Richard Bandler

Remember, Debra was tripping throughout this.

Somehow, she got her blindfold off, and what she saw freaked her out.

Freakier still, they were placing logs below her feet and dousing them in lighter fluid.

Debra picked someone she didn't even know, and Bandler and Grinder gave that person her gift.

Which was a knife.

A knife.

Someone struck a match and set the logs on fire.

Just then, Debra managed to cut herself free.

Debra left the group.

She never went back.

Although she became a marriage and family therapist, she says she's never used any of the techniques she helped Bandler and Grinder develop.

It should be noted, this is Debra's version of events.

Although Terry McClendon, who was there that night, wrote about it in his own book, and he told me about that evening during my interview with him.

Bandler didn't respond to questions about this incident, nor did John Grinder.

But NLP was just getting started.

What began as one more new age alternative therapy would grow and change, and in some applications and in some hands, evolve into something more sinister.