A CENTER TEAR

EXCLUSIVE

ROLLERCOASTER RIDE

WORDS & WIZARDRY

By

Copyright the author 2004

 CONTENTS
___

Introduction

Foreword by Scott Creasey

Cloaking*

Con-flat-ulation**

Linguistrix*

St Marks Mount**

Thought-leading*/**

Pipe Dreams **

*Rambling thoughts
**Games to play
 Introduction

Greetings, before we begin our little trip..Allow me to introduce myself.

I am Abracadaver. Within these pages are games that you may like to play with your
audiences and rambling thoughts that you may like to absorb, agree or disagree with.

I do hope that you enjoy what you read and that you are given that tiny spark to think a little
differently now.

Whilst enjoying the delight on various peoples’ faces I am often left with ideas whizzing
around inside my skull.
“Why did that go so well?”
“How can this be made easier?”
“Do I really need to......?”
“What if I changed this?”
“Does the spectator care if I...?”

This manuscript is a small example of those incessant voices in my head.

I have NO* magical background, I think of concepts for mentalism and create my own
methods using the tools of our trade PEN, PAPER & WORDS.

So please,step right up! The ride is about to begin. Secure all loose articles and do not
disembark until the ride has come to a complete halt.

*Excluding the compulsory magic set every kid receives in his or her lifetime
 Foreword
by Scott Creasey

Abracadaver has no background in magic; he was born a mentalist and as such began with
an advantage over those of us who are consumed by the love of all things mental.

The thinking involved in the pages that follow only comes when you have shaken off the
mindset of the magician.

From the beginning Abracadaver was never hindered by this mindset which has led to
insights, methods and effects which are clean, direct and uncluttered.

I count myself very lucky to have been given a sneak preview into the mind of someone
whose ideas get my own mental juices flowing.

So read on and enjoy.

I know there is more to come.

Regards

Scott Creasey

Scott Creasey creator of the B.I.P book available from all good Magic dealers.
“We turned a sharp left and plunged into darkness.”

Cloaking

Imagine a time where invisibility just simply doesn’t exist, where everything you say or do is
seen by all. The mental scars you own, visible to all and sundry. Those moments when you
say something stupid are now shouted from rooftops with a neon sign careering towards you
saying “IT WAS HIM!”

Ah, the dreams of invisibility... sit back and imagine a time when invisibility is possible. Moving
hidden among people. Dining in a restaurant and being able to simply spit out food you don’t
like in front of everyone. Going out in just your underwear... oops! That’s just me.

How magical it would be to make things invisible.

Invisibility is possible ! There I said it. You just need to know your limitations and what
exactly needs to be made invisible. Walking hidden among people and spitting out food is
just ignorant and rude. Walking in your underwear? Well...it’s a fashion statement ! That’s my
excuse and I’m sticking to it.

So as a performer of magic what needs to be made invisible? Doves hidden about your
person? A glamorous assistant? Wonderful hi-tech gadgetry?

How do they do these things? Those items are huge compared to the things Mentalists need
to cloak.

Paper,Wallets,Cards,INVISIBLE thread.

But still I see and hear conversations on and offline worrying about putting a piece of paper
into a wallet, stealing a centre from a piece of paper, or simply being caught out !
The more you worry about hiding your actions, then I have found that the more obvious it
becomes. We are very lucky as mentalists, many of us dislike playing cards. We don’t have to
hide something as cumbersome as 6cm x 8.5cm in a hand. We deal with billets half that size
sometimes! Or a stolen centre the size of a coin. We even have moments when all we are
hiding is a thought itself !

What do I mean?
Let’s take an example, let’s call him urm.....Albert Hall.

Albert performs a centre tear for just one person on stage, but still with an audience
watching his every move.

ABRACADAVER- Firstly, why is Albert having his every move watched?

He has preceded this feat with a magic trick. His audiences are now aware to trickery either
consciously or subconsciously.

The participant has been asked to write a word down, the name of someone close to
them.
ABRACADAVER- ok, yes you do need something to be written to do what you need to do.
Please please please though do not start a routine such as this with “Write a word/name”,
The importance is the MINDREADING not the word reading. Try “THINK of a word please”
and simply pantomime to them that you want it written down conveniently on this small
innocent piece of paper.

The performer needs to touch the paper, “I’m not trying to see anything....I just need to
touch it”
Then reveals the word.

ABRACADAVER- Sorry Albert, but why? Why arouse suspicion and say that at all? Just take
the damn paper from them, outstretch your hand and let them put it onto it. Your audience
does not know what is coming next. Unless you have been dumb enough to say “I’m going to
read your mind, write a name on this bit of paper, hand it to me.....” No, what you have asked
them to do is think of someone or something. That’s it ! The rest can be mimed. I do not
bother with any explanation as to why I need to touch the paper.
Seriously...Have you read some of the ‘excuses’ that people give?!

That is what they are, excuses. They have convinced themselves it is a ‘reason’ why they
have to do these things but they’re not.

“So I can feel the vibrations from the paper” and similar. Or “as proof.” Someone even
suggested along the lines of “Science has proven that once a thought is written it is
committed to memory better...”

As far as I am concerned, I am a regular guy who happens to be able to do some pretty

strange things. My volunteers also happen to be regular people too. How about trusting
them? Remember that they don’t know what is coming next. “Ok I trust you...just keep
thinking of your word....” Again, not saying what you are doing, but just doing it.

Try to imagine this routine on the radio.....

“Think of a word, or a name”

“Ok, I trust you....Just keep thinking of your word”

“I get the feeling the word is.......* reveal * ”

How strong is that?!!

Compared to,

“Think of a word, write it down”

“Hand me the paper, I‘m not trying to look at it, I just need to touch it.”

“ *reveal* ”

Far too descriptive! and totally unnecessary in the execution of the effect.
That is invisibility!

The same can be applied to peek wallets, no-tear peeks and even playing cards.

The points are :

Your spectator is THINKING, not writing.

Only you know what is about to happen.
Only you know you are reading words.
It is only a piece of paper and a pen, why the fear?
Think before you speak.
Why describe the obvious?

We mentalists supposedly have the invisible props. Why do so many insist on showing
people them?
 “The clanking chug-chug of the ratchet takes us up the anticipation ladder..”

Con-Flat-Ulation

You’re still here? I hope that you have not just skipped onto the effects in this book.
Sigh, I thought so...go back and start again, I’ll wait........

Good, that wasn’t hard.

Con-flat-ulations you’ve made it to one of my favourite effects in mentalism. The premise is

simple enough, but the outcome is very strong.

A volunteer or number of volunteers name contributing factors to a story, and would you
believe it?! Those same factors are mentioned in a letter sealed away in a wallet or envelope.

This effect contains no artificial additives.

NO

Carbon
Double writing
Gaffed pens
Stooges

To perform this, you will need the following:

1 Pack of index cards

1 Pen
Card to wallet / envelope (optional)
Scissors
An idea for a theme
Balls of steel, If these are unavailable guts will do.
Let’s go through the set up:

Take your pack of index cards and trim one of them approximately 25mm shorter on a long
edge and a short edge. Voila, one short index card.
Fold this short card into quarters then open back out, it doesn’t have to be flat.
This short card is going to be the second index card in your packet.
The first card is a regular blank index card.
The third card (the one behind the prefolded short card) is filled with a list of three items,
these do not have to be real words just ghtouth sodufu and eohrh for example. This card will
be adding to the psychological deception later.

Holding the packet in your hand now, the order facing you and working back through them is.
[fig1]

Regular blank index card

Prefolded short index card
Pre-filled regular index card
Followed by the rest of the index cards.
The routine:

I will not stoop so low as to force-feed you a routine for this as it is such a versatile effect that
I am sure that you are intelligent enough to construct a premise yourself.

For the purpose of explanation our story is simply going to be Animal, Vegetable and Mineral.

In your set up now is....

Your card to wallet/envelope ready to go in your pocket.

A pad of index cards ready for performance.

A pen.

The order of events is as such:

1. Begin weaving your story.

2. Demonstrate what we are going to do by writing an example list on the first index card.
[The regular blank index card] when finished, flash it to the audience. This is creating an
anchor in their mind. Now simply discard that example.

3. You now have a prefolded short index card staring at you in the face, this can be filled in
leaving blank areas for you to fill with the relevant information in a moment.
4. Tell your story and ask a volunteer for an Animal. Write it down on the prefolded card.
5. Ask a volunteer for the Vegetable, Write it down on the prefolded card.
6. Ask for the Mineral and write that on the prefolded card also. [Your ‘prediction’ is now
filled in completely and staring you in the face.
7. As you reiterate to the audience the items selected you begin folding the card back into
quarters. This is done invisibly by using your pen as a pointer. “I asked you for an
Animal...you said_____” [your pen now pushing against the top of the next card]
8. “I asked you for a Vegetable, you said_____” [your pen moves downwards, folding the
filled card in half.

9. “And I asked you for a Mineral, you said_____” [your pen moves across, folding the card
into a quarter size.]
10. You now have a quarter folded card in the bottom corner and have therefore revealed the
next card in your prepared packet. The Pre-filled index card.
11. Remove the quarter folded card and palm, whilst turning the pad in the other hand to
flash a list of items. These are the non-descript words that from a distance could be
anything. But due to the anchor they must be the items called out by the audience.

12. Load the folded card into the wallet / envelope and you are set for your revelation.
What you have seemingly done is,
1. Demonstrated what the experiment is.
2. Had items called out. While you listed them.
3. Re-iterated what those items were thus continuing and strengthening the story.
4. Pulled out your wallet or envelope to find that those items match a prediction sealed
away.

There you have Con-flat-ulation.

An easy but deceptive routine with a killer climax.
 Linguistrix

“Feeling the wind in our faces, all seems calm. For now....”

The performer takes the stage,

“I need a volunteer... you sir”

“I’d like you to think of something for me, a word? an object?, perhaps a car you drove or a
holiday destination you‘ve been to?”

“You are concentrating on something now?...good.”

“I believe you are thinking of ________”

Rapturous applause. The performer bows.

Thus begins our essay here :

“Banking on a hard right, we feel the carriage lift from the track.”

St Marks Mount

Ah, Pseudo psychometry? Graphology? Living and dead? En masse drawing duplication?
Call it what you like, do with it as you will. Here is the journey to St Marks Mount.

6 pieces of totally opaque thick card are distributed to volunteers. They are asked to fill it with
the relevant information. The cards are passed face down to a trustworthy person to be
thoroughly mixed.

The performer demonstrates his uncanny abilities to return each card to the correct owner.

Whoop dee doo!

Ok, so the premise is nothing new. To be honest, I doubt this is too... I mean, come on guys.
The cards are marked right?

Ok....lets step into the magicians thinking box. Put on your tin-foil pyramid hats.

Ready?
Good... The answers to your question lies here, “Can the cards be examined?”

The tin-foil guru says...”yes”

“oooommmmm....... but you just said they were marked?!”

The tin-foil guru says.....”yes my dear magician friend but you are not worthy of the devious
secret of St Marks Mount”

“Step out of the outside of the thinking box and you will see the answer.”

The cards are marked yes, but after they are examined. (If you really feel that they must be
examined!)
How are they marked? With despair,sadness and gloominess. (damn this thesaurus!)
DEPRESSION.

Each piece of card is pinched at a certain location upon either distribution or during collection
prior to handing them for mixing.
The recommended card for this routine is either mount board or foam board.
The route of St Marks Mount is displayed in the map below.

Of course with the added non-mark, mark.

The points at which you pinch are specific so that whichever way the card is orientated the
performer is aware of the owner.

Enjoy this ‘ on the fly ’ marking system.

 Thought-leading

“In a moment I am going to ask you to think of a playing card,I don’t want you to be influenced
by me. So please just think for yourself and just let whatever card feels right to you enter your
mind now......”

The performer asks the participant to open the prediction they have been holding, it matches!

Alternatively, influence your volunteer to think of almost anything you’d like!! Seriously!!!
“The twisting and turning of the corkscrew, disoriented us. How we revel in the primal comfort
of the scream.”

Pipe Dreams

Ladies and gentlemen, a warning. This effect is very dangerous and should only be
attempted by the very stupid.

I am not held responsible for any loss of credibility or extremities, flood or fire damage
caused while performing this.

Your house is at risk if you do not keep up repayments.

Seriously though, this is potentially a very dangerous routine. Attempt at your own
risk. Don’t blame me if it all goes hideously wrong!

A knife if shown, demonstrated to be sharp and then placed into a holder with its point
upwards. The performer dons a blindfold.
A spectator is asked to place a cover over the knife and shuffle it among duplicate covers so
that its location cannot be known.

Dramatic music begins, The performer slams his hand down on each cover successfully
dodging the knife each time until it is the only one standing. The performer removes his
blindfold and the last cover is removed revealing the knife. It is again demonstrated to be very
sharp and highly dangerous.

Yippee! Russian roulette with knives.

No electronics, No special markings, no number forces.

To perform this you will need a blindfold, which ideally lends itself to a downward peek or at
least give yourself the opportunity for the peek. As the covers (which they are referred to as,
on purpose) are tubes. You are simply using the linguistic deception of ‘covers’ to create an
assumption in the audiences mind. The volunteer doesn’t care because you are blindfolded.
So you shouldn’t be able to see.
You can of course and are looking for the tube that contains the knife. The rest....is drama.

Please, this is dangerous and I must stress that you must have a blindfold technique that you
are comfortable with and have been achieving success with 100% before attempting this. Too
much rides on it. You are the most expensive prop you have. I also don’t know where to buy
spares.
 FIN

I sincerely hope that you have enjoyed this manuscript and it is merely a taster of the gnarled
cells of my brain.

Thank you for journeying with me on the twisted roller coaster of my mind. Next time, get the
three day park-hopper you cheap ass.

Available at all good odditoriums and theme parks.

All effects and essays are the sole ownership of Abracadaver.

For information contact the staff of The Center Tear “The thinking persons journal.”
by emailing [email protected]

With regard to de-classification of articles ‘teased’ in this

document, you may like to read other manuscripts by :