Bizarre in Mentalism & Spiritism: page 3

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...

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 performance guide for "Frozen in Time".

I've owned the original Frozen in Time by Masuda since it was first released in the 1990s. Sure, nowadays there are physical pocket watches or wristwatches controlled electronically that you can do this with, but to me what's astonishing about Frozen in Time is that it's a gosh darn photograph! That's just crazy! How can a photograph happen to be set to an hour the subject chooses?

To me, Frozen in Time is a storytelling piece, not a prediction effect. I go into more detail in the manuscript as to why. It's fair to say I initially struggled with...

A presentation for any book test that uses the flashback method.

Have you heard of the Bookbearer? This is a storytelling, bizarre presentation to be used with any book with the "flashback" principle. If you own such a book, you could use this.

I see many performers using such books, some presentations are good, but most are not as they merely riffle the pages, tell the subject to stop them and remember the first word on the page, and then reveal it. Bah. Here you will tell the brief story of the Bookbearer, and in the end, either subtly suggest you're the actual Bookbearer. Or that you're...

In his $1,000.00 Seance Docc Hilford introduced the idea of the "Mini" Seance. Craig Browning now takes that premise, delivering to you an informative essay on the art of the improvisational Seance and the arsenal you either have at your disposal WITHOUT THE AID OF A SINGLE GIMMICK as well as those that rely on some of the basic devices most students of Mentalism and Bizarre Magick are familiar with. The ebook is insightful, giving you a unique sense of perspective on one of the author's pet mini-seance routines "Ghost in the Pocket".

1st edition 2009; 29 pages.

Paul Voodini presents the world famous Jack the Ripper Séance! This detailed manuscript provides the mystery performer with all the information required to stage a frighteningly good evening of murderous séance theatre, exactly as the Great Voodini has been presenting to the paying public in London’s famous Covent Garden theatre land! No pipe dreams here! This manuscript is the result of performing for paying members of the public!

With the express intention of establishing spirit communication with Jack the Ripper and his unfortunate victims, your guests will be taken on a heart-stopping...

The Haunting of Paul Voodini is a compilation of routines and set pieces, many of them taken directly from the “shut eye” paranormal community. These routines would sit well in any bizarre, mentalism, or séance theatre presentation and should be regarded as building blocks and foundations around which evenings of wonder and mystery may be built.

As with most of Voodini’s work, the vast majority of this work is ungimmicked and relies instead upon the correct creation of atmosphere, the subtle use of hypnotic wording, and the ability of the performer to engage the guests’ imaginations....

A Lightning Rod to the Spirits contains four exciting new routines, routines that are proud to have their feet planted very firmly in the world of Bizarre Magick! Utilising the most common and simple props (a thumb tip for example and a magic colouring book - not to mention a frying pan!), these routines will take your audience on a genuinely freaky journey. There are no half measures here - these routines are designed to actually spook an audience!

The routines feature at their core common, everyday items such as a watch, a sachet of salt, a child's colouring book and yes, a frying pan....

A compendium of Sherlock Holmes inspired bizarre and story-telling magic utilizing playing cards, pendulums and other common objects. This collection of four routines will take you and your audience to a world of London fog, Victorian mystery, and self-working wonders.

Written in Paul's usual engaging and entertaining manner, the routines featured use nothing but self-working techniques which allows you to concentrate on performance and setting the right atmosphere.

Routines featured are:

Dr. Bell's Party Piece: Arthur Conan Doyle's inspiration for Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Joseph Bell was...

Seance for the Undead: a Duet of Unusual Magicks features two new routines from the slightly disturbed mind of Paul Voodini. Both routines combine elements of the psychological and the esoteric with more traditional (but very simple) conjuring techniques. This is bizarre magic that is designed to entertain, enthrall and, yes, scare a parlour audience!

The first routine is entitled Raising the Dead. This is a seance-based routine that combines both the psychological elements that Paul Voodini is famous for along with some small pieces of illusion.

The vampire has long been a source of fascination...

After being forgotten for a century and a half, the mythical lost text of Victorian Spiritualism 'The Spirit-Medium's Secret Friend' has finally been revealed to Paul Voodini, shown to him in dreams and meditations by his spirit guide Nero Wolfe.

Really??? No, of course not. But what then is this PDF titled The Spirit-Medium's Secret Friend? A labour of love? An intricate back-story for those with eyes to see? A plot for any number of routines? Or simply a fascinating insight into the shadowy world of the Victorian spirit-medium? You decide. Come empty handed and take from this text that...

Inspired by the classic 13 Steps to Mentalism, Step #9 Mediumistic Stunts is Paul Voodini's very personal look at the world of seance and paranormal entertainment. This extensive manuscript looks at Ouija boards and glass moving, the use of pendulums, table-tipping, red light phenomena, the spirit conductive rope, and the black out seance.

Although Paul has previously written extensively on the subject of seance and paranormal entertainment, this is all new text with Paul going into great detail on many aspects that he has never talked about before. Whether you are an experienced seance...

Charlie Charlie & Other Spooks is a collection of bizarre magick and paranormal entertainment routines subtitled 'Contemporary Bizarre Magick for the Modern Era'. The routines, ideas, and presentations contained within take their inspiration from modern urban myths and legends.

There are three main sections to this ebook. The first section covers the Charlie Charlie spirit communication phenomena that has been sweeping the internet in recent times. Paul Voodini takes the original idea, thoroughly explores it, and offers new insights and presentational angles that enable to performer to take...

Paul Voodini presents Victorian Seance and the Birth of Mentalism, recounting the rise of Spiritualism in the 1800s, the antics, tricks, and techniques of the fraudulent mediums, and how this led directly to the birth of that branch of the magical arts known as 'mentalism.'

This detailed manuscript outlines and explains such techniques and methods as mesmerism and hypnosis, table-tipping, slates, automatic writing, book tests, 'reading' techniques and Q&A, spirit manifestations, the Ouija board, and much, much more. The text also touches on escapology, quick change, and other magical techniques. ...

Available at last! Paul Voodini's semi-mythical PDF The Secrets of the Mesmeric Seance is a tour de force, covering routines, presentations, and demonstrations for the mystery entertainer, all centered around the themes of mesmerism/hypnosis, paranormal activity, and seance. The routines and presentations are all fully scripted and explained in detail.

Detailed contents: inductions with magnet and magnetised objects, induction with animal magnetism, magnetic attraction on dowsing rods and pendulums, creating 'magical objects' and allowing clairvoyance, using mesmeric inductions to enhance...

Paul Voodini presents five perfectly frightful presentations for the haunted key. Stories to chill the blood, prick at the conscience, and send shivers down the spine, all eloquently scripted in the inimitable Voodini style.

Contained within this PDF are presentations for ornate haunted keys, and presentations for the more common 'ordinary looking' haunted key. These are stories you will take delight in telling, and your audiences will be mesmerised and terrified in equal measure.

If you have a haunted key that is currently unused, or if you want some truly novel and inspiring presentations...

Spooky effects and tips to help magicians create a Halloween atmosphere.

These are effects compiled from TOPS magazine, all suitable for Halloween. The ebook consists of three sections:

1. SPOOKY MAGIC EFFECTS: Actual effects you can make or add to your Halloween show.
2. HALLOWEEN STORIES and REVIEWS: Seances, magic spook shows, and scary stories in magic.
3. REST IN PEACE TRICKS: If there is a graveyard of magic tricks then this is it.

1st digital edition 2011, 273 pages

These are two mentalism/bizarre routines from Shane's book Pentalogy.

The End of the World as We Know It
Is the old "triple prediction" plot, but turned upside down. In this routine, the spectator predicts the exact date and method of the end of the world. Yes, it really is as weird as it sounds.

Bones, Modern and Cold
Combines cold-reading through an easily-learned (and unique) divination system with a classic sleight-of-hand trick to drive home the real purpose of divination and fortune-telling.

1st edition 2006; 20 pages.

Strange magic to amuse, frighten and entertain!

"One & Two are simply the most impact-laded and thought-provoking books I've read in ages!" -- Ben Harris, creator, "Exit51", "Cosmosis"

"One absolutely dazzles me. I am quite taken by the effects, the methods, the props, the presentations and the advice on performing. The results are novel, thoughtful, funny and scary. To be blunt, I wish I had created it all myself... This is the best thing in bizarre magic to have happened to me in years." -- Robert Neale, Author, "Life, Death, and Other Card Tricks", "Tricks of the Imagination", "The Magic Mirror"

"...This...

The strange magic continues!

Well, Shane has done it again! His second book, Two, is another must-have winner. Anyone and everyone with a sincere interest in bizarre, storytelling, magic should read this book and I assure you there is something in it for everyone. Shane employs Cups and Balls, Himber Wallets, coins and cards, dice, mirrors, math, scents, liquids, limericks, jokes, wagers, and even scorpions in his routines... The variety will please you. You will laugh, cry, wonder and worry. You will be entertained just reading the pages. In short, this book is for you. Buy it! -- Larry...

More strange magic to engage and entertain!

A man who forgets what it means to be human, a spectator who may be more than she seems, a legendary and quite dead lover seeking an evening's diversion, the real and quite visible essence of nightmares -- all of these and more await the intrepid in "Three", the latest volume of strange magic!

16 routines of frightening, weird, and fun magic!

• Capture a spectator's nightmare, visibly, and give it to them as a dark reminder of what sleep brings!
• Allow a quite dead legendary lover prove that, though deceased, a cad is still a cad!
• Show why...

More weird and wonderful magic to amaze and entertain!

A woman who suffers from growing agoraphobia and finds more to fear inside than out, a miser who knows the true value of things, a poor woman brutally murdered in reality and imagination, gods tired of the fickleness of man, science and magic meeting and melding -- all of these and more await you in "Four", the latest volume of strange magic! 13 routines of frightening, weird, and plain enjoyable magic!

• Consider the separation between genius and insanity as the spectator visibly makes the trip from one to the other!
• Explain that...

The final volume of weird and wonderful magic!

A lucky coin that becomes as scarred as its owner, a murdered woman kept alive in a photograph, dice that tell the future just for starters, a Chinese magician who gets his revenge in the most horrible of ways, an obscene thing which hides beauty and reveals hypocrisy -- and that's just the beginning of what you'll find in Five, the last volume of the strange magic series!

13 routines of bizarre, touching, weird, scary, and entertaining magic!

• Demonstrate the transparency of the human personality with the most horrid of tests!
• Show just...

"This is the best thing in bizarre magic to have happened to me in years. I am quite taken by the effects, the methods, the props, the presentations and the advice on performing. The results are novel, thoughtful, funny and scary. To be blunt, I wish I had created it all myself."
- Robert Neale, Creator, Author, Life, Death, and Other Card Tricks, Tricks of the Imagination, The Magic Mirror

"Shane is one of the most original and creative writers of practical bizarre material around. Like me you will be enchanted with Shane's imaginative presentations. His stories range from high comedy to subjects...