A group of young Canadian students at an all girls school were left in "mass hypnosis" after a demonstration from a fledging hypnotist reportedly left them locked in a trance last week.

Maxime Nadeau was forced to call on his mentor for assistance after the hypnotist could not reverse the condition of several 12- and 13-year-old girls at the Collège du Sacré-Coeur private school in Quebec. One of the girls was reportedly left in a trance for five hours.

"Being in a trance is a state of well-being," Nadeau told the CBC. "I wasn't stressed. I knew they would get out of it."

Nadeau eventually called in his mentor and trainer Richard Whitbread to reverse the effects.

"There were a couple of students who had their heads lying on the table and there were [others] who, you could tell, were in trance," Whitbread said.

In order to reverse the effect, Whitbread says he brought them out of the trance "using a stern voice."

"I don't know how to explain it. It's like you're no longer there," student Émilie Bertrand said about her experience. "You're spaced out."

Interestingly, Whitbread said the girls may have been especially vulnerable to Nadeau's suggestions because of his young age and "good looks."

Yahoo