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Looch - The Black Project book #2

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Published by Kurosawa, 2024-02-13 19:28:09

L - BP2

Looch - The Black Project book #2

Copyright © 2015 Looch All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced , or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. The information in this book is distributed on an "as is" basis, without warranty. Although every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this work, neither the author nor the publisher shall have any liability to any person or entity with respect to any loss or damage caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by the information contained in this book. Worldwide Radio & Online Broadcasting rights for the material in The Black Project is reserved by Looch, unless stated in writing by the copyright holder. Printed in the United Kingdom by Haresign Press Design by Phillip Smith at Sushi Design ( www.sushidesign.net) Illustration by Thomas Heine For additional content including audio, video & updated effects please visit:W11rw.theb:Le.clk],rc~e~ct.cc>.uk ...... Foreword by Marc Salem The Score Performance Memoir: Five Hours Late! Enigma The Scene Performance Memoir: Mustang mary The Spin Force Confession Tracker Performance Memoir: Junglist Massive Oolormatch Routine Gue & Hay Performance Memoir: Man vs. Machine Thanks ] 5 9 29 37 71 87 91 141 159 175 181 219 259 267


Fore word b ~ Narc Sat em This is Loocho I first met Looch in printm I fell in manly loveo While his reputation preceded him it was not until his book 'SAD' that I saw his real genius. He didn't think the book hit the target, but he sets such high standards - I think it was a bull's eye. He thought like me, developed like me, and he had ideas like mine (some even better). He is deceitful, but honest. It was obvious he was either an entity that had stolen my soul, or a very smart, funny, and brilliant guys I lean toward the former. So what does this dude have that others wish they possess? First and foremost, he has chops. His reviews and shows are legend. Next, and most importantly, he can teacho This is not an easy task trust me. He puts his ideas across in a fluid, clear way. Next, he is super creative. His ideas are refined gold- though, fortunately, most of you will miss the subtle nuances on the first reading. He has a rich mythology, a knowledge o.fhistory, psychology, and 'mind stuff', with all the intellect necessary to freak an audience on his terms. In a world of ersatz performers, he is the eyes, the real thinguo I should bump him off o His methods, wit, and love show through. His 'Rugby Prediction' is not complicated; it makes brilliant use of time


and is a winner. With a little thought you will have dozens of presentations for the method. JUST THINK! When you understand his walk around opener, Looch's thoughts will become part of your brain. His attention to your ambience reiterates my thoughts on awareness of your environment, for it is the basis of real mentalism. And the less said about 'Looch the Stripper', the better. 'The Scene', I am afraid, will be ripped straight off, please give it the thought necessary to make it yours. This format is wonderful; books and video to combine lessons. Why, it's just like real life! You have gold and nuclear uranium in your hands - Handle it safely. Black is the new transparent!!! Build on it. Grock on ito Looch has set out the way. The journey is yours. Don't let him or me downe 2015 Fore.word b ~ Na.re Sat em.


Tile Score Countless versions of' the classic 'Bank Nite' effect have been released over the years, and so. It's fantastic that to V"1_1""[;.111.Ruv every of' audience. I'm not usually enamored by methods; this routine though is an exception. The method is elegantly simple in execution, affording you the freedom to focus on your presentation. Whilst it isn't self-working, it will certainly feel that way after a few performances. PRESE A TION .. NU BER I FLU NC The performer retrieves five envelopes from his pocket, displaying them casually to the audience. The envelopes are clearly numbered one thru five. "I'd like to play a simple game to demonstrate how it is possible to influence people to make the choices you want them to make. I have here five envelopes, numbered one thru five, and I'm going to ask four of you to freely and fairly choose an envelope. The envelopes you choose will be YOURS. Whichever envelope is left at the end, will be MINE." The performer approaches a young lady in the front row. "Your name is?" "Karen." "Hello Karen. Quickly, and without thinking about it, name a number between one and five." "Three."


"Three°". an excellent choiceu. envelope number three is YOURS. Don't open it just yet." - The performer hands envelope number three to Karen. "It might not be readily apparent, but I successfully influenced Karen to choose that specific envelope, avoiding the envelope which is MINE. I'll attempt to do that again, but now it becomes harder because you know what I'm up too The more perceptive among you may be able to pick up on exactly how I'm subtly influencing them to avoid choosing the envelope which is MINE. The performer approaches a gentleman, also in the front row. "Hello Sir, your name is?" "John." "Pleased to meet you, John. Four envelopes remain, one, two, four and fi veo Listen carefully ... which ONE would you like to be YOURS?" I literally shout the word 'ONE' as I say this, which always generates a laugho My feeble attempt to 'subtly influence' the participant is deliberately (and laughingly)transparente "I'll go with number one." More often than not the participant will actually choose 'ONE' and play along with my heavy handed attempt to verbally influence their choice. If he does choose 'ONE' it generates an even bigger laugh than before, and I milk it further by responding with: "There you go ladies and gentleman ••. subtle influence at its best! Envelope number one is YOURS, John." If the second participant doesn't choose envelope number one, let's assume they choose envelope number two instead, I continue by saying; Tile Score "Number two? Perfect, envelope number two is YOURS, John. You're quite clearly none the wiser as to how that worked. I'm getting a skeptical look from some of you out there, almost as if you don't believe that I'm using powers of persuasion. Remember, I only want you to have what's YOURS. Whichever envelope is left at the end will be MINE." The performer hands the second participant their chosen envelope. NOTE: The phrase I use when I hand over an envelope to a participant is always the same, specifically... 'Envelope number (1-5) is YOURS'. This repetition is important because it foreshadows the finale of the routinee The performer selects a third participant. "The gentleman in the shorts in the second row, your name is?" "Michael." "Choose one of the remaining envelopes Michael, one, four or five?" "Four." "An instinctive choice and absolutely correct ••. well done. Envelope number four is YOURS, Michael." The performer hands the named envelope to the third participant and selects the fourth (and final) participant: "Hello Sir, your name is?" "Dave." "Dave, there's not much of a choice for you I'm afraid, but in a way it's the most important choiceo Only two envelopes remain; envelope one and envelope five. I only want you to have what's YOURS Dave. Which envelope do you feel is YOURS? Is it envelope number one, or envelope number five?"


"Envelope number one." "That's right, envelope one is most definitely YOURS, leaving me with envelope number five ... which is MINE." The performer hands the named envelope to the fourth participant, leaving himself with one envelope in hand. "Any one of you could have chosen envelope number five, agreed?" The four participants affirm this statement to be clearly trueo "Everything has been fair and above board ... or has it? Throughout this game I told you that all I wanted was for you to have what's YOURS, leaving me with what's MINEo All of you open your envelopes now. Inside you'll find a card, please remove that card and see what it says." The participants open their individual envelopes and remove a single piece of cards Printed big and bold on each card is a single words "Karen, what does it say on your card?" "It says, YOURS." "So, you got YOURS ••. hold your card up Karen for everyone to see." "Gentlemen, what do your cards say? Hold them up." In unison, the three gentlemen announce that their cards also have the word 'YOURS' printed on them. "So you all got what was YOURS, yes? Excellent, which means that you left me ••. " As he is saying this the performer removes the card from his envelope, just as the participants did. The envelope is seen to be empty and tossed aside. " ••. with MINE!" TR-e Score As these two words are spoken the performer turns his card around to show the audience the word 'MINE' printed across it. The audience begins to applaud, but the performer holds his hand up to stop them. "I really appreciate your applause; however there is one final thing I wanted to show you." The performer addresses each of the three gentlemen in turn. "John, is there anything on the back of your card?" "No, nothing at all." "Michael, what's on the back of your card?" "Nothings" "What about you, Dave? Is there anything on the back of your card?" "Which leaves you Karen, the only lady in our lineup. It is only fitting for me to show you my appreciation for doing such a perfect job. What do you see on the back of your card, Karen?" "A picture of a red rose!" "A red rose! Hold your card up and show it to the audience. Everyone, please give my four influential participants a huge round of applause!"


THUD PR PARA ION I genuinely believe that once you have read the method for this 'Bank Nite' routine it may very well replace your existing one. It's simple, direct and unbelievably fair. If you take the time to make up the gimmicks I'm about to describe, you'll be giggling to yourself every time you use them. TH CAR To start with you need to construct a set of six special cards. Each card consists of two pieces of thin black card, with a very thin neodymium magnet sandwiched dead center in between them. If you are in the UK, I bought my black cards and envelopes from 'Paperchase' although any good stationary shop will be able to help you find what you need. My envelopes are 06 in size (114mm x 162mm) and the cards are a few millimeters smaller on each edge than the interior of the envelopes so that they fit snugly inside. I have found that 240gsm card stock is the ideal thickness for the cards. Any thicker than that and your magnets might not stick together well enough; any thinner, and they might stick a little too well, making the cards harder to handle. You can make the cards as big or as small as you wish. Bear in mind though that if you make your cards significantly larger you will need to increase the surface area of your neodymium magnets. Oloee Parlor: I purchase all my magnets online from http://e-magnetsuk.com. They have a huge range of neodymium magnets in a variety of shapes and sizes. The Tile Score magnets I recommend using are rectangular, 25mm x 22mm x 0.4mm. They are wafer thin and perfect for shimming in between the two sheets of card. You will need six magnets in total. HE ' CA You need to construct five 'YOURS' cards, as follows: draw a cross corner to corner on one sheet ofblaclt card. The at which the lines meet will be the center of the card" This is where you ac<mr·a~~ attach your ma,im,ei't small of double-sided ""=i,l'll'll".JCJ•"l"I of the ca.u.u,.;;1.,.11.11·,.;; to stick another etl~ct~i.v~m sBJ:1d.111ri.cltl1Itg the mag:ne't bet,weem of all the 'YOURS• that the masooe1~s the same 1o1v~i.c;u..11.u,y0 Make a total to be in the of black on


THE 'M ' c D a label with the word 'MINE' on it" This label needs than the 'YOURS' labels" 'MINE' label has one or my pr1om1ot:lLor.uu .,JJl.l4~..:•i;;> can see from the .uu~•=i:»" onto it as you Out a or black card to the size or the 'MINE' label" Make sure that you use the same T or black card that you used ror the 'YOURS' cards" .. Attach a ne«'.'ldilrm:inm mB.l~E~'t C4:lnt>ra.JuY onto the black card so that it is attracted to the label aide or the shimmed 'YOURS' cards" Glue your 'MINE' label onto this black sw1d.111rJ.cJrll.Iltg the the or card" "Check that ne1'."t"'e1~uv .. Take your 'MINE' card with the 'MINE' label and allow it to snap each or the 'YOURS'labels"The'MINE'cardshould cover each or the 'YOURS' .J.a.l.le.L.l;::IQ IS UR D Treat both sides of all the shimmed cards with a little Talcum Powder, working it into the surfaces of the cards with some cotton wool pads. The talcum powder helps to decrease any friction from the card fibers, ensuring a smooth handling during performance. Tie Score THE ENV LOPES Obtain five black 06 envelopes. The color is only a preference but they do tend to last longer. The 06 envelopes I use have a triangular flap which I tuck into the envelope to temporarily seal them. The triangular flap is important and helps facilitate a critical move later on in the routine. Next, label the address side of each envelope with a number, one thru five. You can either print out some numbered labels on your home printer, or use self-adhesive numbers available from most stationers or office supply stores. I obtained my labels from a local Post Office here in the UK. On the flap side of each black envelope I use a white art pencil to write the envelope's number in one of the cornerse The numbers are small and faint and they act as a visual cue during performance so that I don't need to remember which numbers haven't as yet been selected. S T Place the five shimmed 'YOURS' cards into the five envelopes so that the 'YOURS' label is facing the non-address side. Anyone opening an envelope will automatically see the word 'YOURS' as they remove the card from inside.


Don't seal the envelopes; simply tuck in the flaps instead. Stack the envelopes in numerical order, flap side uppermost, with envelope one at the bottom of the stack and envelope five on the top. You will notice that because of the magnets the envelopes have a tendency to slightly lock together, and arrange themselves in a nice neat stack. Although the magnets keep the envelopes together, they don't hinder the actual handling when you fan them out during performance. Place the 'MINE' card on top of the stack of envelopes (i.e. on top of envelope number five) with the 'MINE' label side facing uppermost. The 'MINE' card will stick to the magnet inside the 'YOURS' card which is in envelope number five. DLING The handling of the envelopes is relatively easy. Get used to how the stack of envelopes feels in your handso You'll notice that you can move the envelopes around freely, fan them out, and generally be quite fluid and natural. Being relaxed is the key hereo If you appear awkward or tense, it will telegraph to your audience that all is not what it seems. All you need to do is keep the flap side of the envelope which the 'MINE' cards is stuck to facing you at all timeso Because of the magnets, the 'MINE' card will happily attach itself to whichever envelope it is behind. At any time you can easily detach the 'MINE' card from one envelope and attach it to another. It doesn't matter which number envelopes your participants choose, since the 'MINE' card can be moved stealthily and quickly from envelope to envelope. The envelope that the 'MINE' card is stuck to can be handled at fingertips if desired, which makes everything looks very fair indeed. Tile Scor In performance, I start by having the 'MINE' card attached to the flap side of envelope number fi vee This envelope is the one closest to my body and furthest right when I fan or spread the envelopes. When a participant chooses the envelope with the 'MINE' card secretly attached to it, I execute a very simple move which disengages the 'MINE' card and attaches it to the envelope next to it. As I pull the selected envelope from the fan, my left thumb holds the 'MINE' card in place and pulls it slightly to the left, which allows the selected envelope to be pulled free. Once clear from the fan, the 'MINE' card is attracted to one of the other envelopes and will snap satisfyingly into place behind it.


0 H Arter the four participants have chosen their envelopes you will be le.ft with one envelope in your hands which has the 'MINE' card secretly stuck to the back of it. Once the participants have opened their envelopes to reveal the word 'YOURS' on their cards, the audience will naturally focus their attention on you. Everyone will want to know what's inside your envelope. The audience will see you open your envelope and remove a card, just like the participants did. They will see you pause for a moment with the card in hand, and then turn the card around revealing that it says 'MINE', as opposed to 'YOURS'. The act of physically opening the final envelope and removing the card takes two seconds at most, but it's a critical moment in the routine. Hold the envelope in your le.ft hand in a portrait orientation by its le.ft edge; the edge with the flap will be on the righto Insert your right forefinger (or middle finger) underneath the top right corner of the flap and pull the flap free. Instantly grasp the 'YOURS' card inside the envelope holding it between your right forefinger and thumb, and pull the card to the right, removing it from the envelope. Tile Scor Because the 'MINE' card is magnetically attached to the 'YOURS' card it will come along for the ride as you remove the 'YOURS' card from the envelope. Flash the inside of the envelope so that it is seen to be empty, and then toss it aside. Don't turn the card around. You don't want to show them what's on the unseen side of the card just yet. All this happens in a single continuous motion. You open the envelope and remove the card from inside; that's all the audience should perceive you doing. As you are opening the envelope and removing the card from inside, you say: "So, you all got what was YOURS, meaning that you le.ft meu.'' At this moment you pause for a couple of beats, looking intently at the card in your hand. The audience can't see what's written on the card, only you can. Don't rush this bit; you need to build an air of tension and expectation among the audience. Finally, you look up at the audience and finish your sentence by emphatically saying: " ... with MINE!" rnand a split second later turn the card around, revealing the word 'MINE' clearly printed on it.


TH ROSE SU TLETY Qn the back of the 'YOURS' card inside envelope number three, I glue a colored photograph of a beautiful red roseo I always offer a lady first choice of an envelope (because I'm a gentleman of course). Given a choice of a number between one and five, the most psychologically appealing number is three. If the lady does choose envelope number three (and in my experience this happens approximately 75% of the time), then I can use the Rose subtlety at the end of the routine as a final kicker. If she doesn't choose envelope number three, it's not a big dealo Remember, the cards are inserted into the envelopes so that when they are removed by the participants the word 'YOURS' is facing them; I never make reference to the backs of the cards. The fact that occasionally one of the gentlemen will end up with a 'YOURS' card, which has a photograph of a Rose on the back, has never been an issue. Tlie Scor S ITC I G c One of the really nice features of this method is that at any point during the routine you can offer any of your participants the opportunity to change their mind and switch their envelope for any of the ones remaining in your handso By taking back the envelope and adding it to the stack you can very fairly allow a participant to choose another envelopeo The magnetic load makes this reselection process very simple indeedo


ADDITIO s 'Bank Nite' is one of those routines which can easily be tweaked to accommodate your own performance style. Here are a few ideas and alternative presentational angles I've used from time to time. US G D Which colors appeal to the participants? This is a presentation I've used many times with great success. I've included the introductory script to my presentation to get your creative juices flowing. "Color is very important to each of us, whether we realize or noto It affects our moods, our choices and our state of well being. There has been a lot of independent research into color over the years, and in particular the psychology of certain colors and their accepted emotional meanings. Here I have five colored envelopes; Red, Blue, Yellow, Green and Black. Although Black is technically a tone rather than a color, I've included it because it makes for an interesting game. Red, we perceive as a hot color, it is the color of danger and aggression. We hear the terms "The Red Mist" and "Seeing Red" when we become angry. In eastern countries Red is deemed to be a lucky color. In China for example, wages and money are often given out in Red envelopes. Blue is the opposite of Red; it's a cool color, the color of the ocean and the sky. Research into the education sector provides evidence suggesting that classrooms painted Blue influence students to produce more creative work .. However, Blue is also associated with feelings of sadness and depression, which is where the expression 'Feeling Blue' comes fromo Yellow is accepted as the spiritual color, Similar to Red in that it is a warm color, but not as aggressiveo Many religions accept yellow as an important Tile Score color, most likely because of its association with the Suno It's interesting to consider that when people are described as cowards, some people will refer to them as 'Yellow Belly's'. Green, is the color of nature and health. The grass is green and so are the treeso It's a fresh and clean color. This is perhaps why hospitals and paramedics in the UK utilize this color to emphasize health and hygiene. Ironic if we consider that to be jealous, is to have the 'green eyed monster'. "Which leaves us with Black ... the unknown ••. the mysterious ••. the one that we don't speak about. Now Sir, which color appeals to you the most?" That introduction has always appealed to me. An earlier version of this was used in the effect 'Psycolorgy' from my 'Your Thoughts Are Mine' DVD Set (2008 InnerMind Productions). We all have certain color preferences and there has been some interesting research into the psychology of color. It's a believable angle to base an effect around, which is why I like it so much. For more information you might want to read the following:


AG ON THE Your images could be drawings, photos, holiday destinations, famous people, etc. This is ideal for corporate audiences where your client has a product or special message to promote. The images could even be of significant members of the audience. \,- <:- <e. ;: ;Development sketches ~.,, 'I' ·c. \; .;) "" ~ '0,1 OJ ~ D ~ ~


I was h/red to ,Per/'orM a 2-hour M/x & M/hjle slot at a wedd/hj a,P,Prox/Mately Ls frl1'/es /'roM MY house. I ha.le all MY 31js /n a d/ary on MY ,Phone, wh/ch autoMat/cally syncs w/th other dev/ceS /n MY hoMe. !hat way, no Matter what dev/ce I a/YI on at the tlMe, I a/YI able to check: MY d/ary by access/hj the calendar. In the days bu//d/hj U,P to th/s ,Per/'orMance, I checfed the deta//s and not/ced the tlM/hjs. I. reMeMber th/nf/h_3 that /t Seefried SoMewhat o/' a late tlMe to start a M/x & M/hjle but also f new I. had been boofed th/s year. bY SoMe ,Pretty head Stroh_3 c//entS who had a Very deli n/te /Ma:Je /n M/nd as to when and where they wanted eVeryth/hj· It was - dter all - the/r b1j day. Now ,I ha.le a rout/ne that I usually /'allow /n re3ards to the bu/Id U,P to ,Per/'orManCeS. I. Mafe Contact w/th the cl/ent e/ther v/a ,Phone or eMa// a,P,Prox/Mately three weefs ,Pr/or to the 3'S· I. want to check: all the tlM/hjs are st/I/ Correct and//' there ha.le been my last M/nute chan3eS to the /t/nerary, Venue, etc. /hat way, both Mysel/' and the cl/ent can be on the 1 SaMe ?a::;e' So to S,PeaK, wh/ch Conir/butes towards MaK;hj sure the ,Per/'orManCe 3oeS as SMooth/y as ,PoSS/b/e.


Fi.Ve Hours late! Ih th/.s f?art/cula.r case, the cl/eht theM.SelVe.:5 Cohta.cted M~ just oVer a. Mohth be.f'ore the date o.f' the wedd/173. /hey wa.rJted to checf /./'they Could ?o/ the ba.la.rJCe o.f' MY .f'ee Uf? .f'rod a.rJd /hto the Sa.Me a.ccouht that they had ?aJ'd the/r def?o.S/t Mohth.s f?reV/ou.:5. /he/r eMQJ'/ rel/Ue.Sted th/.s a.rJd a.I.so /hi"' or Med Me that a.II the boof/173 detaJ'l.:5 were st/// Correct a.rJd eVeryth/h3 wa..:5 ;h I/he w/th the f?la.rJh/173. 4.s a. re.St-dt I d/dh't .:5ehd out MY three weef Ver/-h1cat/oh eMQJ'/ a.rJd that ?roved to be a. b1j M/.sta_fe. /he tt'Me ;h the d/ary wa..:5 .show/173 that I heeded to be there .f'roM betweeh 'FOO a.hd IFOO f?M a.rJd /t had sat a. //ti/e Uhea..sy w/th Me, but I reMeMber the cl/eht eMaJ'l/173 Me a.rJd coh-h1rM/173 a.II tt'Me.:5 were Correct a.rJd that they were loof/173 .f'orward to Me ?er.f'orM/173 .f'or the/r 3ue.st.s. ah the dcy o.f' the boof/h3, I had .:5oMe erra.hd.:5 to rUh /h the MOrh/173 bUt .f'or the a..f'terhooh, I wa..:5 f?rdty MUCh at hoMe. I wa..:5 sat tqpr'173 MY .f'eet, //.steh/173 to the .f'ootba.// COMMehtary Oh the ra.d/o, f;///173 t/Me e.:5.Seht/a.! /y. -::;.:30 f?M Ca.Me aroUhd a.hd I weht Uf?.Sta./r.s to have a. shower a.rJd start to 3d ready .f'or the show. /he VehUe wa..:5 l/tera.lly a. 20 M;hute dr/Ve a.hd I fhew MY wcy a..:5 I had beeh to the VehUe .Severa.I tt'Me.:5 be.f'ore. 4.s I Ca.Me out o.f' the shower, I wrqpf?ed a. towel aroUhd My.Sel.f', the Uhea..sy .f'eel/173 .:5eeMed to be ;hCrea.s/173, So I sat dowh a.hd turhed Oh MY COMf?Uter. I .Searched ba.cf throu3h our Corre.Sf?ohdehCe a.rJd .f'ouhd the earl/er eMa.// Me.:5.SO!Je.:5, a.hd /t wa..:5 at that MOMeht that I .sto??ed a.rJd .f'roZe. /he tt'Me o.f' the boof/173 d/dh 1 t Match what wa..:5 ;h MY d/ary. I stared at the .:5Creeh ;h d/.Sbel/e.f'; /t wa..:5 show/173 O.f?er.f'orMa.hCe tt'Me o.f' 4-(of?M. I loafed at the tt'Me oh MY .:5Creeh a.rJd /t wa..:5 -::;.:L./Sf?M· 4 .f'eel/173 o.f' f?a.h;C rushed oVer Me, what wa..:5 I 30/173 to do? I ha.dh 1 t rece/ved my ?hohe calls that a..f'terhooh a.rJd had ho F i.e/ d 'Ke port vo/CeMaJ'l.:5 or texts Uhrea.d. /he la.rJdl/he ha.dh't ru173 a.rJd I wa..:5 sta.rt/173 to worry that I had rU/hed the wedd/173 a.rJd .Ser/ou.s!y let dowh MY c//eht.:5. I wa..:5 a.rJ3ry w/th My.Sell"'. I couldh't l/u/te Uhder.Sta.rJd what had 3ohe wro173 ;h re3ards to MY d/a.ry but I had //ttle t/Me to f?ohder that, I fhew I had to do .:50Metht'h3 to try a.hd MO.Ke /t Uf? to the CoUf?le. I Coht/hued to 3et ready a.rJd drove over to the VehUe a. //ttle l/u/cfer tha.rJ I really should have. ah the wcy I wa..:5 rUhh;l73 throu3h what I wa..:5 30/h3 to scy to the CoUf?le but couldh1 t l/u/te -h1 hd the words w/thout Ma.f/173 My.Sell"' loof a. CoMf?lete .f'ool. 4bout two M/le.:5 .f'roM the VehUe, I dedded to do .:50Meth/173 outraseou.:5. 50Meth/173 that eVeh how I'M sure wa..Sh't the f?ol/te th/173 to do, /t wa..:5 bold a.rJd /t wa..:5 dar/173, but ;h that MOMeht o.f' MO.dhe.:5.:5 a.hd f?a.h;C I dedded to a.ct casual a.hd hOhe the w/.Ser. I wa..:5 30/173 to 30 ;h there a.rJdjust be Me, l/fe I had dohe at huhdred.:5 o.f' eVeht.:5 be.f'ore. I wa..:5 30/173 to 30 ;h there w/th the thou3ht that I wa..:5 oh tt'Me a.rJd ready to ?er.f'orM. I f?a.J-fed Uf? a.rJd headed out towards the ehtra.rJCe o.f' the VehUe, MY heart wa..:5 f?OUhd/173 but I MaJ'hta./hed CoMf?o.:5Ure a.rJd Cohtrol/ed MY breath/173. I SM/led a.rJd 3reeted tho.Se outs/de the MaJ.h door, a.hd Coht/hued ;hto the reCef?tt'Oh area.. I llu/cfly .f'ouhd the rooM where the celebrat/oh wa..:5 ta.f/173 ?lace a.rJd waifed /h.:5/de. I a.lwcy.s loof .f'or the /;r/de -h1r.st - they're a./wcy.s the ea..:5/e.st to .Sf?ot,just loof .f'or the b1j wh/te dre.:5.:5 (to? tij) a.rJd I .f'ouhd her at· the bar ta.I f/173 to 3ue.st.s . >'/er re.:5f?Oh.:5e wa..:5 to /oof at Me rather .Startled a.hd .CoWU.:5ed. 5he .stuttered a. //ttle be.f'ore .sha.f/173 MY out.stretched ha.rJd


Fi..Ve Hou.rs Late! It's been nice.'' ''You he-Ole been .f'odunate with the weather, I bet theyve Man°!Jed to 3et SoMe bea.utl.f'u/ ;:;hoto3rqphs here.'' "Yes ... lt's been nice.'' "Well .. ls there ani;where In ;:;a.rtlcula.r you would llfe Me start? Or ;:;erhqps SoMeone who you thlnf would be 3ood .f'un to he-Ole their Mind read?'' /he bride headed Into the a.c{ja.cent rooM where the 3rooM wa.5 chattln:; with his .f'rlends, I .f'ollowed at a. sl1jht distance, st/I/ 5Mllln:; and qp;:;ea.rln:; UJ?beat. !he cou;:;le had a. brle.f' chat and both loafed oVer In MY direction with a. loof of' a.wfwa.rdne..55 Mixed In with a. evej- So sl1jht twln:;e of' annayance. /he 3rooM qp;:;roa.ched and I held MY hand out to sha.,fe his, MY b1':J SMiie Instantly reqp ;:;ea.red. "&,yes thanf you. It's been nice." "You he-Ole been .f'odunate with the weather, I bet theyve Man°!Jed to 3d SoMe bea.utl.f'u/ ;:;hoto3rqphs here.'' " Yes ... they he-Ole. '' // well .. ls there a.n.;where In ;:;a.rtlcula.r you would llfe Me start? Or ;:;erhqps SoMeone who you thlnf would be 3ood .f'un to he-Ole their Mind read?'' F i..et d 1'eport '' Per.f'ectf I'll start out there and worf Mysel.f' Inside. !hanf youf'' with that, I headed out Into the 3a.rden, It wa.5 5UMMertlMe and st/I/ l1jht, a. .f'ew 3uests were sat on tables and I qp;:;roa.ched a.s not-Ma.I. /he reactions were 3reat and I thou3ht to Mysel.f' that I M1jht hC-O!ejust Man°!Jed to ;:;ul/ th's o.f'.f'. 4.s I wot-fed MY wo/ Inside the Venue, I could hear a. band sta.rtln:; to ;:;lo/ and they were Very loud. I stcved In the -1/rst rooM and ;:;er.f'ot-Med .f'or a. 3rou;:; o.f' a.bout 15 older MeMber..5 o.f' the ;:;arty. I Soon learned these were the ;:;a.rents and 3rand;:;a.rents o.f' the newly wed cou;:;le and they were Very res;:;onslve to MY enteda_,'nMent. /hey re9uested ;:;hotos with Me and were a.shn:; a.II Sods o.f' 9ue..5tlon..5. /he cou;:;le waifed In and saw that everyone ~a.s hC-O!ln:J a. 3reat tlMe, I SMiied at theM and Continued /nto the next rooM. Be.f'ore I entered the rooM I had to waif Into a. Corridor where I could See a. th'rd rooM where the band were ;:;lcvln:;. I wa.5 rather Sur;:;rlsed to See that It wa.5 eM;:;ty exce;:;t .f'or the band. 411the3uests were In the rooM that I «Ja.5 be3lnnln:; to worf MY wo/ throu3h. I Introduced Mysel.f'to the -1/rst ta.ble and Continued ;:;er.f'ot-Mln:;. I really .f'elt that I wa.5 on .f'ot-M and the rea.ctlon..5 were beCoMln:J lncrea.sJn:;ly louder and enthusiastic. I wot-fed MY wo/ a.round the roo('Yl .f'or a.bout 45 Minutes be.f'ore hea.dln:; Into the bar area. to See l.f'there were an.; 3uests there. /here were a. .f'ew cou;:;les, one beln:; the bride's be.St .f'rlend, I qp;:;roa.ched and Introduced Myself', and she SMiied and said: "You're a. /;It late a.renr you?


F .i..Ye Hou,rs Late! I/ Oh) r/YI Sorry I started out ln the 3arden and have jas< worf ed MY Wo/ throa3h the rooM.:5. ·· As you can ?robably tell by now) I had started to 3enulnely belleVe I was there on tlMeJ whlch could only enhance the unethlcal ///us/on I was ln the ?roCe.:5.:5 o.f' tryln:J to create. I/ No) I Mean you should haYe been here hours °!JO) you were SLtf?f?o.Sed to be ?er.f'orMln:J around the ta.bles when we were eatln3." I loafed Con.f'used and toof out MY ?hone to o?en MY dla_ry, I showed her that lt clearly stated q:oo to 11:00 ?M and sa/d there MU.St have been a Mlsta,f e and that the brlde had Contacted Me a .f'ew weef s f?rlor and advlsed Me the tlMe.:5 boof ed ln hadn't chan3ed. 5he loafed at MY ?hone and lnVlted her ?artner who was stood by her slde to also loof. "No, :Z:d leave lt, she's fUlte Uf?Set at the /YIO/Yleht, no one llfe.S the band and everyone's sat ln other rooM.:5 So they don't have to //Sten to the/YI. 5heSju.St to/d Me that Shes Very hqpfY you are ?efforM;n:J r1jht now because youve fe?t all the 3uests enterta/ned and sto??ed lt .f'roM beln:J a dlsaster. '' I le.f't the Venue around 11:30f?M. :Ld sto/ed a llttle extra to en.Sure that every Sln:Jle 3uest had Seen Me ?efforM. As I drove bacf hoMe I reMeMber havln:J Mlxed eMotlon.S about the n1jht, lt SeeMed to have worfed out .f'or the be.St, but that was More to do wlth lacf than m-yihln:J el.Se. I d/dn't want to Fi.et d !"R,eport MaKe the .:50/Yle Mlsta,fe a:Ja/n and trled to li3are out what coa/d hOJ/e hcJ??ened wlth MY ?hone dlary. 77-?e only thln3 I coa/d thlnf of' was that I had elther lncorrect!y /11/?utted lt lnto the ?hone Months a:Jo or that I had ace/dental !y chan3ed the tlMe.:5 wlthout fnowln:J. /he ?hone was an /Phone 5 and when loofln:J at l11f?Lttiln:J tlMe.:5 lnto an event ln the dlaryJ there ls a Scroll dlal .f'or the clocf. It ls Very Sen.sltlve and tha.s I Mo/ hOJ/e fLtlte easlly ace/dentally caa3ht lt wlth MY thaMb. I st/I/ hOJ/e MY dl::y'tal dlary, whlch syncs Uf? wlth all MY devlces but I O/YI Very care.f'u/ when lt CoMe.:5 to l11f?utiln:J m-yihln:J lnto lt. I now also hOJ/e a ?hyslcal bacf Uf? dlary that I checf at the .:50/Yle tlMe I Send MY 3 weef eMal/s out, that Wo/ I can lnstant!y See l.f' tlMe.:5 or other detalls ?edaln/n:J to the Uf?CoM;n:J ?er.f'orManCe don't Match a?.


This scheduled to be included in my DVD In fact, a performance of it was filmed but was excluded from the DVD because both Peter Nardi and Marc Spelmann loved the routine and felt it should be released as a separate effect on its own with a medley of contributions by themselves and other performers. The following year, Derren Brown began his new tour which was also called "Enigma". This delayed the release further because of the name clash and our reluctance to change it. It was the second time this had happened in recent years, as Derren's 2006 TV special "The Heist" was also the same name of a routine I had released through my website in 2005. Over the subsequent years, I redeveloped "The Heist" into a bigger parlour routine that I eventually rebranded "Here's To You Mr. Robinson". At any rate, Enigma came about after reading an email that was doing the rounds. Its basis was a quirky psychological principle that people seemed to love. But as much as they loved it, people forgot about it and other performers - although aware of it certainly didn't give it a second thought as to its usefulness in mentalism. For whatever reason, the principle kept screaming out at me (not literally - that would be insane), and I knew I had to experiment with it and try to come up with a few ideas. What follows is one of those ideas.


TH 0 GIN l OUTI E B IG A Seated at a table, surrounded by laymen, the performer begins: "I have always been fascinated by how different people think, and how they perceive the world and their surroundings. For example, someone like Stephen Hawking would have a completely different perception of the world to, say, you or Ie" " I have often wondered about psychics and how they perceive the world, and thought it would be interesting to see things through their eyes. A few years ago, I found this. Although it wont make much sense on its own, it would be interesting for you to take a look at." The performer pulls out his wallet and removes a small printed piece of card and displays it to the group. "It's strange, isn't it? Although I've seen this many times before and I can understand it, when I first looked at it, it was just a mish masho•• a jumble that just doesn't make any sense, yes?" The group looks at the card as it's passed around back to the performer, who then removes a folded newspaper article from the wallet and places it onto the table. "However, when we give this a context, it starts to make sense .. This newspaper article from the 1980's is from Wyoming State in the USAo It's an article about a murder casee In particular, a serial killer who would leave a card on his victim's bodies. " "It was a calling card, left by the killer who wished to engage the police in a game of cat and mouse. The killer believed he was superior in intellect and decided to leave clues on the card pertaining to who the next victim would be and where they might find the bodye" "The only problem for the police was that the clues on the card were written in code and the police had to try and decipher it before the killer struck again." "They got their best minds working on the case, but no-one could make head nor tail of the code. Arter a week or so, another body turned up - with a second coded card left at the scene. The police, now under increased pressure due to the public outcry, did something they had never done befores They employed the services of a psychic to try and help decipher the codese The psychic was a local woman, by the name of Gillian Laws." "What Gillian brought to the table was slightly different to what the police were used to. She was known for her unorthodox methods and sensitivity. Instead of looking directly at the calling cards and trying to read them, she shirted her focus and perspective and allowed images and feelings to come to her mind." The performer turns to one member of the group and continues: "I would like to try this with you if I may? I know you looked at the card earlier and that it didn't make any sense to you, but now, I'd like to see if you could try to change your perspective. I need you to believe you can genuinely decipher the message on the card. To facilitate this paradigm shirt, I'm going to put you in a slightly relaxed state. Now don't worry, this doesn't have any long term effects. It's just a way to help you relax and focus on this code." "As we do this, I'm hoping you can try to get into the shoes of Gillian and be able to see things through her eyes. Take a look at my palm here and stare at it ... " The performer begins to put the participant into a relaxed, trance like stateo "Stare at my palm and follow it with your eyes only, keep your head steady and firm .. Follow it slowly and try to shirt your gaze, so you aren't actually looking at my palm, instead you are looking through itm"


"That's perfect. Now, I'm not sure when your mind will begin to tell you that ... your eyes, are becoming quite tired and heavy •.. They will ... and when they do, you will realize that they are really quite heavy and difficult to keep open." "As I lower my hand now, I would like you to just allow your heavy, tired eyes to just begin to slowly close and become settled and relieved as you close them tightly and heavily •.. " "That's perfect, now take a deep breath in ... hold it ... and then let it all out. In a moment, you will slowly open your eyes and begin to believe that you will be able to do this." The participant opens their eyes and you draw their attention down onto the table in front of them where the replica of the killer's calling card sits. "Look down at the card. It is still just a mishmash, a jumble, but that's okay. Don't try to guess, just believe you can do this. Now imagine you are in a police station, just like Gillian Laws was. There are people running around and the clock is ticking. It's a race against time because they know, the killer is going to strike again." "They are relying on you to try and catch the killer. You need to now try and decipher this code. In a moment you will look down at the card, filled with a belief that when you look at it, it will all make sense and you will understand it." "Take a few moments now to look at the card and allow any images or feelings to flash up and wash over your con~ciousness." The performer turns to face the others in the group and continues; "Can you imagine the sort of pressure Gillian must have been under? Knowing full well that there was some vital information right there in front of her, and that she had to crack the code, because someone's life depended on it! Right now, we are reenacting exactly what Gillian Laws did." The performer turns back to the participant helping with the experiment and addresses them: "Did you get anything at all? You don't have to be specific at this point, but - yes or no - do you feel you have any information that will help the case?" "Yes." "You did? That's fantastic, for us, it made little sense." The performer picks up the card, briefly looks at it and shows it to the rest of the group before dropping it onto his open wallet and retrieving a small policeman's style notepad. "Now this is the interesting part. Someone on the police force was actually employed to follow Gillian around and to make notes based on what she said. There were times when Gillian would receive what she called 'thought flashes', these brief mental images, and that person would write it all down. The police would later look at these notes and try to piece it all together - kind of like a jigsaw puzzle." The performer uncaps a pen and begins to question the psychic participant: "OK, so you think you have got something, this is ·great. Can we start off by naming something ••. anything at all, that you picked up on." "Er ... there was a body." "A body, okay - what type of body? Male? Female? Old or young?" The performer begins to jot the answers down onto the notepad. "I'm not sure. Young, I think." "This makes sense, but you're not just guessing here though are you?" "No, it just seems to be right." "Okay, this is great. Let's continue. What else did you sense?"


"There was a river." "A river? Do you have the name of the river?" "No, I've never heard of it before." "OK, anything else?" "Something to do with a Railwaye" The performer continues jotting down the answers, but becomes more and more impressed by the participant's responses, beginning to be more animated and enthusiastic by the second. "A Railway?! Really? Your not aware of this case already, are you? There was a documentary about it on the Discovery channel a few months back?" "No, not at all." "Well, whatever it is you are doing, keep doing it. You're amazing! Now, is there anything else you picked up on? Any final details?" "I think there was a bridge, but I'm not sure." "Wow, this is really weird. I want to show you this newspaper article again - it explains all the background of this case, but I want to focus on one part in particular - the section that has been circled in red pen." The performer begins to read out the circled section whilst the group watch and listen intently. "Gillian Laws spent yesterday looking at the most recent of the clues left by the murderer and ascertained that the body of the young victim, Stephanie Hills, was located north of the West Ways Railway Bridge on the secluded embankment of the River Hoyt. A search team was dispatched and they subsequently discovered the body at the precise spot intuited by Miss Laws. The search for the murderer continues0" The participant has successfully revealed specific details pertaining to crime and begins to wonder just how she managed to understand the calling card left by the killer .. The card and newspaper article are left on the table as a souvenir for the psychic participante The remainder of the group have absolutely no idea how the participant accomplished this feat, and the more they discuss it with the participant, the more impossible it all seemse


TH TH D Earlier in this chapter, I mentioned that the initial idea for this routine came about through a 2003 email that quite a few people all over the world were receivingo Chances are you've seen this in your inbox; it deosn't mttaer in we.ht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the is ta.ht the frist and lsat ltteers be at the not raed ervey lteter The rset can be a toatl mses and Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos Chances are you also understand it. It purports that the order of the letters inside a given word doesn't really matter, as long as the first and last letters of those word are in the correct place. You can read the words because the human mind reads words as a whole, and not letter-by-letter. Well, that's what the email said. In truth, while it's entertaining and in that you can understand it, it isn't completely truthful. You see, there never was any research carried out on this subject at Cambridge University. It was added to the paragraph at a later date after the magazine, "Times of London" had interviewed a researcher at Cambridge called Matthew Davis, who had spent a significant amount of time tracing the origins of the initial email. It apparently originates from a letter sent in 1999 by Graham Rawlinson who was a specialist in child development & educational psychology. Mr. Rawlinson stated in his letter that the email: " ... reminds me of my Ph.D. at Nottingham University, which showed that randomizing letters in the middle of words had little or no effect on the ability of skilled readers to understand the text." Rawlinson also goes on to say; "Clearly, the first and last letters are not the only thing that you use when reading text," he wrote. "If this were the case, how would you tell the difference between pairs of words like 'salt' and 'slat'." Although Rawlinson's point is true, from a methodological point of view, we as mentalists have a fascinating, yet quirky psychological principle to explore within the realm of our entertainment. Initially, I set out by experimenting with writing my own jumbled up paragraphs and seeing what I could come up with. I found a couple of websites that had built an online paragraph generator, I could type in a paragraph of text and it would jumble it up whilst maintaining the first and last letters of each word. This saved a lot of time during the early days of developing interesting paragraphs. After a short while I had the idea of printing the paragraphs onto business cards. It was at this point that I had a flash of inspiration, what if I had a business card with a paragraph or words that made absolutely no sense at all, but then being able to switch it for a duplicate card that had a jumbled up paragraph that could be read by someone? It was at this moment that the idea behind Enigma was born. If you take a look at the two cards on the following page, you will see that they are very similar in appearance. They both have the same number of words, and both start and finish with the same letter. One, however, can be read using this mixed letter concept, whilst the other makes no sense at all. I'm sure you are all way ahead of me now, but at the start, the group was shown the card that is incomprehensible whilst the psychic participant was subsequently shown the other card because it had been switched in.


s The switch is what makes this routine so strong. It is carried out in plain sight using boldness, time misdirection and a couple of great bits of psychology. In essence, I use a Himber wallet, but in such a way that it has never been questioned in all the years I have been performing this piece. In one side of the wallet, I have the card that is incomprehensible. This is inserted into one of the pockets of the Himber. Across from it, in a second pocket or window, is the newspaper article. I then close the wallet and open it in the other direction, in this side of the wallet is the other card that is laid face down but loose (i.e. not inserted into any pocket).


This is very important and helps create the visual illusion that the card you switch in is the same card that the group looked at moments earlier. As you introduce the incomprehensible card, you open the wallet and remove it to display to the group. Allow the majority of the group to see it but ensure you take it back before the last person has had a chance to have a good look at it - it's fine if they casually glance at it. It is then diffidently tossed onto the open wallet as you remove the newspaper article. The wallet is casually flipped closed by the hand that has held the wallet steady whilst removing the article. As soon as the article is clear of the wallet, the other hand opens it up and displays it to the group. When the wallet is reopened later in the presentation, the card is still loosely laid inside, creating the perfect illusion that it is the same card. This small and subtle detail helps go a long way to enhance the natural feel of the switch and will often only be picked up by the audience on a subconscious level.


T HIC P TICIP When the group initially looked at the incomprehensible card, you will have subtly ensured that the last person of the group (usually the one person sat furthest right if seated at a table) will have only had a cursory glance at the card before you casually tossed it onto the wallet and removed the newspaper article. This is because you will use that person as the "Psychic participant" in the main part of this demonstration. Turning to them, you introduce the idea of trying an experiment to see if the participant can attempt to "get into" the mind set of the psychic detective and try to deduce any information regarding the case. The performer holds his palm out in front of the participant who is instructed to stare at it and follow it with her eyes onlyo After a few seconds, he slowly raises his palm up so it is higher than the eye level of the participant helping outo The participant's eyes will slowly follow the palm and begin to look up at the palm. After a few moments of concentrating up at your palm, their eye muscles will naturally start to become tired, it is at this moment that you will slowly lower your hand and ask them to allow their eyes to close at the same rate of speed as the hand lowers. It will appear as though you are apparently putting them into a relaxed, altered state. In reality, all you are doing is manually tiring their eyes and having them close so that they can concentrate on your words. This procedure should take approximately 20 seconds from start to finish. Once your participant is sat in relaxation with their eyes closed, they can now take on the role of the psychic participant. You will instruct them in few moments to slowly reopen their eyes and allow their eyes to readjust, it is at this point that you will have them look over the card and see if they can begin to decipher the code. They will, of course, be able to understand the card because of the "order of the letters" principle discussed earlier. After letting the participant concentrate on the card for about 15 to 20 seconds you will be able to continue by flipping the card over or returning it to the wallet, and asking them a range of questions. The questions will be designed to extract some of the information from the participant piece by piece - see the script for a typical example. I usually start by getting them to state: "Yes or No, did you get anything that you think will help with the case?" This conditions the participant to begin to respond in increments as opposed to just blurting out all the information in one goo There are only four pieces of information that you need to extract from your participant; It is very easy to obtain all four pieces of information and this will occur approximately 90% of the time without even realizing you are trying. Use the script outlined earlier as a template and you will be surprised at just how easy it is. It's not vital for the participant to be able to name ALL four pieces of information; anything they can apparently decipher from the card will be impressive. Bear in mind that no one in the group earlier could make any sense of the card whatsoever, yet here is one member of their group who has been placed into an apparent trance and is now able to reveal specifics pertaining to a crime that none of them had ever heard of. As each piece of information is being revealed, you should become incrementally surprised/excited and communicate to the audience that this "experiment" is becoming increasingly successfulo Once the final piece of information has been revealed, your attitude should _be that you are struggling to contain your excitement and simply must show the group the newspaper article from earliere


T N SP P RTIC The article can be left with the group after the performance. You may also wish to leave the incomprehensible card with them also. I will discuss this option later as there are both positive and negative aspects to doing this. The article can be read from start to finish if the group wishes, but for the performance, we are only really interested in the latter part of the text. The article is made up of two columns and if you focus on the second column, approximately a third of the way down, the paragraph will start with; "Gillian Laws spent yesterday studying the most recent of clues ... " This is the section of the article you will be reading back to the group, with the point being to emphasize what the psychic participant has managed to intuit. If you look closely at the illustration, you will notice this section of the article has a rectangle drawn around it, so that the audience can easily follow where you are reading from. You may wish to draw a circle or rectangle around this particular paragraph yourself. It has been left blank for you, so that you can choose the approach that you are most comfortable with. If you look below, you will notice a copy of the text in that particular paragraph. The four key pieces of information have been written in boldo "Gillian Laws spent yesterday studying the most recent of clues left by the murderer and ascertained that Stephanie Hills body was located north of the west ways railway bridge on the secluded embankment of the River Hoyt." As you read through this section, you will stop and highlight each particular piece of information that which the participant intuited from the cardo As you can see from the way in which the paragraph has been structured, you don't have to highlight each of the four pieces of information to make the participant appear completely successful. For example, during performance your psychic participant may only pick up on three pieces of information, i.e. the body, railway, and river. If this occurs, only emphasize these three pieces. The participants don't know where the effect is heading or where you are leading them. The fact that the article mentions a bridge as well will not trouble them at all - you are their guide and as you choose what to emphasize, it will appear that the participant has successfully deciphered 100% of the clues in the card. T V OR NO 0 l A ? m As stated earlier, you may wish to leave the newspaper article and the calling card with your psychic participant as a souvenir from the performance. If you decide to do so, my personal opinion is to just leave the article with them. If you were to leave the calling card, you would only ever leave the incomprehensible one - this means that you will have to again switch the cards using the Himber. Of course, this could be achieved easily in an offbeat moment, but I don't feel there is any benefit in doing so. If the participant doesn't have the opportunity to ·study the card once more, their recollection of the event can only be based on that one memory. What could they tell the others in the audience if asked? "I could just understand the card, the letters were jumbled up but .I just understood what it was supposed to say." Everyone else had also seen the card, and nothing anyone can say will reduce the level of impact. It's a win/win situation for you as the performer. The more the group discusses what happened, the more confusing and unclear it becomes. The time misdirection here can only benefit you in the long term - an interesting fact that I have noted several times in my career. I believe


that this is a big part of the reason that when our audiences tell stories of our performances in the past, they always tend to be embellished versions of what actually occurredo FL XIBILITY TIO It will be no surprise to those who endeavor to create personal presentations for their repertoires, that Enigma offers a huge range of options when it comes to personalizing a routine. You can literally dream up any presentation and are wholeheartedly encouraged to do so. To give you an example of how this method can be taken and employed into a completely different style of routine I'd like to introduce you to my good friend Atlas Brookings' take on the routine. I'm sure you will agree it has taken the method and run with it in a completely different directions E IG A ll YOU T TIT GOT SO E C s GR URE!J Seated at a table, surrounded by laymen, the Performer begins: "I have here a relic of my childhood, something that I've always been fascinated with and which helped to plant the first seeds of a burgeoning interest that has taken hold and grown year by yearo Before I tell you what it is, can any of you recognize this?" The performer pulls out his wallet and removes a small printed piece of card and displays it to the group. The group looks at the card as it's passed around and back to the performer. "It's strange isn't it? At first glance, it seems like it ought to make sense, but it doesn'te When you look at it, it is just a mish mash ... a jumble that just doesn't convey any meaning, right?" The performer takes the card and opens his wallet, placing it on the tableo From it, he removes a small Perspex (or clear acrylic) sheet, and brandishing it, says; 0 0 H, Q "That's not really a surprise, given that this is a two-part mystery. Don't m worry, all will be revealed. But first, I need a helper - and based on what I've noticed over the last few minutes, I think you'll be perfect for what we'll be doing." The performer indicates to one of the participants, and then carries on. "We are going to try an experiment in which you are the principle actoro You've all seen the words on this card - in many ways, they resemble a jigsaw. Here's a question for yom When I was a kid, there was a little spy set that you could get that had a sheet of perspex in a frame - when you laid


it over sheets of coded paper, words would appear - I'd wager you remember something similar. I loved to play with that toy and I imagined that the grown-ups were trying to read my secret codes. In my imagination, that's why I always got saddled with the chores - it was their brand of torture, but I never talked! Anyway, that was then. As it transpires, I have one of those sheets of plastic with me right now, and in an attempt to make sure that your investigations are exhaustive, I'll let you experiment with its effect upon your card." The performer places the Perspex atop the card and sets the pair down in front of the participant. "What I'd like you to do is study the cipher now and if it has the desired effect of making any of the words comprehensible, I'd like you to write them down on this sheet of paper and then fold it in half. At this juncture, don't let anyone see what you've written." "Excellenta You've made some sense of this card? Good. Now, if you'll just hang on to what you've written, I'll take the perspex from you and set it here, and I'll set the card you read from on top of it here." "Now, before you reveal what you've written on the card, let me ask you if you think you are a particularly impressionable person - capable of being influenced by words to such an extent that your perceptions of reality can be dramatically changed? What I mean to say is that do you think that a random person could walk up to you and control your thoughts and senses using nothing but their words?" If they say yes, you follow with something like - "Of course, you are sensible. This happens every day, and marketing agencies are always studying the psychology of people to determine what they need to say or how they need to present something in order to make a sale of their producto" If they say no, you follow with something like - "It does sound flimsy, but I tell you that this happens every day, and marketing agencies are always studying the psychology of people to determine what they need to say or how ~- they need to present something in order to make a sale of their product." "Let me show you what I mean." At this point, the performer turns toward the other participants who have, to this point, only watched the presentation. "You'll recall that before I handed her the sheet of perspex, I talked about a childhood toy? Yes? Well, I may have seemed casual, but in point of fact, I chose my words very carefully." "In a moment, I'm going to call out some of the specific words I used in that brief monologue. When I do, I'd like you to respond by saying the first word in each case that comes to your mind." "Ready?" "Actor." "Actress." "Jigsaw." "Puzzleo" "Question." "Answer." "Frame." "Picture." "Wager." "Grown-ups." H, ~ 0 m


'H 0 0 "Adults." "Saddle." "Horse." "Now." "Perspire." "Sweat." "Exhausted." "Tired/' "Comprehend." "Understand." "In psychology, each of those words is called a 'leading word', and when your mind hears it, you cannot help but associate certain ideas with it. This idea was subtly reinforced when I earlier made reference to 'planting seeds that burgeoned and took hold'." "So let's review what ideas those key words in my monologue made you think of: actress, puzzle, answer, picture, bet, adults, horse, now, sweat, tired, and understand?" "Young lady, let's see what you were able to 'read' from that card." "Interesting! The words you've written match the words they just came up with on the spot - which is amazing, because that Perspex window clearly does nothing at all." Here, the performer un-tents the card and demonstrates that its contents are equally incomprehensible with the perspex as without it. ~- D You'll note that for the most part, my take on Enigma follows the general outline of Looch's performance. There are a few minor exceptions, however. I wanted a piece that could be presented with a psychological slant, and where a member of the audience could infer that influence and suggestion were the means by which the feat was accomplished. I also wanted to make the entire group feel the same sense of amazement that comes with participating in an effect rather than simply witnessing it. Portions of the script are therefore extremely important and ought to be learned off by heart. Now, first off - you'll note that the cards I use are different to the ones Looch uses. When the card is first displayed to the group, it is a card that has been gimmicked so as to be illegible: Arrecss Awmcsr Pisteue Htose This card is passed around the group and returned to the performero This illegible gimmicked card is switched using the Himber wallet for the 0 0 H,


'H 0 0 legible version of the card: Acrtess Pzuzle Anwesr Pictrue Adluts Hrose Swaet Tie rd Udner Snatd A piece of Perspex (obtained from just about any type of packaging material - incidentally, it can also easily be tinted by most colored markers) about the size of a credit card is removed from the wallet, and given to the participant to help them decode the contents of the card. The participant then writes down the words they can interpret. You could switch the original card back in using the Himber wallet, but at this point, I think it is stronger to leave everything on the table. Asking the participant to cover what they've written, you'll casually take their original card from them and fold it in half. Keeping it displayed in your hand, you'll make a switch and then begin administering the free association test outlined above with the other participants 0 Now, at this point, you're probably wondering how to make the switch without going back to the Himber wallet. After all, that is where the illegible card is at the moment. So how do we do this? Simple. There is a third card - a duplicate of the illegible card. Pre-fold this card and keep it somewhere in easy reach. You'll palm this duplicate illegible card while your participant is 'interpreting' their legible card using the perspex. Then, while you're saying: "Excellent. You've made some sense of this card? Good. Now, if you'll just hang on to what you've written, I'll take the perspex from you and set it here, and I'll set the card you read from on top of it here." The illegible duplicate card in your palm can be switched for the legible card using Looch's SAD billet switch. Now, I ought to make a note about the free association test that comprises the backbone of this presentation. Anyone who has read my book, 'The Real Thing', will know all about free association tests, but for those who aren't familiar, here is a quote from the book: "Free association is the study of responses elicited in a person by the use of a cue wordm I read Jon Thompson's 'Naked Mentalism', which pointed me to a well researched source of cue words which consistently elicit uniform responses. I spent months trolling through and testing the research material, and have compiled a list of cue words that produce (at a rate of roughly 80% accuracy) fairly consistent responses." You can therefore be very confident of the list of cue words you are using. Each word selected has a very strong 'forward strength ratio'. What this means is that, when faced with these cue words, a person who is quizzed will have roughly eight of every ten answers match the predicted response. Especially if you have asked them to be honest and call out their initial responses. Now, that is a single respondent scenario. When you perform this piece, you'll likely have at least three people in your group - one of whom will have interpreted the words on the card, and the other two (at a minimum) participating in the free assoaiation test. This means that for each cue word, you are pretty well guaranteed that the 0 0 H, 0


'H 0 0 target word for each will be called out by at least one (but usually more) of your respondents. You can therefore be extremely confident that you will obtain the target words from your cue word list. For good measure, I've included your cue word list below• l::~~::!.?~#.::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::l:~~~~~:~~~#.:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::1 l Actor 1 Actress 1 !::~~:~~~i.:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::1::~~~~:~~::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::1 1 Question 1 Answer 1 l''i?;~·~~·······································································l··:Pi~t~;~···································"''''''''"''''''''''''''''''''1 r;;~~~~~~::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::m~~~:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::J 1 Saddle 1 Horse 1 l··1'1~~~··········································································l··N~.;;;················ .. ··························································1 l··:P~·;~;1;~·································································l··s:;~~t.········································································1 r:~~~i~:~~~:~::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::r~~~:~i:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::1 l .. ?.?.~P.~~?.~.~.~ .......................................................... 1.Y?.~~~~~.~~~ .......................................................... 1 All that remains is to show that the words freely called out match those written by the participant, ~nd that the Perspex clearly makes no difference whatsoever when applied to the card. What was demonstrated has to have been subconscious direction. N T BY M RC The following routine is something I came up with using a very common and simple principle, however the context of the routine enables a number of useful subtleties to be in play, which further disguises the method used. This is not a routine for table-hopping, nor is it a piece for regular performances. It is a routine I have used at most ten times over the last six years, it is a routine that can be used for intimate dinner party performances with friends, clients or for seances. Imagine eight people around the dining table in a private room at a restaurant on Halloween - this is exactly the context for which I designed this routinee Enigma, by my good friend Looch, was something we discussed years ago and we came up with various different presentations and handlingse As mentioned, this routine started out using a different principle, however when Looch asked me to contribute an effect to this chapter, I knew 'Natalia' would work using the Enigma principlee In fact, it is better using the Enigma principleo I hope you enjoy the routine and that it makes sense. It is one of those routines that is hard to place for a performance, but that when done correctly and in the right environment, it is one of the most powerful pieces you will ever perform. Natalia was an unusual girl. Very quiet, very shy and often alonee She did, however, have an unusual ability - one which she hid. She would spend hour upon hour in complete solitude writing notes on any piece of paper or surface she could finde Over a one year perio-d, she wrote over 650 notes which were hidden from her parents. Upon discovering the 0 t:8.


notes secreted in a box under her bed, her parents decided that they may need specialist help for their dear, beloved Natalia. None of the notes seemed to make sense to them. This was partly because Natalia was only six years old and her writing was barely legible at best. However, it must be said that even when they were deciphered, the contents of each note were largely incoherent. Here is a photo of the Natalia, aged seven. This picture was taken by psychologist Edward Roszkowski, only shortly after the discovery of her notes. I have here some photo copies of the notes that Natalia wrote. These can be found in a lot of psychology texts since her death in 1957. It is believed that only 2% of the population will be able to make any kind of sense from her notes and even then they will have to be put into a subdued state of t-:J consciousness, one bordering on a hypnotic state. 0 The performer displays the notes to the spectators, each one written in a different handwriting style with scribbles, drawings and doodles. I'm going to ask Sarah if she would mind helping me with this demonstration? This may not work, that is NOT a line, it is NOT patter - it is a fact. This will only work on a very few people. I will need your full cooperation and attention and I would ask you to put your mind in a state of complete relaxation. Listen carefully to everything I say and do everything I ask you to do. Are you willing to assist me in this demonstration? Sarah agrees and is then instructed to sit with her feet together and hands on her knees. In a moment Sarah, I'm going to hand you all of the notes under the table. You will mix them slowly and carefully from hand-to-hand to get a feel for them and when you are ready, I would like you to bring all of the others back up leaving just the one on your lap unseen - however, at all times I would ask you to keep your eyes closed. Sarah takes the notes gently under the table and proceeds to mix them from hand to hand as instructed, eventually bringing all but one and placing them on the table. The performer shows the notes to those watching as they comment on how she could have chosen any of these. Sarah, I'm just going to check that you did indeed leave just one note as sometimes they can get stuck together. The performer reaches down and verifies that Sarah has indeed left just one note on her lap which the performer brings into view on the table. Sarah in a moment I'm going to ask you to open your eyes. Please bear in mind that they have been closed now for around a minute, so let your eyes adjust slowly to the light. When you are ready, I will ask you to look down at the note you have freely selected, at which point I would like you to take in as much information as you cano Please bear in mind that it might not make sense at first - indeed, if at all. You may not get anything comprehensible from the note and if that is the case we can start the process again and maybe try once more using a different note, but let's see how we do. Okay Sarah, please slowly open your eyes and look down at the note. Sarah slowly opens her eyelids, focusing her eyes downward with everyone watching intently. The performer goes on to explain a little more about Natalia's life and how she passed away aged just eleven. Arter a few moments, the performer asks Sarah if she managed to make any sense of the note she has just read. Sarah indicates that she has. I'm going to ask you to try to remember as much as possible and then I'm going to ask you to close your eyes again to retrieve the informationo The performer allows Sarah one last glance of the note before asking her to close her eyes. 0


0 The performer then takes the note to show the spectators what she has chosen. The spectators are allowed a few moments to see if they can make any sense of its contents, but it is clear that the note is incoherent and makes no sense at all. Sarah I'm going to ask you to say slowly and concisely what information you believe you retrieved from the note - when you reply, please answer slowly with one word at a time. Is that understood? Sarah nods yes. The performer takes a notebook and a pen and asks her to say the first thing that comes to her mind. Sarah responds: Red jumper. The performer writes this down on the notebook. Next Sarah says; Green shorts. The performer again writes this down on the notebook. The spectators looking bemused as to how she has retrieved this information from the scribbled note. Sarah then says: With glasses and blonde hair. The performer taking notes and asks if there is anything more? Sarah responds with: Falling, attic, window, dead, smashed skull, Matthewa The performer taking the final notes and looking at Sarah in an astonished way, places his hand on her shoulder and asks her to take a deep breath and to slowly opened her eyes and come back to the room. Sarah does so. In all honesty, you never know exactly what will happen with this kind of demonstration. There are some things in the world of mentalism and mind reading which have about a 90% chance of succeeding, especially when using psychology, influence, suggestion and mild hypnosis. However in this type of demonstration, it is incredibly rare to have as good a result as we have seen tonight. Sarah has listed a number of things; a red jumper, green shorts, glasses, and blonde hair. But more so, she has mentioned the name and a horrible accidente Do you remember when I showed you the photograph of the Natalia? You may have noticed that there was another photograph that I didn't show you. The performer takes the second photo from the table and holding it away from the spectators says: This really strange photo that I am about to show you is a photo of Natalia. The drawing you'll see in it is not a note, it is something that she redrew over 300 times in her short life, again and again The same image, the same colours, the same name. The performer turns the photograph around and shows a picture that clearly depicts Natalia holding a drawing of a young boy with a red jumper, green shorts, blonde hair, glasses and blood coming from his head. Across the bottom of the drawing is a short jumbled sentence which reads "Matthew fell, he is sad". The method (as already mentioned) is predominantly Enigma, however I should point out that all of the notes are double sided. On one side of the notes are complete nonsense, scribblings, doodles, drawings and mixed words. However, on the other side are very similar looking notes, all written using the Enigma principle. So whilst they appear ~o not make sense at first, with careful reading they make complete sense. 0


0 Positioning is very important with this routine. You'll want your spectators to be viewing the Engima note upside down. This disguises the fact that it is actually legible, though being upside down makes it appear consistent with the other notes which make no sense. The routining is very simple. When you bring the notes out and place them on the table, you are only showing the nonsense sides, none of the notes will make any sense at all. When the notes are placed into Sarah's hands, again they are still in the position of making no sense. Sarah will then slowly and gently mix the notes. This will prevent her from dropping them or turning any over by mistake. Once she is happy with the single note she has left in her lap and brings the others up, they will still be showing the nonsense side. Our objective is to secretly turn the note she has on her lap over, this is easily done as we check that she has indeed left only one notea I tend to show my hands unmistakingly empty, however I never mention this - it is just a gesture as I say I'm going to reach down and just check that you have only a single note on your lap. To the audience it is abundantly clear that I have nothing in my handss As I reach down I quickly flip the note that Sarah has kept on her lap over, as I carefully and slowly bring it to the table surface and place it on the table. I am careful not to show the reverse side. The fact that the note is upside down to the rest of the spectators are watching makes it difficult to read, however when Sarah slowly opens her eyes and looks down at the note, after a few moments she will be able to read the mixed lettering as in the traditional Enigma principle. It is this subtlety that enables us to be very bold and unbelievably fair - everyone still believes the note is one of the illegible notes that they all saw moments ago. Sarah can take in all of the information and is given suitable time to memorize as we discuss details of Natalia's story.


Tlie Seen. Sat in the passenger seat of Atlas' car a few months a show we were The show was to be a 2-man show of an hour in into half"s. The first half would be classic mentalism with 11.11.U.ll.'4."ll.'ld twists and the second one a co:ncE:lpt on when we first met up. One of the nn:~-a11ow within the show itself. we the use of I've never been reliant on preshow, my individual shows didn't use any and I liked to keep it very much 'real time' with all the work been done out in the open in front of the audience@ Now that's not to say I dislike the idea of Pre-show, far from ite I think when done thoughtfully, it can be a wonderful tool to enhance a show, but if we were to use it in the upcoming show, it would be something of a rarity for me" Being able to perform with a fellow mind reader is an exciting opportunity, we suddenly found ourselves in a position to be able to try some really daring things, not possible with a solo, one-man show@ One routine that I had always been a fan of is Lee Earle's Train-a-Thought (First published in Melange a Trois, and later in his M.,I.N.D book) a second routine that I have also been a fan of is Derren Brown's 'Tractor' effect from his old Mind Control series. I believe that the 'Tractor'effect was inspired by 'Train-a-Thought' and moved it on into a very nice, modern effect. Essentially a sealed envelope would be shown to an audience whilst one member was blindfolded and sat center stage. The audiences were then shown the contents of the envelope (A drawing of a tractor) but were instructed not to call out or give the blindfolded participant any clues as to what the drawing was. Instead they were asked to mentally scream the content of the drawing and after a few seconds the participant was asked what image they thought it was. The participant


called out 'Tractor' and was 100% correct. Using those 2 effects as a starting point, I had often reflected and tried to create different versions of that routine. I had several that I would have liked to try out but the following, is one that I pitched to atlas that day. I wanted to try something at the show that would look similar in regards to the audience being able to intuit the contents of a sealed envelope on stage but with a bit of a kicker built in. After a few moments of thought, I mentioned the following idea to Atlas, who immediately got excited and wanted to try it out. He then stopped in his tracks and said the following words: "Fudge that! It needs to be in your book, it's so good" If you don't like the following routine, please blame him not me, as I hadn't planned on including it in the project. Having said that, if Atlas was right and you do enjoy it then the responsibility is all mine, as it's my idea. Thanks. Tile Scen.e THE EF CT l RO C S PERSP ) The performer introduces a sealed envelope on stage and begins: "I have with me a sealed envelope, it's been with me all evening and I've been very strict in that I've not shown anyone what's inside. Please, if that's not the case and someone has seen inside, call out now!" No one calls out and the performer continues: "I propose a game, I would like to see if someone could come up on stage and instinctively know what it is inside this envelope. I don't want them to take a wild guess; I wont give any conscious clues except this one. It is a drawing" "That's all I will tell you, so if you are brought up, all I ask, is that you just trust your intuition and draw what genuinely feels right" "Now some of you will have already begun to form images in your mind as to what this might be. Some, might have even had an image pop in their mind as soon as I showed the envelope to you, and that is great!" "Lets see who we can use." The performer looks out amongst the audience, points at a few people in turn and asks them seemingly random questions: "If you arrived at the. cinema, and the film you wanted to see was sold out. Would you wait for the next showing in a couple of hours, or go and see another film? One you weren't particularly excited about seeing?" "If you had planned to cook a meal for someone but one key ingredient was sold out at the store, would you improvise and substitute a different ingredient in? Or would you scrap the whole plan and eat out?" "If you were in the market for a new car, would you be more interested in the performance stats or the economy figures?"


"If you were doing your weekly grocery shop and you saw a product on BOGOF (Buy One Get One free) offer, would you be inclined to buy it, even though you didn't necessarily need it?" "If you were walking down the street and you saw someone fall to the floor ahead of you, would you Instinctively rush to their aid? Or wait a few seconds before deciding whether to help or not" The above are examples of questions, and similar ones can be substituted in, if you prefer. The questions are seemingly random but focus in on making a specific choice based on a situation. Asking 5 or so of these questions to different members of the audience, the performer paces around the stage looking at the individuals and pondering on their responses. The performer seemingly changes his mind with the planned demonstration and instead thinks that by bringing several people up from the audience, instead of just one, it might produce a better result. He points to 3 of the 5 individuals who answered questions and asks them to stand and join him on stage. The participants are greeted and welcomed onto stage and arranged in a line, centre stage facing out towards the rest of the audience. There is about a metre distance between each participant. The envelope is placed onto a table, leant up against a wine glass so that it is clear for all to see. Addressing the 3 participants, the performer continues: "Now please confirm for everyone here, none of you have been shown what's inside this envelope?" "None of you are actors or stooges?" "In fact the people in the audience who came along with these 3 people tonight. Wherever you are sat, could you all shout out and confirm these people haven't been set up?" "OK, So, you genuinely have no idea what's inside it, however I would hazard Tile Scen..e a guess that each of you at this point have an image in mind that you think, could be, inside the envelop, yes?" "Excellent, please close your eyes." "Build these images up inside your minds, I want you to be able to see them strongly and clearly in your thoughtso If you're picturing this image as something small, allow it now to grow and build so that it is larger inside your head." "If it helps your visualization maybe add some colour to it, or see the image moving around in your mind. Whatever you can do to allow yourself to have a very clear picture in your mind that you will be able to draw in a moment." "Take a deep breathe in, hold it ... " "And let it out slowly and fully ••. please open your eyes" The participants are each handed a sketchpad and a marker pen. In a few moments, I'd like you all to begin to draw your mentally constructed images. As you begin to stare at the pad in front of you, start to project your image onto it. So in a moment when I ask you to begin drawing, it will almost be like tracing over that projected image." "I want you all to make your drawings as big and as bold as possible. The audience right at the back should be able to see your images when turned around." "If you can now uncap your markers and position yourselves ready to begin drawing. Please ensure you keep the pads upright so we cannot see what you draw for the time being." "On the count of 3, please begin drawing, you will have 30 seconds to complete ito"


As the number 3 is called out, the music from the TV game show 'Countdown' is played through the PA system. (American readers could substitute a similar countdown style of music like the tune from 'Jeopardy' etc.) Once the 30-second jingle has finished the performer requests the pens be recapped and collected. The performer asks the first participant to turn his pad around revealing what they drew. The participant does so revealing a drawing of a House. "That's a unique house you've drawn, did it just pop into your mind straight away or did it just built up one shape at a time until it resembled a house?" "I'm not sure, it just popped into my head, and so I drew it!" "That's exactly what I wanted thank you." The second participant is asked to turn his pad around revealing a drawing of a Sun. "Here we have a slightly simpler drawing, but equally as interesting, how come you chose to draw a sun?" "It felt right, and was something I felt comfortable drawing." "So again like the first drawing, yours just felt right and you had to draw it? Well you've done it perfectly thank you!" The third and final participant is asked to turn their pad round. They do and they reveal a drawing of a car. "Ah a car! I always find it interesting that no matter where I am performing, whenever someone draws a car, its always side on, facing towards the left! What was the reason you drew this car?" "I just looked at the envelope and thought car." "Perfect, that's exactly what I'm looking for thank you all. T./le Scene The performer reaches over to the envelope and picks it up from the table. He holds it aloft for everyone to see: "We've got three very different pictures and all worthy winners. However only one of these drawings can be right, as I've only got one piece of paper in here." The envelope is opened and the folded piece of paper is removed and held aloft. The performer looks back at the three participants and their drawings and continues: "It may only be a single sheet of paper ••. but it is folded into thirds." "We had a lovely drawing of the Sun ... " The first third of the paper is unfolded revealing an almost identical drawing of a sun. The audience starts to react and look at each other; some begin to realize what's occurring. "Next we had a fantastic drawing of a houseo .. " The second third of the paper is unfolded revealing a drawing of a house that matches the participants drawing almost perfectly. The audience is now reacting stronger as they realize what's happeninge "And finally, we had a rather quirky drawing of a car ••. " The last portion of the paper is unfolded revealing an equally quirky drawing of a car. The image is more of a scene; the sun is in the sky, the house in the background .and the car parked in the foreground. The audience burst into applause and the three participants are left standing on stage genuinely amazed that they've been able to each intuit the key ingredients that make up the imagee


THUD & CUT ION In the opening paragraphs of this chapter, I mentioned the back-story in regards to this routine and when it was first performed. The method in its basic form was referenced, and that was, Pre-show. Having said that, I've experienced time and time again, reading exciting effect descriptions in books only to be bitterly disappointed upon reading those 2 words when it comes to the method. Let me stress again, I do not hate pre-show. I just genuinely believe far too many creators/performers are too quick to resort to it as a method when they could be a whole lot more creative and inventive. It's very easy to create flamboyant and unusual presentations but to lazily tell the reader that the method is simply Pre-show is something of a cop out in my opinion. The Pre-show for this particular effect has been designed to be logical from the participant's perspective, without diluting the overall impact for either them, or. the rest of the audience in attendance. Here's how I approach the Pre-show element of this routine. It's important that you read this segment carefully. You will be utilizing an impression device in order to find out what drawings your participants have created. I currently use a Labco Pocket Mind-Buster to gain my impressions; it is a wonderfully reliable device that allows me so much freedom to focus on my interaction with the participants, without worrying about whether or not I have got an impression. I am able to go through the whole pre-show procedure with three different participants whilst my assistant watches in real time the drawings being produced on the dedicated receiver0 This isn't necessary if you work alone, you can keep the receiver in your pocket or in your case and check at any point you want. The beauty of the Labco device is that it saves up to 100 participants drawings and numbers them so if for whatever reason you can not determine what one drawing is, you can instantly move on and do the pre-show procedure with another person. Tl<,e Scene I appreciate not everyone reading this will have access to this device, however it's not a necessity, you can and should use any type of impression device that captures secret images. The ones that I would recommend (and have used with great success) are: -various Brown Hornet various Skeeter Approach a member of the audience before the show with a sealed envelope and introduce yourself. Ask them if they will be staying for the show later and if so, would they mind helping you with something you have got planned. You want someone who appears bright and friendly, if you get a gut feeling, for whatever reason, that the person you have approached wont be suitable on stage then by all means you can move on. Trust your instincts, they are valuable and often underused. "I have something in this envelope, it's an image, a drawing that I made about half an hour ago. I will be talking to a few people before the show and letting them know about it. At no point will I be showing the drawing to anyone and I won't be giving any clues either." "If I was to ask you to take a guess, you might get lucky but I'd rather you not just rely on a guess. Instead I'd like you to take the envelope, hold it in your hands and trust your intuitiona I want you to allow a series of images to flash up in your mind, images that you would be able to draw if needed" "Tell me when you start to see a range images in your mind" "OK, Now ... " "Perfect, allow those images to keep flashing up, one at a time. You might find some images disappear and new ones replace them. You may also find that the same image keeps popping up over and over again. If that happens, that's usually your intuition telling you which one to go for."·


"As you see these images in your mind, I want you to now start to slow the flashes down and settle on just one image. One image that for whatever reason, just feels right at this moment in time." The performer gives the participant a few moments to do this and follows up with: "You have one don't you?" "Yes" "Perfect, now exactly as you see that image in your minds eye, I want you to make it a reality. Without showing anyone here, especially me, please secretly draw your image now, the one you feel is inside this envelope." The pad and a pen are handed to the participant as the performer turns completely awaye "Just let me know once you have finished the drawing, please don't show anyone" Once the drawing has been completed, the participant tells the performer, who requests the drawing to be removed from the pad and sealed inside a small manila envelope that is tucked into the other side of the pad. The participant carries out this instruction and seals the drawing away. The performer turns back and faces them. "Perfect, now before we continue, I'd like you to take a sneaky peek at the pad of paper, sometimes the pen can leave an indentation on the next sheet of paper. If this is the case please tear that sheet off also and dismiss it." "Its very important that no-one, not myself or anyone in your group knows what image you have in mindo Later on during the show I will introduce this envelope to the whole audience. Someone will have an opportunity to try and draw what's inside here. If I believe you will be correct, I'll ask you to come up." Tlie Sceh- "Your job in the meantime is to commit your image to memory so that if you do get chance to come up, you know exactly how you will draw it, OK?" At this point the performer can move on and use the same pre-show procedure and script on a second and eventually third participanto Lets take a look at the script above to understand the structure. I've heard many people complain about participants not being able to follow instructions given during the pre-show procedure, which affects the outcome of effects when on stagee For the most part, this isn't down to the participants; it's down to the performers not communicating clearly what is required of them. The above script is carefully designed to introduce the idea of what is to come. The envelope gives a visual anchor and later when it is shown on stage, those that have been pre-showed will know exactly that they could be directly involved in the next piece. If you go back through the script, you will see parts of it that are underlined. This is to show you the parts that I emphasize slightly with my voice, I want these parts to stand out in their minds so when they think back and recollect at what happened, they will only come to the following conclusions; may ha.ve a 'chance' to with intuition@! I mustn't what I in up Once I have collected 3 pre-showed images using my impression device I will disappear somewhere quiet and take a look at the imageso-I will then copy their images onto a fresh sheet of paper. I always try to make the three


images become a scene, for example the house with the car parked outside, with a sun in the sky0 I agree, its not always easy as some images may be totally unrelated for example, a tree, a can of coke and a giraffe, but I'm sure you will be able to turn it into quite a surreal scene on your piece of paper, which can only enhance the reaction later on with the audience. Its important to be able to reveal the three images, one at a time so you will either need to draw the images in certain locations. I split the sheet into thirds and draw the images with the paper in portrait orientation, you can slide it vertically into a large 04 style envelope so when you pull it out with the image facing the audience, and it can be revealed in increments, one image at a time. If you prefer to use a smaller envelope, which some may if carrying it around for the preshow sequence, you may opt to use the following: Pre-fold the sheet of paper into thirds. The same way in, which a letter is folded before being, sent in an envelope. To do this simply take your sheet of paper and lay it on the table in portrait orientation and follow these steps: of the pa.per down so that it pa.per you into Now you have a sheet of paper folded in such a way that you will be able to reveal the images in increments without flashing any of the others. Seal this into a second envelope that is identical to the first and you have completed all the required pre-show. You will need to switch in this envelope for the dummy one you showed your participants during the preshow sequence. Many times, you will be able to do this boldly before you start your show, especially if you have been walking around with it, you can just nip back stage and switch it in that way0 Tile Sc h.e On the night of the show with Atlas, the envelope had been on display on the stage area, I literally hid the proper envelope under my pad of paper and placed the dummy envelope on top as I then moved from one side of the performance area to the other0 In the process of walking, I dropped my pad down to my side and lifted it back up but flipping it over thus bringing the real envelope into view. When it comes time to perform the routine in your show, the sight of the envelope will instantly bring the 3 participants back to the pre-show segment as they have learnt to associate the envelope with the procedure earlier. I would recommend using an envelope that is a little unusual, perhaps a black envelope or even a brightly coloured envelope with a marking on it, such as a question mark. The three participants wont know for sure how many other people you spoke to about the routine before the show, so when you begin to ask seemingly random questions to audience members, the illusion you create is that of genuinely looking for someone who you think will succeed with the routine. You purposely ask 5 or 6 people questions and ensure that the 3 who you have performed the pre-show with are in that group of 5/6. That way it seems like you are genuinely looking for a specific type of person but at the last minute change your mind and decide to use 3 people instead one 1, as it might be more interesting0


ART Cl S DO 'T SA PICTUR ? This is actually a common concern with many people who have reservations about using pre-show. I have used the following ideas several times in the past to overcome certain problems that can occur during a show. No matter how careful you are in your planning and execution of your pre-show, things can and will go wrong. People aren't used to being on stage so when put in this position, their minds can literally go blanko You have to select your participants carefully but sometimes even the best judge of character cannot foresee this 'Rabbit in the headlights' scenario. The participant may not intentionally be trying to 'mess with you' but they could quite easily forget what they have pre-drawn and thus panic and draw anything that comes to mind in that particular moment. If this occurs and you realize that your prediction won't match exactly, continue revealing but focus on the participants who were correct. Once you have communicated to your audience that the demonstration has been a success (remember, you were only initially going to use one participant) turn to the participant who drew something else and simply state: "Be honest, throughout all of this, and maybe even earlier during the evening, did you EVER have an image of (insert their pre-show image) in your mind?" The look on their face, when they realize that they earlier drew that very thing is priceless. The resulting reaction from the audience will be huge as they realize that the person had been thinking of the correct image earlier even though they didn't draw it on stage. This is actually what happened when I performed the effect with Atlas at our first concept show; 'Mysteries of the Mind' in Aug 2014. One of the participants who had previously drawn a car during the pre-show segment Tfle Seen decided to draw a bottle when on stage. The moment I questioned if he had at some point had the image of a car in his mind, his mouth dropped, he replied back to me: "I was thinking of a car the whole time I drew a bloody bottle!" The audience burst into applause and it in a strange sort of way made the effect that little bit stronger in terms of realism.


I 1 m a b/t o/' a ;;etrol head and I oVe my cars, the car I had dr/Ve11 to the eVe11t was my ;;r/de and jay, a Very rare /(e11aults;;od Cl/o v~, Ohe o/' 35~ cars made /'or the ll!< marfet. I ;;arfed u;; betweeh 2 cars w/th e11ou3h s;;ace betweeh them that would e11Sure that eVe11 w/th the/r doors o;;e11 at /'all, they could11 't touch m/11e. !ls I ste;;;;ed out o/' the car and ;;ut my :Jacfet 011, I loafed over at the other cars ;;arfed u;; as usually you can s;;ot the ty;;e o/' cl/e11tele you w/ll be ;;er/'orm/173 /'or. I was 3reeted bY the S1jht o/' the /'c:(frl/l/ar l!ud/s, BMWs and a /'ew 1><1 's, 011e car however stood out and was i?u/te an u11usual s1jht at a wedd/173 /11 the E173l/sh cou11trys/de, a 2009 5hel by Musta173 Glsoo. lh/s was u11usual /'or a /'ew reaS011s, /t was 011ly ava/lable /11 the ll!< as an /m;;od and 11ot man; ;;eo;;le would 30 to the trouble o/' do/173 So due to the r/d/culous /m;;od taxes we 3et char3ed /11 ·the ll!<. 77?e co11clus/011 I drew was S/Mf?le, whoever d/d, really wanted th/s car. No 011e was arou11d So I had a i?u/cf ;;eef at /t be/'ore head/173 throu3h the walled 3arde11 towards the hall. {)11ce /11s/de, I headed to the bar and /116-oduced mysel/' to the sta/'/'. It's a 3ood t/;; to be 11/ce to the sta/'/' at a;y eVed you 0-)orf, 3d them 011s/de and they w/ll be able to he/,P you out


/./'and when needed dur/173 ?er.f'orManC.e. I was C.oMj?ed a So.f'~ dr/n,f and I Made MY way over to a lar3e bay w/ndow where I c.ou/d See the Mar'fluee Set Uj? where I would be M/n3!/173. I had about 20 M/nutes be.f'ore I was due to start So I relaxed .f'or a wh/le and double, then tr/?/e c.hec.fed that I had eVeryth/173 /n the h3ht ?oc.,f ets /n j?f-ej?arai/on .f'or the 313 · w/th a C.oUj?le o.f' M/nutes be.f'ore the start t/Me, I headed MY way /nto the Marf Uee and was 3reeted bY the br/de and 3rooM, I c.0173ratulated theM and as.fed/./' there was anyone /n attendance who they would Sj?ec./-/ic.ally //,fe Me to j?er.f'orM .f'or -first. w/th/n a M/nute or So I had OJ?j?f-OO..C.hed MY -first 3r0Uj? and was e173a:Jed /n j?er.f'orManC.e. As w/th the vast M?jor/ty o.f' c.lose Uj? 313s, the Maier/al was 30/n3 down really well and there wa.S a real SenSe o.f' exc./teMent CJ..Mo173St the 3ueStS. A.f'ter about L./5 M/nutes, Mant/ 3uests had Sj?/l/ed out /nto the 3ardenS So I .f'ollowed and C.ont/nued MY ?er.f'orManC.e on the 3rass area to the s/de of' the ha! I. As I MoVed towards a new 3r0Uj? o.f' 3uests, I was SUrj?r/sed to .f'eel a hand 3rabb/173. MY bac.,fs/de. I turned around to See who was there and the hand Moved around towards the .f'ront of' MY trousers, at th/s ?o/nt I ste??ed bac.fwards and sa/d rather sternly "Exe.use Me··. /J,/s was the -first tt'Me I had Mana:Jed to be able to 3et a 3ood /ooK at the j?et-Son who wa.S ?t-etiy MUC.h /n the j?roC.eSS of' Sexually assault/173 Me. I /oofed at what only c.ou/d be deSc.r/bed as a C.roSS between an o/der blonde WoMan, and 0.. c./own. '//er eyes SU33eSted She had C.onSUMed More than her f'a/r Share o.f' ale.oho/ and WO..S SoMewhat worSe .f'or wear. w/thout /l/nc.h/173, She /oofed at Me and sa/d: F i.e/ d l"R.,eport '' You d/d d/dn 't you? ·· " I d/d what exactly?·· "/he Mustan3 .. .You want /t don't you? You want Me to tafe you .f'or a ;-/de /n /t? '' "CoMe on, whj? your c.¥"7/f,f out and we c.an 30 .f'or a ;-/de now /./'you //,fe. I'M Mary, what's your nCJ..Me? '' Yes, you d/djust read that. It was one o.f' those 1 beyond awf ward' MOMents. I reMeMber her star/173 at Me .f'or what SeeMed //,fe an etern/ty, I MUMbled SoMdh/173 and waifed o.f'I' /n a sl13ht daze. I fnow l'roM c.onVersat/onS w/th .f'r/ends /n bars and j?UbS that everyone has an o?/n/on on how they would react /n those f/nd of' s/tuat/ons, but bel/eve Me, unt/I you are there .f'ac.ed w/th those s/tuat/ons, all the w/tty and clever reSj?onSeS ./'all 0; the way s/de and you just MUMble SoMeth/173 /n a Sodally /ne?t Sort o.f' way. I C.ont/nued the j?er.f'orManC.e ( althou3h not the f/nd she had /n M/nd) w/th th~ rest o.f' the 3uests, -lin/sh/173 w/th a lovely MOMent between the br/de and 3rooM that WO..S -fi/Med 4' the v/deo3rcJ?her. I beC.CJ..Me 3ood .f'r/ends w/th the .f'CJ..M/ly o.f' the br/de and 3rooM who C.CJ..Me out to See Me j?er.f'orM .f'or the Nott/173hCJ..Msh/re neeMO..SonS a .f'ew Months later, they have s/nc.e reC.OMMended Me to al I the/r .f'r/ends who are e/ther j?lann/173 a wedd/173 or event.


Tile Spi.n, Fore The -'L'-'""""""'r"' of this little gem seems to be surrounded shown my friend Andrew Edmonds - who I subsequently demonstrated the move to a few friends, one of them being Thomas Heine from Paralabse He immediately recognized the move as one he had used as a teenager to spin his finger ring. This dates the move back at least as far as the eighties. But upon speaking to the owner of Magick Enterprises in Sheffield, Russell Hall also recognized the move from decades previous. New York Magician, Vinny Marini has been using the move and variations for years and makes reference to it online back in 2008. A mentalist from the UK by the name of Karl Scott also stumbled upon the move independently and calls it the PACT principle. What is obvious from speaking with the above people is that the move itself has clearly been in existence for a long time, with whispered origins dating back as far as the American old west. Given the vocations of the people knowledgeable about this move, it is very likely that it had its origins in the bar bets and swindles in big cities and boom towns of the prior century a technique passed along through generations of con men, as it is a move ideal to their methodso One thing I do know for certain is that this move lends itself beautifully to the sorts of effects that you'll reE!,d below and which are the result of my many years of tinkering with the principle. Regardless of its origins, I really hope you enjoy it and the powerful mentalism it makes possible.


TYP S 0 C INS For this wonderful move to work, you will need to use a thick coino Here in the UK, I use either a £1 or a £2 coin. When I lectured in Germany, I borrowed an audience member's =e2 coin, but firmly believe a =el coin will work equally well. Speaking to some of my American friends, it would appear the majority of US coins are too thin, however some report that you can get good results with a Nickel if you only spin the coin using 3/4 power. American readers may also find some use to taking two coins of the same denomination and attaching them together either by using double sided tape or even glue! This double thickness coin can produce the same results. Tile Spin Force E C TIO Take an appropriate coin and go to spin it on a table. The majority of people (right-handed) will spin the coin by gripping the edges of the coin with the pads of the right thumb and left index finger. For this to work, you need to be careful not to spin the coin in a perfectly vertical alignment. Instead, angle the coin away from your body by about 15 degrees. Pay attention to the face of the coin that you can see, as the side that is visible to that will face upward after spinning. So, for example, if you saw a 'heads' it would land heads side up, and vice-versa. As you spin the coin, be careful not to put too much on it or you can lose control of the coin and send it rocketing across the table. You'll want enough power for momentum to gather and to cause it to spin for approximately ten


seconds. I will typically spin the coin at about l the strength as I normally might. This helps me to ensure that the coin doesn't wander erratically around the table. This is important, as some tables have grooves or wood grains that can interfere with the outcome of the spin, and you want to ensure that the coin stays in an area that is flat and smooth. You will note that, as the coin ::>pins, the visual impression you get is that of a sphere. At the top of the sphere, you will see a small hole begin to open, and the hole will gradually become wider the longer the coin spins as the coin eventually slows and loses momentum. The hole that you see is the face of the coin that will eventually land face up. Essentially, this means that your spin, although very convincing, is actually only spinning on the angular edge and not the actual flat edge of the coin. By spinning it this way, the coin will always be destined to land one way - the one you determined when you angled your coin away from your body. Tile Spi.n Fore Again, this is because the coin isn't truly spinning vertically; it is only spinning at a slight angle - an angle that doesn't ever reach a vertical stance. Therefore the centrifugal force of the coin is engaged in a spin that lacks the impetus to correct outside its center of gravity and lurch over to the opposite side. It can never land on that opposite side. This is especially the case when you use a thicker coin with a greater mass.


RI TIO S ON TH SPIN FORCE There are several subtle variations of this spin that still provide the performer with a range of options that they may wish to experiment with. TH IR RCE Instead of spinning the coin on the table, you can accomplish the same spin force in a standing position and allowing the coin to drop onto a table. The coin will continue its spin and still land in the same orientation as the side angled away during the execution. You may wish to add a little more power to the spin to give it slightly more momentum. This helps to ensure that the coin will still continue to spin after its impact with the table. This is a very convincing variation as the coin is clearly seen spinning in the air before it lands on the table and continues to spin. The following two variations came from New York magician, Vinny Marini, who suggested that you can determine heads or tails by taking the coin and spinning high (above the 'equator' of the coin), or by spinning low (below the 'equator' of the coin). My attempts with these variations have produced inconsistent results, but Vinny claims to have been using this approach with success for many years. T SL P A CT Instead of allowing the coin to slow down and gradually stop spinning on its own, the coin can be stopped suddenly by the participant watching .. Tile Spi.n, Force This is a very convincing subtlety that makes it almost impossible for any audience member to believe anything sneaky could possibly be going on. As the coin is spinning on the table, instruct the participant to place his/her hand down onto the coin to stop it from spinning. Think of it as a 'slapping' motion to bring the spin to an abrupt stop. Believe it or not, because the coin is not engaged in a true vertical spin, the slap will always result in the coin laying the same orientation up as it was when you angled it back and initiated the spine 'The Slap' doesn't need to be a heavy handed hard slap; just enough to bring the coin to a stop. Please encourage your participants not to slap their hand through the table! I cannot emphasize enough just how convincing 'The Slap' is to all watching and anyone who saw me lecture in Cologne can attest to that. I always employ this move when working with this coin spin force. This so convincing because the participant themselves can choose when they want to intervene and bring the spin to a stop. It genuinely creates the illusion that the coin could land facing up or down depending on when the participant stops it. This illusion is so strong that it is quite difficult to entertain any other notion of reality.


COIN L Tl What follows is a classic of mentalism, updated with the use of the coin spin force. The very first time I performed this was at a wedding held at Firth Court in Sheffield. I had been hired by the groom's mother to perform for two hours in a strolling capacity. During the booking procedure, I had requested a photograph of her son James so that I could 'recognize' him on the big day. Of course, this was just an excuse to get a photograph as I had already checked online to see if he had a Facebook account and started to make a few mental notes about him (birthdays, hobbies, etc.). He had restricted his privacy settings so I couldn't look at the photographs section, hence the reason why I requested one from his mother. Upon receiving the photograph via email, I opened it in Photoshop and created a very special prediction that I had planned on using on the day of the wedding. The prediction was printed out, sealed inside an envelope, and taken with me on the day of the performanceo I used the coin force three times to ensure that a city, car, and landmark were forced in the context of creating an imaginary trip that James could visualise: 'James, by now you may be thinking that there's a possibility I could influence your thoughts and choices?' 'Definitely!' Which was such an emphatic answer because I had already performed a couple of pieces for him and his wife. 'So instead, I will ask you to summon up a few different thoughts and we will let fate decide which way we will go, okay?' I took out the envelope and balanced it against a wine glass that was sat on the table. I also asked James if he had any change on him, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a few coinso I looked into his hand and took a £1 Tlie Spi.l't. Force coin from himo 'I would like you to imagine taking a trip somewhere ... a mental journey if you will.' 'I'll spin this coin, and if it lands on heads, you'll imagine yourself in Tokyo. If it lands tails, you'll imagine yourself visiting New York.' I spun the £1 on the table between us, waited a few seconds and then continued: 'James, when you want to, reach forward and slap your hand down over the coin, keep it there and don't show me which way you have made the coin fall.' (Pay particular attention to that underlined part. You have completely disarmed the coin spin and placed full emphasis on the fact that the participant themselves has stopped the coin spinning at a truly random point, thus creating a completely random outcome.) After a few seconds, James reached over and slapped the coin down onto the table, he kept it covered and looked at me: 'Lets see where you are heading - remember, heads is Tokyo, and tails means you're off to the Big Apple.' James lifted his hand to reveal the coin resting tails side upo 'New York it is! Have you ever visited there before?' 'No, but I've always wanted to!' 'Well, now's your chance! Let's think about how you will get around once you land. I think you should travel in style, so how about hiring something flashy, something exotic. How about a gleaming Red Ferrari? Or perhaps something even more outlandish - a bright Yellow Lamborghini?' 'Heads, the Ferrari ... Tails, the Lamborghinio' The coin was spun a second time and James again slapped his hand down to


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