Terry O'Brien comments: "Mind control is such a powerful image that if hypnotism did not exist, then something similar would have to have been invented: the plot device is too useful for any writer to ignore.
Another popular trope in science fiction and fantasy is mind control exercised by telepathy.
In the Marvel Comics universe, for example, Professor X and Purple Man are among the many characters able to control minds.
Hypnotism has often been used by stage performers to induce volunteers do strange things, such as clucking like a chicken, for the entertainment of audiences.
The late Russian psychic, Wolf Messing, was said to be able to hand somebody a blank piece of paper and make them see money or whatever he wanted them to see.