matters, was forgotten for the moment. Like her, he envisioned a day, not long in the future, in which he and she would stroll through the park on a Sunday afternoon, taking turns pushing a stroller, and greeting friends they met along the way. He believed, if he tried hard enough, he could put the strange incidents of his past behind him.
Gertrude and Edgar portrait, c. 1903.
AL LAYNE:
INTRODUCING THE PSYCHIC DIAGNOSTICIAN
Hypnosis is widely regarded as an effective therapeutic technique to relieve pain, overcome bad habits, and recall past events. Less understood is its ability to enhance psychic ability. People who are hypnotized routinely perform better in laboratory tests of clairvoyance, telepathy, and precognition. This was the case for twenty-four-year-old Cayce who, with the help of self-taught hypnotist and osteopath Al Layne, produced his first trance reading on March 31, 1901.
Putting Edgar into trance was more difficult than one might suppose for a young man who had already displayed a wide range of other talents. The first attempt to hypnotize him was made by Stanley “The Laugh King” Hart, who invited Edgar onto center stage at Holland’s Opera House shortly after Edgar and his family had moved to Hopkinsville. Although Hart was an ardent spokesman for the alleged powers of hypnotism to cure headaches, treat alcoholism, and eliminate self-destructive behaviors, it was comedy that drew crowds to his performances. He invited members of the audience onto the stage, put them into a hypnotic trance, and ordered them to do embarrassing things. Hart swore just by looking at Edgar that he would make the ideal hypnotic subject, but to everyone’s disappointment, Hart was unable to put Edgar into a trance, and he was asked to leave the stage.
Four years later “Herman the Great” made a second attempt. While visiting the Louisville printing company where Edgar was then working as a clerk—Edgar needed a greater income if he was to marry Gertrude and raise a family—Herman declared the young man would make an ideal subject for hypnotism and asked permission to put him “under.” Edgar agreed to be hypnotized but advised Herman of the previous attempt. The hypnotist was not put off. He told Edgar that the more often a person was hypnotized, the easier it was to put him under, and the deeper he could go.
Hart the Laugh King’s Newspaper Ad, c. 1899.
Holland’s Opera House.
Herman had Edgar concentrate on some object that was held up in front of him while Herman repeatedly made suggestions that he relax and go to sleep. The next thing Edgar remembered was that he was lying on a countertop surrounded by co-workers. He had not only gone under but had done everything that the hypnotist told him to do. Edgar laughed about the experience and promptly forgot about it until a year later when he was hypnotized in Madisonville, Kentucky, while on a business trip with his father, Leslie.
Edgar and Leslie had been in Madisonville only a few hours when state health officials arrived at their hotel and ordered its doors closed. The hotel was being quarantined due to an outbreak of smallpox. No one could come or go for three days. By coincidence, a fellow guest at the hotel was a stage hypnotist who volunteered to provide entertainment.
Like Herman the Great, the hypnotist succeeded in putting Edgar into a trance. Again, Edgar had no memory of what happened because he lost consciousness the moment the hypnotist put him “under.” Edgar knew only what Leslie and the other hotel guests told him when he woke up. According to them, the hypnotist suggested that Edgar play the piano.
Leslie had expected Edgar to simply bang away at the keys like a child pretending to make music. After all, he had never had a single lesson. Only Edgar took the hypnotist’s suggestion literally, exhibiting a skill far beyond what even the hypnotist believed possible. Edgar played beautiful music. The hypnotist, no doubt, believed that he had helped Edgar to discover a latent ability. The truth, however, was more astonishing. Edgar was capable of doing extraordinary things when under trance—the likes of which no one could have imagined.
The incident which led to Al Layne’s entry into the story came in the winter of 1900 when Edgar, on a business trip to Elkton, Kentucky, was prescribed too strong a sedative to treat a migraine headache. Several hours after taking the drug, Edgar was found wandering semi-conscious in the Elkton railroad yard and was brought home to Hopkinsville. Physicians didn’t know how to help, so they put him to bed. He seemed to be fine the next morning. The only problem was that his throat was dry and scratchy, and his voice thin and raspy.
Days passed, then weeks, and eventually months, and his condition became more severe. Unable to communicate, Edgar lost his job as a salesman. Eventually he took a position, arranged for by friends, working in a darkroom in a Hopkinsville photo lab. It would be here where he learned the trade that would lead him to become a professional studio photographer. Here, too, he bemoaned the fact that he was now unsuitable to be a husband and father. In a moment of self-loathing and pity, he begged Gertrude to release him from what had now become their year-long engagement. She deserved more from a potential husband than he could deliver. Gertrude would hear none of it.
After nearly a full year without any improvement, everyone in Hopkinsville knew about Edgar’s condition. Friends urged him to pay a return visit to Stanley Hart, who was scheduled to appear at Holland’s Opera House. Hart was certain he could affect a cure and was undoubtedly pleased at the prospect of proving himself in front of a paying audience.
Edgar, thin as a rail after a year of laryngitis.
On the night of his performance, Hart invited Edgar onto the stage. When the oil burning footlights were dimmed, Hart stood directly in front of Edgar and told him to concentrate on an object which he dangled in front of Edgar’s eyes. Edgar slipped easily into a trance.
No record exists of what words Edgar spoke, only that he did. His laryngitis was gone. The audience gasped, then began to cheer wildly. Hart had performed his magic.
Or had he? Once Edgar was released from Hart’s hypnotic suggestion, his voice once again became a whisper.
After the show had ended, Hart took Edgar and Gertrude backstage and explained the problem. Edgar could not go deep enough into a trance to take “post-hypnotic suggestions.” More trance sessions would be necessary.
Assured that he could affect a permanent cure, Hart promised that for $200 he would keep trying until Edgar had completely regained his voice. Edgar and his parents, and likely Gertrude, too, agreed to the arrangement even though they hadn’t the money to pay his exorbitant fee. The problem was apparently solved when the editors of the Kentucky New Era newspaper stepped forward. They met with Hart and a Hopkinsville throat specialist who agreed to examine Cayce both before and after the hypnotic sessions. In return for an exclusive, they would see that Hart was adequately compensated.
The sessions did not go as expected. Hart could easily put
