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