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Message From the Titanic by Peter Marucci

Cost: $10 Shipping, postage, and handling is FREE anywhere in the world.

Available from
showtimecol@aol.com
Peter Marucci
200 River St., Suite 303
Fergus, Ontario, Canada
N1M 3H8

Catagory: Mental magic / Bizarre

Difficulty: 1/5 Not self-working but only the most basic handling is needed. A good sense of performance and story telling is essential.

They say:

NOW better than ever!

Using a deck of cards, a spectator FREELY decides how many passengers from the ill-fated Titanic will be in a given lifeboat. Then she FREELY decides how many of each class.
When she is done, with these TOTALLY FREE selections, she turns over three cards and the numbers on them match the numbers on a luggage tag from the Titanic which has been in plain view (but the numbers hidden) since before the routine began.

This used to be done with a cabin key, but now ACTUAL photos of luggage tags recovered from the Titanic became available.

Using the key, the routine originally appeared in Peter Marucci’s lecture notes Bizarre Magic.

This miracle has been hailed by such luminaries as MUM magic editor Larry White. (MUM is the official monthly publication of the Society of American Magicians).

Message From The Titanic is only $10 U.S.(supply your own ungimmicked deck of cards).

I say:
If you like your magic to have all the potential of a good Ghost story, you could do worse than grabbing yourself a copy of “Message From The Titanic”.

It is the simplest of effects but that’s not to say its workings are childish…oh no, not at all. The main method of the effect is so lost in the simple handling it actually has me excited because I get to concentrate on spinning it out into a strong mood piece.

There is no issue of angles, moves, gaffs, sleights or any other potential pitfall because there simply are none. You are clean as a whistle throughout…basically.

The instructions are clear and to the point with enough “story-meat” on the bones to get you going. Personally I have developed a slightly different story that works well with my style. I think Peter would expect nothing less being the practical and creative man I believe him to be.

I have only one small quibble with the effect and that is the prop luggage tag you receive with it. It is made clear within the 2 pages of documentation that this prop should be presented within the routine as an obvious copy of a real artefact, but for my taste it is a bit too low quality for that. The construction is fine, a light grade card stock with a weathered chord on it but I’m afraid the source image is from a computer and is of low resolution.

Having said this, I remade my own in an evening with my PC…no hardship whatsoever and I would NOT let that stop you from getting hold of a copy of this effect.

Oh yes, you will also need a deck of cards…

Overall: 8/10 A charming and potentially very creepy (and squeaky clean) bit of ghostly magic…all that for 10 BUCKS!!! COOL!

It sounds to me like this could be as strong as something like Heirloom, in that it would get the hairs on the back of your neck sticking up.

I must confess I like the the premise for story effects like this.

I have TOTALLY enjoyed this effect and it has been added to my top ten. It's just so evocative! What a wonderful bit of bizarre theatre one can make of it!

Ignore it to you own detriment!