Mentalism

This article is about the performing art. For other uses,

see Mentalism (disambiguation).
Mentalist redirects here. For the TV show, see The
Mentalist. For other uses, see Mentalist (disambiguation).
Mentalism is a performing art in which its practi-

acles can be found in works by the ancient Greeks and

in the Old Testament of the Bible. Among magicians,
the mentalism performance generally cited as one of the
earliest on record was by diplomat and pioneering sleightof-hand magician Girolamo Scotto in 1572. The performance of mentalism may utilize these principles along
with sleights, feints, misdirection and other skills of street
or stage magic.[2]

2 Performance approaches
Styles of presentation can vary greatly. Traditional performers such as Dunninger and Annemann attributed
their results to supernatural or psychic skills.
Some contemporary performers, including Banachek and
Derren Brown, attribute their results to natural skills, such
as the ability to read body language or to manipulate the
subject subliminally through psychological suggestion.
Others, including Chan Canasta and David Berglas would
make no specic claims but leave it up to the audience to
decide.
Contemporary mentalists often take their shows onto the
streets and perform tricks to a live, unsuspecting audience. They do this by approaching random members of
the public and ask to demonstrate their supernatural powers. Performers such as Derren Brown who often adopt
this method of performance tell their audience before the
trick starts that everything they see is an illusion and that
they are not really having their mind read. This has been
the cause of a lot of controversy in the sphere of magic as
some mentalists want their audience to believe that this
type of magic is 'real' whilst others think that it is morally
wrong to lie to a spectator.[3]

Theatrical poster for a mind-reading performance, 1900

tioners, known as mentalists, appear to demonstrate

highly developed mental or intuitive abilities. Performances may appear to include hypnosis, telepathy,
clairvoyance, divination, precognition, psychokinesis,
mediumship, mind control, memory feats and rapid
mathematics. Mentalists are sometimes categorised as
psychic entertainers, although that category also contains
non-mentalist performers such as psychic readers and
bizarrists.

3 Mentalist or magician
Mentalists generally do not mix standard magic tricks
with their mental feats. Doing so associates mentalism
too closely with the theatrical trickery employed by stage
magicians. Many mentalists claim not to be magicians
at all, arguing that it is a dierent art form altogether.
The argument is that mentalism invokes belief and when
presented properly, is oered as being real be it a claim
of psychic ability, or proof that supports other claims such
as a photographic memory, being a human calculator,
the power of suggestion, NLP, etc. Mentalism plays on

Background

Much of what modern mentalists perform in their acts can

be traced back directly to tests of supernatural power
that were carried out by mediums, spiritualists and psychics in the 19th century.[1] However, the history of mentalism goes back even further. Accounts of seers and or1

the senses and a spectators perception of tricks.

Guy Bavli

Magicians ask the audience to suspend their belief and allow their imagination to play with the various tricks they
present. They admit that they are tricksters and entertainers, and know the audience understands its an illusion and
the magician cannot really achieve the impossible feats
shown, such as sawing a person in half and putting them
back together without injury.

Marc Salem

However, many magicians mix mentally-themed performance with magic illusions. For example, a mind-reading
stunt might also involve the magical transposition of two
dierent objects. Such hybrid feats of magic are often called mental magic by performers. Magicians who
routinely mix magic with mental magic include David
Coppereld, David Blaine, The Amazing Kreskin, and
Dynamo.

Notable mentalists
Alexander
Theodore Annemann
Banachek
Keith Barry

MENTALISM IN TELEVISION

Frances Willard
The Zancigs

5 Historical gures
Mentalism techniques have, on occasion, been allegedly
used outside the entertainment industry to inuence the
actions of prominent people for personal and/or political
gain. Famous examples of accused practitioners include:
Erik Jan Hanussen, alleged to have inuenced Adolf
Hitler[4]
Grigori Rasputin, alleged to have inuenced Tsarina
Alexandra[5]
Wolf Messing, alleged to have inuenced Joseph
Stalin[6]
Count Alessandro di Cagliostro, accused of inuencing members of the French aristocracy in the
Aair of the Diamond Necklace

David Berglas
Paul Brook
Derren Brown
Chan Canasta
Bob Cassidy
Corinda
Davenport brothers
Joseph Dunninger
Glenn Falkenstein
Uri Geller
Burling Hull
Luke Jermay
Al Koran
The Amazing Kreskin
Max Maven
Drew McAdam
Richard Osterlind
Marc Paul
The Piddingtons

"The Amazing Kreskin" has audience members hide his

cheques before the show; if Kreskin cannot nd the
cheque at the end of his performance, he does not get
paid.

6 Mentalism in television
Wayne Homan appeared on NBCs television show
Phenomenon on October 31, 2007.[7] He also appeared on The Howard Stern Show on April 30,
2008. He was a co-host of The A-List on Discoverys Animal Planet. He was also a guest
on CNNs television talk show Glenn Beck[8] on
March 25, 2008. He appeared as a guest on The
Ellen Degeneres Show[9][10] on April 13, 2009. On
May 4, 2012 he appeared in a short movie, Epic
School Battle, with Steven Tyler and KISS.[11] He
also appeared on CBSs Excused on October 30,
2012.[12][13] He appear on Oddities on the Science
Channel on June 12, 2013.[14] On December 22,
2013 he appeared on TV Asahis show Unbeliavable
with Takeshi Kitano.[15] Homan also appeared on
Wednesday Downtown on Tokyo Broadcasting Station in Japan.[16] On March 31, 2014 Wayne appeared on The Numbers Game on The National Geographic Channel.[17] He appeared at the end of the
ocial Americas Got Talent Season 10 trailer, holding dynamite in his mouth.[18]

3
Eric Dittelman, a mind reader, performed on Season
7 of the NBC talent competition Americas Got Talent. He made it to the seminals, and was the rst
mentalist to be featured on the show.

[3] http://www.sorcerers-apprentice.co.uk/karma.htm

Cristian Gog, a mentalist, won the big prize on

Romanias Got Talent.

[5] George King, The Last Empress: The Life and Times of
Alexandra Feodorovna, Tsarina of Russia. Replica Books,
2001. ISBN 978-0-7351-0104-3

The Mentalist: an American crime procedural television series in which the main character, Patrick
Jane, worked as an independent consultant for the
California Bureau of Investigation and later the Federal Bureau of Investigation, solving serious crimes
by using his skills of observation and his frequent use
of his abilities as a former professional mentalist.
Psych: an American criminal comedy television series in which the main character, Shawn Spencer,
works as a consultant to the Santa Barbara Police
Department as a psychic detective. Though he
purports to be a psychic, the truth is that his exceptional observational skills, amazing vision, and nearphotographic memory allow him to portray himself
as such.
Tricks of the Mind: a British TV show starring
Derren Brown
Pasmons Kontrol:
Nicholas Kin

Kobra TV Channel by

Now You See Me: Merritt McKinney, played by

Woody Harrelson, performs as a mentalist.

[4] Gordon, Mel: Hanussen: Hitlers Jewish Clairvoyant.

Feral House, 2001

[6] Hamilton-Parker, Craig (December 1, 1996). Medium

with a message. Scotland on Sunday. p. 5.
[7] http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=65133
[8] http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0803/25/gb.
01.html
[9] http://ellen.warnerbros.com
[10] http://www.ellentv.com/videos/1-xvqsystd/
[11] http://pro.imdb.com/title/tt2177636
[12] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2492230/
[13] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFogK0q-yhs
[14] https://pro-labs.imdb.com/title/tt3727424/
[15] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnPjQb39ESI
[16] http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=ja&u=
http://halohalo-online.blog.jp/archives/1012628947.
html&prev=search
[17] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3219366/?ref_=nm_flmg_
slf_1
[18] Americas Got Talent Season 10 trailer at YouTube

See also
Cold reading
James Randi

Media related to Mentalists at Wikimedia Commons

Telepathy

PSYCRETS British Society of Mystery Entertainers

Memory sport

Psychic Entertainers Association.

Mnemonist
Psychomagic
Scientic skepticism
Theatrical seances
Thirteen Steps To Mentalism (book)

9 External links

References

[1] Cassidy, Bob: Fundamentals of Professional Mentalism. Lybrary, 2007. pp. 7-9.
[2] Randi, James (1995). An Encyclopedia of Claims,
Frauds, and Hoaxes of the Occult and Supernatural. St.
Martins Press. Retrieved 2008-03-28.

10

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