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That's a good idea Alan.
When I was a little kid I remember being quite upset when I showed my mother the cups and balls routine that I had learnt. She insisted the plastic beakers obviously had trap doors in them. I handed her one of the cups and let her examine it showing that there weren't any trap doors, but she kept pointing to the bottom of the cup and saying that she could clearly see the trap door. I remember being quite put off at the time and didn't go near cups and balls again for over two decades. But when I read Bruce Elliott's book more recently he says that I should take this as a great compliment as it means they didn't see any of my sleights, but unfortunately I didn't know that back then when I was a little kid and lost my confidence with cups and balls for a very long time.

So far i have been accused of having braille on the cards, marked cards, looking for the reflection of their card in their eye and my personal favourite was that i must be able to tell their card by feeling their pulse when holding their hand for a bit of mind reading with cards!!

Much love

Aza

I remember a few years ago where I did a newspaper prediction at a bat-mitzvah, I had given the mother the envelope a week before. Apparently the common consensus from the adults was that I knew someone who worked for the newspapers. I'm not sure how that would have worked, did they fake the news for me, or had they planned out their headlines a week in advance, current events be damned?

One time I did a coin bend for Beardy's friends and he convinced them the method was the ideomotor effect, which pi**ed me off because I was trying to convince them it was supernatural, apparently psychological Bullsh*t sit's better with uni students.

I also remember a kids explanation for the crazy mans handcuffs 'You just used magic elastic bands.' You can't win.

Of course they faked the news for you Jean.
I hope you told them that and asked them not to get the reporters into trouble

Allen Tipton

Some of the explanations of how I make my bottles are pretty amusing. But every now and then somebody will say something that actually gives me an idea about how to do things better, and I think "wow, he/she might actually have hit on something there!"

Surely the lesson for us creative/performing folks is not to get too proud about our methods, as if there's no other way in the word to accomplish our effects. No matter how ludicrous spectators' explanations can often be, we can and should learn from them too.

Aza wrote:So far i have been accused of having braille on the cards, marked cards, looking for the reflection of their card in their eye and my personal favourite was that i must be able to tell their card by feeling their pulse when holding their hand for a bit of mind reading with cards!!

Well, three of those methods aren't that ridiculous. I have used two of them (well, I have used one and done something very similar to another).

I have a friend who believes that "all" mentalists do is read tells. I am waiting for the right moment...

Eric Mead would just tell them "Satanism." and leave it at that.

Part-Timer wrote:

Aza wrote:So far i have been accused of having braille on the cards, marked cards, looking for the reflection of their card in their eye and my personal favourite was that i must be able to tell their card by feeling their pulse when holding their hand for a bit of mind reading with cards!!

Well, three of those methods aren't that ridiculous. I have used two of them (well, I have used one and done something very similar to another).

I have a friend who believes that "all" mentalists do is read tells. I am waiting for the right moment...

My local has shiny brass topped tables. I never use them but no-one has ever suggested them as a possible solution either. Maybe I could do a very easy version of Luke Jermay's colour blind.

My favourite "ridiculous methods" are the ones that are so far fetched or complicated I feel quite flattered that they think I could perform such a method.

DaveM wrote:My favourite "ridiculous methods" are the ones that are so far fetched or complicated I feel quite flattered that they think I could perform such a method.

Bingo.

Like anyone claiming you've used body language or NLP to "read" them when all you've done is use a forcing deck.

ah.. little things.

Floating card - "You're using weights"

Losander's table (outside) - "magnets under the pavement"

Rubber bands. crazy man's handcuffs.

Is it not dangerous having superglue so close to your fingers ?

Perhaps the worst explanation runs along the lines of, "You're psychic. You just don't know it but I can feel it." There's no arguing with someone who can come to that conclusion in the face of a self working card effect.

Tomo wrote:Perhaps the worst explanation runs along the lines of, "You're psychic. You just don't know it but I can feel it." There's no arguing with someone who can come to that conclusion in the face of a self working card effect.

I've had that one too a couple of times. I wry little smile and a wink is my usual response to that.

My favourite reply ever to a magic trick was from a boy of five who said,
"I know how you did that! You just clicked your fingers and something magical happened."

This is why I love magic