Elliott, later speaking about the session, said, "The technique I used on this man was to get him to completely relax. I got him started at counting by ones, twos, threes, etc., to a hundred and then backward. I had established in his mind that I was his friend. He knew he was in very serious trouble and he knew he was innocent. When he went under, he was counting by threes backward. He was completely relaxed. The critical stage is the next state, when you say the subject is cataleptic. The longer you keep them in the state of catalepsy, the deeper they sink into the third state. I kept him for ten minutes in this state of catalepsy. He was in a state of extreme exhaustion. Sweat was on his face. Observing that even Bill Presley was still somewhat skeptical of hypnosis, whether or not the man was truly hypnotized or faking, I resorted to a fail-safe demonstration. Through suggestion, I removed all feeling, reflex actions, etc., from the subject's right arm and stuck a burning cigarette to his arm--absolutely no reaction. Bill was thoroughly convinced."