Students performed songs pretending to be music superstars such as Jennifer Lopez and Ja Rule Wednesday night, but some of them claim not to remember it.

Master hypnotist Jim Wand visited NIU to provide entertainment for about 500 students in the Carl Sandburg Auditorium at the Holmes Student Center.

A doctor of psychology, Wand has been hypnotizing people for years. He claims to have put more than a million people under hypnosis.

Sponsored by the Residence Hall Association and Campus Activities Board, the show began with Wand explaining the phenomenon of hypnosis.

“It’s just programming people’s subconscious minds when they are in the state just before sleep,” he said.

Wand called 24 volunteers up onto the stage, which contained a long row of white chairs.

He began the process by slowing waving a small wand with a blinking red light and speaking in a deep, calm voice. The theme song from “X-Files” slowly played.

Audience members and on-stage participants were encouraged to allow themselves to let go and follow the moving wand.

After Wand determined the subjects were indeed in an altered state, he gave them a number of suggestions that delighted the audience and made them laugh hysterically.

He told subjects they were watching their parents in a pornographic film and encouraged them to act like international butt-dancers.

Subjects danced, shook and fell out of their seats in response to Wand’s suggestions.

Wand told a few they were singers and thereafter they danced and lip-synched to popular songs.

Ron Valdez, a freshman pre-communication studies major, pretended to sing J.Lo’s part of “I’m Real.”

“I don’t think I did that,” he said after the show, “but all I remember is waking up.”

At the end of the show, Wand attempted to give the subjects an individualized helpful suggestion that could help them in their lives, such as a command to help them speak better in public.

He also had them march back into their seats as if they had joined an army.

Senior economics major Michelle Bartosiak said she wanted to be hypnotized and was a little disappointed Wand did not chose her.

“I even had a sign that said ‘Pick Me,’” she said. “The show was still really funny though.”

Wand himself was happy with the show.

“We had a great audience,” he said. “One of the most rewarding parts of the job is making everyone laugh.”