Marko - The Great Eyeless Vision Act

The Great Eyeless Vision Act

The Great Eyeless Vision Act By

Marko This act has produced many bookings for the author. Worth many $$$$$ to the working performer!

I am going to explain to you, step by step, one of the most effective and practical tricks you can do, namely, the X-Ray, Blindfold or Seeing With the Fingertips Act. This is a trick that can work real wonders for your act as it has done for mine. This has been my finale for about five years now (I ( I am writing this in 1994) and I have polished and developed it throughout that time, constantly adding new touches. I am giving you all the details here, so that you too may enjoy success with it. First let me tell you that you don't have to be a so called mentalist mentali st to perform this in your act. Even though it is very strong in effect, it's still a trick, just like the Egg Bag or the Cut and Restored Rope. In fact, I perform this as the finale of my act in which I previously perform the above two tricks! Many will think this is heresy as traditional thinking forbids mixing magic (and articularly this kind of magic!) with mentalism but not only it can be done but I have found from f rom experience that it is most effective. You too can mix magic and mental tricks and in doing so place yourself in the company of the likes of Pinetti, Robert-Houdin, Herrmann, Kellar, Carter the Great, Dunninger, Copperfield.... nice company, isn't i sn't it? So take out of your mind the notion that if you do a magic act you can't include i nclude mental type tricks. Mental tricks need not be that different dif ferent or special. They just show another of the magician's "powers": that which allows all ows him to divine facts as opposed to those which allow al low him to cut and restore a rope or make an egg appear and disappear. Of course there is a difference in quality of effect, that's why the Blindfold trick is the finale of my act! There is something else. I don't believe in the supposed extra sensory powers of the mind. I know that many people believe in these things and this belief costs them time and money. Because of this I decided a long time ago not to foster the belief in the so called paranormal and deleted from my patter all references to the mind, telepathy, ESP, precognition, and all like terms. Furthermore, I don't act as though I'm I 'm concentrating or exerting any kind of psychic force. This in no way lessens the impact of this or other mental tricks I have included in my act from time to time. On the contrary, I believe that by taking out all these terms and histrionics my presentation of the Blindfold Trick has developed along more effective lines, as you will see. Okay, now you know how I stand on the ethics of this matter. Of course you can do as you wish. Let's begin then with the matter at hand which is the explanation of the Blindfold Trick. I use the best known of the different methods for this trick: the downward peek and since the method is the least important part I'll take care of it at once.


First you need a blindfold. The drawings d rawings show you how to make one just like mine, which is not faked in any way. It is a simple sewing project. Next you'll need a roll of 2" wide and a roll of 1" wide surgical tape. You can buy this in any drug store. They have flesh color and white. Buy white. You also need two half-dollars size coins. From the 1" tape cut two pieces about 3 1/2" long. From the 2" tape cut one piece about 7" long. Stick one coin in the center of one of the smaller smal ler pieces of tape and closing your right eye, stick the coin over it in a slanted position just like drawing 1 shows. Now stick the other coin in the center of the other small piece and closing your left eye, stick it over this eye the same as you did with the other. Drawing 2 shows how you should look.

Now take the wider piece of tape and stick it horizontally over your eyes just like drawing 3 shows. When doing this, close your eyes tightly and press the tape over your brow so it sticks there good. Of course you also press this tape all over so it sticks perfectly to your face. The most important place it must stick is both sides of your nose so that there are no holes in any of these sides. At this moment you can't see anything (mainly because you have your eyes closed! Before putting the blindfold on top of everything, open your eyes and exert a little force with your brows and the tape will unfasten from the sides of your nose and you will have a clear view downwards. Now you can put on the blindfold and as long l ong as you don't put it way down, it won't have the least effect on your downward peek. Practice this a few times so you can get the hang of it. i t. Then have some relative blindfold you some more times. You will find that this is so easy it's


ridiculous. Just as it's impossible to tie somebody with a long rope and not leave some slack here and there, it is also impossible to blindfold you so you can't peek along the nose. I should say "almost impossible" as once, in one my first public performances of this trick, I was blindfolded bl indfolded in the way I have explained to you and I couldn't see a thing. That is why I told you to check if you can peek before you have them put the blindfold on top of everything. I always did it from the very first time I began performing this and since I had anticipated this could happen I was ready with a solution which consisted simply in asking for the blindfold, taking it with both hands as shown in drawing 4 and putting it on myself. Note where my thumbs are in this drawing. Lower your head a little and when you put on the blindfold as shown in drawing 5, both your thumbs go under the tape at both sides of your nose and unstick them a little. The moment you do this, move our hands to the back of the blindfold bl indfold and straighten your head so nobody thinks you are cheating which is what you just did. It must be the work of an instant. Now have the blindfold fastened at the back and you can begin to wow them.

There is another problem you will find the first times you do this: your eyes will tire and your vision will blur. This will mostly happen when in public p ublic and I suppose that the natural stress of being before an audience may worsen this condition. The only thing you can do is, as they say, practice, practice, practice. Put on the coins, tapes and blindfold at home and wear them for longer periods of time each day until your eyes get so used to this that you won't have this problem any more. Those of you who wear a moustache may have some trouble with this, depending on the bulk of the moustache. I don't know but I suppose it could pose a problem if it's too bushy. If you wear glasses you will have to take them off to do this, of course. This is one problem I had but I changed to contact lenses and that was the solution. Using contact lenses you can peek perfectly downwards without any problem. The last problem I will talk you about is your eyebrows. When you finish doing this trick you'll have to take off the tapes. You can also take off half ha lf of your eyebrows. The way to take off the tapes is to do it s-l-o-w-l-y. You'll always take off some hairs but not quite q uite as much as if you pulled the tapes


fast. Besides, there is a kind of knack I can't explain to taking off the tapes which you'll get once you have done it a few times. Okay, now you know everything there is to know about the technical side of this trick. Now we'll pass on to explain the presentation which is the most important part. Props:

Besides the blindfold, the coins and the pieces of tape you'll need a metal tray big enough so you can stick the tapes to it and place the blindfold on it. Also you'll need a felt marker and a big drawing pad. Draw a line accross the middle of the first page of the pad and place an "X" on the top section (drawing 6). The tray looks like drawing 7 when everything (except the big pad, of course) is on it. This is one of the features that makes this trick so practical: the preparation is simple and everything goes on a little metal tray. You can place the big pad on a chair and the tray on top.

Performance:

Ask for a lady and a gentleman to come on stage. In my case they are already there from a previous trick. I just ask them to stay with me for five more minutes. This is a lie as the blindfold trick takes more time but if I ask them for just five minutes they'll say yes. They are both at my left side, the man nearest to me. Now I'll begin putting my patter in italics. "I'm going to finish my performance with something completely different from what I have shown you so far. Please, notice something very important: In a moment, all the things I'll be using in this demonstration will be in the hands of these two persons from the audience. They can examine everything and if there is some kind of trick they'll surely find it." Take the pad and show it to the audience.


"However, my first instructions are for ail of you. In a moment, Henry here will go back to his seat and he will take with him this pad and a felt marker I want you to notice that the pad is divided in two sections by this line across the middle. Henry will approach somebody, anybody in this audience and what I want that person to do is i s just take the felt marker and write his or her signature on this top section of the pad; the one marked with the X. Now, I don't want you to write a small signature. What I want you y ou to do is write it very big. If it is possible I want it to take all this top space so even the nearsighted grandmother in the last row can see it clearly! Henry, please take this pad and this marker and place them near the stairs so you can pick them up when I tell you. Meanwhile stay with us up here." When you tell the audience how big the signature should be written, you gesture with your finger on the pad so they understand clearly what you want them to do. Take the blindfold and a nd give it to the man. "I have here a blindfold. Please examine it. You can feel it with your fingers. Is it made of several layers of very thick material? Yes? Can you feel any kind of mechanism inside it? Please pull on the ribbons. Do they come off do something suspicious? Examine the seams. Do they come apart or open anywhere? Okay. Now the true test. Put the blindfold over your eyes and look at that bright light over there. Can you see anything through the blindfold? You can't! Do something else. Turn the blindfold around and look through the other side. Maybe somebody could think this is some kind of special material you can see through from one side and not the other! Can you see anything through this other side? Of course you can't. Please pass the blindfold to Helen and would you y ou please, test and examine that blindfold blindf old any way you see fit." It is very important that when you have the spectator put the blindfold over his eyes, you ask him if he can see anything through the blindfold. If you only asked him if he could see anything he could answer yes because he will be seeing downwards! Please, remember this. On with the patter. "Now here I have two half dollars. Please examine them. You'll find they are a re common 50 cent coins and have not been altered in any way. Pass them on to Helen so she can also examine them. I also have some pieces of surgical tape, the common kind you can buy in any drugstore. Here, look over this piece. Helen, you look at this piece. And here I have this last piece of tape. Look it over also." At this moment, everything is in the hands of the two spectators. The tray, which you should be holding, is empty. Show it to the audience while you say: "Now everything is in the hands of these two people. They have examined all the elements I will use. If some of these things were faked, they would surely have found out. Are you two sure you have examined everything to your complete satisfaction? Have you found anything unusual or suspicious? Then we shall proceed. Please give me the big piece of surgical tape. I will stick it here to the mike stand." Take the big piece of tape and stick it lightly to the microphone stand as shown in drawing 8. This is so the spectators don't have their hands full and to avoid the danger of the tape sticking over itself or to another tape.


Now the blindfolding begins. "Please give me the coins. Thank you. y ou. Now give me one of the smaller pieces of tape. I'll stick one of the coins to the center of the tape. Please, open your hand." ha nd." Show the tape with the coin stuck in the middle on the hand of the audience and place it on the hand of the nearest spectator. Stick the other coin to the second piece of ta e and hold it in your hand. "Now that both coins are stuck to the center of a piece of tape I will stick them over my eyes, one coin over each eye beginning with the right eye which I first close." Close your right eye and stick the coin and a nd tape over it. Make a great show of sticking it firmly in place. "Please give me the other tape and coin. This I will place over my left eye. Henry, please, check this out. Press firmly on the tapes so they stick tightly to my face. Go ahead. Don't be afraid, these are not your eyes! Are you satisfied? Now, Helen, you come here. Women are better at detecting cheating. Press over the tapes so they stick perfectly to my face. If you am not too sure about this, you can peel off the tapes and stick them again as you wish." They'll always say they are satisfied with how the tapes are stuck but if someday somebody peeled off the tapes and stuck them in place again, there would be no problem as I could hold them in the position I wanted for the spectator to stick them. "Now, Henry, take the bigger tape which is hanging from the microphone stand and stick it on top of my eyes, horizontally." With your hands you gesture horizontally over your eyes so the spectator knows just what he is supposed to do. "Here you must do a perfect job. See that the tape is perfectly stuck to my face and that you don't leave any holes. Watch out specially the sides of the nose. I don't want anybody to think that it is possible that I could somehow see through there. That's why we use adhesive tape, so you can stick it firmly to my face without leaving the smallest hole. Are you finished? Helen, come here and check this out Please, P lease, press with your hands so that the tape sticks perfectly and firmly to my face. Are you both satisfied that I cannot see anything? Is everyone in the audience satisfied? If there are any skeptics, they should come up now to examine everything. Is anybody coming?" In the above, by boldly mentioning the possibility p ossibility of seeing by the sides of the nose, you eliminate this possibility of explanation from the mind of the audience. Your invitation for them to check and re-check makes all seem very, very fair. Nobody ever comes up from the audience but the open way in which you invite anybody to come up convinces them that all is above board. Now you turn your back on the two spectators on stage so the man can place the blindfold over your eyes. Open your eyes to check if you can see. You should be sideways to the audience. Once you are assured of your downward peek you continue:


"Please, Henry, place the blindfold over my eyes and fasten it at the back. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, now that I am completely blind I'll begin this demonstration. Henry, please take the pad and felt marker to someone in the audience who will boldly write his or her signature. Please remember to write it big enough. Henry, when you have the signature, please return with it and the felt marker to your seat. Let's give Henry a hand." I always have the man place the pad and marker near the stairs of the stage so he can pick them up when he goes into the audience. When telling him to pick them (in the above) I can perfectly see where they are but a subtle touch I use is to point apparently at them while I speak but instead point to a point a little to the side. They see this and the idea that you can't see is further reinforced in their minds. "Now I want you all to help me. I want everybody here to take some object from their pockets, purse or wallet. You can take anything you want If you hold this object in your open hand like this, I'll pass through the audience and I'll pass my fingers over this object without touching it.... please keep that in mind. I will not touch the objects.... but I'll try to tell you its color, its shape, what material it's made of and I'll even try to tell you what the object is. The only thing I ask of you is not to take out objects that are too common like cigarettes, lighters or pens. Instead take out the most uncommon object you have with you, something that you feel will be a challenge for me. Helen, please grab my left wrist. Your job will be to take me through the audience so I don't fall down and wherever you see something uncommon that you think will be interesting, you take me there. Now help me go down the stairs." Here the demonstration proper begins. While she is helping you to go down the stairs off the stage (if there is one) you close your eyes so you are really blind. Thus you can give a passable performance of a blindfolded person being helped down the stairs. I say passable because with time you'll get so used to this that you could even run down the stairs with your eyes closed. Now the woman takes you into the audience and she approaches some object she thinks is interesting. I haven't yet talked about the microphone. You have it in your free hand and the best is a wireless one. These are a re fairly common in Spain where I live but one with a long cord is the next best thing. You should consider having your own wireless mike which you won't have any trouble connecting to the main system in i n the place you perform. Otherwise you could could carry with you a long microphone mi crophone cable and several types of jacks or plugs to adapt a dapt to any mike you find. When you approach an object you can see it some time before you get there. The moment you see the object ask the assisting assis ting spectator to place your hand over it without touching the object and you wiggle your fingers over it and begin telling things about it. I'll go into this later. Once you know exactly what the object is, you should turn your head away from it. This should be done in the first few seconds when the assisting spectator is placing your hand over the object. When you first approach any object ou can see it before getting there. If you identify it then, the moment the assisting spectator moves your hand towards it, turn your head away. Do not call attention to this fact. They notice it. The idea you want to transmit is that when you got to the object your face was pointing the opposite way. You will be shown many kinds of objects, some really hard ones and some easy ones that the owners think that will be hard for you. Hopefully the patter has eliminated all silly-easy objects which would just make this trick


die. I got the idea for this by reading "The Blindfold Book" a booklet that came with Richard Osterlind's Apex Steel Blindfold. In my opinion the best part of this booklet is Section IV where you find fi nd the correspondence between Fauceft Ross and Paul Fox about this trick. It is very interesting and maybe you should read it. On page 27 Ross mentions Dr. Tarbell's performance of this trick and how he didn't get any "breaks" the night he saw it and the presentation was plenty sad. He also mentions Francis Carlyle and how he also depended on "breaks" or special circunstances or objects that could be profited upon by the performer. If you didn't use my patter or something like it, the audience would mostly show you silly things like cigarettes and eyeglasses but using the words I teach you the audience feels this is a challenge and they show you folding scissors, eye cups, condoms, fake plastic female breasts, cough medicine, tampax, bananas! I have ha ve all these and many, many more taken out for me to "guess". Another very important detail is the number of objects you should "see". Never, never do more than five. Even with all the things I'll teach you to make this an interesting and impressive show every new object is more of the same and they'll get bored and will begin to think that you can see. Now I'll teach you a lot of very important details that will make this a sensation. All of these details have come through the many repeated performances I have done of this trick. When you approach the first object you try to see it efore getting there. If it is fairly common you "photograph" it in your mind and turn your head away while the girl assistant places your hand on top of this object. By "photographing" the object I mean that you don't try to consciously remember its color or shape or what it is but just form a picture in your mind without using words. Its very important that in the first two objects you don't completely get what they are but get close enough so there is no doubt you know what you're talking about. This is a way to build tension and the wish in the audience to see you succeed 100%, which you'll do on the third object and there you'll get a strong hand. Let's suppose the first object you identify is i s a gold medal or locket without a chain. You can tell them something like: "This is something very small. I think it's made of metal, maybe silver. The person who is holding this is the owner? You were wearing this a moment ago, weren't you? You just took it off to test me! It's some kind of jewelry and it has engraved on it the figure or a woman. Please show it to everybody so they can see if I'm I 'm wrong or I'm right." It's important you deduce things about the object you couldn't possibly know even if you could see them. In the above example (which by the way, is very common) the fact that the medal was without a chain almost certainly means that the person was wearing it and took it off a moment before to show it to you. There are some near misses like saying silver instead of gold. This gives credibility to act. There is another thing I call "The memory of objects". It means that there are many, many things you know and the moment you see them you don't have to see them anymore because you can describe the object in your mind. For example, sometimes they show me a contact lens case. This is


usually white plastic with a couple of compartments each one with a screw cover. This is the pocket or purse variety and since I wear contact lenses and have one of these myself I know that it has a little heart engraved on one of the covers so that you can put the left eye lens there. I also know that if the person has this, he or she must surely be wearing the contact lenses and has the case in case his or her eyes grow weary and has to remove them. In In this case the case is surely filled with special contact lens fluid. Here is more or less how I do this object: "I feel some kind of bottle. It is filled with some kind of liquid. I feel it's very clear in color or even white. Somewhere, maybe in a label it has the picture of a heart Is this true? Yes! Now I get it! It's a small plastic bottle of sweetener! No? Don't tell me! Hmm, the liquid inside.... it's not sweet. It's rather salty. There was something inside this bottle but now it's not inside anymore. I think you are wearing this somewhere on your person. I don't get it. This bottle is really strange. Now I feel two covers and one of them has the drawing of a heart. Is this all true? Could you show the audience the object?" As I told you, the first two objects obj ects you don't tell what they are. You just get close as shown in the examples and it really gets the audience wanting you to succeed 100%. It also convinces them subtly that you can't see because if you could you wouldn't make those "mistakes". The mistakes in this case are much, much better than being completely correct because you get so close that it looks real. After this you get to the third object and in the same style you begin homing on it until this time you tell them what it is. Every time you finish fi nish with an object you ask the person to show it to everybody and ask the rest of the audience to take out difficult things. By this time the woman assisting you should have caught on and will take you to interesting objects. If you see she takes you to a silly object like a pair of eye glasses of a key chain you can try to pass on to another object obj ect in hope it would be better. In some cases you'll hear people calling the woman to take you to where they are. If you detect it is a group which is calling by all means go there because the object is bound to be very good and will most probably give you a chance at comedy. In this way I've got shoes, woman's sanitary napkins (unused and in their wrappers, of course) and many off beat objects like a carrot, once. Depending on where you are performing you'll get gross objects but please remember its not you who took this out but them. You just describe it the best way you can and sometimes you can make clear what the object is without mentioning its name. There is a candid way to do this that will get you laughs and applause. I have never performed in the United States and the idea we have here maybe wrong) is that it's a very prudish society. I live and perform in Spain where people are very open about sexual matters: any beach is full of women without any bras, you can see porno films on TV and sometimes I get items that might be considered risky in other countries but here it's done in the spirit of fun. I leave to you to play it by ear should you be shown one of these objects. However I'll tell you how I deal with a condom. Let's say, as is usually the case, that a man --the owner-- is holding it up for you. "I get the idea that the owner of this object is a very optimistic person. (This person. (This is a big laugh). He has been carrying this thing in his wallet for a long time now. (Another now. (Another big laugh). I think it has expired. (Another expired. (Another laugh)." Telling what that the object is a condom would be an anti-climax in the


above example so you just move over to the next object. I'll give you some more examples so you can get the feeling. Always remember to tell more than could be known simply by seeing the object. For example, I perform a lot at banquets and dinners. Many times somebody (almost usually a man) shows me a blister card of pills, great big round pills I immediately know are Maalox or some other preparation for the stomach. The man suffers from a stomach disorder, possibly even an ulcer. He thought he would have acidity from the food. If all the pills are there you can bet he has had a good dinner. However if you see pills missing miss ing he has had trouble with the food but you don't want to say anything about this because you might want to continue working in this restaurant! Sometimes you'll see that instead of taking the whole blister card of pills he has cut a section maybe with four pills. This is what you can say: "This is something plastic. Possibly a credit card, but I don't think so. There is some metal, silver metal. There are also some round things. Could this be a plastic toy car? No. Wait. Has this been in contact recently with some metalic object. Think hard. Maybe before you left home you touched this with some metallic object like a knife or scissors. Yes! I can state this: before you left home this evening you y ou or somebody, maybe your wife, took a pair of scissors and cut this plastic thing. Let me ask you something. Are you having stomach problems? Yes! But I can tell you that tonight you are feeling very well. And why not? You have had a great dinner in this restaurant and so you haven't had to take one of those big pills you carry around with you!" Similar to this was the man who showed me a leather case for two cigars. This was also at a dinner. d inner. The case was closed but I guessed he must have smoked one of them after the dinner while taking coffee as is the custom here. The case was closed and I didn't know if he had given the second cigar to some friend at his so I did it like this: "Hmm, this is something made of leather. Leather is somewhat easy for me. It must be very dark, dark brown or even black. It's not a wallet or anything of that sort. It's some kind of box or case. Do not open it. There is something inside, isn't there? Yes. I'll try to get what it is. I feel that before you came here tonight, when you were still at home, you opened this.... container.... and put something inside. This was just before coming here tonight. Maybe you put in one thing, maybe you put in two things. Right now there is only one, isn't there? Yes! A while ago you opened this and took something out. I get the feeling that you destroyed it. Wait. I get it now. Inside this there is one cigar. Open it and show it! You just smoked the other one!" Sometimes at banquets people take things from the table to show you. Things like forks, salt shakers, napkins, and flowers. Sometimes they have given out some kind of awards or plaques and which they'll show you. These objects could be very boring so you pass over them rapidly trying to make them interesting like this: "This is something that the person who is showing it to me didn't have when he or she came here tonight. Isn't this true? This object doesn't belong to you.... it's something you just took from the table to test me. I feel it's a piece of cutlery. Show it to everybody."


In these cases do not be too specific as to what the object is. The feeling you want to transmit is that you'll not waste your time anymore with this. However if it is a plaque you can read the persons name and without telling it completely you can just give out the last name. Here's a tip for you. If you know or find out that they will be giving g iving away awards or plaques, befriend the man in charge before the show and a nd while talking with him take a good look at the plaque or award. Then you can describe it from memory with your head looking to the other side should somebody show you one. You'll also get credit cards, membership cards and lottery tickets. With the help of a good mnemonic system you can c an memorize credit card numbers. The name is easier but never say it completely. You could also use the expiration date. "This is made of plastic. There is something electronic in it.... no, it's magnetic. I guess it's a credit card. You want the bank? Who do d o you think I am? Okay, I'll try. It's a big bank. Could it be Citybank. It is? Well, there you have it, Mr. Jones. Show it to everybody! Oh, by the way would you like the number? Oh, yeah, I would, he says! So would I! Okay, I'll try. 4540 3367 6700 8231! Oh, by the way, your card expires next month!" Sometimes your recent experience can give an unexpected break. Some time ago I went to a big b ig department store in Barcelona (where I live) and while paying with their house credit card the woman told me they now had a new model credit card and that in five minutes they could change my old one for the new one. I said OK and just to talk I asked her how long they have had this new card. She told me less than a month. A few weekends later a man takes out one of these and he shows it to me. This is more or less how I went about it: "This is something made of plastic. It has a lot of letters and numbers. I feel the color white, I feel the color green. There is also another color. It's black or very dark brown. No? Isn't there something of this color on the object. Oh, I didn't tell you: It's not visible now because it is on the other side. Turn it around and you'll see it. See? I told you! I'm blind and I tell you something about your object that even you didn't know! Okay, this is a credit card. I can feel something about this. I think you have had this for a very short time. I can tell you that last month you didn't have this. Isn't it so? Yes! You want me to tell you what kind of credit card it is? Why, it's from El Corte Inglés, Mr. Rovira!" After the show the man told me that he had lost his wallet with all his credit cards about a month ago and he had them all made again. He was shocked about how I could have known this! I didn't. I just knew his card couldn't be more that a few weeks old, but in his mind he tied both things thing s together. When you get a very strange object that you don't know what it is you can just describe it and pass rapidly to the next one. However you should try to guess what the object is before giving up. I've had great moments with strange objects. Once an old lady took out a small odd shaped cup made of a strange kind of plastic. It was somewhat scratched and looked old. I didn't di dn't have any idea of what it could be but it suddenly came to me from an old science book from my school days: it was an eye cup used for washing one's eyes. I already had begun to describe what it looked like when it came to me. So I asked the lady to show the object to the person who was seated in front of her and I asked this person (a man) is he knew what the object was. By having her show this to a person in front of her I could be sure he wasn't


with her and didn't know what the object was which could happen if she had shown it to somebody at her side (this was a theatre). When this man said he didn't have an idea of what the object was, I told him: "You don't know? You can see and you don't know? I cannot see and you want me to tell you what this strange object is? Okay. The owner of this object has used it today, haven't you? Oh, you're a lady. I had the impression you were a man, excuse me. So you have used this today? With some liquid, didn't you? Yes! You know what this is, sir? You don't? It's I t's a little cup she uses to wash her eyes! Isn't it true, madam? It is! Show it to everybody!" Now, once in a while you'll get a challenge. Somebody might say loudly that you can see. Whenever this happens, stop and say something like: "I heard somebody saying that in spite of all the bandages I have over my eyes I can still see. Who said that? Would you like to make sure that all the adhesive tapes are still stuck firmly to my face and that there is no opening whatsoever through which I could see?" Saying the above you pull the bandage down so s o it rests around your neck and so doing manage to press the tapes to the sides of your nose so they stick there. When doing this it's important you shut your eyes tightly. Thus you can show that your eyes are securely sealed. After this have somebody place the blindfold over your eyes again as in the beginning and you again get your peek hole. This situation is great for you as by the time you have described two or three objects the audience will begin to try to explain in their heads just how you can accomplish this and the only answer they can get is that you somehow can see. Not long ago I was performing this and approached a table where a couple was sitting. The man was holding a medal and when I approached him his woman companion said in loud voice that I had already seen the article. I went on describing it and when I finished she said: "Of course you can say all this, you saw the medal when you approached". Here I went into the patter I have written above and pulled down the blindfold inviting her to check the tapes. She began to pull at the tapes at the sides of my nose to check if they were stuck. They were but I said to her: "Well, if you pull on the tapes you'll unstick them and then you will say I can see through there. Please just check and see that they are firmly in place". She finally finall y was satisfied and I had the blindfold put on again and then she said: "Well, now let me see you tell me what I'm holding". I knew that could be coming c oming next so I had already taken a peek and had seen her taking something from under her napkin on the table. I immediately recognized it as a religious stamp or card as are common with Catholics. These have on one side the drawing of some saint or virgin and on the other side there is a prayer. She had the prayer side up and I could recognize it by the Spanish word "oración" (prayer) on top. So I immediately knew what it was even before she asked me so I already had my head turned away. I asked her to put the object under my fingers without me touching it and said something like: "I feel this is a flat object. It might be plastic or it might be paper or cardboard like a post card. There is a picture. I think it's a woman. Please


tell me: Is there a picture pi cture of a woman on it? (She answered "Yes). It I t is in color but.... It is not on the side you are showing me, isn't it? I tell you that this picture is on the other side, the side that you have against your hand. The side that you are showing me is full of letters!" This was really sensational and got me gasps from the people on the nearby tables that could clearly see the object plus a big hand from the audience with her embarrassed companion clapping the loudest. I tell you about it so you can see the many wonderful things that can happen during the performance of this trick. I have no way of knowing what you'll encounter (I can't even know what I'll get when I do this!) but after a while situations begin to follow some kind of pattern and you can be ready for almost everything. It's time to get on with the presentation. When you have described about three objects, go to the next one and this one you fail to get. You say something like: "I can't get this one. It's too difficult. Please take me somewhere else". However, what you just did is take a good look l ook at the object and at the person holding it. As I told you before you don't try to remember the details, you just do a "mental photograph" of both the object and of the person. If the person is sitting you can even see their face and note the style of hair, eyeglasses and jewels if any, color of shirt or blouse, b louse, type of dress, any corsage or pin, skirt or trousers, etc. Then the lady volunteer takes you to another object and this one you describe successfully even telling what it is at the end and then you ask your lady volunteer to take you back to the stage. Going back to the stage you ask for the pad with the signature and the felt marker and when you are at the middle of the stairs (if any) or just about to get on the stage area, you stop with your back to the audience and say: "There is one object I didn't get and I want to apologize to this person. However I think I can try it i t now. Will the person whose object I couldn't c ouldn't describe stand up.... with the object in hand. Yes. A lady. Blond. Short hair. Eyeglasses. She's wearing a blue dress with small white flowers and has very beautiful legs! She's holding a key chain with the keys to her car ca r I see you are a Hyundai owner!" The above is a sensational climax. Half way through you'll be interrupted by gasps, exclamations of surprise and laughter. By the way, it's easy to get the car if you familiarize ourself with different car keys. Some of them have the brand name engraved and some are so characteristic you just can't miss. You can get great effect out of this as people very often show you their car keys. I also look out for remote controls which some people keep on the same key chain as their car keys. Of late I have been having such a great success with this last part that I'm seriously thinking of finishing my presentation here. However I stil do a finale I began doing from the first time I performed this. It is an idea of Dr. Jaks I read in a Milbourne Christopher book. (By the way, the fine idea of failing to get one object and then getting it at the end and also describing the owner is due to my good friend, the Argentinian magician Oscar Keller). When the lady volunteer has taken you back on stage ask her to place you facing the audience and behind the microphone stand. Close your eyes and grope for it, finally placing the mike back on the stand. Ask the lady for the pad and the felt marker, thank her for her help and ask the audience for a


big hand for her. Here is another nice touch. By thanking her first, she begins to leave the stage so that when you ask for a hand for her she already is on the way to her seat but you point to the side where she was on stage (as if ou thought that she was still there) and say "Thank you, Helen". People don't fail to notice this and it reinforces the idea that you really can't see a thing. Now I say: "Here I have a signature; a signature which is unknown to me. I know it's up here in the pad because if I put the wire spiral to my right, the signature would be in the higher position. To finish my performance I'll try to imitate this unknown signature as close as I can. However, for you I'll do it the hard way --upside down!-- I just ask you for a little silence." What you do here is turn the pad upside down so that the signature is in the lower position and hold it in front of your body just like shown in the drawing. Open the felt marker and place the cap between your teeth. Hold the marker in your non-writing hand with which you should be holding the pad. Pass your writing hand several times over the signature and over the blank space above and begin doing an imitation of what you're seeing upside down. The above is really easy because being upside down, you don't do a signature, you just imitate some scrawlings and your idea of letters doesn't interfere and your own handwriting stays out of this. In this way you can do a passable facsimile of the signature. You'll hear them gasp. At the end turn the pad rightside up so they can see the signature and your imitation of it and there will be applause for you. Here's something very important. During this part of the trick your head should remain completely motionless. Everybody is looking at you now and you don't have the advantage of moving among the audience so DON'T MOVE YOUR HEAD! Before beginning to imitate the signature, place your head so that you can see it well and then lock it in this position. If the signature is too long and there is i s some part of it you can't see, then move the pad instead of moving your head. Once the have seen both signatures and they have applauded you, drop the pad on the floor, take the cap from between your teeth and recap the marker. Put it in your pocket. Now we come to a very delicate part. The trick is already over but you're still on stage with a blindfold over your eyes. You have to take this off in front of the audience but this isn't entertainment and can be anti-climatic. I have a way of doing this I feel keeps the interest of the audience. I say the following: "Now I need only show you that everything is in its place. The blindfold is in its place (take off blindfold), the tapes are in their place, the coins, you can see their shape through the tapes, are in their place. Now I'll take the tapes off.... very carefully.... There you are! I hope you have enjoyed this demonstration and I hope you continue enjoying this nice dinner. Thank you


and good night." Finishing the above I bow to the audience and take my applause which most of the time will not be bigger b igger than the one before (at the end of the signature bit) but this is because people will be still a little confused and baffled with what they have just seen, so don't worry about it. Going a little back, when you take off the blindfold you shut your eyes tightly so as to close the openings on the sides of your nose and put the blindfold in your pocket. Then, when mentioning the coins, place both your forefingers over the tapes where the coins are and trace their shape. This action also sticks back the tapes on the sides of your nose. Now, the way in which you take off the tapes is very important. You must always begin taking it off by lifting the extreme end of the wide tape and never, never by sticking your thumb under the somewhat looser tape at either side sid e of your nose so as not to give away our little secret to the smarter members of your audience. Well, this is the Blindfold Trick as I perform it. When I perform it I don't say it is X-Ray Vision or Seeing with the Fingertips, as it has also been called. I just don't say anything about the supposed cause of the phenomenon, I just do it. My recommendation is that you do the same. Also there is the idea that when you do this kind of trick you have to tell the audience first that what you are about to do is completely natural and not due to supernatural causes, etc. In my opinion this is silly because this kind of useless patter really slows down your act. It also shows lack of modesty on your part because you tell people you fear they might believe you are gifted with supernatural powers. The most intelligent members of your audience will instinctively know that if you had some kind of power you wouldn't be performing these things to pay your rent. In I n regards to the least intelligent, you can just forget about them because if they want to believe you are a gifted mortal, nothing you can say will make them think otherwise. One last warning I almost forgot: You should never touch the tapes when they are stuck over your eyes. The only exception is the emergency case when you can't see and in this case, this action is covert and so, the audience isn't supposed to see it. I repeat, never touch the tapes over your eyes. There have been some writings on this trick where the authors have ha ve described many demonstrations with other objects such as identifying colored ribbons or balls, filling glasses of water and such. My recommendation is: don't bother with any of this. You don't need to carry any more props and set up a table just to hold them. Also, some authors and some other artists who perform p erform this do not leave the stage area but instead collect (or have someone collect) several objects on a tray or such and then they are brought on stage where the performer describes them. Sometimes I have had to do this because it was impossible to go into the audience (too high a stage without stairs in front). I can tell you this is much, much weaker this way. You can try it yourself and you'll be convinced with my way, which is going into the audience. When you describe the first one or two objects, many people take out harder or stranger objects just to test you and this is what makes this trick sensational. When you collect several objects at the beginning, that's it. You are stuck with what you got and you'll get very common objects, I assure you. Just perform my routine as I have taught you in these pages and you'll have a great trick in


your repertoire. Before I did this trick I just had a "nice" act. Since I began doing it as a finale, I have something they talk about and remember me by. I have noticed a great increase in contracts and personal fame in my area of work and with agents since I began doing this so please give it a try as it's not difficult. You'll never regret it. Magically yours, M a r k o

Note: I write the following a couple of months after finishing the manuscript. After putting it on paper I began using regularly the idea explained here which I only used when I heard somebody say that I could see. I reasoned that most of the time nobody said this but a lot of people would surely be thinking it! How else could I do what I was doing? So now, after the third object I stop and say:

"At this moment in the demonstration, many people think that somehow I can see. I'll take off the blindfold and I'll ask the person nearest to me to examine my face and see the condition of the tapes and coins. There! Please check them! See? They are stuck firmly to my face! Press them with your y our fingers. See that there is no way I could possibly see with all this in front of my eyes. I'll ask any skeptic to come and check. Are you satisfied? OK Please put the blindfold over my eyes again." By doing this, you jump ahead of them and destroy the only theory they might have in regards to the working of the effect. Since I began using this on a regular basis, I've noticed a greater reaction with the next objects until the finale of the routine. I told you before I don't believe in psychic powers and such. I would like to add that I also respect the right of others to believe and since I'm no crusader either, almost never will I express my views in this matter in front of spectators during or after a show. I don't like to knock psychic phenomena, fortune telling, etc. There is nothing to gain by doing it. In the above paragraph I said that I almost never will express my views on this in front of spectators. I have done it a couple of times. tim es. Both have been TV shows to which I have been called as "expert" in trickery and as an skeptic. I saw a good reason to appear in those programs and argue against other panel members. This reason was the amount of personal publicity I got from these programs since I was asked a sked to do some demonstrations. This is a valid and honest reason since I just expressed my true beliefs and didn't lie or misrepresent anything. I must say that both shows have been beneficial to me, specially the first f irst one which gave me a great break for other TV shows here in Spain. I should warn you, however, that its not easy to appear in one of these debates and make good since so many people believe in psychic phenomena and they will naturally oppose you. In fact, I've seen magicians (and skeptic scientists) give a very sad image in this type of TV debate. In my case I knew this from observation and had the time to prepare for it with a great dose of charm, frankness, innocence, and some very effective mental tricks. Also, I was lucky enough to be attacked verbally on camera by one of the psychics so everything that I did later was just in self defense (I crushed him!). From


that moment on the show was mine. I just wanted to tell you this so you know how I behave in front of people in this matter in case you gain fame using the blindfold trick and find yourself in this type of situation. I'm not bragging when I say this routine of mine is sensational. Just to show you, a couple of weeks ago I performed in i n a magic gala show with 8 other magic acts. The clipping above is from that show. I get 6 lines at the end of the article, 5 lines at the beginning (not shown) and the two small columns you see in the clipping. The title says more or less: "Marko, the Main Course of the Evening". All of this I got because of the Eyeless Vision Routine you have just read. In the article, the journalist reviews at length the Eyeless Vision Routine which shows he remembered clearly all details. You'll agree this rarely occurs. I'll translate a few lines for you from the Catalan language:

"The..... magician offered an act in which he combined humor and comedy with serious magic which left everybody dumbfounded. The instant disappearance of a cage with a bird inside or the rope that was cut in three and put together again were just the preamble to the real performance of the magician. "Two audience members covered Marko's eyes with coins held with adhesive tape. On top, a blindfold examined beforehand by several spectators, eliminated any possibility of vision.... the magician was taken to various


spectators whom showed him the most original objects from a make-up case to a bottle opener. Marko, without touching any of them, told the audience the material they were made of, what shape and color they had, what they were used for and finally he identified identifi ed the object. "Only during one moment it seemed that the magician was giving up without being able to say anything about an object. But Marko didn't disappoint the audience. A moment later he not only revealed that the object was a telephone but he also described the man holding it. "And the grand finale came when, without uncovering his eyes, he perfectly duplicated the signature of an spectator chosen by chance." So, you see, the journalist who wrote this remembered everything and the Eyeless Vision clearly impressed him. Also, the combination of "normal" magic tricks with this one didn't seem to bother him much. All the time he refers to me as "the magician", which is exactly what I want (not "the mentalist" or "the mindreader" or anything of that sort). I reproduce this not as an ego trip but to show you what can be gained by performing this trick. The End

Marko - The Great Eyeless Vision Act

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