According to the book Ripley’s--Believe It or Not!, Thomas MacClure of Detroit, Michigan, has an interesting hobby. Mr. MacClure has developed a method for hypnotizing fish. Ripley’s doesn’t give any more details on the story than that. Thomas MacClure hypnotizes fish. There are so many unanswered questions to this story. How does one go about hypnotizing a fish? Do you wave your watch over a pond and declare, “You’re getting very sleepy, Mr. Catfish, you’re getting very sleepy.” And more importantly, WHY would anyone want to hypnotize a fish? What greater purpose does it serve? And how can you tell if a fish is really hypnotized or not? (1)  It sounds like a pretty big fish tale. It’s bad enough that fishermen have such a reputation for, shall we say, exaggeration. 

One fisherman I heard…