I am looking for ideas to sell pendulums and dowsing rods after our Haunted and Psychic show. We do a disclaimer but after the event people are still looking for things to buy..... Or routines during the event that would want them to own them.

Thanks
Dick Brooks

This is a really interesting idea. Of course the best way to go would be to actually USE the item (s) within the show and you should mention there will be a Personal Demonstration after the show in the Lobby.

Make sure you have on the accompanying 'card' 'For Entertainment Purpoes Only'.

Many (gawd awmighty MANY!) years ago, I was in the 'lobby' of some Psy fairs. Dunninger was on stage (along with Criswell hahaha) and I was doing some gaffe cheat sheet readings I had bought from Robert Nelson but also found that Miniature Crystal Balls (plastic) sold like Hot Cakes. Didn't take much of a pitch since before, after and during intermissions the 'crowd' was hot for anything...ANYTHING.

I would think if set up properly during the show, it won't take much of a pitch to get their attention...and a simple demo of the Dowsing Rods would be a cinch.

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If you are an IBM member, The Linking Ring has had a series of articles the past three months that deal wih pendulums and their use by varous magicians. One that jogged my memory was The Mystic Eye which was sold In the San Francisco area during the fifties.

Reviving an oldish thread here, but I just want to mention that Richard Webster has a good book on pendulums, and both he and Ron Martin emphasize placing the pendulum into the spectator's hands and letting them do the work.

I do this too, as a pitch technique. I can sell a pendulum to a single buyer, but the whole concept works best with a small tip, preferably 3 to 8 people. The pitch is built around the concept of letting them bond with and find their own ideal partner-pendulum. Think "going to the pound to adopt a puppy."

I have two dozen pendulums hung on a fancy frame, each slightly different. The selection includes various semi-precious stone pendulums in several shapes, various metal pendulums, some fancy ones at higher prices, but most of them basic and cheap.

I start by telling the folks that you have to "train the pendulum to know which way is yes and which way is no" before you can tell if it's any good. "Pendulum, this is my yes." Stop the pendulum dead cold with your other hand. "Pendulum, this is my no." Stop the pendulum. "Pendulum, this is my maybe." Stop the pendulum. "Pendulum, this is my I don't know." Stop the pendulum.

Then I show them how I ask the pendulum, "Pendulum, are you a *good* little pendulum?" (I use a slightly cooing voice, as if training a cute puppy.) If the pendulum answers "yes," then I ask it, "Pendulum, will you work for me?"

If it says "yes," at this point, a few of them want to buy it, but I don't let them. This one is *my* pendulum. ("Well, I already have one that I've used for years, but this one seems so eager...")

They have to train, test, and bond with their own pendulums: "Are you a *good* little pendulum?" ... "Will you work for me?" If they get a yes to both questions, them I let them they buy it; if not, I laugh comiseratingly and offer them another pendulum to try.

While they are trying those, I find a "good" pendulum that somehow just won't work for me ("That's funny ... it says it's a good one, but it just doesn't want to work for me..."), so I offer it to them to try.

They will begin swapping pendulums, talking to one another, looking for the one that is both good and will work for them.

During all of this I can also explain that not every pretty pendulum is a good one. I make sure to show them a very pretty and slightly more expensive one that "has never worked for me or anyone else -- it's just waiting for that one person it can bond with." Usually someone goes for that one and it works for them.

Eventually, if I am running short, I may relent and let someone have "my" pendulum.

I hope this gives you some ideas.

Julieannjohnson That last post is positively brilliant!!!!! Thank you for that.Thought Farmer.