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David Blaine trick on Jimmy Kimmel Show

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David Blaine trick on Jimmy Kimmel

David Blaine is invited to Jimmy Kimmel’s show and performs an awesome magic trick on Jimmy. First, he gives Jimmy a sharpie without telling him how he would use it. He then shuffles his deck of cards and asks Jimmy to pick one card. Jimmy picks a card which he shows to the audience; it’s a seven of hearts. Blaine then tells Jimmy to look at the sharpie he had given him. To everyone’s amazement, it was written seven of hearts. Blaine does not stop there; he tells Jimmy to write his signature on the seven of hearts card and then puts it in the middle of the deck. He then asks Jimmy to choose a lady from the audience whom he asks to name any suit and she says hearts. The deck in Blaine’s hand starts to shrink and the remaining cards are all hearts plus the signed card.

David Blaine trick on Jimmy Kimmel Revealed

The first part of the trick is pretty simple and Jimmy knew what had happened. He even tells Blaine that the seven of hearts he chose had been forced on him. The sharpie given to Jimmy is just an ordinary sharpie that is usually written seven of hearts. Blaine then forced the seven of hearts card on Jimmy. So, when Jimmy picked the seven of hearts card, it was the exact card that Blaine wanted him to pick.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-0b4zd7ygs

David blaine trick on jimmy kimmel live

The second part of the trick is much more interesting but not as complicated as it seems. He uses a technique called ‘multiple outs’. This means he had several tricks lined up depending on what suit the lady chose. The deck of cards appears more than they really are but this is just a visual illusion. Blaine had already switched the cards to hearts only and all he did is hold them in a way that they had spaces in between them to look more than they really were.

 

 

8 Cold Reading Techniques: Learn How to do Cold Reading

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8 awesome cold reading techniques to learn for beginners

Cold reading is one of the oldest tricks that so-called psychics, Mentalist and mind readers use. It is a rather basic skill that works by carefully choosing your words and, most importantly, paying attention to the subject’s responses. Like any other skill, it takes a lot of practice, and there are a lot of cold reading techniques out there. If you will ever find yourself wanting to become a mentalist, cold reading is a must have. Here are 8 awesome cold reading techniques that we think might interest you:

  1. Shotgun statements

This cold reading technique is one of the first steps of cold reading, and is referred to as ‘shotgunning’. The term is based upon the way that shotguns work. They do not fire a single projectile, but a cluster of pellets, some of which are guaranteed to hit the target. That’s exactly how this technique works. Shotgunning is based on using a lot of general information, while shotgun statements are rather vague and general. They are most useful in front of a big audience. For example, a Psychic might say ‘I see a blackened heart and a father figure in your past’. In the case of a numerous audience, although the statement is vague, someone is guaranteed to feel a very personal connection. The explanation is very simple: heart disease causes the greatest number of deaths worldwide, while a father figure can be anyone, from grandfather to even an older brother.

  1. Barnum statements

If you have never heard of subjective validation, this is the most appropriate time. Subjective validation stands at the very base of mentalism, being a very powerful cold reading technique. We all know people who take horoscopes way too seriously. Horoscopes are based on the principle of subjective validation. That means that a person is likely to find a personal meaning or significance in some rather general and vague statements that apply to the vast majority of people. These are called Barnum statements, being named after the American showman, P.T. Barnum. While they do, indeed, seem to be very personal statements, they apply to a great number of people. Here are a few examples:

  • You have considerable unused capacity that you have not turned to your advantage.
  • While you have some personality weaknesses you are generally able to compensate for them
  • You have a need for other people to like and admire you, and yet you tend to be critical of yourself.

There’s a very high probability that you have found yourself in these. While that is true, always remember that they also apply to almost everyone else. That being said, remember what you read about cold reading techniques next time you see a fortune teller or a psychic.

  1. Know your audience

As a Mind Reader, you have to choose your subjects carefully, as there are many skeptics who will be more than happy to prove you wrong. What some mentalists do is have their audiences go through a short

interview prior to the show. Some even hire people to strike a conversation with members of the audience before the show. This is a great way to learn about the audience and make sure that your cold reading will go smoothly. Another great thing to do is to not choose your subjects randomly, but have them volunteer. People who volunteer to be part of a cold reading already want their mind to be read, so they will believe you can do it.

  1. Body language as a Cold reading Technique

Everyone knows that everyone lies. We lie to get out of trouble or to protect someone or something. While words can be deceptive, the human body is not such a good liar. From handshakes and posture to breathing and eye movement, the body can show a person’s true feelings. A trained mentalists can easily pick up on the signals that a subject’s body is sending. For example, if during a conversation, a person is leaning towards you, it means they are comfortable. Obviously, if they move or lean away, they are not comfortable. Crossed limbs are also a signal of stress, indifference or impatience.

‘The eyes are the mirror of the soul’ may be a cheesy phrase, but it is also true. While a person might fake a smile to seem interested or happy, their eyes might tell a completely different story. A genuine smile can be detected in the eyes, as it causes a few wrinkles next to the eyes. As all cold reading techniques, learning body language takes a lot of practice. Mentalists know that they have to pay attention to multiple factors during a cold reading. Taken separately, these behavioral cues can mislead. For example, crossed arms suggest that a person is impatient or frustrated. On the other hand, the person may just be physically cold.

  1. Deductions

As a mentalist, you must learn to develop a great observation skill. If you plan to randomly choose a random subject from the audience, this skill will come in handy before that. As we said earlier, many mentalists gather information about their audiences prior to the show. That can be done through interviews or planted accomplices. If that is not the case, a very useful cold reading technique is ‘the art of deduction’. This is sometimes referred to as the ‘Sherlock Holmes’ technique. It requires a well-trained eye and attention to detail. During a conversation, a mentalist can gather information by simply looking at the subject. Putting body language aside, there are other important sources of information. For example, an engagement ring indicates impending marriage. If a person is wearing many accessories, the mentalist could say that the person cares a lot about their appearance. That is, of course, a Barnum statement. The mentalist can also deduct a person’s level of education, by paying attention to their vocabulary. A perfect environment for using this cold reading technique is a subject’s house. A mentalist, if not anyone, can learn a lot from a person’s house. Photographs, books, movies or even the general state of the place can say a lot about a person.

  1. Fishing For Clues/Information

Another awesome cold reading technique is the one known as ‘fishing’. This technique is a bit similar to shotgunning. While shotgunning is aimed at larger audiences, fishing revolves around reading a single subject. To properly use this technique, the mentalist must first observe the subject, then make a guess. For example, the subject’s age is a helpful factor. Let’s say the subject is about 30 or 40

years old. Using that information, the mentalist may, for example, ask about an elderly relative that has died. The victim will, of course, give a response. Usually, the subject will give more information than necessary. Once the subject answers, the mentalist will respond as if he knew it all along. For example, let’s say the subject’s father died of heart disease. The mentalist can say that he is sensing that the father is pointing to his chest, throat. Then, he’d ask the subject if their father had any problems with that general area. If they say he died of heart disease, the mentalist will say ‘Yes, he is pointing at his heart.’ This way, the mentalist will seem to have already known.

  1. Pigeon-holing

While it may be an odd sounding one, pigeon-holing is one of the best cold reading techniques. Pigeon-holing is the process of stereotyping a subject into a definite category of persons. By doing this, mentalists can narrow down the guesses that they make about the subject. For this field, these categories are based on gender and age. Let’s say, for example, that the subject is a female teenager. The mentalist may deduct, just by this, that she is having trouble fitting in, which is usual for this age. Also, a good starting point for fishing is the sentimental side, romantic relationships. The subject may also feel like she is misunderstood by many, in this particular case.

Of course, besides age and gender, there are many more categories and stereotypes that are useful. Such are race, weight or accents. While it may seem offensive for some, pigeon-holing is a very useful cold reading technique.

  1. Verbal tricks

Another great cold reading technique stands in the mastering of patter. Mentalists must choose their words carefully when they perform. First of all, a Mind reader has to speak on a friendly, but confident tone. This helps ease the subjects into the reading, as they will feel a lot more comfortable. At the same time, the mentalist must make the subject understand who is in charge. That is not all; a major factor in a successful reading is the ambiguity of some words. For example, while shotgunning, a Mind reader could say ‘Someone in here knows Mike.’ In this case, the whole trick stands behind the ambiguity of ‘here’. Here may mean in the audience or the spirit world. Therefore, someone in the audience may say that they have known a Mike who has recently passed away. If that’s not the case, the mentalist can have everyone named Mike stand up, pick one, then fish for clues. Another good example is the word ‘will’. It may refer to someone called Will, or to a legal document. This cold reading technique is mainly based on how the subjects interpret a certain word. The mentalist observes how the client interprets that word and adapts, making the reading go smoothly.

David Blaine levitation : How exactly does David Blaine Levitate Himself? Secretes Revealed.

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david blaine levitation revealed

We have all witnessed different amazing tricks being performed by magicians but there is one trick that we will never get enough of. That is the trick or illusion of a floating man. David Blaine performed this trick in the middle of the street and three ladies can be seen behind him all amazed and dumbfounded by what they saw. Both of his feet slowly rise up, and remains floating for about 5 seconds so, how did he do it? Here’s the secret behind the David Blaine Levitation Trick.

David Blaine Levitation ( Balducci Levitation ) Revealed

Did Blaine convince you that he really levitated? I f he did, I am here to tell you that you have been lied to. Several techniques have been used to manipulate people that he actually floated off the ground. First, two videos were shot. When we see Blaine levitating, he actually has some hidden wires attached to him that lift him off the ground. When he did this, there were no spectators.

This is called Balducci levitation. Those ladies we see are from another video that was shot separately. This is what we call video editing, whereby several videos recorded at different times are combined to appear like one video. When you pay close attention, you will notice that the three ladies cannot be seen clearly in the time of the levitation. All you see is someone wearing the same clothes as one of the spectators. This is dependent on the angle by which the video was taken. At no given time are we shown Blaine and the three ladies when he is actually levitating. That is deliberate so that you don’t see what is really happening.

10 Best David Blaine Magic Tricks.

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David blaine magic where is he drowned alive

David Blaine has never ceased to amaze us with his magic tricks. From Levitation to Drowning he has some awesome skills up his sleeve. Here are 10 awesome David Blaine Magic tricks.

  • Arm Twist

This secret lies in how the arm is placed before starting to rotate. His arm is already twisted before placing it down and because he is wearing a long sleeve shirt, you will not notice the twisted hand. When he starts to rotate his arm, he is simply untwisting it and pretending to be in pain.

  • Cigarette through a coin

So how does he do this? The magician uses two coins and a cigarette to perform this trick. One coin is real that he gives the audience to examine it before the performance, while the other coin is gimmicked. By gimmicked, I mean he uses a coin that has a hole at the middle that opens up when you push the cigarette in and automatically closes when it passes through. So as to leave the audience in awe, he secretly swaps the fake coin with a normal one and shows it to the audience to closely examine and see it’s real.

  • Drowned alive

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0C_s_MTqw-k

David Blaine was able to hold his breath under water for 17 minutes and 4 seconds which was a new world record. So was this one of his tricks? Blaine was invited to Ted talk show and he revealed how he managed to stay under water for 17 minutes. He did this through hard work, practice and determination and no illusion was used. This David Blaine Magic is a mystery. No one knows how he did this stunt.

  •  Fly Resurrection

In this trick, he takes a “dead” fly in his hand and resurrects it. To do this, he catches a fly and induces a coma to the fly by freezing it in ice or a freezer. To resurrect it, he uses heat from his hands to bring it back to life.

  • Mind reading with numbers

 

Is there anything like mind reading? Blaine asks a member of the audience to choose a number, let’s say from 1 to 10 or maybe 50 to 100. How does he know the numbers that will be chosen? Well, he doesn’t. It just happens that when people are asked to choose a number between 1 to 10, most people will choose 7 and between 50 to 100, most people choose 68. He, therefore, relies entirely on statistics and a bit of luck because it does not always work. Experiment with your friends and you will be surprised how accurate this can be.

  • David Blaine Magic Shoe Lace trick

David Blaine’s Shoelace Trick Revealed

This is an impressive David Blaine Magic trick that seems to work very well on kids. So, how does he do it? It’s pretty simple and silly may be. Here, he uses two shoelaces and some kind of a thread slightly longer than his leg. One shoelace is already tied on the shoe while the other shoelace is tied at the center by the thread and pulled up inside the trouser up to his waist. He then uses the bottom part of his pants to hide the already tied shoelace and exposes the fake shoelace that is untied. To create the impression that he is tying his shoelaces with no contact, he simply shakes his leg while at the same time pulling the thread that is tied to the fake shoelace. By doing the fake shoelace disappears while the real shoelace is exposed creating the illusion that he has done that without touching them.

  • Katy Perry Alligator – David Blaine Magic

He said he would pull out a bunny from her purse but instead pulled out an alligator. This is a very simple trick if done right and this is how he did it; the alligator was already hidden under the table by a member of his team or himself. To pull out the alligator, he places her purse in such a way that Katy Perry cannot see what is going on under the table. The camera is also placed in a position that the audiences at home cannot see what is happening either.
To make this even more interesting, he tells her that he would pull out a bunny but instead pulls out the alligator which was pretty cool and exciting.

  • Harrison Ford Trick

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dUHdLaGZOM

In this David Blaine magic trick, Blaine removes a card Ford is thinking of after cutting a lemon.
To do this trick, Blaine relies on a bit of luck on his side. He first hands Ford a deck of cards. He then tells Ford to think of any card. To do this correctly, the deck on Ford’s hands contains only a few cards repeated several times. This is part of the trick and Blaine knows the cards that are not regularly picked. Blaine then tells Ford to check if he has the card he was thinking of: the card is obviously not there, Good for you Blaine! He then asks Ford to name the card he was thinking of and quickly gets it in his hand already rolled up. He then asks Ford to choose any fruit which he cuts in half. To cleverly fix the card in the lemon, Blaine has to cut the fruit himself to successfully complete the trick.

  •  Emma Stone Trick

In this trick, Blaine stands with his hand held up while Emma is spraying a deck of cards on that hand. We are then made to think that the card he catches is the one a member of the audience was thinking of. The downside to this is that we were not really shown who was thinking of that card what card they chose. So, Blaine just pulled up a card from, probably his sleeve and made everyone to think he chose the right card by forcing it on someone. It’s pretty impressive because the audience does not that the card they picked was exactly what he wanted them to pick.

Harry Houdini Net Worth: How much did Harry Houdini Made During His Career as a Magician and an Actor.

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Harry Houdini, known initially as Erik Weisz, was born in Budapest, Hungary on March 24, 1874. He later rose to be a great illusionist and known stunt performer that made many recognize him for his extraordinary escape acts. With the enormous wealth he acquired (Harry Houdini net worth of $500 thousand dollars), Harry Houdini was able to carry on with his magic acts until his death in October 1926.

He first came in limelight as “Harry Handcuff Houdini” during his visit to Europe where he dared police forces to have him handcuffed. As much as many could regard his stage magic tricks were not real, Houdini had taken himself as the tormentor of fake magicians and spiritualists. Throughout his life, Harry’s celebrity net worth came from taxes, management fees, investment gains or losses and many other as verified by different sources.

In his magical tricks, Harry used assorted items including; chains, ropes hung from skyscrapers and Straightjackets. He could also hold his breath for extraordinarily long periods. Among his greatest performances, was in 1904 when thousands stood watching him trying to make an escape from special handcuffs commissioned from London’s Daily Mirror. The event took about an hour, keeping the whole crowd in suspense and great amazement. On another creepy episode of his stunt, people saw him claw his way to the surface after being buried alive.

Houdini later becamethePresident of the Society of American Magicians. The association upheld proficient standards and uncovered the fraudulent artists. It had strict rules that sued anybody who embraced piracy acts. As, an actor, Houdini made lots of movies but soon withdrew from the industry as it was not generating him enough money he expected.  Before majoring in his escape acts, Harry had used card tricks in several acts that included; the Milk Can Escape, Chinese Water Torture Cell, and a suspended straight jacket escape. Later, he concentrated on debunking methods and psychics.

Harry Houdini’s Career in Movie

In his career, Harry featured in six films and had his seven books published. Also, there has been ten biographical films made about his incredible acts. His interest in aviation made him feel more ambitious of being the first Australian to fly a plane. One of his significant achievements was on October 31, 1975; Harry when he received The Walk on The Frame star award.  However, his career did not last long,  at the age of 52 on October 31, 1926, Harry Houdini passed on, leaving her wife, Wilhelmina Beatrice Rahner.

Conclusion:

At the time of death, Harry Houdini Net worth was $500,000 which is equal to $6,743,910. in 2017.

 

10 Different Types of Magicians

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There are many different types of magicians out there who have perfected their act and gone a long way in ensuring illusion as an art survives for decades to come

  1. Table Magicians

Just as the name suggests, this is a more traditional type of magician who will not be too mobile. He will always be found seated on a specially designed table from where he performs his tricks and illusions. Card magicians are the best example of table magicians. Their audience will usually swarm around him and around the table. They will perform excellent card tricks dazzling the crowd and even involving them in many of his tricks. It doesn’t go without saying that table magicians must possess excellent sleight of hand skills and numerous card tricks as well. He must also be a great performer so as to dazzle the crowd.

Famous table magicians in the world include Ricky Jay and Michael Ammar

  1. Psychological Magicians

Psychological magicians are a very intelligent of their types. Their craft takes years to perfect, and this comes as a result of constant practice. The most famous types of magicians here are mentalists. Mentalists are like magical royalty. They are the golden pieces of the magic world. What mentalists do border on that line where impossibility becomes blurred. They will read thoughts, heal people and perform other great mind tricks. Most mentalists claim that they never use any supernatural forces but this is very hard to believe. There are some great Mentalist, some who have attained legendary statuses but have never mastered the art of mentalism and what it entails.

Some of the most famous magicians who are mentalists include Derren Brown who is probably the most famous of them all. There is also Mike Super and David Blaine.

  1. Illusionists

Illusionists are a very creative kind of magician. They are a modern breed of Deceptionist who have taken magic to a whole new level. While a traditional magic well-choreographed type of magic that was easy to identify and point out, illusions are not easy to predict or point out. They can happen anywhere; on the street, in the house or on stage. Some illusions are very grand and involve a lot of preparation and finance. The basic premise of illusions is massive trickery. For an illusion to be greatly successful, it must trick and fool quite a number of people. Illusionists will most of the times, incorporate the use of props and stunts in their tricks just to give the whole set a grand feel.

Some famous illusionists include Apollo Robbins, The Great Lafayette, and Dynamo.

  1. Stage Magicians

They are traditional kind of magicians who believe in the stage. These magicians believe in upholding the sanctity and preservation of the traditional form of the art. As such, these types of magicians will not engage in high scale illusions or elaborate tricks. They will usually concentrate on the simple original tricks that have been the basis of magic all along. It is also extremely difficult to find a stage magician outdoor. This they believe is distorting the very essence of magic performance. Their safe haven is the stage where they come alive. Stage magician will always desire a large audience seated in a hall, and him as the performer on stage. He will usually come prepared with an array of tricks under his belt. Most of his tricks will be basic tricks that are simple but phenomenal. He will expect a normal applause after a performance and off he will go nothing fancy.

The most famous name in this category is Derek Hughes.

  1. Sleight of Hand Magicians

Sleight of Hand experts are known to be very intelligent and cunning. It takes a special kind of person to be a sleight of hand magician. You have to be extremely disciplined in your art. Also, you need to put in years of practice into your trade. Without these two ingredients, you will never be able to completely conquer and master sleight of hand techniques. You will also need to be very keen in your act and pay attention to your movements. Sleight of hand basically involves training your hand movements to be faster than the human eye, and very fast hand to eye coordination. Card magicians are well-known sleight of hand experts. But sleight of hand techniques are not just limited to card tricks; they can be used to fool people in numerous other types of magical acts.

There are numerous sleight of hand magicians but some of the most well known are Ricky Jay and Dai Vernon.

  1. Cabaret Magicians

This is a unique type of illusionist that is best suited for a gathering of people or a social event. Cabaret magicians have to be very diverse with their tricks and illusions because it is rare these types of magicians to repeat tricks. They will perform many tricks at a time and they must, therefore, demonstrate a high level of expertise and experience. A cabaret magician basically performs for small pockets of crowds in a social gathering or event. The crowds or tables may range from two to ten people at a time. What he will usually do is to move from the crowd to crowd performing and entertaining them.

Some of the most famous names include Darryl Rose and Troy.

  1. Street Magicians

These are one of the most interesting types of magicians out there. They are among the most intelligent and funniest people you will ever meet. The first rule of street magic performance is that you can perform anywhere. There is not set a stage for a street magician. He can be found randomly approaching strangers anywhere and beginning his act. What this means is that street magicians have to be really good at what they do. Out in the street, there is more scrutiny, pessimism, and investigation. None of these exist in a normal stage where people are just seated. On a street corner, the audience is also very mobile meaning there is more room for them to expose the trick. Street magicians also have to possess many tricks because pleasing a street crowd is hard work.

Some of the most notable names associated with street magic include Jeff Sheridan and Cyril Takayama.

  1. Professional Magicians

‘Professional magicians’ is an umbrella name that covers all magicians that have graduated into being full-time magicians who live off magic. Getting to this level takes years of dedication and discipline. You cannot just wake up one morning and become a professional magician. Professional magic involves high stakes performances and acts. These performances are usually before large paying audiences who expect nothing but the best performances. You will also have to learn numerous tricks so as to graduate into professional magic.’ Amateur magicians’ is the term used to describe any magician who has not attained the expertise and experience to be a professional magician.

  1. Close-up Magicians

Close up magicians were once labeled the most intelligent magicians ever. Close up magic is never easy and not everyone is capable of being a close-up magician. It requires a lot of attention and meticulousness because the audience members will be very keen on your act. The acts are usually very close to the audience members and the magician will on numerous times engage the crowd. These artists are the best performers of close up magic and they will regularly engage the audience in their tricks. Tricks and illusions will be performed in front of a camera or right across the audience. The intention here is to make the trick look as authentic as possible and eliminate any possibility of fraud. The result is that audiences will trust the genuineness of such acts.

Some of the famous names in this art are Joshua Jay and Michael Ammar.

  1. Escapologists

Escapologists in the magic world have dazzled audiences for over a decade. While some of the stunts have proved to be extremely dangerous for the illusionist themselves this has not deterred some new age magicians from emulating what their legendary first generation magicians did in the past. Escape stunts today are even more dangerous than before, but escapologists have also become more daring and more professional. Just as the name suggests, these types of magicians have to find a way of escaping dangerous situations before it’s too late They are usually bound and chained and dropped into other confined spaces to escape within seconds.

Famous escapologists

Harry Houdini, Criss Angel, and David Blaine are some of the most well-known escape artists.

If you are aspiring to be a magician or you are already in the trade, this article will give you some awareness about the different types of magicians. Hopefully, you will make up your mind about the kind of magician you aspire to be.

AGT Magicians: Top 10 Magicians to Ever appear in America’s Got Talent

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top 10 agt magicians

America’s Got Talent is a long-running American TV show that focuses on exposing the talents of numerous performers all with different kinds of acts. Magicians have also appeared on the show before, and here is a list of 10 of the best AGT Magicians to ever appear on the show.

top ten america's got talent magicians

America’s Got Talent Magicians eliminated in Judges Cut

Michael John

Michael John was one of the most lovable America’s got talent magicians to ever perform. At the time when he performed in the show, he was just 26 years old from Los Angeles California. He is a magician with unbelievable sleight of hand ability. He specializes in street magic especially with the use of cards. Michael was fascinated with magic from a very young age getting his first magic kit when he was seven. From that time, he has always performed magic and has never regretted. When he was in college, he also had a passion for baseball and he was really good at it. He was so good, that he almost turned pro. But during this time, he had allowed magic to take a backseat in his life –something he didn’t like. He decided to follow his heart and go back to magic. He decided to be a professional performer.

He decided to seize his opportunity when he appeared as one of AGT magicians to promote his brand and gain him some much-needed exposure.

His act consisted of him asking one of the judges to join him on stage. He then had her, pick a random card from a deck and write her name on it. He also wrote his name on a random card he picked. Next, he asked the judge to fold the card and hold it in her mouth between her teeth. He also did the same with his. He then went close to the judge as if in a kissing motion and asked her to open her card. The cards had switched position.

The judges eventually eliminated him later on in the show.

Even though the show has seen many magicians and performers over the years, the ten above represent the finest to ever grace the show. The fact that one of them actually won the competition goes to show how talented they were.

Aiden Sinclair

Aiden Sinclair is a professional magician from Wyoming USA. He is 43 years old and focuses on sleight of hand tricks and card tricks. He is infamously known for being in the wrong side of the law during his younger years. He was a conman who would fleece people using his tricks. When the law caught up with him, he served five years in federal prison. It is when he was in jail, that he came across a book that dealt with card tricks and how to perfect card trick skills. He also luckily found a deck of cards to aid him in his new found quest. For the five years that he was in prison, he taught himself card tricks and perfected his skills. While he was behind bars, he once saw an episode of America’s got talent and it made him think that one day he would like to be one of AGT magicians. At first, he didn’t actually think that he would ever appear on the show, but his dream came to reality in the 10th season of the show.

His most famous act in the show was the one where he came up with a deck of cards -which had been arranged upright and spread and presented it to the judges. One of the cards was arranged facing down. He would then return the cards into the box. He would later ask one of the judges to make a phone call to someone and request them to choose a card on phone. The card chosen would match the one that was facing downwards completing the trick. He was eliminated by the judges who decide he was not fit enough to proceed to the semi-finals.

 

AGT magicians Who Reached Quarterfinals

Mike Super

Mike Super is another magician who appeared as one of season nine’s AGT magicians. Mike is very particular about people referring to him as a magician. He prefers rather the title Mystifier. He prefers the title because he is not like the traditional magician who uses cards and sets on stage. He claims his tricks are more mental in nature, and that he has the ability to get into your mind. He has also sensationally claimed that he uses supernatural forces in his acts. His powers came from a spirit which started communicating with him since he was little and has continued communicating with him ever since. The spirit’s name is Desmond. Mike has previously stated that Desmond is the source of all his supernatural powers.

Mike started performing at the age of six, where his interest had stemmed from a prior visit to Walt Disney magic section. He grew up looking up to Harry Houdini and other legendary magicians. He is also a big fan of David Copperfield. Super appeared on season nine of America’s got talent, where he went all the way to the finals before being eliminated. He was born in Pennsylvania and is 40 years old. He resides in the same state with his wife and two beautiful children. At the show, his stand out performance was when he teleported from a glass chamber to another location in the hall. He also made triangular symbols appear on the hands of audience members.

America’s Got Talent Magicians To Reach Semifinal

STEVEN BRUNDAGE

Steven Brundage is an American Magician and performer who appeared on Season 11 of the famed America’s Got Talent TV show. He is one of the best AGT magicians to ever grace the show and he wowed the judges with his amazing Rubik cube skills. Brundage was 25 years old at the time of appearing at the show but he had already mastered his craft. He is originally from New York.

His journey to America’s got talent started when he was 13 years old. It is at this tender age that he fell in love with the Rubik’s cube after being introduced to it by his cousin. He was so good with the cube that in less than five days after he was introduced to it, he had solved it. A normal person would ordinarily take about six to eight months to solve it. Later on, his mother bought him a book on how to develop your Rubik cube solving skills.

From then on, Stephen got hooked and he has honed his skills by continuously practicing with the cube. The constant strife for perfection made him a queer in high school he was once voted as the person who would be least likely to succeed at anything. As one of AGT magicians, this was therefore, his chance to prove all his doubters and critics wrong.

Brundage claims that he practices for six to eight hours straight every day and that over the course of his lifetime, he has solved the cube over 100000 times. He is currently single and he attributes this to his craft which has taken a lot of his time leaving him with no time for meaningful relationships.

His act –which mesmerized judges at the show – included him solving the cube within seconds when it was dropped inside a bag. The cube would be dropped in, and he would pull it out one second later, fully solved. Judges would also rearrange the cube, but Stephen would pick it, and make the same formation within a second. He was eliminated from the show in the Semi-Final stage.

SMOOTHINI

Smoothini (born Tomas De La Cruz) was 33 years old when he became an America’s got talent magician. He is a professional magician from Manhattan who lives off his trade in America. He branded his magic as Ghetto magic and goes by the title of Ghetto Houdini.

His road to being one of AGT magicians began when he was eight years old. He once saw the legendary David Copperfield performing on TV and that’s where he got really interested in all things magic. He tried his hand in the craft but was very disappointed at first because he just couldn’t get the ropes of how to successfully perform the tricks. Smoothini revealed that he has always had a burning desire to excel in everything he does and so he started putting in the hours to perfect his skills.

He came from a really humble background, and growing up he didn’t have a lot. He never had those magic sets and props for beginners meaning he had to make do with any simple common household object that was available. He started his magic career, practicing with a piece of rope, salt shaker and a deck of cards. He started performing for his rough neighbors who were never impressed. He had to repeat acts countless times. This helped to strengthen his perseverance and resolve. He has previously served in the Marines where he joined at the age of 21, and after successfully completing Boot camp; he was posted to Kuwait where he continued wowing his fellow marines with cool tricks. A.G.T. was something he had been waiting for all his life- a platform where his art could be accepted. His acts at the show included sleight of hand card tricks where cards looked like they were popping out of his fingertips, and even his mouth, mysterious ball to hand teleportation, the pen in a nose trick, and salt and water coming out of his hands.

He appeared on season nine of the show and was eliminated at the Semi-final stage. He currently resides in Las Vegas.

AGT Finalist Magicians

 

 

Derek Hughes

Derek Hughes is an American magician who specializes with queer, bizarre and sometimes disgusting card tricks. He is a master of the sleight of hand techniques and has been working with magic for over thirty years.

Derek was fascinated with magic at a very early age. He got hooked to magic when he was 10 years old and he has never looked back. When he was a bit younger, he had to undergo a heart surgery which was very scary for him at that time. He had a magic set at the time which he says kept him company and comforted him all through the process. After the surgery, he dedicated his life to magic. He has a wife and two boys. He appeared on season 10 as one of AGT Magicians.

Derek has always stated that his magic preference has always been live performance because this form of magic represents magic in its purest form. He was fortunate to go all the way to the final round of AGT.

One of his most famous acts was his audition act where he had a completely bizarre, and out of the ordinary act. He started by throwing the audience off track with his weird ball routine. When he finally became serious he performed an act that will definitely not be up there with other America’s got talent magicians performances. He asked one of the judges to pick a card randomly. When the card was picked, he suddenly made the whole deck disappear which would later re-appear in his fly. But the highlight of his act was when he made the previously chosen card, appear in his butt crack.

He reached the final round of the show before being eliminated.

Oz Pearlman

Pearlman is a magician and a mentalist who uses mind reading techniques to perform his tricks. At the time of performing in the show, he was 32 years and from New York. He is however, originally from Israel. He is also a confessed mind reader, and he says he has the ability to read anyone’s mind. Pearlman first encountered magic at the age of 13 years while on a cruise ship. When he was 21 years, he moved to New York and started an illustrious career at Wall Street. It was a 9-5 job that was really paying. Pearlman has since claimed that even though the job was very illustrious and well paying, his heart just wasn’t there. His real passion was to perform his mentalist and mind reading tricks in front of hundreds of adoring fans. It is this desire that eventually led him to perform as one of America’s got talent magicians.

His best-known act was one that included a judge. He candidly asked one of the judges to think of a vacation location where she had gone to and to try and remember who she had gone with. After the judge remembered these facts, Pearlman went ahead and asked the judge to write down on a piece of paper, the location and the name of the person she had gone on vacation with. While doing this Pearlman was looking the other way, and there was no possible way that he would have known what was written on the paper. When he turned frontwards, he produced an envelope that contained a piece of paper that was written on it exactly what the judge had written. These astounded everyone in the room. Overall he finished third in the show which was pretty impressive for a magician.

Piff the Magic Dragon

This is actually his real stage name. You would think that he would be a joker or a clown, but this guy has some serious tricks in his bag. Piff was born John Van der put in the United Kindom back in 1980. He is an established professional magician who currently lives in Las Vegas. He is 36 years old.

His inspiration to become a magician came from a show he saw on TV where the legendary Jerry Sadowitz was performing. By 18, he was already a magician who had already started performing. He was once diagnosed with acute pancreatitis and it is at this point in his life that he decided to follow his heart and delve fully into magic. He is a master of the sleight of hand and other card routines. He has funny looking green costume that he usually performs with. This costume has made some people discredit him, but upon seeing what he can do, they quickly rethink their position on the magician.

His best magic trick on the show was one in which he looked like he had messed up his act but he still knew what he was doing. He invited one of the judges on stage and produced a giant card from his red box. He then asked the judge to randomly choose a card of her own –which she did. He then claimed that his giant card would match the card that was picked by the judge. The audience and the judges started laughing thinking he had messed up his act but what happened next silenced everyone.

He took the judge’s card and started rubbing it with fingers. Right before everyone’s eyes, the card turned into the same giant card he had earlier picked.

Although He didn’t won the Show, But he was able to put his name on the list of ” AGT Magicians Finalist ”

David and Leeman

David and Leeman who are originally from Los Angeles are a duo of professionally performing magicians who have adopted an out of the ordinary act that is sure to capture anyone’s attention. They are both from LA with one being 27 years and the other 29 years at the time of performance. The unique thing with this duo is that their acts involve numerous performances and not just a single act. They are good with card tricks and sleight of hand, general magic and mentalism tricks. They have been performing magic all their lives. Leeman started performing when he was eight years old when he acquired a magic kit and started training himself. David was very good at promoting their shows in the neighborhood and he would put fliers across town, just to get an audience. They started performing in front of their lawns before they continued to get more crowds. Their dream has always been to perform in front of a sold-out crowd that was very large. Well, they got their wish when they performed as one of many AGT magicians.

 

Their best act on the show was when they asked one of the judges to step on the stage. They then came up with some posters which had some words written on them. They claimed that they had magical powers which would cause the judge to be unable to read what was written on the posters. They then proceeded to hold a part of the judge’s head. After this, they showed the other members of the audience the posters. They were able to read the posters but on showing the poster to the judge he was unable to read. When they stopped touching his head, he was able to read the posters.

The duo went all the way to the finals in season 9. This was very good for them because there were many AGT magicians that season.

AGT Magicians who won the Final.

Matt Franco

Matt Franco who is originally from Rhode Island appeared on season nine of America’s got talent show. He was one of the best if not ‘The best’ AGT magicians ever. He was the eventual winner that season which proved just how talented he was. His acts focus on sleight of hand abilities and card tricks. His first experience with magic was when he was four years old. He saw some magic being performed on TV and immediately asked his parents to get him a magic set. After a lot of practice with the set, he took it to his kindergarten and performed some amazing tricks in front of his classmates. At the time he appeared in the show, he was 25 years. He credits his success to his family-especially his grandmother who he says has always supported him. When he was 12 years old, he saved up some money and went to Las Vegas to learn the trade from some of the biggest names in the industry.

He knew that for him to take his act to the next level, he had to perform in front of a huge audience. His big break came in front of America’s got talent.Matt performed many top of the range acts that eventually propelled him to glory in the show. But the one act that made him number one in America’s got talent magicians was his audition trick where he used his sleight of hand abilities to tell a unique story of his long road to the show. He used random cards from the deck to tell his story with the aid of card characters and numbers. He also turned one of the cards into a blank card and also made the judge’s faces appear on the back of other cards. He currently resides in Las Vegas.

If you think we missed any magicians in our “Top Ten AGT magicians” list. Please Let us know in comment section below.

Derren Brown Miracle: How Does He Do It?

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Derren brown miracle

Derren Brown is one of the most respected and revered magicians, Illusionists, and mentalists of all time. He has honed his skills as a result of many years of performance and experience. It is, therefore, true to say that Derren is a master of his art and that he is one of the best mentalists on the planet. Brown has wowed audiences all over the world with his brand of magic that mainly incorporates mentalism acts that leave the audiences breathless. He works on the fringes of the supernatural and the unexplainable. He acts tend to depict him as a being endowed with a supernatural ability that cannot be explained. He can read minds, cure people and even predict some future occurrences. This can only mean one thing, Derren Brown shows including “miracle” are a must-attend an event if you want to see the truly unbelievable.

Derren Brown and his show Miracle

But it doesn’t stop there. Derren Brown has gone a step further by having a highly rated show “Miracle”. He has a famous mentalist show known as the Derren Brown Miracle Show which has been a great success all over the world.

The show is all about showcasing Derren’s talents before a live audience, much to the audiences’ surprise and astonishment. He will usually perform all his trademark illusions like mind readings, cold readings and an array of different mentalism tricks and illusions. Finally, Derren will usually perform his world renowned Faith healing session which has earned Brown a lot of fame over the years. In this unique and extraordinary Miracle show, Brown will deal with different people’s problems, including spiritual problems.

But What Derren Brown is really known for in this show is the way he uses his abilities to supposedly heal people of their diseases using divine powers from God. He will usually heal sick people and even the blind. All he will ask for is for the person getting healed to exercise some degree of faith. Even other neutral members of the crowd who appear less than impressed with Derren’s apparent powers are also treated to some of his ‘powers’.

But before the show(Derren brown Miracle) gets to the Faith healing stage, there are a couple of mentalism illusions that Derren will usually begin with. Some of his more famous acts on the show include;

The bags with nails act – In this act; a really sharp nail is hidden in one of about four barf bags by a volunteer. It will usually be placed in such a way that close contact with force will result in immediate injury. The bags will then be mixed up without any proper pattern. Derren Brown puts his abilities to the test when he then starts hitting the bags against the table. He will go one by one and the funny part is that no nail will pierce his hands or impale him, and by the time he is through with the act, he will have collapsed all the bags with his hand without getting hurt.

Next, Derren will usually perform his ‘Predicting Sentence’ act which will see him have a writing board on stage –usually a whiteboard. He will then call on the audience to work with him on the Trick. The audience will come up with one sentence collectively from the input of most of the audience members. When the final sentence from the audience is revealed, it will usually match another one that Derren had written down before and trapped in a balloon that had been flying around in the studio.

Some Notable Healings in Miracle Show

After all these basic mentalism illusions are done, Derren will finish the warm up session and now delve into the real show. The real show is all about the Faith healing session where Derren gets to heal some members of the audience. The most famous healing to ever happen in his show was the healing of a woman who was partially blind. After the apparent miracle, the woman looked like she had really acquired back her sight.

Here’s how it happened. Derren called on Danielle who was a member of the audience that day. She was a woman who was at the time 45 years old and with partial blindness. She could not be able to read properly due to the condition. Derren asked Danielle to remove her glasses which she wore everywhere.

He then proceeded to ask her if she was a believer of God. Danielle replied by saying that she had never encountered any proof in her life to verify that God really did exist.

Derren then proceeded to place his hands on her eyes and prayed to God to heal her. He then went on to wow the crowd by claiming that Danielle’s problem was her optic nerves which he claimed were damaged, especially the one on her left eye.

Danielle would later be proclaimed cured and to prove this she was given a bunch of magazines to read which she read with ease. One of the audience members seemed really unimpressed with the proceedings. Derren would then turn his vision into a 20/20 making him unable to read.

How Derren Brown is Able to Perform Miracle

If you have watched Derren Brown’s show, ‘The Derren Brown Miracle’ you will no doubt have some questions and queries about exactly how he is able to pull off those tricks especially the healing stunts. Well, what’s fact is that there are no supernatural powers used here, just a combination of excellent performance and some technique. Here’s how he does it.

derren brown healing a woman in his miracle show

Before Derren is able to perform those wonderful ‘miracles’ before your very own eyes he has to ensure that he captures your attention through his own confidence. To attain a high level of confidence, Derren will usually put in a lot of hours into practice before the show. He will not only practice his routines, he will also practice with his confidence and audibility. The first step to having others believe you is to make sure you are confident in yourself. Derren puts in a lot of time into his act in order to make sure he even has a lot of tricks in his bag.

To help the audience get into the act, and for credibility purposes, Derren will always divulge details of his tricks to the audience during his performances. This enables the crowd to have complete trust in him.

All his shows always have a holistic theme which helps to grab the attention of the audience by evoking the supernatural which every human being is always curious about. Background music during the show also helps in ensuring alertness and concentration.

Neurolinguistic Programming is also used by Derren. He will effectively use body language, color schemes, eye contact and hand shaking to capture the attention of the audience and make them submit to his will.

Cold readings, Suggestion, Social pressure techniques and the Placebo effect are all methods that Derren usually employs to make sure that his tricks work efficiently and as planned. To know more about Derren Brown.

10 Famous Mentalists of all Time.

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Top ten famous mentalists of all time

Mentalists have a way of playing with your mind, leaving you with numerous unanswered questions. Below we give you a list of 10 of some of the most famous mentalists of all time.

  1. Max Maven.

Max maven

He was born on the 21st December of the year 1950. He is widely respected as one of the few famous mentalists who can attest to being able to provide the history and origins of most magic tricks. He has awed many in TV shows, where he practices interactive mind reading. Unlike most mentalists, he interacts with an audience full of strangers and is still able to predict their answers correctly.

He is also an acclaimed author on the art of magic, in addition to publishing articles in magic journals like ‘Geni’. Additionally, he has been known to invent his own unique magic tricks. The mentalists have also worked as a consultant or mentor to some of the greatest magicians of today.

Max Maven has had a good run on TV, having his own talk show, ‘something strange with Max Maven’ involving paranormal talk, and a couple magic related acts.  He played the star in ‘Count DeClues’ mystery castle, and guest stars In other shows, mostly as himself, such as ‘Fresh Prince of Bel Air’ and ‘Magic.’

In 1988, he won the Tenkai prize, the highest magical award in the Japanese culture. He was the first foreigner to be awarded the prize. In 2000, he won the Best mentalist prize. He has won numerous other prizes over the years from both the Society of American Magicians and International Brotherhood of magicians.

  1. Uri Geller.

uri geller showing spoon

Another of the famous mentalists, he was born on the 20th of December in the year 1946. He is a magician, television personality and self-acclaimed psychic. Uri is best known for his trademark bending the spoon trick. He also claims to have the power to create psychokinesis and telepathy effects. In his own words, he is able to achieve his tricks by the virtue of willpower and raw brain strength.

His major performances include;

    • Bending spoons or having them jump out of the tv.
    • Either stopping, starting, increasing the speed of or slowing down the movement of the clock hands.
    • Being able to describe the fine details of a hidden drawing.
    • Moving tables.
    • Dowsing

He wrote his magic autobiography in 1975 titled ‘ my story’. In the 1980’s, he became a millionaire by working as a mineral dowser for several mining companies. He also starred in the horror movie ‘sanitarium’ in the year 2001. He later put up tv shows in German, Dutch, and Hungary aimed at identifying the best mentalist in each of the countries.

  1. Banachek

He was born on 30th November in the year 1960. Banachek is said to be the best mind reader in the world of famous mentalists. He is so good that he at one time successfully fooled scientists into actually believing that he had supernatural powers. He later revealed to them that it had all been just a trick.

Banachek’s greatest performances include his brilliant mind blowing mind reading techniques and being able to turn cutlery to a near liquid state. He has also been known to invent his own magical or rather mentalism effect, such as the iconic ‘buried alive’ trick.

He has also written a couple of books and motion pictures, in which he had featured performances. He is also a consultant to top performers and tv shows in the world of magic. He has been cast in the past in television shows such as ‘the mind freak’. Being a great mentalist, he has received several awards spanning between the years 1987-2010.

  1. Richard Osterlind.

Richard osterlind

Born on 6th March in 1948, the famous mentalist started off his career by learning the art of hypnotism, which he first did as a closing stage performance after his band’s play. Today, his is acclaimed to be the creator of several tricks that makes us want to question reality. Regardless, in most of his shows, he prefers to close his acts by performing a stage live hypnosis to a guest in the audience.

Richard is one of the most sought mentalists in the world today, with broad and versatile clienteles that surpass borders, not to mention the numerous televisions shows he is featured as a guest in. He has been praised as being one of the leading teachers in the world in the art of mentalism. A survey conducted praised him as being the most influential mentalist alive.

He has written books and created numerous CDs in the art of magic. He also received the prestigious Melbourne Christopher award for contributions to the art of magic in the year 2006.

  1. Theo Annemann.

He was born on 22nd November in 1907 and died after committing suicide on the 12th of January in 1942. Theo started out as a magician’s assistant but went on to nature and perfect his own practice. He is best known for his famous bullet catch illusion. He refined a once old trick to provide a new twist to the illusion.  He always performed the trick outdoors. It is said that he would fall when performing the trick due to the impact of the gun but come back up smiling with a bloody mouth but with the bullet safely lodged between his teeth.

Annemann went on to being one of the most talented mentalists of the 1930s. additionally, he invented and refined standard routines tricks, most of which are still in use in the world of magic today. He was also the founder of the great magic magazine jinx, which concentrated on mentalism and other magic news. Its publishing ceased after his death. The magazine then turned into a collectible. Most of the information contained in them has been partly used in other books and journals.

The famous mentalist committed suicide two weeks prior to what would have been his first indoor bullet catch illusion performance.

  1. Washington Irving Bishop.

Another of the famous mentalists, he was born in the year 1855 but passed on 34 years later in the May of 1889. Bishop started off his career as Anna Eve Fay’s manager, who was a psychic. He was later displeased with her deception and exposed her to the public. He went on to be an anti-spiritual performer, mostly performing  Fay’s illusions and explaining them to the public.

He later met J. Randall Brown who sparked the interest of mind reading in him. He started off as his assistant but went on to establish his own act. During his performances, he would ask the audience to hide something in the room without his knowledge. He would then take up a guest from the audience and hold their wrist. He would ask them to think of where the object was hidden after which he would go on to always find it. When asked how he did it, he articulated his abilities to muscle sensitivity.

Another of his famous performances was a trick known as ‘blindfold drive’, where he attempted to identify numbers on plain a surface while blindfolded through muscle reading.

  1. Bob Cassidy.

bob cassidy

Bob Cassidy was born on June 23rd in 1949. He later died early this year on the 14th of February. As one of the famous mentalists of all time, he has toured the world for numerous shows either live or on tv.

He was the acclaimed author of several classics in the field of the magical arts with books like ‘ Art of Mentalism’ and ‘Principia Mentalia’.  He also co-founded the Psychic Entertainers Association alongside other famous mentalists namely;  Dian Byehelmeir,  May Linn, Scott Gordon and Tony Raven.  To date,  this is the primary mentalism international professional society.

The mentalist won two great awards in his time,  namely;  David Lederman award of creativity in mentalism in 1966 and the Dunniger Memorial Award for distinguished professionals in the performance of mentalism in 2011.

  1. Craig Karges.

The famous mentalist has made numerous appearances in shows in 4 continents all over the world and over 40 TV appearances, boasting of holding an international audience. He is known to have created the perfect mind-blowing illusion by combining the art of magic, the science applied in psychology and the added power of rationing. He has been able to awe audiences with unexplainable acts like that of floating tables, bending of metal out of shape or desired shapes and mind reading.

The American Entertainment magazine proclaimed that he would be the one to ‘bring the next era in mystery entertainment. He won the NACA entertainer of the year award for 6 consecutive years, among other numerous awards when he was in college. The Psychic International Association named him as a top worldwide performer in his profession.

Craig has sworn that all the acts he performs on stage are never pre-arranged with members of the audience. He also created a program titled ‘Ignite your imagination’ for the purpose of empowerment. He uses this project to mentor on memory techniques, give intuition tests and tap the subconscious mind. This, he believes, will help ignite creativity, give one a broader view in life and affect decision making, ultimately leading to success.

  1. Marc Salem.

marc salem

Another icon among the world famous mentalists of all time, Marc Salem is a renowned American mentalist and mind reader. He has numerous books in his names exploring and imploring on the vast world of magic. He is famed for his proficiency in the arts of mind reading and kinesis.

According to him, the art of mind language is majorly dependant on the body language. For him, it is all about training to interpret the mind tool. When asked how he does it, he says his trick in mind language lies on three factors,

  • Observation- he believes that by observing the unconscious and involuntary expressions created by an individual can help you learn loads about them and their behavior; you can even be able to predict their next move by just observation.
  • Effective listening- he says to listen to what you would not normally hear; concentrate and you could effectively learn things you never imagined possible.
  • Behavioral interpretation- by learning someone’s behavior patterns, it is easier to predict their actions or even tell their mind flow.

He worked with the founder of kinesis, Ray Birdwhistell, where he learned the art of body language. He goes around making performance on this and often works as a public speaker.

  1. Marc Paul.

The final but not least in our famous mentalists list was born on May 29 in 1968. He is a UK based mentalist and magician. His journey as a mentalist started at the very young age of 7. A relative bought him a magic set as a present, which he was initially unable to use. He later fell sick and with nothing much to keep him occupied, he was able to learn the vanishing coin trick. He awed his mother and classmates with this.

At the age of 12, he was introduced to his mentor Fred Castle, a member of the inner magic council, by Bill Stickland, a past president of the International Brotherhood of Magicians. Fred Castle went on to be his greatest mentor and teacher, training him in all aspects of magic known to him.

As a teenager, Marc Paul was an avid reader of magic books. At age 13, with the guidance of Fred, he was able to have his first stand up magic show which was followed by many others. Years later, after he completed school, he got a job at the famous Marvin’s Magic store. Here he worked for 7 years. During this time, he joined the magic circle. He earned their trust and got accepted as a member of the inner magic circle. Around this period, he developed an interest in mentalism.

In 1995, he co-founded a magic company with some of his colleges. In 1999 produced his own TV series, dubbed the ‘mind games’, in which he started. In the same year, he was awarded two awards; best Mind reader, a world magic award, and the World’s greatest mentalist award.

Over the years, he has made regular appearances on numerous TV shows. Today you can catch him on “sky one’ where he plays as part of an undercover magic team.

As a mentalist, he says that his best trick yet is the ‘Berglas effect, a card trick that needs a lot of concentration. It has been revised and re-used but he has his own unique way of going around it that is unexplainable to any of his audiences, but then, we would not expect less from one of the world famous mentalists.

10 Mind Reading Mentalism Tricks That are Super Powerful and Yet Easy to Learn.

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Top mentalists in the world will candidly advise you that mentalism tricks are not that easy to pull off. These acts need constant practice to perfect. Even top mentalism performers will sometimes get the going tough with some tricks. For those who manage to be master mentalists, greatness, superstition, and the supernatural are qualities that will be constantly associated with them. What this means is that, even though anyone can be a mentalist with thorough practice, not everyone can be a master at this craft which requires dedication and devotion. That said, there are a few simple Mentalism tricks that even you can master. These are the basic, simple Deceptions that anyone can attempt and become adept at.

Top Ten Cool Mentalism Tricks Revealed

  1. The gray elephant trick.

In this Act, you are first asked to think of a number x between the ranges of 1 to 10 but do not say it loud or even mouth it out. Next, you should multiply your secret number by 2. Add 8 to the number you get. Now you have to divide your answer so far by 2. Finally, subtract your original secret number x from your answer.

Now you are told to convert this number into a letter of the alphabet in the order that 1 translates to A, 2 to B and so on. Then think of a country that starts with this letter. Now move to the next letter of the alphabet. Think of an animal that starts with that letter. Next, think of the animal’s color.

Your answer will be ‘grey elephant from Denmark.’

The Gray Elephant Trick Revealed

The whole calculation done is just a confusion. The math is set in such a way that for whichever number you choose to start with, you will always arrive at the same answer as with the next number. The final answer will always be 4.

The fourth letter of the alphabet is D. Most people asked to name a country starting with D will automatically think of Denmark. The next letter is E, and you should name an animal starting with that letter. The first animal in most people’s mind is a gray elephant. Next, you should name its color. This is obvious as elephants are naturally gray in color. And that how the magician guesses your answer. This has to be one of the most effective and oldest among all the other mentalism tricks out there.

  1. The triangle and circle.

triangle inside a circle trick

Here, the Mentalist first draws their prediction and keeps it. Next, they will ask you to draw two shapes, with one being inside the other. After you are done, they then give you their prediction to compare with yours.

The answer will probably be the shape of a triangle inside that of a circle.

How it is done revealed

The most likely shapes to be drawn in such a situation is the triangle inside a circle. Knowing this, the magician will put it do first as their prediction. Next, they ask you to draw two shapes with one inside the other. In the process, they are drawing what they want in the air to subconsciously guide you in doing what they want.

  1. Ashes on the arm Trick

In this Mentalism trick, the magician first writes down the identity of the exact card you will choose. Next, you are shown the deck of cards being shuffled. You are then asked to choose a card, look at it and commit to memory and put it back. The deck is shuffled again and the Mentalist chooses a card for you, which is always wrong. They then burn the wrong card and rub the ashes on their arm, and voila, the image of your card appears on their arm.

Ashes on the arm Revealed

Before starting the trick, the Mentalist draws their prediction on their arm with colorless lip balm. They then trim the card of their choice a little at the top. They put it back in the deck but making it appear longer making it an easy target for their audience. When they first attempt to pick up your card, they always get it wrong. This is in order to burn it and get Ash for their trick. It is important to note that most decks used are black to ensure the same of the ash obtained. The magician then goes ahead to rub the ash on their arm and the image of your card appears.

  1. Red hammer.

In this mentalism trick, you are first given a folded piece of paper with your possible final prediction and asked not to open it before giving your answer. Next, you are asked a series of questions;

  • On which day of the year do we celebrate Christmas?
  • Can you give me the number that comes between one and two?
  • What do you think is used in the making of a hamburger?
  • On which side of the road do people in Europe drive on?

Next, you are asked to quickly thing think of a color and tool and say it out loud.

Both the magician’s prediction and your answer will be ‘red hammer’.

Revealed

The series of questions asked are supposed to play with your mind consequently influencing your answer. The most probable reason is that with color and Christmas, the first thing that will come to your mind is red. As for the tool, what best rhymes with a hamburger?

  1. The number mind reading Mentalism trick.

The magician asks you to think of a number in the range of 1 to 50. This number should consist of two odd numbers which are not the same. Once you get your answer, you should commit it to memory. The Trickster then predicts the number.

The answer is 37.

The explanation

Like all other number mentalism tricks, this is also all about basic calculation and logic. The range of 1-50 gives you an option of 50 letters. When narrowed down to just odd numbers, half the numbers are eliminated leaving you with a choice of 25 numbers. Two odd numbers also eliminate the possibility of choosing a number in the range of 1-9. It also eliminates the possibility of having the number in the 20’s range. You are then left with; 11, 13, 15, 17, 19, 31, 33, 35, 37 and 39. Most people will never think of the numbers in the ten’s range, leaving you with the 30’s. The most prominent number in people’s mind here is 37, which is the ideal prediction.

  1. Elephant Never Forgets

A completely phenomenal mentalism trick this one. It is easy to perform and the good thing with it is that you will only use common materials to pull it off. It can, therefore, be performed anywhere. Get a crowd of four people, a pen, and a notebook. Now ask the first, the second and the third persons to write down three digit figures in a horizontal fashion on the notepad in such a way that they can be added up. Next step is to ask the fourth volunteer to add up the figures and present the total to everyone. Now produce a paper that you had hidden and reveal the total you had predicted. The totals should match.

Revealed

This trick works by basically having another list with three numbers arranged horizontally. When the third volunteer finishes writing their figure, quickly and discretely flip your notebook and let the fourth volunteer add your figures, you should have done the math prior to the show and it should be very easy to match the figures.

  1. Crystal ball Mentalism trick.

The Mentalist hands you a folded squared shaped piece of paper with a crystal ball drawn at the center. Your only task here is to think of a number, write it down inside the crystal ball and commit it to memory. Next, you hand the piece of paper to the Illusionist. They then tear it up in your presence without as much as having a glimpse at it. After trashing the paper, they give you your secret number.

The number here again is always random but they never seem to ever get it wrong.

The explanation

The first thing to note in this mentalism trick is the shape of the paper, it was square. The square paper was initially folded in half, this is what enables them to perform their trick. Once you are done writing you give the paper back. When tearing it up, they first tear the folded paper in a perfect half, cutting your secret number into two. They then continue cutting the paper keeping the track of the center for about two or more times. Here they discretely open the initial half to read your number before tossing the papers away. They then present your secret number to you to which they are of course always right.

  1. Nail roulette.

This Mentalism trick is meant for the magician to pick out the bottle under which a nail is stuck. Here they work with three plastic bottles. At the beginning, a nail is attached to one plastic bottle. It is positioned in such a way that when the bottle is turned upside down the nail will be pointing upwards under the bottle. Here the three bottles are inverted hiding the nails, while placed on a flat surface like a table.

For best effect, the Mentalist leaves the room so that they have no view of the bottles been moved, making it hard to tell the exact location of the nail. When the Mentalist comes back, they start pressing the bottles down towards the table. They do this twice without being harmed by the nail, making it obvious that the third bottle is the winner.

The explanation

The nail is where the trick here lies. A thin fishing line is attached it to serve a double standard, act as a stand and a tell. The thin line is positioned in such a way as that it slightly protrudes from the bottle. All the Illusionist has to look out for is this tell to fool you.

  1. Mind mimic.

The magician asks a member of the audience a series of questions, which are unique to that individual. The same person or another spectator writes their answer and put them into a glass. As they are writing their answer, the Mentalist is also busy writing their answer to the same question. Once they are done they also put their answer in another glass. The answers are then compared and they all match. The magician is then thought to have the power of reading other people’s minds.

The explanation

After every answer the magician asks you, they ask you to put your answer in one glass as they put their answer in another. They then ask you to give the crowd you answer out loud and so forth until the questions are over. What you will not realize is that the Mentalist will always write their answer one question behind. After you give out your answer, they will put it down as the answer to your next question. What about your last question? The last question asked is always less personal but more general with a direct answer. This is the answer the magician write down on their piece of paper at the beginning of their question, hence getting everything right.

  1. Reading a friend’s mind.

The Illusionist will put you and a number of your friends in a room. They then provide you with five items, these items could differ but most magicians prefer using a salt shaker, one pair of sunglasses, a mobile phone, one deck of playing cards and a cup. The idea here is for you and your friends to choose on an item and keep it secret. The Mentalist will then leave the room to give you time to choose.

Once you are done, they return to the room and can right away detect the item chosen.

The explanation

Among all other mentalism tricks, this one is easy one and to perform this you need a help from your friend.The magician’s secret is that they will always put someone in the room to act as your tell. They will have a prior agreement on how to act in relevance as a tell to a specific different object. This could be having hands on their hips, a tilt of their head, crossing arms or hands, crossing their legs and so on. Thus the spy does all the work and all the Mentalist has to do it interpret ate the tell.

If you are reading this, you have read through the top ten awesome mentalism tricks out there. Now you can play these cool Mentalism tricks with your friends or family and make them believe that you have some supernatural power in you.

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