As a boy on the farm with no television in the 1940's and no neighbors within a mile of our South Dakota farm, my brother and I had to entertain ourselves. We probably learned a very entertaining activity from someone I cannot remember. We could hypnotize chickens! It was easy to do and harmless to the chickens as far as we could determine. It did irritate our mother a little but not enough to stop us from sometimes having one to four or five chickens laying in the yard staring on into the distance at something.
What did we do? It was really quite simple. First we caught a full grown hen. Not difficult if we put some grain down for them to eat. We then laid the chicken on its side and with a finger of our free hand we drew a line on the ground from its beak forward as far as possible and just raised our hand up out of sight. Lo and behold, the chicken would just stare at the line for minutes until interrupted by something. The chicken would then just awaken and proceed eating or moving about. No noticeable side-effects except two happy brothers were entertained by their "magic" power.
Grandpa J.
2013 Update
12 years ago
That's a fun story to share! It would have been a hoot!
ReplyDeleteKeep up the family history. These stories are great to have.
ReplyDeleteI remember you telling this to me before. I think it would be fun to try it myself - just for bragging rights.
ReplyDeleteThat's a fun story. Travis also asks what people did before there was television. That would have been fun entertainment.
ReplyDeletehehehehe chickens in a trance. hahahaha. FUN!
ReplyDelete