Warren awoke one morning to find he was wearing only a diaper, and was lying in a wooden cradle that he shared with a large stuffed toy. Worse, his body was that of a 1-year-old baby. "This never happened before," Warren thought. "Usually, when I wake up in the morning, I'm my grown-up self again."

His situation, he recalled, began when his wife Teri suggested he visit the mesmerist Alan Hargen to overcome his extreme fear of speaking in public. Hargen suggested that Warren submit to age-regression hypnotism to find the root of his fear. But as he fell into the first hypnotic trance in Hargen's office, the air around him warped, and his surroundings seemed to change, as if he became smaller ­ and younger. Climbing off the chair, Warren imagined himself looking up at the much taller Teri and Hargen. "Aw, isn't he cute," he heard Teri say, as she lifted him onto her lap, where she hugged and cooed him. Warren actually enjoyed this treatment. And after a while, Warren fell asleep still imagining himself in Teri's lap. But when he awoke later, he was again his adult self.

During subsequent visits, Warren again imagined himself an infant while under Hargen's hypnotic trance. The episodes became longer, during which Teri went beyond the usual snuggling and began to assume the role of his mother. During the fourth visit, Teri produced a baby bottle, from which she fed Warren. The fifth visit lasted so long; Teri carried Warren out of Hargen's office, tucked him in an infant's car seat, and took him shopping at the mall. Spotting a wooden Colonial-style cradle, she cooed, "Wouldn't you like this?" Warren just smiled, assured that this was all a dream brought on by the hypnotism. And on all the mornings after, Warren still awoke to his adult self.

On the eighth visit, as Warren entered the trance, he felt for the first time that his clothes didn't fit. He was swimming in them. "Silly baby," Teri said as she pulled Warren from the mountains of fabric. "You'll need these from now on," said Hargen, as he produced a Pampers. Teri affixed it on Warren on Hargen's office desk. And this trance proved to be the longest ever, as Teri took Warren to the park, and finally got him all the way home before slumber set it. In his last wakeful moment, Teri showed him the cradle he saw at the mall, and tucked him in.

But the next morning, Warren awoke not to his 35-year-old adult self, but as the 1-year-old infant he had been in the trances under Hargen's hypnotic suggestion. Suddenly scared, he called out for Teri, but only an infant's wail emerged from his throat. Realizing he had somehow become a real baby, Warren descended into a baby's crying fit. This brought Teri running from their bedroom. After checking Warren's diaper, she concluded, "You're just hungry." Within minutes, she offered Warren a warm bottle.

"She doesn't expect me to..." Warren thought as he stared at the nipple end of the bottle. But he was hungry, and on accepting the nipple, was soon happily sucking down its contents. Teri placed Warren back in the cradle, leaving the bottle in his grip while he continued feeding. But as he sucked, Warren began to wonder about things. Obviously, he was a baby with only a baby's abilities. Could it be that he was never an adult? Could it be that he only dreamed he was grown, whether in a hypnotic trance or not? That Teri was really his mother, and not his wife? That was the only way this all made sense!

And then Hargen emerged from the bedroom, wearing only a pair of boxer shorts, and kissed Teri. The sight caused Warren to swallow too much formula at once. Dropping the bottle, he began to cough furiously. Smiling broadly, Hargen put Warren over his shoulder and patted his back. "I see my treatments have finally taken hold and produced the desired results," Hargen grinned. "Now Teri and I are free to marry. You like your new daddy?" he added, kissing Warren on his cheek. Hargen then laughed heartily as Warren kicked his tiny legs, flailed his minute arms, and cried louder than ever before.

Click here to go back to previous page