How a False Belief Aged a Man 20 Years

In a previous book (Maxwell Maltz, Adventures in Staying Young, New York, Thomas Y. Crowell Co.) I gave a detailed case history of how "Mr. Russell" aged 20 years almost overnight because of a false idea, then re­gained his youth almost as quickly when he accepted the truth. Briefly, the story is this: I performed a cosmetic operation on "Mr. Russell's" lower lip for a very modest fee, under the condition that he must tell his girl friend that the operation had cost him his entire savings of a life­time. His girl friend had no objection to his spending money on her, and she insisted that she loved him, but explained she could never marry him because of his too-large lower lip. However, when he told her this and proudly exhibited his new lower lip, her reaction was just as I had expected, but not as Mr. Russell had anticipated. She became hysterically angry, called him a fool for having spent all his money, and advised him in no uncertain terms that she had never loved him and never would, and that she had merely played him for a sucker as long as he had money to spend on her. However, she went further than I had counted on. In her anger and disgust she also announced that she was placing a "Voodoo curse" upon him. Both Mr. Russell and his girl friend had been born on an island in the West Indies where Voodoo was prac­ticed by the ignorant and superstitious. His family had been rather well-to-do. His background was one of culture and he was a college graduate.
Yet, when in the heat of anger, his girl friend "cursed" him, he felt vaguely uncomfortable but did not think too much about it.
However, he remembered and wondered when a short time later he felt a strange small hard "bump" on the in­side of his lip. A "friend" who knew of the Voodoo curse, insisted that he see a "Dr. Smith," who promptly assured him that the bump inside his mouth was the feared "Afri­can Bug," which would slowly eat away all his vitality and strength. "Mr. Russell" began' to worry and look for signs of waning strength. He was not long in finding them. He lost his appetite and his ability to sleep.