A dramatic illustration of hypnotism accompanied by many grewsome features has been given in London by Prof. Morritt, who seems to possess extraordinary powers of a mysterious nature, says the New York World. He put a man to sleep in a coffin-shaped glass case and kept him there nearly a week and a the end of that time awakened him in the presence of a large number of witnesses. The victim of this achievement, one Alfred Wootton, is a stained glass-worker, 35 years of age. During the whole of the time he was asleep or in a trance he was exhibited in a public hall. When the experiment was ready to begin on Monday he had readily climbed into the coffin-shaped case, and many people watched the hypnotizer as he proceeded to exercise his mysterious power. Holding Wootton by the forehead and chin, the hypnotizer gazed steadily into his eyes. He then made a few downward passes from above the eyes along the side of the face, from time to time examining the pupils of the eyes. The man, it was found, had by this time become rigid. One minute after the experiment began the hypnotizer asked Dr. Forbes to examine the man. He was found to be thoroughly unconscious. His puls was 96, the exact number of beats it registered before he became unconscious. His respiration was about 116, the breathing chiefly abdominal. Temperature was 98.2, or normal. The pupils of the eyes were contracted almost to disappearance. During the following days the respiration, temperature and pulse changed slightly, but the man remained in a trance condition. His beard continued to grow. When he was awakened by Prof. Morritt the following Saturday evening, he could not be convinced that he had been in a hypnotic trance for nearly a week until he felt the thick growth of beard on his face. He said it seemed to him that he had only been asleep for a few minutes. It did not take longer than a minute to wake him up. The professor made a few passes of his hand across the man’s face and lifted his head and shoulders from the coffin-shaped case. Wootton then opened his eyes and instantly recognized friends in the crowd about him, with whom he began to converse. The only notable sensation he experienced up waking, he said, was that of hunger. A short time after being awakened he put on his coat an walked out of the building with his friends. He had been constantly watched during the whole time in the trance and evinced much interest in the records of the doctors. Prof. Morritt had previously tried a similar experiment with one Henry Nolan, but the doctors who were watching his case expressed the opinion that Nolan was not physically strong enough to undergo the ordeal.
According to my brief web searches, this event did happen, perhaps. I can’t read the paper which mentions the event, because it’s behind a paywall. Other than that, I can’t find who “Prof. Morritt” is. So there’s been some scholarly work done on the subject — too bad we can’t see what it says.