(Close Window) Topic: Accidents that appen to make it seem like you have real powers!
Message: Posted by: magicmike96 (Aug 27, 2006 5:48pm)
I heard of one story where this guy was doing cards on the ceiling and when he threw the deck up the card stuck but the ceiling tile lifted and the rest of the deck went in the ceiling and the tile fell back into place. the spectator was amazed that the whole deck was gone but her card stuck. this made it seem more magical.

I often do a joke where I have the spectator think of a card I pull out some random card and then I ask them what there card is and I will turn it over and I say wow that would have been cool if that was yours.. but sometimes...actually quite frequently I actually pick the card they thought of...and I makes me look great.

I am interested in hearing some of your stories where accidents or coincidences happen that make you look great.

MIKE
Message: Posted by: tropicalpenguin (Aug 31, 2006 12:50am)
Mmmmm... some fun stuff.

I was having some fun forcing cards on people...
I was forcing the same card over and over and then the one time, I actually lost the card. (ACK!!!!!!)
So, I was like, ok, roll with it. Decided to go into some random card magic. Card freely selected...

yup, right card.

Also, same kind of deal...
Friend of mine was messing around, saying it would be really cool if he could just reach into the deck and pull out the ace of spades, which he proceded to do (Free choice, all I did was fan the deck for him)
Message: Posted by: Josh Chaikin (Sep 12, 2006 12:16am)
I removed my deck from the box, asked the spectator to think of any card in the deck and remove it. She couldn't find it. Turns out that card remained inside the box.

Another time, I was shuffling a deck, a card slipped out onto the table, I asked the guy next to me to name any card and turn over the card; it was the one he named.

Now if I could just get those to work every time...;)
Message: Posted by: kimmo (Nov 17, 2006 6:40am)
Another card on the ceiling story:

A friend was working a restaurant and at the climax of the trick the cards hit the ceiling and the deck fell away revealing one card stuck there. It was the wrong card!! He laughed it off and recovered pretty well, going straight into another routine to finish off on instead. While he was working, he saw a card fall off the ceiling and flutter down unseen by his spectators. He then realised there had been 2 cards stuck together and now the chosen card really was now in place exactly where it should be. To finish off he just told everyone to look up again and he left the table a miracle worker!!!

Its always worth 'going for the miracle' first. When I work restaurants I usually plant a card under the tablecloth so that I can later force a duplicate, have the cards shuffled, palm out the selection and then reveal it to be under the tablecloth. However, earlier in my routine I will always ask a spectator to name any card. If they name my duplicate, I just stand back and tell them to lift the tablecloth and I have a miracle. If they don't I just remove their choice from the deck, have them sign it and do ambitious card. If you work a lot its amazing how many times you get that miracle - the trick is not to look too surprised yourself when it happens!!
Message: Posted by: Stevethomas (Nov 19, 2006 5:18pm)
Here's one...I was performing at an outdoor festival, small stage (about 2' high) my first show was 10 a.m., it was mid-April, so the mornings were still cool. They had decorated the stage with 3' (that's right three FOOT) diameter latex balloons (this is important) early in the morning. 2 were at each back corner of the stage. That's the setting.

My final effect was Collector's Workshop's "Jumbo Sidekick II". I'd been using the prop for about 5 years already. Spectator (child about 10) had the wand in hand, and was told to count 1,2,3, and point the wand at the table, and the card would magically rise. Well, while playing and practicing with the prop, I'd apparently forgotten to switch it back to "REMOTE" from "SOUND" operation. They point the wand, I hit the (palmed) remote and NOTHING happened! Oh, crap. I need an out. Thought the reception was iffy, so I took 2 steps toward the table, and told them to do it again...they point the wand, and at that EXACT split second, one of the GIANT balloons at the rear of the stage EXPLODED, setting off the table! Timing could not have been more perfect. Looked like REAL magic! I walked over to "adjust" the table to another position (switching from sound to remote) and finished the routine. People talked about that effect until the next year at the same event! What timing.

Steve
Message: Posted by: unorthadux (Nov 21, 2006 12:40am)
One time while I was with a friend I was tired from having been on the street all day. well he would not let me be without showing him something, so idecided I would do a simple card vanish and be done with it, I give him the cards to choose and he scans over the faces of the cards, seeing they are all different, and selects his card. I took the rest of the deck and put it in my pocket, and proceeded to vanish his card. He was impressed, and left me alone. I went to take out the deck again but (by accident) pulled out my forcing deck. I Proceeded to fan the cards out face up, and to both our amazements, all the cards in the deck had changed to his card. It was a moment he has never forgotten, and when I am doing magic at his house he always tells the story to others around about "one time he changed a deck into all my cards"..It was beautiful
Message: Posted by: videokideo (Apr 14, 2007 8:49pm)
Friend of mine was doing a paper over the head routine with a girl in a bar, but instead of paper, used a cigarette. He wasnt a true magician like I was and just did simple stunts to put pressure on me. I just finished card on the ceiling and had the audience stunned. He does the cigarette over the head and the cigarette flies over his head into my shirt pocket. Because I was with him, they assumed he meant to do that. Blew the card on the ceiling away! ha ha
Message: Posted by: Justin N. Miller (Apr 20, 2007 9:33am)
Boy where to start. My fav. story is when We were at Magi-fest some 13 years ago and david (williamson) had a huge crowd in the lobby. He proceeded to do card on celing. He had a card selected,signed, controled it to the top via a funny way, and then took some gum out of this kids mouth. Blatantly stuck it on top of the deck and threw the deck up to the celing. Well back then magi-fest was held at the holiday inn in worthington. And the celings were literaly 20 feet high. So, the card sticks to the celing, the deck comes fluttering down...but when you look up it is the wrong card? So now david has the wrong card stuck to the celing. He jokingly gets out of it and moves on to something else. Out of the corner of my eye while EVERYBODY was watching david..I see this card start to flutter to the ground behind david. You see when he threw the deck up TWO cards stuck together because of air pressure. The real card DID STICK to the celing but another card stuck to its face and gently came down without anybody knowing. I secretly motion to david to look up. And there is the SIGNED card STUCK to the celing! David in his grand pose says ok now watch this (points to the guy who selected the card) WHAT WAS YOUR CARD. He names it, David says LOOK...UP...THERE...!
The crowd went WILD.
Love that story!
Justin Miller
Message: Posted by: MagicMattMan (Apr 24, 2007 9:45pm)
Justin,

That is so awesome!

Message: Posted by: Josh Chaikin (Apr 26, 2007 11:05am)
In one of his Linking Ring articles, Aldo Colombini suggested this as a gag. You have a spectator think of any card in the deck, then have that person call someone (a stranger), on their cellphone and have them name any card in the deck.

I decided to do this on a friend of mine, since I really didn't feel like doing a real trick for him, figured he'd get a good laugh. To save some embarrassment, I had him call one of his friends.

Against all odds, he named the thought of card.
Message: Posted by: BroDon (Dec 21, 2008 6:39pm)
Many years ago, I was performing in a High School auditorium that had exterior windows without screens. It was a late May evening so all the windows were open. In the middle of a Cut & Restored Rope, a HUGE junebug (beetle) flew across the stage. Without even really seeing it, I reached up and snapped the scissors. In mid flight, I had cut the junebug in half...needless to say, it was the hit of the night from the audience perspective.

Several years later, I was doing an Elks club Chirstmas party gig. Some guy walks up to me and says "I once saw you cut a junebug in half right in mid air...How on earth did you do that?"

Try to convince this guy it wasn't a trick!<G>

Br. Don
Message: Posted by: jay leslie (Dec 22, 2008 11:14am)
After an illusion show we were putting things away. I noticed a round ring on the floor. I picked it up and finger palmed it. It was a Bezel from a watch.

3 minutes later a young lad came in the room and started looking at the floor....mmmmmm

I asked what the problem was. He showed me his watch with the missing bezel. I assumed that if it fell off the watch, maybe it would snap back on SOOOO I placed my hand over the watch face and it did.

The look on his face! You will never make him believe anything other than, the magician waved hid hand and his watch was fixed,
Message: Posted by: Brent McLeod (Jan 27, 2009 3:19am)
Was Doing a show on our citys busiest street to a big crowd & had a NZ $10 in 1 tt for a bill switch

A family of 4 approached me briefly in between sets with crowd watching they were tourists asking where a money exchange was-The father held out an Australian $10 bill to emphasise the point

I borrowed the bill folded it 4 times -unfolded it into NZ $10 bill & gave it too him pointing the direction to the exchange! Our notes are colored

The look on there faces & the whoops & cheers & laughing from the crowd was as near to real magic I could do for someone!! Great memories even now when I think of this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Message: Posted by: manks123 (Jan 28, 2009 2:26am)
Well the only coincidence story I have was when I was doing the gag magicmike mentioned. To put it simply, I was doing some flourishes, deliberately dropped, my friend noticed, I told him to choose one of the face down cards, he pointed to one, I told him to name one of the cards in the deck, he said Queen of Clubs (I think), and I think you know the rest. Wow that was a mouthful.

Stefan
Message: Posted by: Machina (Jul 5, 2009 4:17pm)
Great stories guys. My farewell in London last year and my friend and I were doing mind reading. My flatmate asked me to do something. So I give her the cards and tell her to shuffle her little heart away. She chooses a card. I see what it is deviously. I ask her to mix them up. As she is about to pass them to me I notice her card is on the bottom. I ask her to put the cards down instead. I say- you mixed the cards, chose one, I was turned away, you mixed it back into the pack. She agrees. I say what card did you choose? She tells me. I tell her to turn the pack over and that's where her card will be. The rest is history :)
Message: Posted by: JoeyHart (Apr 18, 2012 5:00am)
I do a nice verbal card force but it has happens that people have blurted out any card they want (...!) Once however the guy said the forced card. WIN!
Message: Posted by: ClintonMagus (Jun 13, 2012 10:28am)
About a thousand years ago I had a spectator sign a quarter for a trick. At the end of the trick, I did the old "finger snap vanish", where the coin is snapped up my sleeve. That was supposed to be the end. For the next trick, I reached into my pants pocket to remove a card wallet and, lo and behold, the coin had gone to the top of the jacket sleeve, fallen inside the coat, and had somehow slid into my pants pocket, into the card wallet. I opened the wallet, the coin fell out, I returned it to its owner, and everyone was amazed (as was I). Of course, I simply acknowledged the reactions and proceeded...
Message: Posted by: Michael Baker (Jun 13, 2012 12:30pm)
While performing a card revelation where the card propels upward by a thumb spin/kick, the card ricocheted off an awning-like overhang, and went straight into the shirt pocket of the guy who'd picked and signed it.

Another incident of doing card to ceiling, the deck was tossed, but instead of the expected outcome, the entire deck vanished when it reached the ceiling. Only later did I discover a perfect black art effect resulting from a small hole in the black tile ceiling. Somewhat different than the lifting tile thing mentioned above, but true story, none-the-less.

I have also heard the story of the double stuck card where one breaks loose. I recall hearing that over 20 years ago. Perhaps less uncommon than we may be thinking, or there is a way to "help" it happen. Then again, it may just be urban legend. Make me want to test it though. :)