The opening of the Jane Tweed adventure started in Henry Prokop’s home. A friend of the family was overweight, and asked him to use his professional skill as a hypnotist. In the 1980s hypnosis at a professional level was frequently being used in weight control and smoking management.

During one of the sessions Ann’s voice began to change. The exact details of this first session are lost in time. Mr. Prokop had the presence of mind to record the next meeting.

My involvement began when Henry phoned me asking me to see him and his friend professionally. An office appointment was scheduled a few days later. I encouraged him to tape the sessions and I would be glad to listen to what he had immediately. Tape five was recorded during the first visit in my office. Notice the dates change from 1904 to 1906.         

Dr. Templeton and myself were both licensed physicians and surgeons; we had each completed five more years of training to become board certified psychiatrists. We were experienced men in our field. You will find later that none of us felt too experienced in our field as a phenomenon presented itself. That’s why we called it research (tongue-in-cheek) as we formulated our research team. Were we being trained to be physicians of body mind and spirit ???  

Throughout history medical and psychiatric records have always been highly confidential. This was true at the time and remains true today. For the purpose of this presentation the listener/reader is asked to assume that the two professionals involved ruled out mental illness, drug use, alcohol and other pathological conditions that would lead to such phenomena. This may be asking a lot, 40 years have passed and my current opinion remains unchanged.