talkmagic.co.uk

I was recently in the pub (again?) just doing some tricks for friends and there was this girl at the table who somehow was noticing how each was done whereas everyone was oblivious.
Luckily for me she kept her mouth shut so as not to spoil it for everyone else and spoke to me after and told me what she thought had happened and in almost all cases she was right.

Most of the time it wasn't she had seen any of my sleights but somehow just knew how it was done.
Has anyone else met someone with these cat like senses and if so how rare are these people and is there any way of disposing of them legally or in a way that I dont get put in jail?

Yes, yesterday, whilst showing a bunch of friends my first trick ever..

Spectator selected a card from a riffle force with a svengali deck, and then found the same card in his crisps packet whilst i was staring at the deck taking ages (deliberately!) to work out which was his. I said 'no wonder i couldn't spot it.. it always leaps around'. Then I told him to put it on top of the deck, cut the pack, and showed him how it jumped to the top again.

About 6 of the seven people were seriously impressed, while one started mouthing off about how it was done, that if I riffled the cards backwards they'd all be blah blah etc. Just ruined it totally.

Nevermind, eh.

There are people like that. Personally I hate knowing that there's someone watching my performance who's caught sight of something or has worked it out. It really puts me off. Strange as it may sound, I much prefer them to say something. That way I can turn things back around for me and throw in a few other layers of deception. But just seeing a telling smile puts me off. I don't know how much they know about magic, and whether they might later tell their friends how it was done.

I know some people who are just very intuitive. They look at magic not with a view to being entertained but as a challenge that they are trying to solve. I know someone who has read a book or two on magic, kind of at the stage where she knows the workings of an Elmsely but doesn't know it's name. What annoys me is that she's not really bothered in magic, just curious.

But I'm getting sidetracked. Again, I ask if you are sure you're performance is near-perfect. Even if this person didn't see the sleight completely, there could have been something unusual about the way you did a move, things like that - maybe she sensed that something was unusual which got her thinking what was it...could it have been...etc.

So I'd recommend you just ensure that you have your performance down pat and put up with those 'cat like senses' people. I've found that most people are happy to just be entertained and that there are only a few people like the lady you described.

So what you are saying is I cant dispose of her?

nevermind

It is a possibility that I may have slipped up on the performance of the trick but I personally think she is a devil child here to destroy the world.

Good job there isnt many like her. I think your right because when she saw the tricks being done there was never a look of amazement more one of "I'm gonna work that out". Maybe if I carry around a tranquiliser gun just incase of meeting another like that then I get shot a cartridge in the leg and then they are too busy dribbling to ruin my night

Ok maybe not

There are lots of hecklers around. And there's been lots of discussion on these forums...

http://www.talkmagic.co.uk/ftopic8164.php

Have a look

I saw a guy a few weeks ago who was 'rumbled' during a card effect, all he said was,' Hey, this is magic - it's not supposed to be taken seriously!' Along with a broad grin and the usual open handed 'OK I surrender' gesture, he got away with it!

Learn back up methods of doing a trick! e.g. to control a card to the top, you don't have to always do injogs and overhand shuffles etc. You can do passes, double undercuts, false cuts, etc.

This reminds me of when my step kids were younger and I was teaching them magic. The two boys were having a heck of a time learning how to back palm cards and their sister walks in, picks up a card and without any instruction, executes it perfectly. She just had the knack for knowing how to see things in her mind and making it happen.

I remember one night after one of my Murder Mystery shows a patron asked her if she knew how I did the psychic stuff. She laughed and said, "I know how he does all the magic show stuff, but simply don't understand this stuff." It was true, she couldn't comprehind the non-visual aspects of the craft but she was awesome when it came to the more visual/mechanical pieces. Then again, Ken Whitaker and I put her through hell when we were designing Shadow Vision... the first one was built around her and the secretary at Creative Illusions... the things we put those poor girls through