Hands: A true case study of a phenomenal hypnotic subject

by Margaret Williams, Lee Gladden

"We were never able to obtain conclusive proof as to its nature. While it is difficult to accept the idea of an extra-terrestrial creature having been responsible for the phenomenon, the alternative also seems highly unlikely, At present I can only say it seems to me there is a 50/50 probability that the creature, who seemed to speak to us through Robin Greenwood, was a live, independent intelligence."

Author—MARGARET WILLIAMS

272 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 1976

Reviews

[Casey Michaels · Rating 1 out of 5]

tl;dr - I was disappointed, and wish I’d spent my time reading anything else. There are so many alien and UFO testimonial books out there that probably offer a better time than this. Love yourself.

At the start of all this, I wondered why only one other person seems to have read this book.

Now I know.

First, quickly, the positives- thank you to this book for giving me blatant examples of every bias, thought distortion, and manipulation tactic someone could possibly throw at me. It was a great lesson. Thank you for a renewed appreciation of the sort of writing I actually like to read- going from this to a well-written classic has been like getting a cool splash of water on my face after years trekking through the desert. Thank you for Hands, the creature, and the brief whimsy brought into my day.

I can’t recommend Hands to anyone, be they skeptic or believer.

A skeptic (and by this I mean, anyone who believes in modern science even a little bit- with plenty of room for questioning the existence of God, ghosts, aliens, etc) might have a laugh at what these people believe. A skeptic might pick up this book hoping to point and chuckle and shake their head at how foolish this group must be, to believe in an alien communicating through a woman in a hypnotic state. Any humor and charm you find in this book, and any sympathy you have for these people, will quickly fade.

This group of “researchers” and “doctors” all attend various paranormal clubs and pseudoscience groups even before the hypnosis “experiment” is conducted. There is no actual hypothesis formed, there is no consistent process (much less any use of the scientific method) and yet this group will refer to themselves as scientists and cutting-edge researchers constantly throughout the whole book. They mention once or twice that this could be the subconscious talking, or a trick by the woman being hypnotized- but they say this so dismissively, and insist over and over that it could only be real. One of the women involved even goes so far as to remark that the hypnotic subject, Robin, is “not smart enough” to make all this up. Why? A girl can’t have a wild imagination?

Hands, the alien creature they claim to be communicating with, is the only highlight of this book. He is cute, sweet, almost charming- and he is constantly pushed aside for much less interesting tangents and strange additions to the plot. Even worse, he is treated terribly by this group of researchers.

If you are a believer, it may be an even worse read. If you take all this at face value, and believe everything this book is claiming to be true, this is more of a terrible confession than a thrilling discovery. Sure, the group let Hands “eat” and “see” through Robin’s eyes- but they also question him relentlessly, talk down to him, ignore him for the “smarter, cooler” race of aliens that show up randomly- and work him into a literal coma. At the end of all this, they leave him- ending their last session without explaining that it will be the last. They leave him waiting on them to contact him again, forever. They even try to argue that he won’t be sad, that he’ll get over it quickly, he has the other aliens to keep him company. Hands even asks if he’ll hear from them again- and the author jokes about how lucky they are that they managed to avoid answering him. Then they have the audacity to claim that Hands left a big “handprint” on their hearts.

This book is filled with the group’s arrogance, assumptions, and biases. These are displayed on every page; there is a pervading condescending tone whenever they talk about anyone outside their group- other scientists need all this money and equipment and time, they say. Meanwhile they just need a few bucks and a living room, and already they’ve discovered so much more about space than the mainstream scientists. Almost every sentence begins with a “he said”, “they say,” “she says”- it isn’t interesting writing, and it doesn’t flow well. It’s as if the author was trying to be conversational and informal, but instead it comes across as a jumbled slog.

Even with all the false prior beliefs, inconsistencies, poor writing, and lack of Hands- this book only truly lost me once it got to the “aliens built the pyramids” section. I had a feeling it was coming, but I was holding out hope. Somehow this section of the book manages to be both entirely expected and yet, it comes out of nowhere. As soon as it began, I crossed the line from feeling sympathetic towards these people- who clearly want to make an important discovery/want aliens to be real- into feeling duped. It took only a few sentences more to make me feel like any credibility these “researchers” still had was completely unraveled.

To try and prove the existence of the aliens, Hands tells the group that the Cenosites (the smarter, cooler alien race mentioned earlier) came to Earth a long time ago, and helped ancient humans build structures that they- of course- could not have possibly done themselves! In this section- which goes on entirely too long- Hands points at places on a map of Earth, and describes structures that the aliens helped build. When these descriptions don’t fit the discovery of actual archaeological finds on Earth, the group of researchers make excuses. When the location doesn’t fit exactly, they claim something along the lines of, “Well surely Hands meant to tap that spot on the map, he was only an inch off!” They insist on using descriptions that “almost fit perfectly” as solid proof that these aliens came and helped ancient humans. This group tries so hard to make these claims work, they try to “make it fit” when it just does not.

Near the end of the book, when the mainstream scientists do not want to accept this group’s “evidence” for the existence of telepathic aliens- instead of reflecting or taking the suggestions given to them (such as running proper scientific tests on this phenomenon), the group gets angry. Their pride is hurt. These other scientists just don’t understand, they’ve got a real Earth-shattering discovery here, and evidence to back it up! Won’t they just give this a chance?

By this point in the book, this group claims to have spent eight years contacting this creature at regular intervals. They’ve allowed people other than the original hypnotist to conduct this “experiment” with Robin and Hands- many sessions of which, most of the group is not even present to witness. How do we know other hypnotic suggestions weren’t made to Robin? How do we know these sessions happened at all?

Not much in this book is interesting or remotely trustworthy in my opinion. The novelty of Hands wears off by the first third of the book, and the arrogance of the group soils the fun. I don’t even believe that this group believes in Hands- this seems more like a tale they made up as they went, trying to garner fame or make a quick buck. This book is too chaotic and too inconsistent to be convincing or even entertaining. I liked Hands, the creature, but there isn’t enough of him included. Real or not, they cut him off forever at the end without so much as a warning or an explanation, and try to justify everything they’ve done.

I was disappointed, and wished I’d spent my time reading anything else. There are so many alien and UFO testimonial books out there that probably offer a better time than this. Love yourself.