Magic & Conjuring: page 15

Stories of card and revolver play, told by a man who "worked" the trains with his confederates in the days when stakes ran high.

If one believes this account, then a lot of the crooked gambling on trains was simply theft at gunpoint rather than sophisticated sleight-of-hand card advantage play.

1st edition 1910, PDF 7 pages.

So what is The Accursed Letter? I thought you'd never ask ...

It's a believable, chilling, well written letter, penned a long time ago by Rollo the Rollicking, carnival clown, that when read, will curse your friends!

Imagine the fun as you say ... "Oh my God, you have to read this!" And when they do, they will realize they have relieved you of a curse that is now upon them. So fun.

I was at a party recently where this letter was passed around to about ten people. It's effective at work, too (careful with joyless HR). How about family gatherings? Halloween goes without saying. Your...

Here's something that will enhance your reputation and make you appear to have great skills. A one-coin routine that is within range of anyone. It showcases a conceit that David Copperfield liked well enough to introduce in one of his later TV specials. Unlike other routines, it is easily mastered. It includes a concise video tutorial.

1st edition 2023; PDF 1 page, video 1min 36s.

A deck of cards is spread and freely displayed back and front. Four cards are selected at random by a spectator and then placed in a fan on the table. A snap of the fingers and when the fan is lifted, four coins are seen to have instantly appeared underneath.

As a lead in to a four coin matrix routine this is ideal as it creates an unexpected and sleight free intro. You just need a regular deck, which you need to prepare once (takes about 15 minutes), and four small coins (10ps or US quarters).

Remember – no palming or sleight of hand is required.

1st edition 2021; PDF 4 pages,...

Diving into double-back transits.

• Jennings' Visitor: The spectator selects a card and the performer places it between two black Queens. The card becomes restless and upon command leaves the black Queens and is found face-up between two red Queens. Upon command, once again the card jumps from the red Queens back between the black Queens. The selected card may be initialed.
• The Visitor Sans Deck / Dave Solomon: Four Kings and four Jacks are removed from the deck. The Kings and Jacks are separated into two fours of a kind and are placed as two packets on the table. A spot card is selected from the...

A collection of ten astonishing tricks, all done with a regular deck and basic card magic knowledge. Everything is nicely photo illustrated.

Hi-Jack! - A goofy prediction turns into a deadly one-two punch of visual changes.

Peach! - Check out this brand new take on the classic 'Princess Card Trick', that ends with you revealing the actual thought of card, and then changing all the others to Aces.

Chip-Shot! - A reworked multi-phase Daley's Last Transposition routine, routined as a 'follow the leader' and wrapped up in a gambling presentation, featuring a top-secret handling for the...

Slydini's major routines take a lot of time to learn. But Slydini wanted his students to be able to go out and perform magic sooner to work on the performance and presentational aspects of their magic. To enable this he would teach his students from time to time smaller tricks which one could learn quicker but which often still incorporated one or the other of his fundamental principles of magic. This is a collection of these smaller tricks Slydini taught Dennis. They are a great gateway into the magic of Slydini because they do not require large commitments of time and effort to be mastered, yet they...

This is a collection of self-working and very easy card effects. Rufus Steele has released several other publications along this line. Check them out.

Excerpt from the foreword:

Strange deaths have occurred at the Castle Inn. In total three unexplained fatalities. The last death was the one of Archibald Wentworth. The well-to-do sleuth John Bell is investigating. Despite being strongly discouraged, Bell sleeps in the haunted chamber and thereby solves the supernatural mystery and explains it with science and common sense.

1st edition 1898, PDF 17 pages.

Paufler, von Beruf Ingenieur, war ein Meister der szenischen Mikromagie. Er war einer der Ersten die Elektronik in die Methodik der Zauberkunst einfließen ließen. Diese Publikation ist daher eine der wenigen Zauberpublikationen in denen man elektronische Schaltungsdiagramme findet. Für den Elektronikbegeisternden ist es eine wahre Schatztruhe.

Auszug aus dem Vorwort von Hans Marian:

The Svengali deck of cards is a specially prepared deck of playing cards (Poker-sized or Bridge-sized) that can be used by magicians or entertainers to perform various tricks. The deck and the tricks performed with it are assisted by its unique design and require almost no skill. It is based on a very old principle of entertaining deception and confidence game manipulation.

The cards of the deck can be flipped or riffled to create the illusion that the deck is completely ordinary. It can even be apparently mixed and shuffled. The trick involves a spectator choosing a card from the deck and...

In darkness deep, a chart does lie,
"Whispers of the Stygian Veil" by and by.
Penned by the Devil's cunning hand,
Wisdom you must strive to understand.

Cast the die into the abyss,
And await, the Devil's kiss.
Each outcome, a secret, sealed and true.
The Devil's advice, just for you.

With bated breath, as dice doth land,
Await the counsel, Devil's hand.
For in these "Whispers," deep and grave,
Lie devilish knowledge, for the brave.

Prepare for wisdoms to unveil,
From the haunting "Whispers of the Stygian Veil."

Unearth the Devil's own advice especially for you with every...

A new approach to the Stewart James classic Simplicity Four Ace Trick.

First appearing in print in Ralph W. Hull's book More Eye Openers, Jean Hugard wasted no time in grabbing it for Encyclopedia Of Card Tricks; it also ended up in John Northern Hilliard's mammoth book Greater Magic, along with a number of other texts as well.

The straightforward plot involves the four Aces of the pack assembling in one heap, following a careful separation from other cards. Economy of movement is top of the list here, buoyed by an absence of sleights and very easy moves. Within reach of any card handler, beginner or expert.

And now, years down the track, Ian Baxter offers this...

This article about highly unusual and uncommon hands at Whist and Poker as reported in the press was written by Charles Dickens for his publication All the Year Round. It includes a reformatted as well as a facsimile version of the article.

1st edition 1876; PDF 8 pages.

Novel experiments with borrowed cards.

Excerpt from the foreword by Edward Bagshawe:

A dozen effects. Six of the effects have been routined together into two mini 'sets', making them an ideal act of card magic for when somebody just hands you a deck of cards. Everything uses just a regular deck, and no complicated sleights or moves - everything is well in the range of magicians familiar with the Double Lift, Elmsley Count, etc.

Set 1

Poker Face - A 'Derren Brown' style poker demonstration concludes with a startling production.

WWBD - Four Aces are impossibly cut to from a topsy turvy deck, before everything straightens itself out. The most direct handling possible. ...

A small envelope with a hole cut from its address side is examined. A deck of blank-faced cards is then freely displayed and one blank card is openly slid into the envelope which is left in view.

From a regular deck, a spectator touches the back of any card. Let's say it is the 6C. This card is waved over the envelope and when the previously blank card is slid out it is seen to have now printed itself to match the selected 6C.

1st edition 2023, video 8:38.

"Ross and Fraser are on the cutting edge with their avant-garde approach to Modern Mentalism" - Peter Turner

Rapture is Ross and Fraser's debut 2 DVD disc set containing some of their best work and is now available as a download. Featured are live performances and in-depth explanations of some of Ross and Fraser's favorite utility methods from their previous releases as well as never-before-seen material. These methods will allow you to read the minds of your participants effortlessly and in a way that will make what you do appear real.

Principles taught include Ross's "Double-Think re-frame",...

The death-causing method is ingenious. A lesson in applied science. It is such a fascinating method that the basic idea has subsequently been copied by other authors.

Two former friends, who had a falling out and now hate each other, meet in a Turkish bath. A verbal altercation ensues. One exits and goes to the shampoo room and the other is found dead. No weapon is found and the possibility to smuggle in and out a weapon has been ruled out by the available evidence. The living man, the apparent criminal, is charged with murder and it takes the genius of the victim's daughter to prove him...

Setterington offers an alternative presentation theme for a mentalist who does not want to perform like a mentalist. Rather than claim you can read minds or predict the future, you are demonstrating how people can be influenced and persuaded without them knowing or feeling influenced.

What is "Power of Persuasion"?

P.O.P. . . . is a lecture/demonstration, using simple items, which can be carried in a brief-case.

P.O.P. . . . is a fresh approach to mentalism, which blows away the cobwebs of the past, eschewing the supernatural or prenatural, making it acceptable to modern audiences. ...

This volume, Volume 10, will be the last issue of Triplets. It will include Magic News including some new contacts and various pieces of magic news. Following this will be many "Thank you's" to all the people who helped me over the years.

The next essay will be a retrospective of the theories that have guided my movements of minimalism and streamlining. These go back to the 60's and 70's when every trick in every magazine ended with "lap the extra item", to end. Many other trends began with ideas that were ahead of their time. While there have been great thinkers along the way, my magic...

A strong, original, easy, self-working, playing card method and routine where you introduce fortune teller Lucia and tell the subject she had an interesting and peculiar way of doing fortune telling readings and you'd like to show it to them. The subject will have three important choices to make leading to a baffling and mysterious conclusion.

You can convincingly point out in the presentation that a different choice would've led to a different result. That's clear. Yet the whole thing seems to have been mysteriously ordained, and the subject is blessed with a positive message.

The method...

Imagine: The magician and the spectator are seated together at a table. The magician introduces a deck of cards and spreads it face up to show that all the cards are different. After this, he turns his back to the spectator and says "I want you to generate a random number between 1 and 52. Of course, I could have you name one, but then you may think I psychologically influenced you towards a particular number or that I relied on you to think of a popular number. So to eliminate such ideas, I want you to generate a number by cutting off any amount of cards from the top of the deck and then...

The actual experiences of a visitor to the most famous gaming resort in the American metropolis.

Excerpt from the introduction: