwise. Food and drink are restricted before surgery to prevent the possible complication of aspiration.

Rosemary continued by saying put yourself in the same relaxing situation you used for stage 1. Starting with the tips of your toes and working slowly up the entire length of your body, imagine yourself becoming transparent. While you do this, repeat the word "invisible" in your head. If you do this correctly, you should take about five minutes to reach the top of your head. By now you'll be subconsciously aware of how long it takes for five minutes to pass and you'll be surprised at how accurate you can be. In total, you'll think of the word "invisible" about 60 times during those five minutes. Repeat this exercise 12 times and try to do it every day for at least two weeks a month works well in my experience. Yes, it's a full hour each day, which may seem a lot, but dedication is one thing you'll need if you're to achieve what most people can only dream about. And if you can't manage this stage, you'll really struggle later. Be aware that if anything distracts you from the exercise that you'll need to start over again  a full hour is required, no less. So make sure you unplug the phone and perhaps put on some relaxing music anything that will help you keep your mind on what you're doing, not on the things around you. If you do choose to have music on, make sure it's something you're familiar with anything new or unusual will easily catch your attention. I heard enough! I called for them orderly two dudes and had them place Rosemary in one of those Guardian Straight Jackets. It would prove to me that Rosemary couldn’t make herself invisible or escape from that 4 piece straight jacket set as only Harry Houdini could.

The next day when I went to visit Rosemary at Bellevue Psychiatric Hospital she was gone.