by llrueu llorrrstoirr

@Copyright 1997
 lrri-l{ickr

o.)sTBtTs
PICTURES
THAT
TELL
A STORY .............
I

TRANS-PREMONIT|ON......... .........4

I M P O S S I BBLAEN KN I G H T . . . . . . . . . . . , . . .B. . .

L E T 'T, S
R YO N EM O R ET I M E, . . . . . . , . . . . . . . .l.0. .

M E N T A L I SITN' S U R A N C
PEO1ICY.......... ..........,12

G E m N GA H E A DO FM Y S E 1 F . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1. 5
...

ON THENAILWRITER..
THOUGHTS ..........
1B

A PREDTCTT
l NOCNO D E . . . 1 . . . . . . . . . i . . . .........22

PSYCHOLOGICAL
CARDFORCE ....,...26

B R E A K I NTG
H EB A N K ..........29

L O V EC O N N E C T T O N . . . . . . , . . .3. .2. .

HUMMER
PSYCHOMETRY. .........
34

M A R K EF
DO RA R E A D I N G ...............36

Oii "iiELSOTi'S
THOUGHTS BEST
KEPT
SECRET".. ......38

PREDICTIO
P LNU S .,,,...,..,,...41

L O G I C AH
L E A D L I NPER E D I C T | O N . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4. 5

W I NS O M EF R E IEN F O R M A T I O N . . . ...,....,......47

THIRP
D E R S OPNS Y C H O M E T R Y . . . . . . . . ...........48

U L T I M AP
TESYCHOMETRY........ ..,......,.50

EMERGENCY
MENTALISM ...........
54
 lrni-l{.ieks

lilTll|)DUoTI|)s
Firstof oll,thonk you for buyingthisbook. I do oppreciote it, ond hope
you willfind it of volue ond interest.

Let me stote my objective in writingthisbook. I ottempt to creote

"mentoleffects",thot ore os closeto possibleos"the reolthing". My em-
phosisis on method. I wos once introduced by one of the world'stop
professionolsto o friend,-osq 'creotor of cerebrol mentolism'.At first,I
wosn'tsurewhot to moke of the introduction,but os I thought of it more
ond more, it struckme os on extremelyoccurote stotement. I om much
more of o creotor, thon performer.You will find performonce hintsond
outlinesin my work, but they ore mere guidepostsolong the woy,

My hope isthot the performersomong you moy find moieriol ond ideos
oround which you moy design presentotionsthot fit your style of working
ond moy give you greoter flexibility.

To the other creotorsof Mentolism,I hope thot you moy find o nice bit of
loterolthinkingthot mokesyou smile.lf you find o new or simpler"woyto
skino cot", thot moy help solvesomethingon which you've been work-
ing, or inspireyou on to somethingnew, I will be pleosed.

I likemy methods to be os simpleos is possible.ln foct, the bold, simple

method is usuollymore deceptive then the supersubtle,yet overlycom-
plicoted method,

Whilemuch of my moteriol isof the 100%surecotegory, some of my fo-

vorite creotionsinvolvehoving to toke some chonces, ond be oble to
"go with the flow". Whilesome of you moy not likethis opprooch, it ismy
beliefthot techniquesthot involvechonce toking ore the ones thot will
leod us into the future os performersof mysteries,

Thisbook wos not meont for Mogicionslookingfor o "mentol mogic trick"

to odd to their show. I ossumethot ony reoder of this book is ocquointed
with the bosicsof our ort. The itemsin thisbook requirethe unique tem-
peroment of on experienced Mentolist.

To cloim credit for the originoliiyof everythingin this book would, obvi-
ously,be impossible.EveryMentolistowesthonksto oll of the creotors
lDni-llieks
thot hove come before us. lt'so smoll field,with few techniquesto sus-
toin us.SinceI om not the scholorlytype, ond influencessometimesbe-
come jumbled ofter mony yeors,I've credited itemswhenever possible,
untilmemory or the help of friendsfoiled me. lf l've inodvertentlyfoiled in
somewoy, I opologize.I'm surethot ony shoricomingswillbe pointed
out.

I hope you enjoy this book, ond find it both usefulond interesting,

E<4lW
 Pri-lliekr

PlOTUllßS TH^IT TBLL A ST|)llY

BFFßOT: Fourseqledenvelopesore ploced on disploy.You proceed
to tell o storyobout the personwho helped you discoveryour mogicol
powers.You then remove o ringbox from your pocket, which you open.
The ring inside,you go on to exploin,wos o gift from him before he
possedowoy.

You osksomeoneto come up from the oudience,os you explointhot

only one of the envelopes contoinson item thot belonged to the owner
of the ring. The other envelopescontoin itemsthot hove no relotionship
of ollto your friend.

You oskthe ossistontto hold the ring in one hond, ond possher other
hond over the envelopes one of o time. She isto see if she is drown to
one of the envelopesmore thon ony of the others.As she does so,you
explointhot in his lostletfer to you, he told you the ring hos powersthot
ore quite out of the ordinory.

When the ossistontsettleson one of the envelopes,you ploce her

choice on the side,olong with the ring.You tellthe storyof how he wos
in love wiih hiswife Ann, ond how she wos hiswhole life.

You osk her to open one of the rejected envelopes,while you do the
some. Forexomple, the envelope she opens hos on ordinoryphoto of o
city street.Yourshos o menu from o toke out restouront.You osk her to
get the torget envelope, os you open the lost rejected envelope which
contoinso grocery list.

Obviously,none of these hove onything to do with the ring.You then osk

the spectotor to reod whot isengroved on the insideof the ring.She
reods,'To Ann, my one ond onlylove.'Youthen osk her to open the en-
velope she wos drown to ond remove itscontents.lt iso picture of o
'Ann!"
womon weoring the some ring!The bock of the photo issigned,

üIBTH|)D: Thisisbosed on on incrediblyclever effect by Ted

Kormelovich,firsttold to me by BoscomJones.lthought it wos quite
clever, but didn't quite suit my needs, or style of working.
'thicker
Thisisone of the few occosions,I thought the effect needed o

i
:.1

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P*i-llicks
loyer of deception" for my comfori, After o greot deol of thought, I come
up with thisopprooch.

Two of the envelopesore double envelopes.ln one of them iso menu

(or other meoninglessitem) in one side ond on outogrophed picture of
'your friend' in the other side.Thesecond double envelope hos o gro-
cery listin one side,ond onother outogrophed picture in the other. Obvi-
ously,you con showthe contentsof either of the double envelopesos
being eiiher hitsor misses.

The othertwo envelopesore ordinory.ln one is on old picture of o

womon weoring o ring similorto ihe one you'lluse in the presentotion.
Hove it signed Ann on the bock. lf you justshow it cosuolly,no one will
notice ihe ring. You con exploinit os o piciure of your ount,

But if it ischosen, it con be disployedos o direct hit,since you hove the

ring engroved os in Effect.
'regulorcity street'but hos o jewelry store in the
The other is not reollyo
photo. Moke o smolllobel thot con fit on the bottom of the jewelry box
thot hosthe nome ond oddressof this store.Thisphoto con be possed
off os one of where you used to work or liveof sometime in the post. But
if it ischosen,you tell o storyof how your friend worked 20 hourso doy,
so thot he could buy hisbeloved the ring she looked of in the window of
thot veryjewelry shop.

After on envelope is picked, you hove the spectotor stond of one end of
the row of envelopeswhile you locote yourselfof the other end. The
double envelopesore on your end, the reguloron her end.

Eithershe pickso double envelope

From here,there ore two possibilities,
or on ordinoryone.

lf she picksone of the two double envelopes,you hove her open the re-
jected envelope neorestto her, which isordinory.Coll it o picture of your
ount. You now open the envelope neorestto you. Open it to the proper
side, ond show the grocery list.Hove her open the remoiningenvelope,
os you get the'torget' envelope. Open it to the proper side,ond re-
'outogrophed picture'.
move fhe
 lrsi-llickn
lf she choosesone of the regulorenvelopes,YOUopen the firstof the re-
jected double envelopes.Shethen isto open the remoiningordinoryen-
velope, the contents of which you dismisswith on ordinoryexplonotion.
You open the lostdouble envelope,os you let her open the torget enve-
lope. lf it contoinsthe pictureof the womon, ofler hoving her reod the
engroving,it ollowsyou to point out the ringond her nome on the bock
or the picture, lf it'sthe picture of the jewelrystore.ofier hoving her
check out the lobel on the ringbox, it ollowsyou to point out the storein
the picture.

DOUBLE
ENVELOPES REGULAR
ENVELOPES

"jEWLERY
STORE"
LABELON RINGENGRAVED
BOTTOMOFRINGBOX ON THENSIDE
Pri-lI.ickn

Trnns-lrromr) rri tiorr

Besides whot I considerto be on interestingcombinotionof methods,ihis
effect olso illustrotesmy own opprooch to usingthe techniques of the
'stroight'mogic.
Mentolistto the performonceof

BFFBOT: A well known,trustedmember of the oudience isoskedto

come on stoge. You proceed to oskhim to confirmthe following stote-
ments:

"l oskedyou if you would be so kind os to poriicipoie in o 'test condi-

tions'experiment."
'You ore not o stooge,or ore secretlyhelpingme.'

'l honded you some ployingcordsond ofter you put them in your
pocket, only then did I oskyou to thinkof ony ployingcord.'
'You hod o trulyfree choice ond could chonge your mind oll you
wonted."

"Youdid not write down your choice or tell onyone whot you choice
wos."

You then go on to stote thot you HONESTLY hove no ideo whot cord is
being thought of by him,ond you con offer S.|0,000 to onyone who con
prove thot you do! CYes, -
this istrue you honestlydo not know whot cord
-
is being thought of no forces,or impressiondevices.)

The personis osked to toke the cords out of his pocket ond ploce them
on the ioble. Theoudience seesone Red bocked ond one Bluebocked
deck of cords.You oskthe ossistontto keep the blue bocked deck in
front of him.

You oskfor the red deck ond remove the cords from their cose, which
you fon to showthot the cords ore well mixed ond hove red bocks.You
then ploce the red deck bock on the toble, o distonce from the blue
deck.

Thenyou osk the ossistontto think of hiscord ond concentrote on the

 lr*i-llickri
blue deck. While he does so,you hove him re-confirmthe foct THAT
THOSECARDSWEREIN HISPOCKETBEFORE YOUASKEDHIM TO THINKOF
A CARDI

Aftero dromotic pouse,you osk him to toke the Bluebocked deck oui
of itscose ond find hiscord.

He con't, becouseit hos disoppeoredfrom the deck!

Youthen pick up the Red bocked deck, fon throughthem foce up, ond
oskhim to tell you when he seeshiscord. When he doesso, you then
openly remove ii foce up from the deck. You the show its bock - lT'SA
BLUEBACKED CARD!

Histhought of cord hos tronsportedfrom the Bluedeck to the Red deck

under'testconditions'!

ülBTllOD: Beforeyou reod the explonotion,PLEASE try to come up

with o woy of performingthiseffect. Evenossumingpre show work, how
would you do it?

Althoughthe "mechonicol"methodsinvolvedore not new of oll,it'sthe

sleightof mouth. ond the opprooch thot I believeisthe hollmorkof
mogicol performoncein the yeorsto come.

the mechonics:
First,

You'llneed o deck set up olo EddieJoesph'sPremonition, ond o deck

olo Ston Loebstein'sPremonitionOutdone. The Bluedeck hos justthe
even cordsfrom two blue deck of cords.(i.e.2,4,6,8,10,Q). TheRed deck
hosoll the odd volued cordsfrom o Reddeck. (i.e.A,3,5,7,9).K) ond oll
the odd cordsfrom o Bluedeck, except for the oces. (i'e. 3,5,7,9,J,K)
lf
the Red deck isfoce down, the Bluecords moke up the BOTTOM holf.
I
I
i
:I Theideo from PremonitionOutdone isthot if you hold the "Red'deck
foce down, you con slowlyspreod the deck showingthe bocksto be
red, ond when you get closeto where the Bluebocks will show,you lift
the deck, exploiningthot'the cords ore well mixed'ond continueto fon
the cords,but now only the foces ore visibleto the oudience. Done co-
suolly,thisdisployisremorkoblyconvincing.
Pri-l{'icks

O.K.,you soy, but how do you liveup to the obove conditions?lt'soll in

how you fromeiwhot you ore doing to the personyou choose to portici-
pote.

I osk the personto come over to o quiei spot before the show, ond osk if
they would porticipote etc.

I hond them the BlueBocked deck ond oskthem to rememberthot I

gove them the cords BEFORE I ASKED THEMANYIHING.After they put the
blue deck owoy for sofe keeping, I then explointhot I om going to wont
them to think of o cord, but if you just osksomeoneto justthink of o cord,
olmosteveryone nomesthe Ace of Spodes,or the Queen of Heorts.I
then pullout the Red deck, ond keepingthe bocksconceoled, I ribbon
spreod them ond oskthe personto justthink of ony cord thot oppeols to
them. When he soyshe hos one, I squoreup the deck, put them in the
cose, ond osk the personto hold on to them olso.

Mechonicolly speoking,the trick isover, lt'snow the presentotionthot will

moke or breok the effect. Rereodthe stotementsin EFFECT, ond vou'll
notice o few minor inconsistencies:
'l honded you some ploying cordsond ofter you put them in your
pocket. only then did I osk you to think of ony ploying cord."

Ohe ossistontwill remember thot you gove him ihe BLUE

'l
deck before
he wos osked onything,but sinceyou usedthe phrose honded you
some ploying cords...,theoudience willossumehe hod BOTHdecksbe-
fore you osked him onything.)
'You hod o truly free choice ond could chonge your mind oll you
wonted."

Ohe osistont did hove o free choice, but only hod Odd Volued cords
from which to choose.)

And it istrue when you stote thot you REALLY

don't know whot cord is
being thought of. True,you know it'son Odd Volued cord, but you don't
know which one.

a-:':1::t
 lrni-Ilickr
Thisshouldexploinit oll.When the ossistont
looksthroughthe blue deck,
hiscord MUSTbe gone, for ollthe cordsore EVEN,while the cords he
looked of for hisselectionwere oll ODD,

When you fon throughthe foce up "RED'deck,the firstcord he seesthot

ishischoice willbe in the blue sectionof the "RED"
deck, ond the restis
history.

Sure,you could performthis effect without ony pre show, ond it willstill
ploy quite well, but for the minorextro effort you get o truly'test condi-
tions"thought cord ocross.

BLUEBACKEDODD CARDS REDBACKEDODD CARDS

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BLUEBACKEDEVENCARDS
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IOIIII)SSII3Lß NASII STGHT

BFFBOT: You explointhot beforethe show,you osked someoneto

sign o billof theirown, of ANY denominotion,ond seolit in on envelope.
They were then to seol four other envelopeswith only o piece of poper
in eoch. He wos to hold on to the five envelopesond NOTLETANYONE
TOUCHTHEM.

The personis oskedto come on stoge,bringingthe envelopesolong. He

isto mixup the envelopesso thot no one knowswhere eoch is.He isto
loy them out in o line.Withoutlooking,you osk him to touch one of the
envelopes.Thisisrepeoted with the others,until you stop him. He isio put
the torget envelope oside,whileyou get out o bowl ond o lighter.You
then tell him to burn ollthe rejectedenvelopes.

When they ore destroyed,you open the torget envelope ond bring out
HISSIGNED BILL!

ül1]TH|)t): Beforethe show, you hove o stock of envelopes,with the 'top"

top two set for the floplessenvelope switch.You put the bill into the
envelope, ond switch it for one with o blonk piece of poper. Turnthe
stock of envelopes over ond hond four empty envelopes,ond pieces of
poper for the personto seolin them.

Loter,in privote,toke out their billond put it into o thumb or fingertip.

When you open the "torget"envelope, reoch in with your thumb ond first
finger,leovingthe tip behind ond spreodingthe billos you toke it out.

I know this reods extremelysimplistic,but lfeel the effect isolso extremely

cleon ond powerful. lt tokes but o moment to do the "dirty" work, but
the impoct is quite strong.

Oh, by the woy, never put o tip into hot woter, ond put it on your thumb
to shope it, os isoften suggested.lt will only burn your finger.To moke o
tip bigger, heot o smollpot of woter to o hord boil.Then turn off the heot
ond woit o minute or two. Drop in the tip you wishto expond. Affer o
minute or two, push it with o spoon,to see if it hos softened up yet. When
it seemssoft, remove the tip, ond push onother tip insideof it to serveos

T,
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 lrni-Iiickr
o mold. Drop it bock in the woter for obout thirtyseconds,ond remove it.
Pushthe insideiip in o littlemore,ond then run cold woter over them for
o few minutes.Pullout the "mold'tip, ond you'llfind o well exponded
thumb tip woiting for use.To moke o fingertip bigger,ond o littlemore
reolistic,try this ideo. Get o sixthfinger,ond cut off the iip of it. Usethis for
o "mold".ond you'llfind the fingertip o bit bigger,ond slightlycurved.
Much more reolisticto my eye of leost.

FLAPOF TOPENVELOPE IS BLANKPIECEOF PAPERIS INSIDE

FOLDED INSIDE
OF ITSELF OFTHESECONDENVELOPE

GIVE THESPECTATOR
ENVELOPES FROMTHEBOTTOM
OFTHESTACK IO SEALBLANKPIECES
OFPAPER

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llsi-lI.ickn
LBT'S Tlll' 0SB tll)llß Tt0lB
Asyou con tell, I love the premiseof BANKNIGHT.lt involvesmoney,
somethingthot usuollygetspeoples'ottentionond the plot mokes
Mentolistisputting hismoney where hismouth is.Thisver-
sense,......,..the
sioniso bit differentthon the more usuolvoriotions.I hod developed it os
o presentotionfor people who knew me well. I wonted somethingoff
beot, ond hoped thot they would "buy"theideo I messedup,
-
BFFBOT: You ore holdingon envelopefrom which you toke out o
S100bill.You then seol the envelope,ond explointhot you willbet the .l00
money thot you con predictwhot freelychosennumberfrom I to
thot o spectotorwillpick.A spectotorispicked.......,.,..youlookof him
knowinglyond secretlyprinto numberon the envelope.You tossowoy
the writingutensilond then osk the spectotorto closehis eyes ond then
chooseo number.He isthen oskedto coll it out ond... ..youget
o disoppointedexpression on your foce, ond explointhot it'snot the
numberyou hod predicted. You then stote thot before he getsthe
money,you wont one moretry. He collsout onothernumber,....... ogoin,
disoppointment covers yourfoce. O.K.,youosk o for third number......he
collsit out, ond finollyyou get o look of triumph.You hond the envelope
to the spectotor,who verifiesthe numbersmotch.

You soy thot he thinksthot you lostthe bet, but you then explointhot you
didn'tsoywhich of hisnumbersyou would be oble to predict.You osk
him to open the envelope,ond removewhot'sinside.

THETHIRD
PREDICT
A piece of poper which stotes:I WILLCORRECTLY
NUMBER CHOSEN AT RANDOM!

you did whot you soid you wou|d.........

Obviously, ond you keep
your money.

ilETftOD: The method isquite simple.You write out "l will correctly
predict the third number chosen' predictionon o piece of poper, which
you fold ond put into on envelope. Putthe lorgestvolue billwith which
you feel comfortoble in the envelope next to the prediction.Get your
noilwriterinto positionond you're reody to go.

After you exploin whot you'reobout to do, disploythe bill ond seol the

l0
 Pni-lliekr
envelope.Pretendto print o numberon the envelope ond throw your
penciloside.When the third choice ismode, printthe number on the en-
velope ond you're done. The hordestthing in thiseffect isthe octing. You
wont people to thinkyou messedup, but to hove enough sympothyfor
you so thot the spectotor will go olong ond choose two other numbers.
Peopleoren't stupid,ond if you ploy ii properly,your oudience willreolize
thot SOMETHING iscoming ond will ploy olong.

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lt
Pri-l{.ickr

tlontnlist's lrrsrrr:lnco l)oliel'

Thisis obviouslyo lot more flexiblethen whoi l've outlined here. Thiscon
give you on excellent out for those "tough"situotions, or odd o bit of hu-
mor to on otherwisedull presentotion.

BFFBOT: You osksomeoneto thinkof o common word in English(for

exomplethey thinkof "house').You concentroteond then reveolthot
you think their word is "coffeq".Theysoy you ore wrong. You oskif you're
even close,to which they respondin the negotive.You look confused,
but try ogoin. Agoin you're woy off. You then oskfor one more try, but
you'rewrong ogoin. You then osk whot theirword is.

Youthen stote thot this rorelyhoppens, but thot you've got some insur-
once thot shouldhelp you out of suchon emborrossing situotion.As you
soythis,you bring out on envelope morked 'INSURANCE POLICY'. After
some by ploy, you open the envelope ond showwhot is inside.lt looks
likeon InsuroncePolicyl

You explointhot you purchosedinsuronceforjustsuchon occosion,ond

then hove the person reod out loud whot iswrittenon the policy,

"SinceBruceBernsteinis o policy holder in good stonding with the Psy-

cho Dynomic lnsuronceCompony, we feel the word thot will return Mr.
Bernstein's
reputotionis'house'."

üIBTHOD: The method isquite eosy.The policy isset up os o stondord

window envelope ond you noil write in the properword (or number etc.)
Therest isoll presentotion.

Thisis olso o reol "insuroncepolicy"to keep on hond in cose someone

messesyou up on o reol book test or similorsituqtion.

Thepolicy,in the window envelope,con olsobe in your pocket for o

very effective heckler stopper.The predictionwould reod somethinglike,
'Thenome of the personwho chollengesme fo reod their mind is
( the spoce for the nome iswhere the window is cut in the
envelope.) lf someone does indeed give you o hord time, justoskthem
to stond, ond very cosuolly,osk their nome. Thenremove the policy from
your pocket, ond noil write in his nome. You'veturned o tough position,

t2
 Irri-lIick*
into o killereffect.

Another ideo, isto useit in the previouseffect.'Let'sTryOne MoreTime.'

lnsteodof just hoving o predictionthot stotesthot the third number will
be ihe correct prediction.hove it written on the bock of the Insuronce
Policy.Sinceyou con write thisout before hond, you moy hove the
spectotor open the envelope, Hove him reod the front of the policy first,
ond then hove him reod the predictionon the bock.

"SinceMr. Bernsteiniso policyholder in good stonding,hispredictionwill

conectly predict the third numberchosenof rondom."

Pleosefeel free to usethis orfwork,or if you wish,you could xeroxo reol

policy.

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INST]RANCE
FOR
THE
PSYCHICALLY
CHALLENGED

l4
 Psi-lI'icks

GBTTISG AHHAD |)ß TII'SBLF

When I wos proofreodingthe monuscript,on ideo popped into my
lnsuroncePolicy,it suddenlyoc-
heod. Whilerereodingthe Mentolist's
'Policy"
mightbe usefulin on One Aheod routine.
curredto me thot the

I pondered it o good while.ond the "mechonics'of whot to do become

cleor, ......lt wos how to "frome'the routinethot wos the biggestob-
stocle.
'mistoke"shouldployos
I hope you likethissolution,To the oudience,the
o humorousdiversion,yet it excusesthe methodology very noturolly.

Any opprooch to the One Aheod techniqueshouldwork justfine. Since

olmosteveryone isfomiliorwith "MentolEpic".l'lldescribethe routinewith
ihot type of presentotion.

BFFBOT: You proposeto predict three differingchoices freely mode

by membersof the oudience.

You hove o "cholkboord-divided into sixsections.The top three sections

hove flopscoveringthem. Ohe ClossicMentol EpicBoord.)

You secretlywrite o prediction on the boord underneoth of the firstflop.

At your request,o choice of on onimol,(forexomple)is mode by on ou-

dience member.which you write underthe squoreyour predictionwos
mode.

You moke onother prediction,underthe middleflop.

When you osk,onother oudience member collsout, (for exomple)o

type of food. Thisyou write under your second prediction.

You now moke your third predictionunder the lostflop, but you seem un-
unsureof whot to predict.
certoin........

Finollyyou write down something,ond mutter thot you don't think you're
going to be rightthistime.

i5
Pri-llicks
Youthen osko third oudience member to coll out o common nome.
Somethinglike Bill,or Joe.

When they coll out their choice, you hove o look on your foce thot indi-
cotes thot you did indeed guessincorrectly,but you write their choice
on the finolspoce on the boord.

You reveolyour predictions,ond you did get the firsttwo choices right,
but your "nome"predictionwos Bob,Howeverthe personin the oudi-
ence colled out Som.

You opologize to the oudience for predictingihe nome incorrectly,but

then go on to soy thot ot leostyou KNEWYOU'DBEWRONG.

You then pull on envelope out of your pocket, morked INSURANCE POL-
lCY.Tellinghow you took out insuronce for justsuch on occosion, you re-
move the Policyfrom the envelope. You explointhot Bob isyour Insur-
once Agent, ond thot's why you wrote down hisnome.

You hove o personcome on stoge to reod whot the policy soys.

It reods:
'A Messogefrom your lnsuronceAgent Bob.'

'Thenome Mr. Bernsteinmeont to predict isSom."

\tHBTllOD: I imogine thot you've olreody figured out how thisworks.

One nice thing isthot you've eliminoted the force usuollyneeded to
moke the One Aheod work,ond reploced it with o littlehumor.
'Clossic'One Aheod. Of course,feel free to chonge the first
Justdo the
'logicolly",lthink
two type of choices.To moke the presentotionwork out
the choice of nome worksquite nicelyfor the finol choice.

When you get to tfre third phose, predict the nome of your'ogent". I
picked 'common nomes', becouse I feel there is o foir chonce of hoving
the personpick the nome you hove predicted. lf you osk for'o simple
somethinglikeBill,or Joe", o foir omount of people will probo-
nome........
bly pick Bob. Of course,if they do coll out Bob,you end the routine,ond

t6
 P*i-lI.iekr
toke o big bow.
'probobly
Butwhen they coll out o differentnome, your mutfering obout
being wrong"mokessenseto the oudience.

Butwhen you explointhot you goi insuronce,ond sinceyou KNEWyou

were going to be wrong,you hod predictedyour ogent'snome,the ou-
dience willsee thot something'scoming.

Allthe by ploy shouldgive you omple opporiunityto get your NoilWriter

into position.As the oudience member comes on stoge to reod the Pol-
icy, is o perfect time to do the writing.

You shouldget o good lough when you whip out the Policy,ond get o
nice roundof opplousewhen the predictionisreod.

B
j:

17
Pni-llicks

TH|)UGHTS OS THB SAIL ll'llITBN

Asyou con tell by reoding thisbook, ond othersI hove writien, I moke
useof o NoilWriterto occomplish mony of the effects I creote.

l'veput o lot of time, energy,ond proctice into leorningto useo Noil

Writer.I hove gotten to the point where I con write in scriptthot motches
'normol"writingquitewell, olong with the more usuolnumbers
my own
ond check morks.

I personollyfeel ihot the NoilWriter,ond oll itsvoriotions ..,BoonWrii-

ers,PocketWriters,Bond Writersetc,, ore some of the most powerfultools
'Under
me justhow few people use them
ovoilobleto us, lt often surprises
fire".True,the proper use of o Noil Writeris not eosy, ond requireso greot
deol of proctice to become comfortoble,but think of the rewords.

Underthe toughestconditions,you con predict olmostonythinglNum-

bers,words,even simplepictures. the imoginotionolmostboggles
when you thinkobout the possibilities!
'whot'smy out if somethinggoes
How mony timeshove you heord,
wrong?"TheNoilWriteristhe ULTIMATEout. I would be hord pressedto
thinkof o situotionwhere one COULDN'Tget you out of o tough spot.

Sowhy don't more people usethem?

Proboblythe biggest drowbock to mostpeople isthe problem of getting

it into the proper positionto use.Thot'swhy,if o NoilWriterisbeing used,
it isusuollydone os on opener.Thotwoy,the performercon positionit
properlybefore coming on stoge, ond not worry obout getting it in posi-
tion from o hold out.

Thot'drowbock"iseosilysolved!

ln my book "Psi- Tech"I describedthe Noil Writerthot I use. lt con be in

my pocket, with keys.chonge, etc., yet I con hove it securelyon my
thumb, without looking,in o couple of seconds.Becouseof the
'holdout', itsleod isvery secure,ond l've never hod o breokoge prob-
lem.

18
 Pri-lI.ieks
it'sjusto hord plosticthumbtip
The NoilWriteritselfis noihingnew.....,.....,
thot you cut down o bit, so thot yourthumb goes ollthe woy in. Youthen
glue o piece of leod into it. I justmoke o smollhole neor the pod of the
ihumb, ond use some croz./glue io stickthe piece of leod thot I insert
into it. As I soid,thisisnothingnew,..........
Annemonnond othershove
describedsuch o writer.But,compored to under noil.ond Boonwriters,
this opprooch givesyou on exfremelystoblewriter.lt won't move out of
position,or even worse,foll off.

It'sthe Holdoutfor thiswriterthot I'mproudof..,.. ,,..o thumb tip!

I reolizedthot thisthumb tip writerwill fit securelyinto o regulorthumb tip.

It'sthe perfect holdout. lt protectsthe writer,ond keepsthe leod from
occidentollybreoking.As I soid before,I'vekept one in my pocket with
keys,chonge. oll kindsof stuff,ond hove never hod o problem.

And getting it into positionis o "pieceof coke".ljustreoch in my pocket,

ond feel for the thumb tip. I get the "tip"of the thumb tip between my
firstond second fingers,ond move it so thot my firstfinger isogoinstthe
"thumbnoil"of the tip. Now if I insertmy thumb into it,the writerwillbe in
the perfect positionwhen my hond comes out of my pocket. lt'squite
eosy,ond isdone in justo couple of seconds.

Of course,you olso hove o thumb tip ovoiloblefor use.Two powerful

weoponstogether in o very smollpockoge.

OK, moybe l've gotfen you o bit more interestedin usingo Noil Writer,
but now you moy be wondering how to go obout procticing with one.
'get my chops togethefl"
Here isthe method I usedwhen I decided to

I hove the writer on my right thumb. I hold o pod of poper with my left
hond. My right hond FINGERS olsocome oroundthe front of the pod, os
do my left fingers,but the right thumb is not in contoct with the pod. lt
looksto the oudience thoi both my hondsore holdingthe pod, but the
right fingers,ot the bose of the polm, only stobilizethe pod o bit.
(Obviouslyl'm right honded. lf you're o lefty,just reversethings.)

ond when comfortoble

lprocticed three bosic things.Numbers,Printing,
with those,I moved on to Script.

19
Psi-liicks
Holdingthe pod os obove, lwould printthe number 1justlefi of center
on the pod,then the number2 justrightof center.Then3 just left of cen-
ter, ond then 4 just right of center. Oou ore octuolly writingover the
numberpreviously you'llsove o lot of poper thiswoy.) Con-
printed.........
tinue untilyou reoch 0. Thenstortogoin. After o few doysof this,you'll
hove your numbersdown pretty well.

When you feel comfortoble with numbers,then try to print letiers.lfollow

the some procedure os obove. I printA just left of center, then Bjust right
of center.ThenC left of center.ond D right of center, Continueuntil
you'veworkedthroughthe entireolphobet.

Thiswilltoke more time to leornthon numbers,so toke your time, ond be

potient. Mostpeople give up leorningtheir letterswell, ond thot restricts
whot the NoilWritercon do for them.

After o while,when you feel comfortoble, continue on to leorningscript.

Thisismuch more difficultthon numbersond printing.Agoin,you proc-
tice os obove, only now you mustproctice both upper ond lowercose,
ond you connect the letters.

Justleft of center you write A, ond connect it to the B you write left of
center. ThenC to the left, connecting with the D you write to itsright,
ond so on.

After o month or two, with o reosonobleomount of slowcoreful proctice

in front of o mirror,you'llbe oble to write wiih your thumb olmost os well
os you normollywrite,

You'llproboblyheor from some people thot you shouldn'thold on item

you'renoilwritingon with both honds.

You moy olsoheor thot o righi honded personshould leorn to noil write
with their left hond. ond visoverso.

ln my mony yeors of writingwith my thumb, I'venever run ocrosso prob-

lem usingboth hondsto hold whot l'm going to write on, or usingmy
rightthumb.

I see no problem in mokingthingshorderon yourself,if you thinkit will

20
 Pni-l{ickr
moke thingsmore deceptive, but the concept thot you might be writing
somethingwith yourthumb isWAY out of people'sminds.

Ashos been soid,why run if you'renot being chosed!

lf you've been unhoppy, or unsuccessful tryingto useo "writer'before,

pleosegive thiso try. I believeyou'llbe very pleosedwith thisopprooch.

6Q'-'
a

21
lrri-l{iekr

A lrrr:rlictiorr ilt Oorlo

Al Koronhod some very clever ideos.One of the cleverestideos wos his
'Code Book"to
use of o decipher o previouslydeliveredprediction.Be-
cousethe Predictionismode in Code, it con be disployedopenly of the
time it ismode. The onlyproblemwos..,......1
didn'tlikethe ideo of the
book, ond the work you needed to do to moke it look right,so here'smy
opprooch.

EFFBOT: An experimentin predictionisproposedby you, os much

before on event os you wish.Peoplemoy,ond should,wotch you print
out numberson o sheetof poper,which you exploiniso Code. This
coded predictionmoy be on public disployuntilihe show.

You hond o seoledenvelopeto the personwho isto be the trustee. You

explointhot it contoinsthe solutionto the Code, so under no circum-
stoncesshouldit be opened,

On the doy of the event, you oskthot the envelope contoining the
Code to decipher the prediction be brought out. The trusteeverifiesthot
he hosbeen in possession of the Code sincethe predictionwos mode.

You open the "Code"envelope,ond remove o piece of poper, which

the trusteeopens ond usesto decipher the prediction.

It, of course,sumsup on event in the news!

Of course,thismoy be presentedmuch more dromoticolly.........,,,.The

code con be put on disployin lorge numbers,ond left in public view until
it isdecoded!

üIBTH|)D: Agoin, I like to keep it os simpleos is possible.And os be-

fore, you hove to do some sneokythinkingto moke it work.

You write out o seriesof numbers.The numbersoren't reollyimportont,

sinceyou're going to creote o code thot will moke your predictionwork
out properly.Once you see whot I meon, try from l0 to 20 numbers,ond
try your luck of moking thingswork out. You'llfind on omount thot fitsthe
type of predictionyou ore moking........sportsresults,
heodlinesetc.

22
 Plri-l{ickr
I do recommend thot you do not repeot o numberimmediotely,since
thot would requireo repeoted letter,which con moke thingsmore diffi-
cult.

(lf you wish,in the 'Code" envelope,you could hove o decoding thot will
tronsloteolong the linesof, 'l knew you would open this'.)

Whot willhoppen of the show,isthot you willhove o piece of poper,

with your speciollydesignedCode on it, looded in yourthumb or finger
tip.

Or use ony other clossicmethod for switchingin o heodlineprediction.

Whot'snice in thiscose, isthot oll of the heot isoff of you. You never ever
hove to messwith the prediction itself!

Here'son exomple of o Code prediction.

1 0 ,r 3 , 6 , 2 5 , 1 i4l , 2 , 1 7 , 1 , 9 , 2, 31

(ljusttyped thesenumbersof rondom....reolly!)

Let'ssoy o troin deroiled before your show. I hove l2 lettersto deol with,
so I hove to come up with o I2 letterprediction,without immediotelyre-
peoted letters.

Troin= 5 .|3,
Deroiled= B Hmmmodds up to so it'sno good....."...let's
try:

Crosh= 5 Hmm, might work.

Trogedy = 7 Ahhh thot's itl

TroinTrogedy= 12,ond no immediotely repeoted letters.

So,now you con moke up your "Code poper".

Write out the numbersfrom I to 50 on o piece of poper. 50 isso thot .|00

let-
ters con be representedby more thon one number.Of course,I to
could be used if you con print it oll out cleorlyon o smollenough piece
of poper

23
lrni-l{iek*
After your torget numbers,you print in the lettersyou need. For exom-
ple:

1 0= T
13=R
6 =fi
25=l
14=N
ll =T
2 =Q
17=A
I =G
9 -E
2 1= D
3 =!

Fillin other lettersin the non usednumbers,ond you're reody to predict

the future.

I thinkthisprocedure mokessense,ond seemsquiie foir ond obove

boord.I hope you feelthe some.

24
 Pri-lI'iekn

i:G 18=F35=J
2=R 19=Y36=C
3=Y 20=U 3'l=C
4=C 2t=D 38:V
5=H 22=e 39=O 1 0 ,1 3 , 6 , 2 5 ,
6=A 23=Y 40=W 1 4 , I 1 , 2 ,1 7 ,
7:Z 24=L 4i=N
8=X 25=I 42=P
r,9,21,3
9=E 26=8 43=K
l0:T 27=K 44:Z
Il:T 28=G45:H
12:P 29:X 46: M
13=R 30=K 47:U
14=N 3l=L 48:Q
1 5= M 3 2 = O 4 9= L
16=F 33=N 50=B
l'7:A 34=P

-CODE
LIST"
THATYOUREMOVE FROM
THEENVETOPE AND HAVETHETRUSTEE
USETODECIPHERTHEPREDICTION

e
i
I

25
 lr*i-llielis

Irsl'oHt)Lt)GtoaL oarlD F|)lloß

BFFBOT: Youhove o deck of cords,ond ore seento toke o cord ond
put it foce down on the toble. You now stote, "l'mgoing to osk you to
think of o cord, but don't do it yet. You see, most people if osked to think
of o cord, willpick obviousones,likethe Ace of Spodes,or the Queen of
Heorts.So when I soy now,justnome some out the woy cord thot
c o m e st o y o u rm i n d . . . , . . . N O W . "

Theynome theirmentollyselectedcord, ond you turn overthe cord on

the toble, Theymotchl

ilBTll|)D: OK,this doesn'twork ollthe time, but believeit or noi, I hit

obout 25%of the time. I come closeobout onother25o/" of the time, ond
when it works,it'so mirocle.

The phrosingobove isIMPORTANT. Whoi I did for quite o while is osk peo-
ple the obove while keeping the phrosingidenticol eoch ond every
time. I discoveredthot o pottern emerged. A lorge percentoge of peo-
ple would choosethe 2 of Clubs.Theno smollergroup would nome the 7
of Spodes.lt wos quite unconny. A smollerpercentoge of people
nomed the 3 of Heorts,I con't guorontee the resultswill be the some for
you, so stort out by justoskingthe quesiionin THEEXACTSAMEWAY EV-
ERYTIMEond o potfern will probobly estoblishitselfquite soon.

When I get my honds on o deck, I secretlyget the 3 of Heorfsto the top

of the deck ond the 7 of Spodesto the bottom.

I openty remove the 2 of Clubsond ploce it foce down on the toble. I

then oskthe questionos obove. lf the 2 of Clubs,or the 2 of Spodesis
nomed, l'llthen turn overthe 2 of Clubson the toble ond cloim o hit. ( lf
they soy the 2 of Spodes,o block 2 ispretfy domn goodl )

lf they soy the 3 of Heorts(or Diomonds),l'llput the deck on the toble,

'to mork where
hove them cut it. ond then I usethe 2 of Clubs os o cord
you cut the deck".CVoudon't moke o big deolwhen you put the 2 of
Clubsfoce down. so they don't know whot you were going to do with it.)
After I recop whot hos hoppened. I splitthe deck where the 2 of Clubs
wos inseriedsidewoys,ond show the cord "theyfreely cut to", which wos
the cord on top of the deck. lt'sour old friend,the X, or CrossForce.

26

.-:r-_s.:r:5;:?-::i:-a:l-: j-f

- .t:--- |
 Pri-lI.ickr

lf they nome the 7 of Spodes(or Clubs),I do the obove but showthe

cord obove the 2 of Clubs,which wos the bottom cord of the deck.

lf they nome the 7 of Heorts,or the 3 of Spodes,I showthe cord obove

ond below the 2 of Clubssoyingone cord motchesthe volue ond one
motchesthe suii.

OFIHE DECKAFIERTHE"CROSS
CONDITION FORCE"

SEVENOFSPADESISNOW
ABOVETHETWO OFCLUBS

THREE ISNOW
OF HEARTS
UNDERTHETWO OFCLUBS

'direct hits',3
So,insteodof o I out of 52 cord situotion.you hove 3
"reollyclose hits",ond 2 -prettygood hits'which increosesyour chonces
for o successfuloutcome to B out of 52,without toking ony psychology
into considerotion.

Butwhot do I do if none of thesecordsore nomed?l?l?lThereore plenty

of outs ovoiloble (seeMentolist'sInsuroncepolicy) but here'sone ideo
you con try.
'10
Theysoy the of Clubs.Pickup the deck ond fon it with the foces to-
words you ond hove them insertthe 2 of Clubsfoce up into the deck.
Note if their cord isobove or below the 2 of Clubs.lf it isbelow ihe 2 of
Clubs(if the deck isheld foce up), rememberthe cord below the
nomed cord. lf it isobove the 2 of Clubs,rememberthe cord below the
'glide', ond stort
2 of Clubs.Hold the deck foce up in the positionfor the
pullingcords off of the bottom of the deck. When you get to the cord
below the torget cord, you know the torget cord is next,so glide it bock
ond keep pullingoff cords untilyou get to the 2 of Clubs.Then peel off

B
I
27
lrni-l{.icks
the torget cord. lt seemsthot they insertedthe 2 of Clubsnext to their
selected cord.

lf the cord wos obove the 2 of Clubs,when you see the cord below the
2 of Clubs,you'llknow thot the 2 of Clubsisnext,so you pull it bock ond
do the glide untilthe torget cord comes.Thenpeel off the 2 of Clubs
ond you'redone.

Of course,if they put it in ne>Cr yourbow.

to their cord........-...toke

Vernon's"TrickThot Con't Be Exploined", ond itsoffspring,con give you

mony effective outs for this type of situoiion.

28
 lrsi-li.ick*

I]IIBAIIITG THB I]ASK

ßFFBOT: You propose on experimentihot will need the help of four
people in the oudience. As you choose the four people who will be os-
sisting,you ore seen to ploce o Piggy Bonk,o strongpoper, or stiffplostic
bog,ond o hommerin fullview,

You then pick up o pod of poper ond o pen, ond osk one of the four
people to collout ony singledigit number.You writethe numberon the
pod, ond then osk onother of the four to coll out onothersingledigit
number,which you olsojot down. (lt could be the some singlenumber,
or o different one.) Theno third person collsout hischoice of o single
digit number,which you olso record.

Forexomple,the numberscolled out ore 3, 7 ond 9. You oskthe fourth

personto decide in whot order he would like the three digits.Forexom-
ple, he decideson 739,which you jot down. You oskhim to come on
stoge.You then osk him to open the bog ond exomine it, if you wish,
ond the ploce the PiggyBonkinsideof it.You oskhim to get the hom-
mer, os you ploce your pod of poper down besidethe poper bog, so
thot the numberscon be verified.

You recop whot hos hoppened etc., ond then oskthe "ossistonf'tohit
the bog with the hommer in orderto breok the PiggyBonk.The bog, of
course,isto keep shordsfrom flying oll over.

You osk him to pour out the now destroyed PiggyBonk,ond omong the
pieces of pig iso folded up piece of poper. You oskthe personto open
the piece of poper ond reod it out loud. lt stotes:

Deor Piggy Bonk,

I owe you $739,

Thonks,Bruce

DIBTI||)I): Thoseof you fomiliorwith the closic effect 'Mindingthe

Store'by Ned Rutledgehove most probobly figured out how thisworks.lf
you're not fomiliorwith 'Mindingthe Siore",trock it down - it'sbrilliont!

29
lrsi-llick*
Thiseffect is o simplifiedversionond the useof the Piggy Bonkmokes it o
bit unusuolcompored to the overoge Mentol effect.

All you need to perform thisis:

l. An eosilybreokoble PiggyBonk.

2. A strongpoper, or stiffplosticbog.thot istollerthen the bonk.

3. A smcillpod of poper.

4. A piece of poper with, DeorPiggyBonk

I owe you S(spoceleft blonk)
Thonks,Bruce

5. A NoilWriter.

The piece of poper should be folded with the spoce for the dollor
omount on the outside.

The restisquite'simple.Yourthumb holdsthe folded piece of poper on

the pod so thot when you "jot down the numbers"you con olsowrite the
proper numb'eron it. Then,when you osk the personto get the hommer,
you Justhoppen to" let the lower edge of the pod touch the top of the
bog,ond let the folded piece of poper to foll into the bog. lf you hove
ony doubt this willwork, forget it - it does! Justmoke sureyou proctice
enough so thot it lookscosuol.Of course,when the broken bonk is
poured out, the piece of poper mingleswith it. The restis oll build up.

lf you don't think this isfor you, moybe you'lllikethisvoriotionon the

theme:

The effect isthe some except you ore not holding o pod of poper, ond
you put the bonk into the bog. Hereyou hove the poper lightlywoxed
to the sideof the Bonk owoy from the oudience. When you hove the
bog opened, you pick up the Bonk(to be helpful)ond NoilWritethe
proper number in ploce. When you lower the bonk into the bog, you
give the slipo pushto releoseit into the bog. Continue os obove.

?n
 Pxi-llickr

Dear Piggy Bank,

I owe you the sum

Thanks.Bruce

he sum

3r
frsi-l{.ickn

LOlvB o|)..tBoTl|)s
Thisiso PRESENTATIONAL gombit. Thereore mony woysof technicolly
ochieving these ends, but the plot fillso need for both Mogicions ond
Mentolists.

BFBBOT: You've been hired to performof on engogement porty, ond

you oskthe future bride ond groom to come up on sioge. You go on to
explointhot o gypsyyou knew tought you o method to find out whether
two people ore trulycompotible. You oskthem if they would core to be
put to the test.

You oskeoch to choose o ploying cord. You hove the cords returnedto
the deck, ond then you oskthe bride to shufflethe deck while thinkingof
the groom. The deck isthen honded to the groom to shufflewhile think-
ing of hisbride.

You explointhot the gypsytought you thot the furtherowoy the cords
end up in the deck, the les likelyit isthot the people will end up to-
gether, ond thot if the Ace of Spodesis between the cords, their mor-
rioge willbe doomed!

You slowlydeolthrough the cords,turningthem foce up os you go, until

one of the selected cords isseen.You ore seen to be concerned of this
moment of truth. The cord isdeolt off the deck, ond the next cqrd isthe
Queen of Heorts,which you exploin is obviouslyo very.good cord, for it is
the cord of love. You oskwhot the other selected cord is.You deol off
the Queen AND THEVERYNE)OCARDlSTHEOTHERFREELY SELECTED
CARD.Sincethe only cord between thelr.cordsisthe Love cord, their
morrioge must be blessedl

illBTllOl): l'llgive you two bosic methods,but os lsoid before, l'm sure
mony of you will opply other methods thot you olreody know from other
tricks,both sleightof hond ond goffed.

One woy, ond to my woy of thinking,the best,isto do the dirtywork pre

show.Askto tolk to the honored couple, ond inquirewhether they would
liketo be 'put to the test'. lf they onsweryes,pull out your hondy dondy
MARKEDdeck, ond hove eoch of them remove o cord, which they put
bock into the deck ond shuffle.When you ore olone, you toke the

32
 Pri-lliekr

Dear Piggy Bank,

the sum

Thanks,Bruce

3t
lrri-l{ickn

LOlvB O0.SBOTI|)il
Thisiso PRESENTATIONAL gombii. Thereore mony woysof technicolly
ochieving these ends. but the plot fillso need for both Mogicions ond
Mentolists.

BFFBOT: You've been hired to performof on engogement porty, ond

you oskthe future bride ond groom to come up on stoge. You go on to
explointhot o gypsyyou knew tought you o method to find out whether
two people ore trulycompotible, You oskthem if they would core to be
put to ihe test.

You osk eoch to choose o ploying cord. You hove the cords returnedto
the deck, ond then you oskthe bride to shufflethe deck while thinkingof
the groom.The deck isthen honded to the groom to shufflewhile think-
ing of hisbride.

You explointhot the gypsytought you thot the furtherowoy the cords
end up in the deck. the les likelyit isthot the people will end up to-
gether, ond thot if the Ace of Spodesis between the cords, their mor-
rioge willbe doomed!

You slowlydeolthrough the cords,turningthem foce up os you go, until

one of the selected cords isseen.You ore seen to be concerned of this
moment of truth. The cord isdeolt off the deck, ond the next cord isthe
Queen of Heorts,which you exploin is obviouslyo very.good cord, for it is
the cord of love. You osk whot the other selected cord is.You deol off
the Queen AND THEVERYNEXI-CARD lSTHEOTHER FREELY SELECTED
CARD.Sincethe only cord between their.cordsisthe Love cord. their
morriogemust be blessed!

ülBTllOl): l'llgive you two bosic methods,but os lsoid before, l'm sure
mony of you will opply other methods thoi you olreody know from other
tricks,both sleightof hond ond goffed.

One woy, ond to my woy of thinking,the best,isto do the dirtywork pre

show. Askto tolk to the honored couple, ond inquirewhether they would
liketo be 'put to the test'. lf they onsweryes,pull out your hondy dondy
MARKEDdeck, ond hove eoch of them remove o cord, which they put
bock into the deck ond shuffle.When you ore olone, you toke the

32
 Irsi-llickr
Queen of Heorts,which you hod previouslyremoved from the deck, ond
put o bit of wox on both sides.You then stickone of the selected cords
on top, ond the other on the bottom, Pui them o few cords from the
botiom of the deck ond the restis history.Allyou need to do ismoke
surethot there is not o surfoceon which they could riffleshufflethe
cords.You wont only overhond shuffles,which won't disturbthe three
cordsthot hove been woxed together.When you deolthrough the
cords,you seporotethe woxed cords- they mustbe blessed!

A more stroightforword method isto hove the Queen on top of the

deck with o bit of wox on itstop, ond onother bit of wox where you con
eosilyget to it. Ohe cord cose would be o good choice,) Hove the first
selectionploced on the top of the deck, (A quick squeezewill stickthem
together.)Over hond shufflethe cordsso thot the Queen is now on the
bottom. Yourmiddlefinger con eosilyodd the wox to the foce of the
Queen. Hovethe next selectionploced on top ond, os you exploinhow
eoch of them isto shuffleihe deck, you cut the cords,which willollow
you to stickthe second selectionto the foce side of the Queen. The rest
ispresentotion.

Oh, lf you ore coutious,you moy wont to removethe Ace of Spodes,just

in cose..

Forthose of you who do reodings:

Obviously,thiscon eosilybe opplied to Torotcords. In foct, the useof

'two significo-
Torotcords octuolly mokes more sense,I reolizedthot this
tor"cordsconcept is,to the best of my knowledge o new one, ond con
be reodilyopplied to legitimote reodings.Hove the two significotorcords
chosen,ond returnedto the deck which isthen shuffled.Do your reod-
ing with whotever cords end up between them. The cordswill represent
the thingsthot will hoppen to the couple os they possthrough lifeto-
gether. lt con olso be done with businessportners,o porent, literollyony
situotionthot involvesthe relotionshipbetween two people. lf you do
your reodingslegitimotely,don't use wox - let the fotes decide the out-
!.
come, but if you liketo bonk the oddsin yourfovor.............wox
it is.
,.
r
*
.

?1
 lDsi-lI.iekr

HU0lilBrr lrsYoH|)l)l ßTlll'

BFFBOT: Threepeople ore oskedto porticipote in o demonstrotionof
Psychometry.Threeenvelopes ore tosseddown on the toble os you ex-
ploin thot eoch person isto toke on envelope ond seol o personolob-
ject in it,You tellthem to proceed, os you turnyour bock.

ore to
Whileyour bock isstillturned, you oskthot two of the ossistonts
switch envelopes,so thot only one of them will hove their own object,
while the other two will hove someone else'sobject.

You turn oround ond oskone of the people to hond you the envelope
thot they ore holding.Thepersonisnot to reoct to the reoding so thot
you con't tell from their reoctionsif it istheir object. You proceed to give
o generolreodingwhile holdingthe envelope.You oskfor o second en-
velope,which isthen honded to you. Agoin you give o reoding.The
third envelope isnow honded to you. You proceed to give o third reod-
ing.

Exploiningthot now thot you hove to motch up the objects with their
owners.You go to eoch of the people in turn ond hold their envelope in
one hond, ond oskto hold their free hond, os if "feelingtheirVibes".

You go to the firstpersonond brieflyrecop the reoding you gove forthe

item. You then explointhot you don't think it belongsto the personwho
is holding ii. You then hond it to the personto whom you feel it belongs
ond toke the envelope they ore holding.You olso osk for the finol enve-
lope ond recop the reodings.Youthen hond one of the envelopesto
the personyou took the envelope from, ond hond the finol one to lost
person.

Eoch of them ocknowledgestheir reodingswere quite occurote, ond

when they open their envelopes,oll of the itemshove been honded
bock to their proper owners,

1;l$TltQl): Boy,this suretokes o lot of descriptionfor somethingthot is

so simpleto perform.

The only pori thot is "confusing',ishow con you tellwho hoswhich enve-
lope, if your bock isturned. Remember,you ore not honding out the en-

5täli::
 Pni-llicks
velopesin ony order,ond eoch moy toke whotever envelopethey wish.

Thismethod isbosed on on old Bob Hummerconcept. Briefly, if three

people eoch hove on object, ond you know whot object justone of
them hos,two of the people moy switchobjectsyet you con stilltell
which belongsto whom. lf the personwho hos the object you know ot
the stortstillhos it ofter the switching,the other two must hove switched
items.lf the personends up with o differentitem, then he ond the person
who now hos hisobject were the two who switched.Thinkobout it ond
try it - it'snot os complicoted os it moy seem.

lf your envelopesore morked,os long os you know which envelopeone

of the people hos chosen,you con occomplishthismirocle.

When you ore obout to hove the envelopesselected.oskone of the

people to toke one ond seol their object. As they do so, you slowlystori
to turn oround,timingthe movement so thot you con spot which of the
envelopesthey toke. Thenproceed to tell the other two to seol theirob-
jects os the firstpersondid os your bock isnow fullyturned. Hove two of
them switchenvelopesond you'rereody to go.

I
4
F
a

35
lrri-liieks

ttatlli.ßD Fl)lr a nBADlsG

BFFBOT: Someoneosksyou for o cord reoding.You explointhe on-
cient concepts of Fire,Woter, Air. ond Eorih. You shuffleo Torotdeck,
cut it into 4 piles.os you explointhot the pile to their left will represent
"FIRE", the next one, "WATER', the next,"AlR',ond on the other end,
'EARTH". 'put their influ-
Thesitteristhen to shuffleeoch of the piles.to
ence' into the cords.

Youturn your bock, ond instructthe sitterto thinkof theirquestion.lf the

questionisobout themselves,they ore to remove ony cord from the
'FIRE"
pile, but if it'sobout someonethey core for, it shouldbe token from
the "WATER'pile, someonethey know of, but hoven't met, the "AlR'pile,
ond if it isobout on object, not o person,the'EARTH"pile.

Thenyou exploin,if theirquestionisobout possion.or love,they ore to re-

'FIRE"
pile,ond ploce in on top of the first
move onother cord from the
'WATER' pile. lf
cord. lf it isobout Heolth,the cord shouldcome from the
it'sobout Schoolor Educotion,it shouldcome from the "AlR'pile,ond if
obout Money or Finonces.it shouldcome from the "EARTH" pile.

Thisprocessis repeoted severolmore times,untilenough cords hove

been selectedto usefor the reoding.

Althoughnothing hosbeen writtendown, ond you hove no insideinfor-

motion,you ore oble to give on incrediblyoccurote reoding.

ülBTHl)D: Thisisjusto voriotionon the old 20 questionsgome.

Thedeck, Torotor reguloris morked into 4 distinctsections.You con eos-

ilyfolseshufflethe cords,ond splitthem into the 4 piles.Shortcords on
top of eoch sectioncon help moke thisquite cosuol.

When you see. ond observethe sitter,you shouldhove o foir ideo of

whot their possiblequestions/ concernsore, so oll you do is hove them
help you norrow it down, without them reolizingit.

Obviously,the "rituol"youdescribefor selectingthe cordscon be eosily

odopted for whomever you ore givingthe reoding. As long os you de-
scribethe functionsof FIRE,
WATER, AlR,ond EARTH so your questionswill

QA
 Pri-ll.ickr
seem consisteni,you con customizethisfor olmostony person.

When you turn bock to give the reoding.ond spreodout the selected
cords,you will see which pilesthey eoch come from,ond in whot order.
With o bit of thought, you con eosilyzero in on justwhot the sitterwonts
to know.

lf you wishto do this in on impromptumonner,justborrow o deck of

cords.Hove them shuffled,ond returnedto you. Asyou cut the deck into
the 4 piles,you scropeyourthumbnoilocrossthe sideof the cords,but in
o differinglocotion for eoch of ihe piles.When you ore reody to pro-
ceed, turn bock oround,ond pick up the group of selectedcords,ond
look the sides.You should,with o littleproctice.seethe where the
scropemorksore on eoch of the cords.

SITTER'SVIEW OF THE FOURPILES

"FIRE"PILE -WATER"PILE "AIR" PILE "EARTH"

PILE

*
a
't

2-7
IDsi-llick;
''TßLSOS'S I]BST
TH.)UGHTS OS
IIBIDT SßOIIET''
Thisconcept isGREATfor onyone who does reodingsin o porty or Psy-
chic Foircontext.lt moy seem silly,but toke it from me, it con be quite
powerful,ond con moke o reoding seem much more powerful then it re-
ollywos.

BFFBOT: You ore seoted ot o toble, givingshortreodingsto those

present.Duringyour reodings,thosewoiching see you leon over ond, in
o very soft voice thot no one else con heor, soysomethingthot seemsof
greot imporlonce to the personhoving their fortune told. The sitteris
then seen to nod in totol ogreement with whot you hove confidentiolly
predicted.

Thisprocesshoppensmony timesthroughthe night.so thot everyone

woiching con tell thot your reodingsore not only occurote, but con
delve into oreosthot the sitterswould not wont to be heord publicly,in o
coring woy,
sensitive,

O.K.- let'sbe honesi.I don't core how good of o.|00%

Reoderyou ore,there
ore times it would be greot to be oble to get o solidhit, becouse
you oren't moking ony heodwoy with the personfor whom you ore reod-
ing. Thisgivesthe illusionthot you ore right on torget to those wotching.

Nelsontold how he hod decided to personolly

Thestorygoes.............Bob
deliveron order of ostrologychoris to one of hisbiggest customers,So
thot he might see how she wos generoting sucho lorge volume of busi-
ness.When he sow her givingreodings,he wos highlyimpressedwith the
number of solidhitsshe wos moking. All night long, sitterswere nodding
theirogreement wiih whot shewos soying,Whenshe wos done, Nelson
oskedhow she wos oble to be so consistently occurote. Her'secret'wos
so remorkoblysimple.he wos omozed.

ülBTHOl): Duringthe reoding, she would leon over so thot shewos

closerto the sifter,ond with o coring, concerned look on her foce, she
would osk in o sofi voice, "con You heor me O.K.?' Of course,the sitter
'yes', ond nod her heod offirmo-
would leon forword when she did, soy
tivelyin responseto the reoder'squestionond body longuoge. Tothe

38
 lrni-lI.ieks
people wotching, there wos o whole differentinterpretotion.lt looked
likethe Reoderhit on o sensitiveoreo ond wos correct.

Thot'sobout oll of the detoil thot Nelsonpossedon to us,so let me fillin

the o few of the blonks.ond tellvou obout some voriotionsI've devel-
cpeo.

Firstof oll, l'd liketo stress

thot the moin ingredienithot helpsthisconcept
to work isyour body longuoge.Remember,the reosonpeople think
you've "hit"on somethingis becousethey see the sitfernodding their
heod in responseto somethingyou've soid.lf you justoskif they con
heoryou O.K.,youmoy well onlyget o verbolresponse. YOUWANTTHE
SITTER TO NODTHEIR HEAD,SOTHATEVERYONE CAN SEElT!To set up the
situotionproperly,you wont the sitterto respondos much, if not moreto
your body longuoge then to whot you ore soying.

Thinkobout it. lf you ore tolkingto someone,ond you then leon closer
ond soysomethingin o soff tone of voice,you ore implyingthot you
hove somethingpersonolond privoteto soy to them. lt olsoimpliesthot
their responseshouldbe done in the somemonner.lt olsoimpliesto ony-
one wotching you thot the situotionispersonol,privote,ond posibly im-
portont.lf the personseesyou nodding (eiiheryes or no) os you oskthe
question,the choncesore greotlyincreosedthot the onswerwill olsobe
o nod.

As o techniquefor reodings,thiscombinotionof body longuoge ond

chonges in verbol style,is of greot importonce.When octuolly stoting
things,it will help leod the sitterto confirm if you ore correct non verbolly,
which will help them leod you in the rightdirectionwhen pumping.But in
thistechnique,it isof utmostimportonce,

lf the only time in the reodingthot you leon closerond softenyourvoice

iswhen you osk,"con you heor me O.K.?',they moy look of you likeyou
ore nuts.But if you've done it o few timeswith "reolinformotion',the
slightlyout the ordinoryquestionwill not seem inconsistentwith your pre-
viousbehovior.

Another point l've discoveredisthot the questionsdon't hove to be ones

thot oskfor o positiveresponse.As long os the sitter'sreoctionsmotch
yours,the people wotching will ossumethot you ore correct. Forexom-

JY
lDsi-li.ickn
ple, you leon forword,look concerned ond whisper,"you'renot uncom-
fortoblein thot choir,ore you?',while nodding your heod bock ond forth
(os if lookingfor o negotive response), the sitterwill nod bock ond forth
olso.Thiswill olsolook likeo "hit"tothosewotching,justos much os o pos-
itive response.

Hereore some possiblequestions:

" Y o uc o n y o u h e o r m e O . K . ,c o n ' t y o u ? "

"lt'sowfullyloud in here,isn'tii?"

"lsthot your Husbond?"

"Wosthe food good?"

"l'm not going ioo fost,om l?"

"Aren'ttheseTorotcordsbeoutiful?"

I thinkyou've cought the drift.Any questionor stotemenithot seemsop-

propriotesociolly,ond thot comesout of "concern"for the sittercon be
put to use.

4D
 P*i-llickn

Ilrrxlietion lDlus
l've been holdingthisconcept bock for quiteo while.lfeel it mokeson
excellentopener, ond isstroightto the point,Thereore o lot of woys of
ochievingthisdouble prediction.l'lluse one os on exomple,ond then
cover some others.

BFFBOT: An oudience member ischosentotolly of rondom from the

oudience, ond oskedto come up on stoge. ües, it iso totolly free
choice! Thepersonis NOTchosen by you. He con be picked by on oudi-
ence member, or by tossingsomethinginto the oudience,) You remove
o smoll pod of poper from your pocket, os you explointhot you ore mok-
ing o prediction of somethingthot will soon come to poss.

You studythe oudience for o moment, ond then write somethingon

your pod. You teor off the top sheetwith your prediction ond fold it. You
'ossistont'to seolin o envelope ond hold on to for o
then hond it to vour
minute.

You put the pod owoy, ond remove o wollet from your pocket. Fromii
you remove o smollenvelope, exploiningyou olso hove o predictionyou
mode before coming on stoge thot concernsyour on stoge "ossistont".

You exchonge envelopes,so he hosthe predictionthot concerns him,

ond you hove the envelope with the predictionyou hod just written out
o minute ogo, which he seoled in on envelope.

You now exploin thot you ore going to write o secret,torget number be-
'100
tween I ond on the envelope, ond thoi you wont your on-stogeos-
sistontto point to membersof the oudience in ony rondom order they
wish.As o person ischosen,they ore to coll out o number from I to 100.
You explointhot predictionyou ore holding willforetellwho picksthe tor-
I
get number.
I
ti
T
exomplethe first4 people pick
He stortspointingto people............for
numbers,but you soy, go on. The Sth person,for exomple, is o blond
womon, ond she picks43. You get excited, ond osk the osistont to reod
the torget number you hod written on the envelope. lt is43.

You oskthe Blondewomon to come up on stoge, so thot everyone con

41
lDri-l{.icks
see whot she lookslike.You oskher to open the envelopeyou hove
been holding,ond reod the prediction thot wos seoled inside.
It stotes,"Thefirstpersonwho choosesthe torget number,will be o
womon with blond hoir,"

You smiletriumphontly,ond stoieyou ore glod thot your firstprediction

wos correct,otherwiseeveryonewould hove o hord time believingthe
prediction in the envelope thot you wrote out before orrivingof the
show.

Aftero dromotic pouse,you oskfor the envelope,remove the prediction

ond oskyour ossistont
to reod it,

It stotes,for exomple ,"Mole, BrownHoir,FS".

Of course,he hos BrownHoir,ond hisnome isFronkSmith.

OIBTHI)D: I guessthisis o voriotionon the I oheod, but it'so bit more

worped,ond more to my liking.

Theobove wos describedusingo ConfobulotionWollet.

On the top sheet of ihe pod, isyour predictionthot stoteswhot the per-
sonwho picksyour torget number in the firstphosewill look like.lt doesn't
motier. sinceyou don't reolly print o torget number on the envelope
'ihe torget numberwill be', ond
when you soyyou will.All you print is,
leove o spoce in which to noilwrite.Youjustwoit to heor whot number is
colled off by o personwho comes closeto your prediction description,
ond write it in.

When the freelychosen ossistontis picked, you politelyintroduce him or

her to the oudience, ond you now know their nome. Sinceyou useo
pencil with o bit of glue on itspoint to serveos o styluswriterit won't write
on the top sheet.You write the descriptionof your ossistont,but insteod
of priniing on the top sheet,it impresses the infothrough the corbon po-
per insideof the Confobulotion envelope. You then teor off the predic-
tion they thought you justwrote out, ond hond it to the ossistontto seol in
on envelope ond hold on to for o minute.

Putthe pod owoy, ond bring out the envelope,exploiningthot you hod

42
 lrsi-llieks
writfenthispredictionbefore the show,ond thot it concernshim.Trode
envelopes.The restishistory.

Of course,you could just hove on envelope,with corbon insideof it, ond

o sheet of poper.

When you go to moke out your 'first"prediction,you usethe envelopeos

o writing support.Sinceyou hove the firstprediction olreody wriftenout,
you directlystylusthroughto the insideof the envelope.

A TOUCHOF GLUEISPUTON THETIPOF THEPENCIL,

SO ITMAY SERVE
AS A SWLUSWRIIER.THEWRITING
ACTUALLYGOESONTOTHESECONDPAGE

'!-/nrÄ
fraAirz-r^-
,f*.l^-ü 4*

Or:

You ore seen to be holding 2 envelopes.You write out the 1stprediction,

ploce it into on envelope,ond hond it to the ossistont.
You ore seento
be holdingonother seoled envelope,which you stoteconcernsthe
freely chosen ossistont.

43
lD*i-llickr
You hove 2 envelcpesset up for the floplessenvelope switch.You hove
fhe "first"
predictionin the botiom envelope.Thistime you octuollycon
write out in more deioil whot the ossistont styluswork.
looks|ike.......,.no
You put the ossistont predictionin the top envelope,but olthoughit will
look likethot envelope,he octuollygetsthe one with the "torget"num-
ber, os he should.

Obviously,there ore mony other smollvoriotionson the theme you will

come up with. Justkeep the concept in mind. ond you'llcome up with o
woy thot fits you style.

Of course.ony reollygood force could be used insteodof the noil writing

method, but it isvery deceptive,hosmuch oppeol for me, ond mokes
sensein this context.

44
 lrri-llickr

LOGIOAL HEADLITB I)IIBDIOTIOS

BFFBOT: You stotethot you moiled o predictionthot will cover some
eventsin the news to o trustedperson,He is brought up on stoge ond
confirmsthot he hosthe prediction ond thot NO ONE HASTOUCHED lTlN
ANYWAY,SHAPEOR FORM.You olso siote thot someone else wos to go
ond buy todoy's newspoper.You osk thot the personwith the newspo-
per come up on stoge.You oskboth of them to verify thot they ore not
octing os stoogesetc.

You go on to explointhot you hod o dreom obout some eventsthot

would be oppeoring in todoy's news, but sinceyour don't hove control
over whot you dreom, sometimesyour visionsore o bit odd. You go on to
siote thot you rorelydreom obout importont events.ln foct, you'reglod
thot you don't dreom obout thingslikeoirplonecroshesor other
trogedies,but insteodyou ofien dreom obout weird ond unusuolhop-
penings!

Forexomple,you explointhot you hod o dreom obout o mon who re-

ceived o letter moiled 20 yeorsogo. You then open the poper ond show
on orticle obout suchon event. You then stote you olsodreomt obout o
mon who likesto collect gorboge cons,ond you olso show on orticle
obout him. And then you olsotell of o dreom concerning o weight los
progrom thot involvessomeone only eoting sordines.Of course,you
showthot orticle olso.

You now hove the predictionenvelope opened. All your predictionsore

correct!

(And the nice thing isthot you NEVER touch the prediction envelope of-
ter it is given to the trustee.lf it is opened before the show,it willstillcon-
t
toin the some predictions.)
g
s üIBTll|)D: Thisiso simplificotionof on old stondord by U. F.Gront. but
g
l've mode it much eosier,opened the possibilities
of humor,ond elimi-
problems of, 'if you knew thiswould hoppen, why didn't you
noted the
! do onything obout it?"

I Get o copy of the poper on the doy you ore going to moke out your
g predictions.Findthree items,on different poges,thot you feel willploy

2 Aq

I
Pni-li.ickn
well ond remove the pogesthot theseitemsore on ond sovethem.
Moke surethot there ore not ony other itemson these poges thot will
give owoy when they were wriften,On the doy of the show,buy o po-
per ond reploce the proper poges with the ones thot hove the orticles
you hove predicted.

Now you use o subtletyinvented by Dr. Joks.Beforethe show,go up to

someonein the oudience ond stote,"l hod someonego out ond buy ihis
newspoper,bui they hod to leove,so could you pleoseguord thispo-
per, ond when I osk for you to bringit on stoge,willyou do so? Becouse
of how thisis phrosed,people willossumeHEHADPERSONALLY BOUGHT
THEPAPER, but we know he didn't.

The restis oll presentotionl

Evenwithout the Dr. Jokstechnique, this ploysquite well, but it is o touch

thot reollyhelpshide the boldnessof whot you ore doing.

Whot l like,isthot you reollydon't hove ony "dirfy" work to do. Nothing is
switched,ond everythingoppeors totolly obove boord. lt'sthe presento-
tion thot mokesit seems"logicol".

46
 Psi-lI.iekr

$'ts s|)ttB FIIBB lsF|)llot^tTr|)t

ßFFIIOT: You know personolinformotionon people in your oudience
without ossistonts, or other stondord pre showtechniques.
impressions,

illBTlll)l): You let the oudience membersgive you personolinformo-

tion without knowing it.

You'veoll seenthoselittleboxesmorked 'Win o new cor .,.......u , thot

hove o pod of teqr off slipsthot ore to be filled out by those who wishto
win o free prize.Get o hold of one of the boxes,(not hord to do - mosi
merchontsdon't give o domn obout them), or moke up one of your
own. Thenmoke up your own slipsoskingthe stondordquestionslike:
Nome Address,PhoneNumber,Income ronge, Hobbiesetc. Theseques-
tionsolone shouldgive you some good informotionfor o Q & A segment
in your oct.

Justploce it in some innocentlookinglocotionos the people come in for

your show, ond then empty it out before you go on stoge.

NAME:
ADDRESS:

PROFESSION:
HOBBIES:
# OF CITILDREN

1
WIN A NEW CHEVY EXPLORER
:
JUSTFILL OUT
A FORM
AND WIN!

47
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THIIID lDBllSOS lDSl'OHOtlßTlll'

Findingwhich of severolenvelopesor contoinershos o torget objeci hid-
den in it is o time honored effect in Mentolism.l've come up with o cou-
ple of voriotionswhich I believewilloppeol to you, becouse of the truly
impossible test conditionsunderwhich they ore conducted.

BFFBOT: A womon from the oudience isoskedto come on stoge.

You oskher if you moy use her necklocefor on experiment.Holdingon
envelope,you qsk her for the neckloceond OPENLY drop it into the en-
velope ond seolit. Thenyou showfour other envelopes,which you mix
together with the one wiih the neckloce so thot she con't know which is
which.

You loy out the mixed up envelopesin q line ond osk o second personto
come up on stoge.Thispersonisto hold the womon'shond ond posshis
other hond over eoch of the envelopes,one of o time. He isto try ond
sensewhich of the envelopes hos her item in it. When one is settled on,
you pick up the rejected envelopesond hond them to different oudi-
ence membersexploiningthot they moy keep whotever isinsideif theml

You oskthe oudience membersto open their envelopesond see whot's

inside.

Eochfindso Sl.00bill,but no neckloce.

You then open the torget envelope ond dump out its contents into the
womon'shonds.lt is her neckloce!

SIBTII|)D: Although the conditionsore exfremelycleon, the method

isone you've probobly usedfor yeors. thumb tip.
.........o

The toughest port of the routineisspottingsomeone with o neckloce, or

brocelet etc., thot will fit into o thumb tip, which reollyisn'tollthot hord
to do.

Whileshe istoking off the neckloce, you open the envelope ond slide
the thumb tip insideof it. Holdingthe neckloce, it ison eosy motter to
'plocing it in the envelope'. The rest
lower it into the thumb tip os you ore
is olmostoll presentotion.When you open the chosen envelope,stort to

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 Irsi-l{.iekr
reoch in with your thumb ond firstfinger (leovingthe tip in ihe envelope),
but pretend it'stoo deep in the envelope, so "decide' to justpour it out
onto her honds.Cleon up whileshe disploysthe neckloce,

Thismoy seemtoo simple.but look of how cleon, ond impossible

the
whole procedure looks.

:t

4
3

E
a

t'.
::

e
t
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Pri-liicks

ULTTt|ilTB IISYOHOOI ßTIIY

I hope thot you likethisvoriotion.I mustodmit, I chuckledto myselffor
quite o while ofter I firstthought of this method!

BFFBOT: You osk o womon to come on stoge to porticipote in on ex-

periment in Psychometry.You hond out four envelopes to be exomined,
All ore thick ond opoque but ore perfectly normol.You turn your bock
ond she isto toke her neckloce ond seolit in ony one of the envelopes
thot she wishes.C/ou REALLY don't know into which envelope she ploces
the neckloce.)

The four envelopesore mixed up by the lody so thot no one knows

which envelope contoinsthe neckloce.

Thisisdone with your bock turned to the oction. üou reollydon't see
whot isgoing on.)

Withoutseeingwhot ishoppening,you oskher to hold her hond obove,

closeto but not touching one of the envelopes,Thenshe isto move to
the next envelope, ond so on. Youfinollydecide thot her hond isover
the proper envelope,You osk herto rememberwhich envelope her
hond wos over.

You turn oround,ond come overto the envelopes,ond then osk her
which one her hond wos over. You quicklysqueezethe other three en-
velopes,ond seemed pleosed thot they seem to be empty. With o sotis-
fied look,you pick up the "torget'envelope,teor it open, ond dump out
her necklocel

You hove her seol the neckloce in onother similorenvelope. You exploin
thot thistime, she will be the Psychic.You hove her stond off to the side,
so she con't see whot ishoppening,os you mix up the envelopes,ond
then loy them out os before.

She ends up choosingon envelope ond, when she opens it, it isthe one
thot contoinsthe neckloce!

You hove her seol it in onother envelope,ond explointhoi thistime,the

whole oudience will be the Psychics.
RN
 Irri-lliekr

You mix up the envelopes,ond ogoin loy them out in o line.You oskthe
oudience to closetheireyes,ond cleor theirminds.You oskthem to let o
number between I ond 4 come into theirminds.

You find out which of the four possibilities

wos the choice of the oudi-
ence by hovingthem roisetheir hondsif they thought of 1,2, 3, or 4,

The envelope of thot positionisopened, ond ogoin, it isthe one thot

contoinsthe neckloce, which you returnto its lovelyowner.

üIBTHOD: Thismethod hos much thot oppeolsto whot I like in Men-

tolism.lt is reollyonly suitoblefor o lorge crowd, but it con be done under
conditionsthot seem totollyimpossible.

Beforethe show,you go up to someonethot you feel willbe eosy going

ond interestedin porticipotingin o psychicexperiment.You explointhot
you ore going to wont her to come up on stoge ond thot you will ot-
tempt to try ond find on hidden object by use of your psychicpowers.
And if she will be so kind os to help,you hove o gift for her,thot she moy
keep. You pullout o 'gold"neckloce ond osk her to weor it so thot it will
pick up her 'vibrotions",You thonk her ond tell her to come up on stoge
when you osk.

Sincethe "gold"neckloce isoctuollycostumejewelry,youhove on exoct

duplicote looded in yourthumb tip. (tf you con offord to give out reol
gold, send some my woy!)

Phosel. Sinceyou hove o neckloce in yourtip, you con choose whot-

ever envelope you wish.When you "quicklysqueeze"the non chosen
envelopes,you will discover:

A. Which non chosen envelope it isin.

)
t B. Thotyou ore reolly psychic,ond you've picked the rightenvelope.

lf A, you then open the torget envelope,ond lood the tip, dumping out
the duplicote neckloce.Domn, mokesme chuckle!

lf B. Hove her open the envelope ond restroinyourself.

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lrni-llickr
Phose2. lf the obove wos A., when she reseolsthe duplicote neckloce in
o morkedenvelope,now 2 envelopeshove o neckloce in them. Thisol-
lowsyou o killermogicion'schoice.

You mix the envelopesthistime, so you know which envelopeshove

neckloces.

You exploin,for o beginner,o processof eliminotionoften worksbest.

-
You pick up 2 envelopes,one empty, one with o neckloce, ond osk if
shethinksthot the neckloce is in one of these 2 envelopes. lf she soys
yes,smileond soy, "OK, now you'llhove to eliminoteone, ond keep
one."

Roiseone envelope ond soy,this one, or (roisingthe second envelope)

*OK,
or thisone. lf she picksthe one with the neckloce smileond soy,
thot one gets eliminoted",ond eliminotethe lower one.

lf she picksthe empty one, you soy,"OK this isthe one you wont to elimi-
note", ond hond her the lower envelopeto open.

lf she soid no to the firsttwo envelopes,you justtossthose two envelopes

oside,ond pick up the remoiningtwo, ond continueos obove"

lf in Phoseone, you octuolly picked the envelope with the neckloce, this
time you justhove the lody stop you over onyone of the envelopes she
wishes.You then open it, ond lood the neckloce. Of course,if she picks
the right one, go buy o lotto ticket ofter the show!

Phose3. Agoin, there will most probobly be 2 envelopeswith neckloces.

When you mix them this time, you loy them out so thot they will be in the
2, ond 3 positions.

lf oskedto pick o number between I ond 4, most people will pick 3, ond
'l
o lot will pick 2......fewwill pick or4. Sinceyou've got o neckloce ot
both positionsyou're well covered.

ln the rore occosionswhen the choices ore correct in phoses I ond 2,

then just hove it in one of the middle positions,ond count from either the
left or right depending on the outcome you need.

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Of course,sinceyou would stillhove the looded tip on, you could olwoys
odd on extro phose, for exomple,with o personfrom the oudience.

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BüIEIIGBSOI' OIBSTALISTI
ThisisMUCHmore then juston effect - it'so concept thot isexfremely
flexibleond, on o technicol level,extremelyeosyto do. Evenif you'reto-
tolly unpreporedto perform, in o few minutesyou con be reody to per-
form on entireoct. Do lexoggerote?l?|2Reod on.......

BFFBOT: A while before you ore to stortto perform,severolpeople

help you hond out blonk piecesof cord boord (business cords,or blonk
businesscord stock is perfect) to o lorge omount of people in the oudi-
ence. On these cords they ore to write down severoltypes of informo-
tion, You moy oskfor thingslikeiheir initiols,o simpledrowing,o question
.|000,
they wishonswered, o number between I ond their fovorite food,
or onything elsethot fitsin with your styleof performing. After o few min-
utes,you osk someoneto collect,ond then mix up ollthe cords.You
then toke the cords ond hond them to someone who con be trustedfor
sofe keeping.

When it comes time to perform,you osk for the cordsto be brought up

on stoge.You then ploce them on o toble.

Oheseore merely EXAMPLES of whot you con do) You osk for someone
to pick up the top cord ond coll out the initiols.You osk thot personto
stond up ond you hond them o book. You osk them to open the book to
the poge thot motches the number they hqd writtendown, You success-
fullyreod their mind.

OR

You toke o cord from the stock, ond reod off the person'sselections.You
then slowlywolk through the oudience, ond successfully find the person
who filledout the cord.

OR

You hond on envelope to someone ond then oskthem to toke three

cords off the top of the stock.The numberson the three cordsore
odded up. You then hove the envelope opened - you've predicted the
totolexoctly.

tr^
 Irsi-llickr
CR

You osk someone from the oudience to concentrote on the drowino

they mode. You successfully
duplicote it.

OR

Hoveenough informotionto do o ClossicQ & A oct.

ANDMORE!

OIBTIIOD: As I soid before, on o TECHNICAL level, thisis E)CIREMELY

eosy,but it will toke o foir dose of performingsowy to moke it ploy.

Whot you need to performthistechnique is o bunch of businesscords,or

blonk cord stock, or onything else comporoble, ond o scissors, or
cord/poper cufter. Whot you ore going to moke is o modified stripper
deck with these cords,You'regoing to trim o bit off the long edge of oll
On the remoining10 - 20 cords,
but l0 to 20 cords os in the illusirotion.
you will trim the long edge on on ongle, like o stripperdeck. When
done, duringthe oction of o quick shuffleyou con stripout these l0 - 20
cords,ond get them to the top of the stock.You pencil mork,or noil nick
etc. these l0 - 20 cords olo PseudoPsychometry.

When it comes time to hond out the cords,you hond bunchesto severol
people to help you distributethem, but you retointhe STRIPPEDMARKED
cords.You hond these out to people who you will be oble to remember,

When the cords ore collected,you give them o 'quick cut" ond stripthe
torget cordsto the iop. lt shouldlook likeyou're just "fussing"with the
cords.Thensecretlypolm off o few, ond then hond the restof them to
someone for sofe keeping.

When you excuseyourselfto get reody (or the clossic,"where isyour

woshroom?"),you look of the cords ond decide whot informotionwill be
the best. Thinkobout it, you now know the selectionsof l0 - 20 of SPE-
CIFICpeople in the oudience, without onyone being the wiser!

(Forexomple, you see thot the third cord you honded out hos o picture
of o puppy. Since the cord wos morked ond you remember who you
llni-li.icks
honded the third cord to, you con do o pictureduplicotion.)

When you ore reody to perform,justpolm the cords you hove studied
ond ploced into on order you con remember,ond odd them to the
siockwhen they ore honded bock to you, Any technique for looding o
few cordsto the top of o deck of cords could work justfine.

Anothertouch, if your oudience islorge enough you con olsoodd o few

of your own "ringer"cords.As long os you hove o couple of effects (i.e.Q
ond A) where you don't hove to identifythe writer (l sensethe question
on thiscord is quite serious,so pleose don't identifyyourself),thiscon be
quite useful.

Also,if you ore coreful, you could hove o Morked Strippedcord on top
of eoch of the "bunches"thot you've honded to othersto help possout.
Rememberwho gets these,ond the method will be hidden thot much
more.

It's hord to put into words justhow flexiblethistechnique is.All kindsof

sneokytechniquescon be put to work here. Let your imoginotion go,
ond l'm sureyou'll come out with o lot of good usesfor this.

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NON. TARGET CARDS TARGETCARDSTRIMMED TARGETCARDSWAITING

TRIMMED AS ABOVE DECK
ALA STRIPPER OUT
TOBESTRIPPED

AA