The strange case of North Port High School: 3 students died after getting hypnotized by the principal

The decision from the Sarasota County School District in Florida to pay the families of three deceased students $200,000 each ends the long, strange story that began four years ago when the students died in separate incidents after getting hypnotized by then-principal George Kenney. Despite the settlement, the attorney representing the three families told the Herald Tribune his clients really just wanted the school district to be accountable. As he said of Kenney, “He altered the underdeveloped brains of teenagers, and they all ended up dead because of it.”

The bizarre story began when the executive director of high schools in Sarasota County told Kenney at least three times he was not allowed to hypnotize students without parents’ consent. (That still breaks Florida law.) Even with the warnings, Kenney continued to practice hypnosis with students he believed had a need–such as 16-year-old Marcus Freeman, a quarterback who had trouble concentrating during games. Kenney also taught Freeman how to “self-hypnotize.” In March 2011, Freeman was driving home with his girlfriend after painful dentist appointment. The girlfriend said Freeman tried to hypnotize himself, got a strange look on his face, veered off the interstate, and died in the accident.

Just weeks later, Wesley McKinley was found hanged to death in his room hours after Kenney hypnotized him to help him focus on his audition for the Julliard School of the Arts. One of McKinley’s friends testified the teen was acting very strange after the session and asked him to punch him in the face. When asked how McKinley acted after hypnosis meetings with Kenney, that friend said “I would say that he was in a distant phase. He wasn’t all there mentally, it seemed like, after the sessions.”

Then, in May, 17-year-old Brittany Palumbo was found hanged in her room after meeting with Kenney for hypnosis that would help with what he said was test anxiety. After her daughter’s death, Palumbo’s mom said, “Dr. Kenney sought all three of our children out for this hypnosis….We believe his behavior is nothing less than narcissistic.”

That same month, Kenney was placed on administrative leave. He resigned the following year after getting charged with two misdemeanors related to the case. He served just one year of probation and is now believed to be living in North Carolina, where he runs a bed and breakfast and creates stained glass. The attorney for the families said, “The thing that is the most disappointing to them is he never apologized, never admitted wrongdoing and is now living comfortably in retirement in North Carolina with his pension.”

By law, the families of the students could not sue Kenney because he was considered to be an extension of the school board. Their settlement with the school district represents the most a Florida government agency can issue without approval from the Legislature and governor.