Talk:Chicken hypnotism

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My dad used to do this. - Ta bu shi da yu 04:13, 12 Aug 2004 (UTC)

I mention a related matter in passing on my own web site [1], [2] -- Jmabel 03:56, Sep 25, 2004 (UTC)

Are there any citations for the claims that Hellmut Kohl and Al Gore have hypnotized chickens? If this weren't from someone who has made good edits elsewhere, I would suspect vandalism; as it is, I'll tentatively assume the contributor knows what he/she is talking about, but would like to know where the information comes from. -- Jmabel | Talk 01:51, July 27, 2005 (UTC)

Apologies for the lack of clarity; rather than dump all the info here, I have put it into the relevant biogs. Perhaps it should be the other way about? The Helmut Kohl info comes from Stern magazine (13 Sept 1996, so no online ref), and I put it here. The Gore stuff comes from here [3] -- although I couldn't find it yesterday, but have just located it, hurrah. So, I'll hold off on adding it to an article till I get an answer on where you think it ought to go. In case you're wondering, I don't know of any other ex-statesmen who have hypnotised chickens, but that might be because they (rather sensibly, perhaps) keep quiet about it... Garrick92 11:42, 27 July 2005 (UTC)

Just added some *more* stuff wot I found. Stop me before I strike again ... Garrick92 12:27, 27 July 2005 (UTC)

[edit] cleaned up?

I came to this from the old-articles-needing-cleanup page and threw out everything that looked squirrely, third-hand, and a joke. The article sounded more like a nudge-nudge-wink-wink college newspaper column than an encyclopedia article. Perhaps I went too far removing the Helmut Kohl and Albert Gore stuff, but "famous people have done this, honest" doesn't seem terribly encyclopedia-ic. - DavidWBrooks 17:18, 2 September 2005 (UTC)

• David's edit. I think that anyone looking up chicken hypnotism would have been interested in plenty of what he removed, but this is pretty low on my priority list, so I'm just leaving a note. -- Jmabel | Talk 21:06, September 3, 2005 (UTC)

• • I agree, but then I would, wouldn't I? I'm also nonplussed by your removal of the Iggy Pop ref. The Gore stuff, I think, also belonged in the article: it quoted Gore himself, and gave an alternate method of hypnotism to the one described. The Kohl one, similarly, came from his sister interviewed in a reputable journal.

Characterising these bits as 'famous people have done this, honest' is narrowminded, petty, and silly. Perhaps you ought to take out the Kircher bit, because that could be 'Famous people have written about this, honest'.

Oh, hang on, is the Iggy Pop bit gone because it comes under 'Famous people have sung about this, honest'?

I honestly despair of the self-appointed Wikipedia Gods. Nuff said.

Garrick92 17:49, 20 October 2005 (UTC)

Then, why not replace those parts that you think deserve to be here, generating well-written, cogent summaries which even a grump like me couldn't object to! As I noted, I may have gone too far; imperfection is possible. - DavidWBrooks 18:12, 20 October 2005 (UTC)

I restored the mentions of Kohl and Gore, since I think this topic sounds like an urban legend, and the notable people mentioning how to do it - particularly the link to the Gore story - lend credulity to the article and may reduce the number of people who reject the topic out of hand. Tempshill 21:45, 20 October 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Crocodile/alligator charming

Isn't there something similar that some people do with these creatures? I think they stroke the belly or something similar. --MacRusgail 18:20, 28 October 2005 (UTC)