E.S.P. - Getting Quite Convinced

[Abel Stable]

During my freshman year in college a man named Robert Channing came to “exhibit his well-developed talents in E.S.P, mind reading, mental telepathy, and other astonishing Mysteries Of The Mind." I went with a group of friends, not expecting anything very earthshaking, but I was literally blown away. It caught me totally off guard, and I don’t think I would have believed it if I weren’t sitting there watching it happen.

For starters, he put 2 quarters, then two poker chips over his eyes, covered them with electrical tape, then a playing card over each eye, a bandana, and finally a black blindfold- all wrapped in more electrical tape (really driving the “I can’t see” point home). So then he’d have random audience members stand up (I’d say the crowd was about 50-70 students, mostly freshmen) and pull a dollar bill out of their wallet- he’d proceed to read out the serial number on the bill. Did this about 5 times, along with identifying other contents of people’s pockets & purses.

Next everyone in the audience received a small piece of paper and wrote down: 1) Their Name, 2) Their Nickname, 3) A Number, 4) A Personal Event of Significance. They were put into a basket and brought up to him. Then he would pull out several at a time and rub them against the back of his head. Picture a man scooping water from a basin and scrubbing it into his hair- this is essentially what he was doing with the papers. It was very rapid and they flew all over the place. Then he’d start calling out names. This is the exchange:

Robert: Pat, Patrick?
(The Patricks of the audience stand up, me included)
Robert: Pat/Andy?
(as my eyes bugged out of my head, everyone else sits down. that was a nickname I had gotten the previous night at a party where people kept confusing me w/ my roommate, Andy)
Robert: Your number is…One thousand, seventeen? Ten Seventeen? Is it a date?
Me: Yeah, Oct 17th. (an old girlfriend’s birthday)
Robert: And you wrote something about a table that blew over? A table with an umbrella, on a deck or patio?
Me: Yes…(and I go on to explain that during a windstorm when I was 6 or so I watched a glass patio table sail off a neighbor’s deck & shatter about ten feet into the backyard- which had no real personal significance, but for some reason it was on my mind)

So he did this with at least 15 or 20 students, and he nailed every one. The show lasted about an hour and he did plenty of other things, but it would take too long to explain each one. Nonetheless, he was accurate in every instance. After the show, some students and me hung around and talked with him. This is another trick he did with me that, dammnit, I just can’t figure out! He held up his hands and said: “here is an invisible deck of cards, pick one and memorize it” (his hands are empty). I think of the Queen of Spades. Then he pulls a pack of cards from his pocket and hands it to me: “Open it up and look at the cards- all of them are facing front except for one.” Sure enough, the only card reversed was the Queen of Spades. (and a funny thing is, I was going to pick the Queen of Diamonds- since I had just watched The Manchurian Candidate- but for some reason went with Spades. In fact, it wasn’t until I saw the movie again that I realized my error)

Anyway, after that night I never blew off ESP again. There was definitely something going on- and I seriously doubt that it was a scam in any way. He was very vocal about a deal that was printed on the flyers: “If anyone can ever show proof that he has enlisted confederates to assist him in demonstrating his astounding mental powers, Robert Channing agrees to pay that person the sum of $100,000.” As I said before, if I had seen this on TV (or heard about it 2nd hand) I wouldn’t have necessarily believed it. However there’s no denying what I saw, and still it drives me crazy. That one night raised a million questions and, of course, none of them have yet been answered.

I’m curious if anyone else has seen him- he seems to do mostly colleges & conventions, although I haven’t encountered him since. So far that show has done more to convince me that there is some truth to ESP than anything else. It was eerie, but very exciting. My heart was racing afterwards. It wasn’t like the time I thought I saw a ghost, then learned about sleep paralysis. I haven’t been able to find any other possible explanation.

here's a promotional link (http://www.powerperformers.com/listings/view_speaker_info.cfm?PID=460) , i couldnt find any others.

[Principia]

So he did this with at least 15 or 20 students, and he nailed every one. The show lasted about an hour and he did plenty of other things, but it would take too long to explain each one. Nonetheless, he was accurate in every instance. After the show, some students and me hung around and talked with him. This is another trick he did with me that, dammnit, I just can’t figure out! He held up his hands and said: “here is an invisible deck of cards, pick one and memorize it” (his hands are empty). I think of the Queen of Spades. Then he pulls a pack of cards from his pocket and hands it to me: “Open it up and look at the cards- all of them are facing front except for one.” Sure enough, the only card reversed was the Queen of Spades. (and a funny thing is, I was going to pick the Queen of Diamonds- since I had just watched The Manchurian Candidate- but for some reason went with Spades. In fact, it wasn’t until I saw the movie again that I realized my error)
Interesting... because I did a google search on this guy, and came up with this anectode:
"He's so good! He's so good," shouted freshman Harish Manyam, while running down the Mudd Auditorium aisle Monday night. Ten minutes before Robert Channing, mentalist, arrived on stage, he gave Manyam a quick preview card trick. "He flips it over and it's the Queen of Spades,"Manyam finished after elaborating on every detail with frantic hand gestures. "How? How'd he do that?!"
http://www.jhu.edu/~newslett/10-23-97/Features/4.html
JHU ... your neck of the woods. Maybe QoS are popular card choices there ;)

[Pitshade]

He was very vocal about a deal that was printed on the flyers: “If anyone can ever show proof that he has enlisted confederates to assist him in demonstrating his astounding mental powers, Robert Channing agrees to pay that person the sum of $100,000.”

I'm sure James Randi would take him up on that.

Million dollar challenge! (http://www.randi.org/research/index.html)

[Abel Stable]

Maybe QoS are popular card choices there

That's interesting, but I still can't wrap my head around it. I thought maybe he could force the card, but how would he do it? Or does everyone just play a lot of Hearts?

I'm sure James Randi would take him up on that.

Somebody really needs to bring these people together.

[Principia]

That's interesting, but I still can't wrap my head around it. I thought maybe he could force the card, but how would he do it? Or does everyone just play a lot of Hearts? Did you tell him QoS before he pulled out the deck?

There are specialized decks (e.g. Brainwave) that do a similar trick.

What would be more impressive is if you call the card while you had the deck in hand.

[Abel Stable]

Did you tell him QoS before he pulled out the deck?

He said to think of a card but not to tell him, then pulled out the pack (from his jacket pocket) and told me to look through it. When I came upon the reversed QoS he asked, "Is that your card?"

The pack wasn't sealed, and the cards were all in order so they were easy to flip through. The whole trick probably took 30 seconds.

[Majestyk]

Originally posted by Pitshade
He was very vocal about a deal that was printed on the flyers: “If anyone can ever show proof that he has enlisted confederates to assist him in demonstrating his astounding mental powers, Robert Channing agrees to pay that person the sum of $100,000.” I gotta think that I guy doing card tricks in a high school auditorium doesn't have $100k laying around.

[echidna]

Abel, this is all pretty easy carnival stuff. Sorry to break the picture, but you were duped, if it's any consolation though, duped well.

The information on the piece of paper can be done several ways. Either a spotter watched you write your piece of paper, or the envelopes were switched & read out by an accomplice, communicated to him via concealed earpiece. Sad to say, but there's a reason he's never opted to be studied under laboratory conditions.

Trust me, I have 2 friends who are qualified conjurers and one of them specialises in Cold Reading. Heaps of fun, but don't take it too seriously.

Add : the evil skeptic would sign their name accross the envelope seal & then ask to see their unopened envelope at the end of the show. But don't do it, because that would spoil the show. Think about it, if he were truly psychic, then why bother needing to write it down ?

[braces_for_impact]

I have a friend who is sort of an amateur magician, and he can do some amazing things. One of them is pretty much get you to pick any card he wants. He doesn't say he actually has esp (in fact he's a Seventh Day Adventist and would literally consider that a tool of the devil) he admits it's a trick.

But he won't tell me how he does it. :mad:

Penn and Teller had a card trick once that showed you how to stack a deck so that the same card got picked, even though it seemed totally random. You (the magician) would then pick several wrong cards, and apparently give up. Then you would turn on the tv, and there would be Penn on the tv in what looked like a news broadcast, then Penn would be handed a card from off camera and it would be the one you 'forced' your victim, er volunteer to pick. It sounds similar and it looked really amazing.

For starters, he put 2 quarters, then two poker chips over his eyes, covered them with electrical tape, then a playing card over each eye, a bandana, and finally a black blindfold- all wrapped in more electrical tape (really driving the “I can’t see” point home). So then he’d have random audience members stand up (I’d say the crowd was about 50-70 students, mostly freshmen) and pull a dollar bill out of their wallet- he’d proceed to read out the serial number on the bill. Did this about 5 times, along with identifying other contents of people’s pockets & purses.


I've seen this one from a stage magician before (almost exactly).

I think a lot of people would be suprised what you can do with a little prep work and some slight of hand.

He was very vocal about a deal that was printed on the flyers: “If anyone can ever show proof that he has enlisted confederates to assist him in demonstrating his astounding mental powers, Robert Channing agrees to pay that person the sum of $100,000.”

This statement actually leaves a lot of wiggle room, in my opinion. For instance maybe he does not require confederates to perform his act.

So he did this with at least 15 or 20 students, and he nailed every one. The show lasted about an hour and he did plenty of other things, but it would take too long to explain each one. Nonetheless, he was accurate in every instance.

Cold reading perhaps?

[echidna]

Now the Queen of Spades trick, that might be a little more interesting since no slight of hand seems apparent. My Cold Reading friend once performed a session over dinner & a Chinese economist friend of my father's was absolutely entranced. At the end of the evening he took me aside & asked me to "assist". When questioned, I was to respond the 4 of Clubs which he would have "magically" anticipated. This was the "lead" & subconsiously planted a thinking. But then the real trick was to ask Guang to think of a card.

Both Guang's selected card & John's earlier predction as to his response were interesting, especially in the light of your story. The Queen of Spades !!! With the assistance of the "lead", John had "read" Guang to be of the psychology type to be prompted towards the Queen of Spades, as apparently are you.

True story, believe it or not !!

Add : I find this particularly fascinating because both Channing & John chose this same piece of Cold Reading for the end of their respectively successful performances. I remember John saying it was a bit risky, but worth a try.

[Principia]

The power of suggestion is actually a pretty good explanation, imo. Here's another classic that supposedly Channing performs once in a while: Pick any number between 1 and 10. Multiply it by 9. Add up the two digits that make up the answer. Subtract 5. Your answer will correspond with one of the following letters: 1 equals A, 2 equals B, 3 equals C, 4 equals D, 5 equals E and so on and so on. Take your letter and think of a country that begins with that letter. Take the last letter of that country and think of an animal that begins with that letter. Take the last letter of that animal and think of a color. Remember the three things that you came up with. Hypnotist/Mentalist Robert Channing warmed up the 120 or so people that crowded the Pavilion Friday, January 28th with this very question and by the end of the night, everyone was amazed at what he could do. Bending spoons with his mind, predicting the amount of change in someone's pocket, and revealing personal information that, otherwise, would not have been known to anyone were just some of the ways in which Channing blew his audience away. How does he do it? It's a mystery.
http://home.moravian.edu/students/org/comenian/archive/020900/Features1.htm
So how many of you would pick, Djibouti, iguana, and amber? ;)

[Celsus]

Originally posted by Principia
So how many of you would pick, Djibouti, iguana, and amber? ;)
I dunno, but I got Dominica, Aardwolf and I couldn't think of any colours starting with "f." Then I changed my answer to Aardvark (duh) and couldn't think of a colour starting with "k." These tests are hard. :(

[dublczek]

Did he shake your hand before the QOS event? In other words, were you involved in any one-step behavior before the event occurred? Did you sneeze? Since one-step behavior, by definition, has no 'middle' or 'other steps' to it, a competent hypnotist can introduce ideas into your head without you even being aware of it.

[NialScorva]

Originally posted by Principia
The power of suggestion is actually a pretty good explanation, imo. Here's another classic that supposedly Channing performs once in a while:
So how many of you would pick, Djibouti, iguana, and amber? ;)

I got Denmark, koala, amber! Must be magic. ;)

Think it was Penn who said that when you see a trick with volunteers, they're *always* in on it unless you can prove otherwise. That might have just been for stage and television, though.

[Abel Stable]

Originally posted by echidna:
The information on the piece of paper can be done several ways. Either a spotter watched you write your piece of paper, or the envelopes were switched & read out by an accomplice, communicated to him via concealed earpiece.


There's definitely a possibility that an earpiece or something was concealed under the blindfold (which was pretty big). I know the papers weren't switched though, because I rummaged through them after the show (they were still on the ground at the head of the room, there wasn't a stage) until I found mine, since I have an impulsive need to save things.

I don't think I'll be satisfied until I see him again, videotape it, go through all his props, and try my honest best to sabotage him. I'd like to try his card trick on him. Hand him a deck of cards and ask him to identify the reversed one before he opens it.


Originally posted by dublczek:
Did he shake your hand before the QOS event? In other words, were you involved in any one-step behavior before the event occurred? Did you sneeze?

I don't remember shaking his hand or anything, but I may have, and probably did. He also did a key bending trick there, where he held it between his thumb & forefinger and it slowly bent into a V. I know this was like Uri Geller's exposed tricks, but it was surprising when a friend couldn't even bend the key back using both hands, & neither could I.

I really wish somebody would investigate this guy a little more. In fact, I'd be far less impressed if it was geniune ESP- I find sleight of hand & so on facinating. I know I've seen the "pick a country, animal, & color trick before"- so if he's really psychic at all, then why throw in something so standard? But like I said, I need to see him again & be more aware of my surroundings, since the memory of the first show is fading.

[nogods4me]

Any magicians here? I did a quick google and according to a couple cources Channing uses something called a "Thumbwriter" to acheive his "psychic" powers.
Here is a link (http://www.leirpoll.com/thumbwriter.htm) that shows the device , but gives no explanation on its uses.

[Salmon of Doubt]

Over here there's a TV show called Derren Brown mind control, (don't know if you get it in the US) where the guy manipulates people into thinking about what he wants them to, and then tells them what it is they're thinking about. He's very good, and he doesn't try and trick people into thinking it's magic of ESP, he tells them that it's just his skill at manipulation that does it. Personally, I enjoy his shows more for the fact that he's honest about how he does it all.

[Tharmas]

I read a book many years ago that described methods that magicians use for just this kind of “psychic” reading that pointed at the blindfolding technique.

It’s apparently fairly easy to prepare a seemingly elaborate blindfold that in fact leaves a gap over the bridge of your nose so that you can squint down along side your nose and actually see a lot. As long as the first thing you put over your eyes (poker chip, quarter, whatever) includes this gap with the bridge of your nose, all the wrapping that comes after just serves to make it look more impressive but actually adds nothing. Then it’s all just acting and theatrics.

According to this book it’s not even all that easy to blindfold somebody else if they know what they’re doing so even a volunteer from the audience could be tricked into applying a poorly fitting blindfold.

So the question is, who applied the blindfold? Unless it was somebody that really knew what they were doing, the chances were pretty good that your “psychic” could see pretty well (in a normal way) throughout the performance.

[Abel Stable]

Yes, it was an audience member that put on the blindfold. I'd like to see him bring along some opaque contact lenses, too. Even if he could see, I don't think it would be much assistance in most of his tricks.

[dublczek]

I do a few card tricks which I use at parties. They come off almost always as appearing psychic. The truth is, I know the answer before I ask the question. I simply supply a pool of answers all presupposing the same answer. For example: will you read this post now or will you read it later? The supposition is that you will read this post. Stage magic may then be defined as a method for asking questions in such a way that results in answers a magician can accurately predict.

[Pyrrho]

Originally posted by Abel Stable
During my freshman year in college a man named Robert Channing came to “exhibit his well-developed talents in E.S.P, mind reading, mental telepathy, and other astonishing Mysteries Of The Mind." I went with a group of friends, not expecting anything very earthshaking, but I was literally blown away. It caught me totally off guard, and I don’t think I would have believed it if I weren’t sitting there watching it happen.

For starters, he put 2 quarters, then two poker chips over his eyes, covered them with electrical tape, then a playing card over each eye, a bandana, and finally a black blindfold- all wrapped in more electrical tape (really driving the “I can’t see” point home). So then he’d have random audience members stand up (I’d say the crowd was about 50-70 students, mostly freshmen) and pull a dollar bill out of their wallet- he’d proceed to read out the serial number on the bill. Did this about 5 times, along with identifying other contents of people’s pockets & purses.

Next everyone in the audience received a small piece of paper and wrote down: 1) Their Name, 2) Their Nickname, 3) A Number, 4) A Personal Event of Significance. They were put into a basket and brought up to him. Then he would pull out several at a time and rub them against the back of his head. Picture a man scooping water from a basin and scrubbing it into his hair- this is essentially what he was doing with the papers. It was very rapid and they flew all over the place. Then he’d start calling out names. This is the exchange:

The first and, really, the only important thing to say, is that you must study magic tricks in order to be able to judge such things. There are many amazing tricks that people can do, and they prove only that it is easy to deceive people. Ever see the trick of sawing a lady in half? If so, do you now believe it is possible for someone to actually cut a lady in half, and through supernatural power, put her back together again? If you imagine that what you saw was enough to "prove" that ESP is real, then, if you are consistent, you should, if you have seen the saw the lady in half trick, believe that someone can use supernatural powers to cut a person in half and put them back together again. After all, isn't that what you "saw with your own eyes"? Again, if you are interested in judging such things, study magic tricks.

However, I have a couple of questions about this calling out of the lists of various people in the audience. Was he still wearing his blindfold? Did he ever hold the pages in front of his face, either before or after calling out the stuff on the list?

As for him doing things rapidly, it is easier to cheat without someone noticing if one works fast. If he leisurely did things, then you have more time to see what he is doing, though you still would have to know what to look for. I remember helping a magician with his act, and he was so careless, I saw the trick from the back of the room, and I felt sure that someone else would see the cheat (especially since they were all closer than I was, and some very close to him), but no one did. And this guy pretended to have supernatural powers at colleges, and when we was done with his tricks (he also did stuff for about an hour), he always asked how many believed that he had done at least one supernatural thing, and even when he performed poorly, he got most of the students saying that they believed him (ALWAYS over 60%). When he was good, he got over 90% believing him. Then, he would reveal that it had been a hoax, and that he had just done a bunch of tricks! He then would explain how a few of the tricks had been done, but always refused to tell the students how all of the tricks had been done (this is because, when one does not know how something is done, one should learn to suspend judgment rather than jump to some conclusion, as most people do, committing the fallacy known as Argumentum ad ignorantiam (http://www.infidels.org/news/atheism/logic.html#ignorantiam) ).

Unfortunately, many are too stupid to learn from such an experience. First, some continued to believe he had done something supernatural even when he just told them it had all been tricks, and had even explained how some of the tricks were done!!!!! And with one class that he did this, later in the same semester, for the same class, I saw a student put on a show in which he claimed to be communicating with the spirit of some ancient dead guy (from an imaginary place!), by "going into a trance" (really, just shaking and groaning), and he suckered a significant percentage of the students! And he had never done this before! I guess they couldn't remember getting suckered earlier in the semester!!!

I believe it was P.T. Barnum who said that there is a sucker born every minute, but I know the birthrate is higher than that!


One last point, if Robert Channing really could read minds or papers without looking at the front of the pages, he could make a lot more money gambling in Vegas than he made at your school, so I think we can safely say he must be cheating (or is extremely stupid to not do what would be far more profitable). Think of how well he could play poker, for example, if he could really know what cards people had through ESP. But if he were cheating in Vegas, he would probably get caught, and things would be very bad for him. So if he is cheating, that would explain why he is not making a fortune in Vegas.

[Abel Stable]

Originally posted by Pyrrho
However, I have a couple of questions about this calling out of the lists of various people in the audience. Was he still wearing his blindfold? Did he ever hold the pages in front of his face, either before or after calling out the stuff on the list?
He wore the blindfold throughout the entire show. He never held onto the papers for more than a few seconds & never in front of his face, as far as I could tell. Most of them floated to the ground after he rubbed them on the back of his head. It's possible he could read them on the floor (looking down the bridge of his nose)...but that wouldn't help him read the serial numbers off of dollar bills 15 feet away in the audience.


Originally posted by Pyrrho
One last point, if Robert Channing really could read minds or papers without looking at the front of the pages, he could make a lot more money gambling in Vegas
He did mention being banned at casinos- and that he's won the lottery a few times. Whether or not thats true, I don't know.

I didn't take the performance to be definite proof for ESP. Plus, sawing a person in half is a completely different illusion, unlike anything this guy was doing. I've since learned more about Cold Reading, but that can't explain all his tricks, at least as far as I know. I'm still on the fence regarding ESP, but that's a less compelling thread title. After poking around James Randi's site (http://www.randi.org) , I might email him in hopes of an explanation or two. Either way, Channing put on one hell of an impresive show, authentic or not.

[echidna]

Originally posted by Abel Stable
There's definitely a possibility that an earpiece or something was concealed under the blindfold (which was pretty big). I know the papers weren't switched though, because I rummaged through them after the show (they were still on the ground at the head of the room, there wasn't a stage) until I found mine, since I have an impulsive need to save things.

I don't think I'll be satisfied until I see him again, videotape it, go through all his props, and try my honest best to sabotage him. I'd like to try his card trick on him. Hand him a deck of cards and ask him to identify the reversed one before he opens it. Don't underestimate the professionalism of these performers. Can you be quite sure that your envelope was not tampered with ? The trick does not end with their performance & just as likely the envelopes were switched & then replaced on the floor.

FWIW, I wouldn't automatically set out to expose him. It somewhat depends in what spirit he performs (no pun intended). An outright charletan like John Edwards desperately needs to be exposed, but if Channing is performing just in the spirit of harmless fun, then why spoil his show ? I think a degree of audience courtesy is sometimes appropriate. Try to work it out, but maybe without spoiling it. Originally posted by Abel Stable
He did mention being banned at casinos- and that he's won the lottery a few times. Whether or not thats true, I don't know. My friend John is a self-professed card counter & providing he doesn't get spotted, manages to do well enough at Blackjack. He's an exceptionally intelligent Uniting Church minister on top of everything & after his last dabble in Vegas, reports to have donated the proceedings to the local charity. He's quite a character.

[Abel Stable]

Originally posted by echidna:
An outright charletan like John Edwards desperately needs to be exposed, but if Channing is performing just in the spirit of harmless fun, then why spoil his show ? I think a degree of audience courtesy is sometimes appropriate. Try to work it out, but maybe without spoiling it.
I agree, Channing presented himself as an entertainer, and didn't dish out medical advice like Sylvia Browne or play around with mourning callers like John Edwards (I'm glad he never mentioned talking to dead people). I'd only want to satisfy my curiosity, and if I had the chance to approach him, then I'd prefer to keep it private. He was a nice guy, and not smug or arrogant like those aforementioned TV personalities.

[Abel Stable]

Originally posted by echidna:
Can you be quite sure that your envelope was not tampered with ? The trick does not end with their performance & just as likely the envelopes were switched & then replaced on the floor.

This is another reason why I want to see him again, to be sure that my memories are accurate. Here was the setting, to be more specific: It was a large reception hall with no stage (if anyone has been to Fordham’s Lincoln Center campus, its on the top floor of the academic building). The chairs were arranged in a semi-circle around a small area that Channing performed in. Behind him was a row of large windows & beside him sat a table. The lights remained up for the duration of the show. I was about four rows from the front and had a pretty good view- there weren’t any stage hands who assisted him (except for the volunteer that blindfolded him & a student who gathered the papers in a basket and brought them to the front). When the show concluded, most people filtered out, while some of us walked right up to the front to talk w/ him. I don’t think the papers were touched between the time of his act & the end.

[RBH]

Abel wrote Next everyone in the audience received a small piece of paper and wrote down: 1) Their Name, 2) Their Nickname, 3) A Number, 4) A Personal Event of Significance. They were put into a basket and brought up to him. Then he would pull out several at a time and rub them against the back of his head. Picture a man scooping water from a basin and scrubbing it into his hair- this is essentially what he was doing with the papers. It was very rapid and they flew all over the place. Then he'd start calling out names. This is the exchange: This is a variant of the old spiritualist technique called billet reading. Back in the early '60s I watched a very good billet reader at a little spiritualist church in Portsmouth, Virginia, do it, and he did it well. He also did a great materialization seance. Unfortunately for him, after the main lights were doused I slewed my chair over so the ectoplasm-shrouded spirits had to pass between me and a very dim light source. Interestingly, all the spirits (they meandered in and out one at a time) had solid silhouettes, and even more interesting, all their silhouettes were very similar under that gauze. :)

For four measly bucks you can get an e-book on how to do billet reading here. (http://www.lybrary.com/index.html?goto=books/25_Mind_Reading_Secrets.html) For a mere 20 Brit Pounds, you can get a 3-C D set (Jinx) (http://http://www.moltengold.com/cgi-bin/eBzget4A.pl?shop=1051Davenport&trolley=6996211749&page=http://www.davenportsmagic.co.uk/page_new_items.htm) that demonstrates billet reading, among other mentalist illusions.

The simplest way to do billet reading (granting a faulty blindfold) is the "one-ahead" procedure. It's not clear from your description whether Channing was using that, though there was apparently sufficient motion, confusion, and speed in the act to do it quite easily.

RBH

Added in edit: Here (http://www.misdirections.com/mental.html) are some great mentalist books, including one on billet reading:HOW TO READ SEALED MESSAGES by Robert Nelson
This comprehensive book on sealed billet reading deals with practically all the known methods actually employed by magicians and mediums. It is divided into two sections which deal with the methods and devices used exclusively for private and stage presentations. Sixteen methods are described in detail for private work. These methods are adaptable for magician's programs. Eighteen methods are explained for public presentations, suitable for stage, club and banquet shows. A wide variety of methods and routines are given, so that the performer can demonstrate the apparent miracles under the most adverse conditions.
$ 15.00

[Pyrrho]

NBC is showing a program called "Psychic Secrets Revealed" in the U.S. (I believe on Wednesday, April 23 in most markets). Since it has not been broadcast yet, I obviously cannot tell you whether it will be any good or not, but it is only an hour of your life, and it is easy to watch TV. Of course, it is extremely likely that they will discuss different tricks than the ones you witnessed, but it may be enlightening nevertheless.

You might also want to pay attention to "Nova" repeats on PBS, as they have had a couple of shows exposing similar bunk. Or you can buy old episodes, if you wish.

[Starboy]

Originally posted by Abel Stable
For starters, he put 2 quarters, then two poker chips over his eyes, covered them with electrical tape, then a playing card over each eye, a bandana, and finally a black blindfold- all wrapped in more electrical tape (really driving the “I can’t see” point home). So then he’d have random audience members stand up (I’d say the crowd was about 50-70 students, mostly freshmen) and pull a dollar bill out of their wallet- he’d proceed to read out the serial number on the bill. Did this about 5 times, along with identifying other contents of people’s pockets & purses.


I'm no illusionist, but if people have to pay to get in wouldn't it be possible to spot folks that are using their last bill to pay for admission. If you gave them change with serial numbers you had memorized in advance and then picked those people from the audience it might look amazing to the gullible. Also at the ticket booth you could spy the contents of pockets and purses as well. Heck you could learn all sorts of things about the audience by hanging around while they paid for admission, waited in the lobby and sat in their seats for the show to begin.

The rest of it sounds like garden variety magic. The difference between a clairvoyant and a magician is that one is an entertainer and the other is a fraud.

Starboy

[Abel Stable]

Originally posted by Starboy:
I'm no illusionist, but if people have to pay to get in wouldn't it be possible to spot folks that are using their last bill to pay for admission. If you gave them change with serial numbers you had memorized in advance and then picked those people from the audience it might look amazing to the gullible
That would be clever (if not a bit complicated) but it was a free event- y'know, to keep us students off the mean streets. We just had to show our student ID.

[Starboy]

Originally posted by Abel Stable
That would be clever (if not a bit complicated) but it was a free event- y'know, to keep us students off the mean streets. We just had to show our student ID.

That still doesn't rule out planting bills. There might be a pickpocket in the audience. They may have made change for a confederate, they may have bought something at a concession stand, and they may be plants. The problem with this line of questioning is there are two possible explanations, trickery or ESP, and unless we are willing to make the effort to test the ESP claim then even if I could come up with an explanation that fit the events but relied on trickery it doesn't rule out ESP. It is most likely to be trickery since no one else has stood up to a scientifically conducted test of ESP and why should this fellow be any different.

Starboy

[Slex]

Hmm, if a person doing this can surprise you, then how about a machine. Check out this site: Cave of Magic (http://www.caveofmagic.com/). It says that I have to say my card aloud, because it is very important. I tried telling it in English, telling it in Bulgarian, staying silent, but it always makes a correct guess about my choice. I have no explanation how it is done (unlike some of the other games (http://www.simeonmagic.com/) by the same guy, e.g. travel telepathy - I am not completely sure how it works, but I think that at least I have a clue about it, and if they use a pattern in one of their tricks, it is very likely that they have a pattern for their other tricks, too. It just makes no sense if they have ESP abilities to use sometimes certain mathematical (or any other naturalistic) patterns for the tricks, and sometimes their ESP abilities).

[Darkblade]

I was also surprised by Cave of Magic "guessing" my card correctly, but then I thought that it was probably switching the five remaining cards so your card couldn't be in there. I tested this, and I was right; it relies on you not focusing on any card but the one you pick, then assuming it doesn't switch all the cards.

Here's the cards it uses (at least what I saw):

Before | After (S=Spades, H=Hearts, D=Diamonds, C=Clubs)
King SH | King DC
Queen DC | Queen SH
Jack DC | Jack H

As you can see, it can not fail to remove your card, because it removes all the starting cards. It just looks the same when you don't focus on all of the cards because they have the same ranks and colors.

[Slex]

Originally posted by Darkblade
I was also surprised by Cave of Magic "guessing" my card correctly, but then I thought that it was probably switching the five remaining cards so your card couldn't be in there. I tested this, and I was right; it relies on you not focusing on any card but the one you pick, then assuming it doesn't switch all the cards.

Here's the cards it uses (at least what I saw):

Before | After (S=Spades, H=Hearts, D=Diamonds, C=Clubs)
King SH | King DC
Queen DC | Queen SH
Jack DC | Jack H

As you can see, it can not fail to remove your card, because it removes all the starting cards. It just looks the same when you don't focus on all of the cards because they have the same ranks and colors.

Hmm, I guess my comparison doesn't count then...

[Abel Stable]

That Cave of Magic trick is almost exactly the same as Clifford Pickover's ESP Experiment (http://sprott.physics.wisc.edu/pickover/esp.html), which I came across last summer. I wonder which came first. There are a lot of other interesting puzzles and articles on his page, too. Here's a link. (http://sprott.physics.wisc.edu/pickover/home.htm)

[Hatchet]

Hi Abel,

I wouldn't be too convinced about ESP being involved in this show. I saw Marc Salem perform the exact same tricks as you have described when he was performing at the Sydney Opera House. (and I mean exactly the same tricks). He freely admits it's a trick. It's an excellent show if anyone gets the chance to see it.

I've got no idea how it's done and like you I was totally amazed!

http://www.marcsalem.com/ Marc Salem's Mind Games (http://www.marcsalem.com/)

- Hatchet

[Slex]

I remember reading about a guy who does similar stuff. It was probably half an year ago or sth. He has a website, but I couldn't find it. There was a link to it either from skepdic.com or randi.org back then - this guy had a show at one UK TV for about a month or sth and he was very successful in mind reading and all the rest - he could also predict newspaper headlines (with absolute clarity - word order, etc., not just the topic), delete floppy disks from a distance... So, in his last show, he comes out and says that he has no psychic abilities, but the majority of his audience refuses to believe him. Anyway, if anyone else knows who I am talking about, just post the link to this guy's website.
Searching for him however, I found other sites of interest:

The first one is Gary Kurtz (http://www.garykurtz.com/ahtml/home.html) . He can do the trick with the banknotes serial numbers. He doesn't say outright that he is a skeptic or sth., but he doesn't consider himself a psychic neither. I personally think that he just wants to keep mystery surrounding him, otherwise it would take away partially the charm of his show. Here is how he defines himself according to a reporter:

Gary Kurtz is a mentalist. What's a mentalist, you ask? "It's like a math genius who doesn't understand why he's good at math," he told me with a chuckle, with his slight English accent. "But to give you a better idea: He's someone who uses his five senses in a way that gives the impression that he has a sixth."

Kurtz believes in the sixth sense. "Some people call it paranormal, but that's a scary word. It's too dark, too frightening. People who know me see me as something of an eccentric, someone with a sense of humour. Let's just label me of as an idiot savant without the idiot."

And here is another one - Rex Sikes (http://www.amazingrex.com/homepage.htm) . While he doesn't do exactly the same things, at least they are smiliar. More importantly, this is what his website says:
" No information is ever given Rex before the show yet, he reads the thoughts and minds of you and your guests. How? Any one could learn to do it with the right experience and proper training. It's all in learning how to use your brain in new ways---ways which Rex will demonstrate through his unique Motivational Mind Reading show!"

And you should also see
Banachek (http://www.banachek.org/). He can do similar things and even has a page, exposing John Edwards, James Van Praag and Peter Popoff.

[MrFrosty]

I see that a fellow UK resident has already mentioned Derren Brown. Here is a link (http://derrenbrown.150m.com/) for those who are interested. There is also a section (http://www.geocities.com/derren_brown/archive/psychology_source/index.html/) covering different techniques he employs.

I sincerely hope that Channel 4 UK export this show to the States. I get tired of the David Blane BS and IMO Derren Brown has more class and is more upfront / honest about what he does. His setups and primers are usu. very obvious once you have become accustomed to watching the shows but they are entertaining to watch nonetheless.

[Worldtraveller]

Originally posted by Slex
Hmm, if a person doing this can surprise you, then how about a machine. Check out this site: Cave of Magic (http://www.caveofmagic.com/). It says that I have to say my card aloud, because it is very important. I tried telling it in English, telling it in Bulgarian, staying silent, but it always makes a correct guess about my choice. I have no explanation how it is done (unlike some of the other games (http://www.simeonmagic.com/) by the same guy, e.g. travel telepathy - I am not completely sure how it works, but I think that at least I have a clue about it, and if they use a pattern in one of their tricks, it is very likely that they have a pattern for their other tricks, too. It just makes no sense if they have ESP abilities to use sometimes certain mathematical (or any other naturalistic) patterns for the tricks, and sometimes their ESP abilities).
HAHAHA...that is one of the oldest ones in the ...web?
The trick there is to get you to focus on your one card! Instead, look or write down all the cards. You will notice they ALL change!
Not really a trick....

[Worldtraveller]

So he did this with at least 15 or 20 students, and he nailed every one. The show lasted about an hour and he did plenty of other things, but it would take too long to explain each one. Nonetheless, he was accurate in every instance. After the show, some students and me hung around and talked with him. This is another trick he did with me that, dammnit, I just can’t figure out! He held up his hands and said: “here is an invisible deck of cards, pick one and memorize it” (his hands are empty). I think of the Queen of Spades. Then he pulls a pack of cards from his pocket and hands it to me: “Open it up and look at the cards- all of them are facing front except for one.” Sure enough, the only card reversed was the Queen of Spades. (and a funny thing is, I was going to pick the Queen of Diamonds- since I had just watched The Manchurian Candidate- but for some reason went with Spades. In fact, it wasn’t until I saw the movie again that I realized my error)
This is an old trick too. It doesn't rely on accomplices. I have seen it done by street magicians cold.
Actually, there is a magic shop in New Orleans where you can buy the secret. They sell by the trick, ranging from $15 up to about $45, depending on the trick, and that was one of them.
I was tempted.....

[Dale Merlin]

Apologies for jumping in here, but I have to try to eliminate some confusion that has become one of my pet peeves:

John EDWARDS is a US Senator from my native state of NC.

John EDWARD (no S) is a "medium" who claims to communicate with the departed.

Pass it on. :)

[tensorproduct]

So does anyone know how the spoon-bending of Uri Gellar fame is done? I've never heard a good explanation for that trick.

[Philosoft]

Originally posted by tensorproduct
So does anyone know how the spoon-bending of Uri Gellar fame is done? I've never heard a good explanation for that trick.
James Randi can do it. I'm not sure if he has ever explained how he does it, though I'm inclined to accept Randi's assertion that it's a trick.

[Pyrrho]

Originally posted by tensorproduct
So does anyone know how the spoon-bending of Uri Gellar fame is done? I've never heard a good explanation for that trick.

There are many different methods for doing such tricks, and different presentations of the trick make different methods appropriate. I have seen a magician do several spoon bendings, one right after the other, and he uses different methods and different presentations for each time he bends another spoon (or set of spoons). Usually, the first one is previously bent to the point that it is ready to break, and after he does the first one, he allows people to look at the next spoon (or spoons) that he will bend, so they can see that the others have not been tampered with. They then tend to assume that the first one was not previously tampered with, but that is a bad assumption. And later on, since they were able to examine every other spoon before it is bent, they tend to misremember and believe they examined every spoon, instead of every spoon after the first one.

Of course, there is also the possibility that he may do a switch after someone looks at a spoon, so that they believe that he bends the spoon that they examined, but that may not always be the case.

For at least one of the tricks that the magician I know did, after people examine the spoon to see that it is genuine and has not been tampered with, he simply bends the spoon quickly with his thumb while he is moving his hand, and even though he bends it in front of everyone's eyes, they don't notice it because he is moving is arm; a big movement usually hides a small movement. The handle, being in his hand, is not seen, so no one knows that it is then bent. The bend is slowly revealed, so people imagine it is bending later, though it is already completely bent at that point.

I suggest doing a search for "spoon bending" and "magic", and you may wish to take a visit to a magic shop in your area that sells tricks. And you might want to get a book written by Randi about Geller; I believe he exposes many of Geller's tricks in it:


http://www.randi.org/shopping/index.html#books

If anyone could really bend a spoon with the power of their mind alone, they would never need to have it in their hand at all (and I don't mean in their hand at the moment it appears to be bending; I mean they would NEVER need to have touched it). This is something people often forget. Also, they bring their own spoons to bend (as well as other props), as the type that one uses matters a great deal (not to mention that some of them can be specially prepared if one brings one's own spoons). Usually, cheap spoons are used, rather than strong, high quality ones. This is because it is easier to bend a cheap spoon with your hand than a well made one.

[Enai]

Originally posted by tensorproduct
So does anyone know how the spoon-bending of Uri Gellar fame is done? I've never heard a good explanation for that trick.

In the words of The Amazing Randi himself:
"I always did it (bending) when nobody looked."

I'd wager that means: distract the audience and then bend the spoon. Make a big noise about bended spoon afterwards, so they notice.

Besides, none of the "psychic spoon benders" has ever been able to bend a spoon when the upper surface was blackened over a candle to leave a fingerprint if the claimant touched the spoon to bend it. Go figure.

If you want to know more, read for instance Flim-Flam! by James Randi. Or go here (http://www.randi.org) for Randi is very much alive and kicking scammer's butts!

Enai

[Boro Nut]

II have done mind reading myself on occasion, to amaze the kids. My favourite way (I have others) is to get them to tell me questions I couldn't possibly know their answers to, and getting them to think of those answers. I then write down the answers on a small piece of paper as they are thinking.

I then fold the paper and get them to hold it tightly. I then repeat the questions and write down their real answers when they tell me, around the edge of a large piece of paper. I then place this large paper on the table and taking the folded paper from them, show them how to circle this answer sheet before dropping the folded piece when they feel the time is right. It falls or points toward one side or another. I give it back to them and they do it for themselves. This selects three of the six answers. They unfold the paper, and there, in my handwriting, are their exact three answers. I never fail. Everyone is amazed, including me.

Basically, I was born with the special power to write nothing on the first small piece of paper I fold and give to them, and using my psychic abilities, I am somehow able to write those answers they later give me on an identical pre-folded piece of paper, at the same time as I am writing them on the large sheet. using my ESP I am able to secretly palm this.

My spirit guide then takes over my body and switches the folded pieces when I take the first one back off them for the demonstration of how to drop it over the written answers. He/she/it gives the second folded piece with their answers on it back to them. Bythe powers invested in me, the position of the fallen paper determines which three answers are rejected. I somehow just seem to know if being closer to one side means these are the correct or wrong answers. I am at a loss to explain how this works. Perhaps it's a gift.

The way I would do the stage trick is to pocket and memorise the papers as they are handed in by my helpers. I would then plunge my hand into the basket and pull out the ones I was already holding. The only way I could be impressed is if I wrote, folded, and held the paper myself, and he read it to me from the stage. Then I would believe I had been spied on. Anyone else would just be a stooge as far as I was concerned. There is no such thing as magic. There is a natural explanation for absolutely everything.

Boro Nut

[Boro Nut]

So does anyone know how the spoon-bending of Uri Gellar fame is done? I've never heard a good explanation for that trick.

It is a god-given paranormal ability occasionally afforded to ex stage magicians like Uri. Only failed stage magicians like Uri are especially qualified to identify it as a true paranormal ability. If it was just the trick of a former stage magician (failed), who better than a failed stage magician like Uri to recognise it as such, and not the genuine successful talk show paranormal ability that it really is?

Boro Nut

[MagicBrowser]

The power of suggestion is actually a pretty good explanation, imo. Here's another classic that supposedly Channing performs once in a while:
So how many of you would pick, Djibouti, iguana, and amber? ;)

Dominican Republic, cockroach, heliotrope, can't see how anyone could get anything else :huh:

[BioBeing]

Alright, who resurrected a 2 year old thread?

<glares at Boro Nut>

I think if any current users want to discuss this, they can start a new thread.

BioBeing,
S&S Moderator