You’ve probably heard of the Jakartan urban legend that hypnotists can put you under their influence by just a simple tap on your shoulder. That is exactly what happened to an 11-year-old boy in Cibubur recently, according to his parents at least.
AL had just left the mosque near his house on the evening of August 23 when a strange man told AL to follow him. AL refused, but then the man tapped him on the shoulder.
“It’s like my son was hypnotized. After the shoulder tap he lost control of himself,” said AL’s mother, D, as she recalled the story to Okezone yesterday.
Under the hypnotist’s influence, AL was told to get into a car containing two other men. One of them made AL drink a purple liquid, which knocked him out instantly.
AL was found an hour later a few hundred meters away from his house.
“When found, my son wasn’t wearing his shirt, just his pants. His body was bruised all over,” D said.
It wasn’t clear exactly what happened in the car, though early signs suggest AL was a victim of physical abuse. It’s unknown if AL was a sexual abuse victim as well.
AL’s mother said a medical exam revealed that AL had traces of THC in his body, which she believes was used to knock him out.
The kidnappers have not yet been identified.
