Voodoo
Prophecy
Mentalist
displays a small straw, voodoo doll. It is shown
against a piece of cardboard about four by five
inches square. There is a large, ornate, hat
pin stuck in the doll. The doll and pin are
taken off the card, and it is seen that there
is a drawn outline of the doll on the square
of cardboard.
Doll
and pin are handed to a spectator with the request
that he mentally selects a spot on the doll
where he is going to stick the pin. Say "You
may stick the pin in his face, arm, leg, head,
tummy, anywhere you like. So think of where
you are going to 'stick' him."
You then
take a pencil and silently studying the drawing,
you apparently write something on the card.
Ask the spectator to push the pin into the doll
now. Let's say he sticks the pin into the doll's
neck. You turn the card around, and they see
that you have pencilled a small "X" in the neck
of the outline of the voodoo doll, proving that
you mentally anticipated their action.
Nice effect? I hope you think so because this
one is 99 percent effective, and only one percent
method. All you do is pretend to mark the "X,"
really making no mark at all. You then return
the pencil to your pocket and slip on your favorite
nail or thumb-writer. After they stick the pin
in the doll, it's an easy matter for you to
mark a simple "X" at the proper place on the
drawing before you turn it around.
A
Real "Live" Doll
The same
method but a different premise is used in this
presentation. The plot is the same as the "Voodoo
Prophecy" that you just read. The big difference
is that instead of . cloth or straw doll, you
use a gentleman from the audience. You invite
him onstage along with a young lady.
The card
with the voodoo doll outline is shown as before,
and once again you apparently mark an "X" somewhere
on it for your prediction. You then ask the
young lady to look at the gentleman and decide
where she is going to touch him with her fingertip.
If you have done any comedy all, I'm sure you
can see the possibilities in this situation.
Remind
her, "Now don't tickle, just touch, the arm,
leg, eye, ear, nose, head, you pick it and you
touch it. Don't be bashful, it could be worse,
we could let you be the doll and let him pick
a spot to touch you."
You finish
as before. After she has "touched" the gentleman,
you turn the doll outline card around and show
that you have previously (?) marked an "X" in
the proper place. While still on the subject
of thumb or fingerwriters, here's one more presentation
that is even more sophisticated, and would perhaps
be suitable if you do your mentalism for the
night-club audiences. We'll call it .
"Daddy"
In this
version, you invite four gentlemen from the
audience to come onstage and form a line facing
the audience. You then ask for an unmarried
young lady to assist. She is given a paper bag
to hold. She opens the bag and removes a small
plastic baby-doll, complete with diaper.
"Congratulations
young lady, you have a baby. Of course, it doesn't
weigh much, but you didn't have to go through
most of the trouble that other women have to
go to to get one. Now, we know that you are
the mother. Just for fun we want you to look
at these four suspects and mentally select the
one who is the father. Is it No. 1, No. 2, No.
3, or No. 4? Just make a mental selection, and
I'll write my prediction on this business card."
You apparently
mark a number on the business card, but really
you mark nothing. She calls out the number,
you write it on the card with your thumb or
finger-writer, and then show the card to the
audience.
At the
finish, dismiss the guys and have the one she
selected escort her back to her seat. As they
leave the stage, remark, "I hope you two will
be very happy!"
So there
you have three different presentations. I've
used them all, and if you pick the right one
for the right audience, you'll have a winner.
"Get the lead out" and try them.
One of
the better things in my last year was having
the opportunity to see Karrell Fox working at
a trade show. Naturally I had his book and ~always
been a great fan. of anything the Foxy one produces.
For a start look at the first trick in the book.
It's just about as commercial as you can get
because of its simplicity of plot. You take
a one inch sponge ball and cover it with silk.
It starts to grow gradually and ends up in full
view the size of a grapefruit. Now when you
see Karrell doing this to a group of hard-headed
businessmen, then you don't need any further
urging to turn up the effect in the book.
Billy
McComb
Many magicians who don't drink, get LOADED
before every show.
