Charles Dickens' Hypnotic Obsession: Mesmerism & Mind Control

0:00 Speaker 1: Welcome back to the Strange History Podcast, where we explore

0:03 Speaker 1: the weird, the wonderful, and the downright bizarre corners of history.

0:08 Speaker 1: I'm Amy, your guide through the strange and unexpected. Today

0:12 Speaker 1: we're diving into the fascinating, lesser known obsession of one

0:16 Speaker 1: of literature's greatest figures, Charles Dickens, and his deep fascination

0:21 Speaker 1: with mesmerism. That's right, the same man who gave us

0:26 Speaker 1: a Christmas Carol and great expectations also had a peculiar

0:30 Speaker 1: belief in the power of hypnosis. But how deep did

0:33 Speaker 1: this interest go and did he really believe he could

0:37 Speaker 1: cure people with just the power of his mind? Stick

0:41 Speaker 1: around to find out. Now, let's set the scene. It's

0:45 Speaker 1: the mid nineteenth century. The world is rapidly changing, The

0:49 Speaker 1: Industrial Revolution is in full swing, and science is making

0:53 Speaker 1: leaps and bounds. But at the same time, people are

0:56 Speaker 1: also drawn to the mystical and the unexplained enter Mesmerism

1:01 Speaker 1: also known as animal magnetism. This was a pseudoscientific idea

1:05 Speaker 1: developed by Franz Anton Mesmer in the late eighteenth century,

1:10 Speaker 1: which suggested that a natural, invisible force could be harnessed

1:13 Speaker 1: to heal people Essentially, it was an early form of hypnosis,

1:18 Speaker 1: and guess who was absolutely hooked none other than Charles Dickens.

1:22 Speaker 1: Dickens wasn't just a casual observer of mesmerism, No, he

1:26 Speaker 1: was a full on practitioner. He truly believed in its

1:29 Speaker 1: power to heal the sick, ease pain, and even influence

1:34 Speaker 1: the mind. He was so dedicated to it that he

1:37 Speaker 1: regularly practiced mesmerism on his friends and family, whether they

1:41 Speaker 1: believed in it or not. One of his most famous

1:44 Speaker 1: patients was his wife, Catherine. Dickens. Reportedly he would put

1:48 Speaker 1: her into a trance like state to ease her ailments.

1:52 Speaker 1: But that's not all. He also attempted to cure his

1:55 Speaker 1: friend and fellow writer John Leech, who was suffering from

1:58 Speaker 1: severe headaches and depression. And here's where things get really interesting.

2:04 Speaker 1: There are accounts that suggest Dickens was actually successful in

2:08 Speaker 1: helping people enter these trances. Whether it was the power

2:11 Speaker 1: of suggestion or something more mysterious, we may never know.

2:14 Speaker 1: But let's talk about one of the strangest and most

2:17 Speaker 1: controversial cases of Dickens mesmerism, his relationship with Augusta Delarue.

2:22 Speaker 1: Augusta was a woman suffering from what was described as

2:26 Speaker 1: hysteria and other nervous conditions. Dickens was convinced he could

2:31 Speaker 1: cure her through mesmerism and spent hours trying to do so.

2:35 Speaker 1: According to his letters, he believed he had a profound

2:38 Speaker 1: effect on her, calming her nervous attacks and even altering

2:42 Speaker 1: her state of mind. Some historians believe that this relationship

2:46 Speaker 1: was more than just a medical fascination, their speculation that

2:50 Speaker 1: Dickens may have had a deeper, more emotional connection with Augusta,

2:54 Speaker 1: though this remains a mystery. So was Dickens on to

2:59 Speaker 1: something or was this just another case of Victorian era pseudoscience.

3:05 Speaker 1: While modern hypnosis does have some scientific credibility, mesmerism, as

3:10 Speaker 1: Dickens understood it has been largely debunked, but that doesn't

3:14 Speaker 1: change the fact that he was utterly convinced of its

3:17 Speaker 1: power and dedicated a significant part of his life to

3:22 Speaker 1: practicing it. And let's not forget the idea of hypnosis

3:26 Speaker 1: and the influence of the mind plays a role in

3:29 Speaker 1: many of Dickens's works. Consider how characters in a Christmas

3:33 Speaker 1: carol experience visions that alter their entire outlook on life,

3:38 Speaker 1: or how the mystery of Edwin Drude contains eerie psychological manipulation.

3:44 Speaker 1: Could it be that his fascination with mesmerism seeped into

3:47 Speaker 1: his fiction? It certainly seems possible. So there you have it,

3:53 Speaker 1: the strange but true story of Charles Dickens and mesmerism.

3:58 Speaker 1: A brilliant writer, a hypnotist, and a man utterly fascinated

4:03 Speaker 1: by the power of the human mind. What do you think.

4:07 Speaker 1: Could Dickens have really had a gift for mesmerism or

4:11 Speaker 1: was he just swept up in the mystical trends of

4:13 Speaker 1: his time. If you enjoyed today's episode, be sure to

4:17 Speaker 1: subscribe to the Strange History podcast for more weird and

4:21 Speaker 1: wonderful tales from the past. And if you have a

4:24 Speaker 1: historical mystery you'd like me to dive into, let me know.

4:28 Speaker 1: Until next time, stay curious and keep exploring the strange

4:32 Speaker 1: corners of history.