Hypnosis has been used to solve crimes for many years now. An early documented account was published by Popular Mechanics in their April, 1960 edition. The article was called Solving Crimes By Hypnosis. The purpose of the article was to discuss the use of hypnosis in helping the memory recall ability of five policemen who had witnessed a staged murder. The hypnotist was Dr. Dezzo Levendula who was lecturing the class in Scientific Law Enforcement at the campus of Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio.

While lecturing, two secretaries were seen fighting and one of them stabbed the other. Another professor, Dr. Gerber entered the room and told the twenty policemen who were in the class that they had witnessed a staged murder. Then, Dr. Levendula asked for volunteers to allow themselves to be hypnotized. Five policemen volunteered. They were told to write down what they had seen. They were then hypnotized and awakened. They were asked to write down again what they had seen. Their memory improved with each hypnosis. It was suggested that using hypnosis to get more information from eye witnesses would be a useful tool in solving crimes.

Hypnosis or mind control has been studied from many positions since it does seem to work to erase preconceived expectations. The staged murder involved two stenographers. Both of them looked professional, and their fight and behavior was shocking. To arrive at a better eye witness report of what had been witnessed, the police officers had to be guided through hypnosis to look beyond personal appearance to the criminal act itself.