Did a Florida High School Principal’s Hypnosis Sessions Really Lead to Three Student Deaths?
A new ID docuseries digs into a bizarre and tragic chapter at North Port High School in Florida, where three students died soon after private hypnosis sessions with their principal.
Let’s start with the facts. Back in early 2012, George Kenney, the former principal, pleaded no contest in court to two counts of practicing hypnosis on students without a license. He admitted to holding hypnosis sessions with students, even though he wasn’t a licensed hypnotherapist.
Between 2006 and 2011, he hypnotized as many as 75 students, teachers, and parents on school grounds, ignoring repeated warnings from school administrators.
Things came to a head in the spring of 2011. Three students died within weeks of each other. Marcus Freeman, a 16-year-old football player, crashed his truck and died after reportedly freezing at the wheel. His girlfriend, Carley O’Boyle, was in the passenger seat. She remembers him tilting his head back, arms locked, completely unresponsive before the accident. She survived, but Freeman didn’t make it.
Not long after, Wesley McKinley, a talented guitarist with anxiety about an upcoming audition, died by suicide. Then Brittany Palumbo, a senior worried about tests and getting into college, also took her own life.
As news of the hypnosis sessions spread, the community couldn’t help but wonder if Kenney’s therapy had anything to do with the deaths. Some speculated that Freeman might have been in a trance when he crashed. Others worried that McKinley and Palumbo became more vulnerable after the sessions.
Jenna Wilson, one of Palumbo’s closest friends, still wrestles with what happened. She says Palumbo showed no signs of depression before the hypnosis. Even now, the uncertainty haunts her. And she’s not alone. The American Society of Clinical Hypnosis makes it clear: only licensed clinicians should use hypnosis for medical or psychological treatment.
Kenney, now 66, ended up with a year’s probation after his plea, with no prison time. The company placed him on leave in 2011, and then he retired with a full pension.
Meanwhile, the families of the three teens sued the Sarasota County School Board. In 2015, they settled for $600,000.
Years later, former students have mixed feelings about Kenney. Some remember him as a principal who cared deeply about his students and loved his job. But for O’Boyle, the pain has never really faded. She still feels the loss of Freeman, that bright spot in her life who vanished without warning.
The story, now featured in the ID docuseries “The Principal Who Hypnotized His School” on HBO Max, still leaves people with more questions than answers.
