And now a page from our “Sunday Morning” Almanac: March 5th, 1815, 202 years ago today … the day German-born Dr. Franz Anton Mesmer died at the age of 80. Mesmer believed he could harness a force he ...

Was Franz Anton Mesmer, the patron saint of hypnosis, a quack or an upstanding scientist? An 18th Century commission chaired by Benjamin Franklin, then the U.S. ambassador to France, was empaneled by ...

A healer lays her hand on a patient: In the 18th century, physician Franz Anton Mesmer used soft touches that, he maintained, transferred healing energy. The power of suggestion was not without effect ...

Coleman Lowndes was a lead producer who has covered history, culture, and photography since joining the Vox video team in 2017. In the 18th century in Europe, a period known as the “Age of ...

Last week, in Manhattan’s Carnegie Hall, an audience that had come to watch a demonstration of hypnosis got more than it bargained for. The star attraction, Franz Polgar, was illustrating his powers ...