
I have found it works with all people but it depends on your acting and story telling ability. The acting needs to be 'natural'. Any obvious attempt at showmanship could kill it. It needs convinction & the ability to create belief in your audience.
I first performed it in a local theatre and it really slayed them. Then I demmed it in one of my lectures to our magic club. They couldn't find an explanation except 'it's a stooge'. Nothing could have been further from the truth. Purchasers( and I mean magicians) may dismiss it when they read the 'secret' but in a good performer's hands it is a bit of dynamite.
I changed the story the story to fit various happenings in my life basing it on my Auntie Gertie who bought me one of my very first magic books back in 1943(I still have it). She also had a favourite party trick wherein you pointed at one of 3 objects and she'd tell you which one. She'd often tap me on the right shoulder & when I turned round she'd be on my left! Then an incident where I stood by my great grandmother's open coffin
(she was my first audience when I was 9) and I felt a tap on the shoulder. Finally, I told the audioence that I had felt a shoulder tap whilst waiting for a bus to return to college, dropped my ticket and by the time I'd retrieved it, the bus had whizzed by and I had another half an hour to wait. The bus had a collision just before getting into Birmingham. A ghostly warning tap from Auntie Gertie & from great grandma? Not really but it all fitted. She did used to tap my shoulder & I did feel a shiver standing by the coffin & a bus did crash on my route but not the one I missed.
It's a case of using what has happened to you and adapting it accordingly; a memory technique actors sometimes use to create an inner emotion. 'Emotional memory'.
I sat, quite still, on a low stool telling the story and the 'victim' also sat there during the effect. During the aura part I had a quiet piece of music from Edward Scissorshands playing in the background.
Those of you who have bought it: When you wave your hands over the sitter, cleansing the area's aura, try crossing the hands over each other.
Things are more naiural and easier.
The feat is not original to Banachek( but thank him for bringing it to our attention). It has been used by at least one stage hypnotist years ago.
A brilliant variation purchasers of the original effect must look at, is in Luke Jermay's 'The Coral Fang'. He also published it in Stan Allen's Magic magazine under the title 'Touching on Hoy.' March 2007. Pages 90/91
Luke Jermay has also put out a dvd on the effect.
Both 'Touches & Touching' need no preparation and can be worked pretty well anywhere there is a space. Not at a close up session.
The average magician --don't bother.It is NOT for you!
Allen Tipton
Began magic at 9 in 1942. Joined Staffs M.S at 13. Nottm.Guild of M. (8 times President. Prog Director 20years)IBM. Awarded Magician of Month 1980 By Intern. Pres. IBM for reproducing Dante's Sim Sala Bim. Writes Dear Magician column for Abra. Mag.