Tosca Austen@ToscaAusten
⚖️THE TRAGEDY AT NORTH PORT: THE PRINCIPAL WHO HYPNOTIZED A SCHOOL
The chilling case of the "Principal Hypnotist" is back in the national spotlight this year.
"He altered the underdeveloped brains of teenagers, and they all ended up dead because of it."
— Damian Mallard, Attorney for the families.
While the original events took place in 2011, a new deep-dive investigation by Investigation Discovery titled "The Curious Case of... The Principal Who Hypnotized a School", released in February 2026, has reignited outrage over how a high school administrator was allowed to "alter the brains" of his students.
📍 The Location & The School
State: Florida
School: North Port High School (Sarasota County)
Principal: George Kenney
🕯️ The Victims
Three talented teenagers lost their lives within months of each other in 2011 after undergoing hypnosis sessions with Kenney:
🚩Marcus Freeman (16): The star quarterback. Kenney taught him "self-hypnosis" to manage pain and focus. Freeman died in a horrific car crash after he reportedly entered a hypnotic trance while driving.
🚩Wesley McKinley (16): A gifted musician hoping to attend Juilliard. He was hypnotized by Kenney the day before he took his own life. Friends said he couldn't even remember his own name after the sessions.
🚩Brittany Palumbo (17): A
high-achiever struggling with SAT prep. Kenney diagnosed her with "test anxiety" and claimed hypnosis would raise her scores. When they didn't, she fell into a deep depression and committed suicide.
🔍 The Latest: Why the Case is Resurfacing Now
The 2026 investigation focuses on a "Culture of Complicity." New details and interviews with former staff highlight a disturbing timeline of ignored warnings:
The Ignored Red Flags:
It was revealed that Kenney’s supervisors warned him at least three separate times to stop practicing hypnosis on students. He ignored every directive.
The "Mass Experiment": Investigations found Kenney had hypnotized as many as 75 students and staff members without proper licensing or medical oversight.
The Legal Insult: Kenney never faced a day of prison time‼️
He pleaded "no contest" to practicing hypnosis without a license, received one year of probation, and retired to North Carolina with a full pension.
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