by Fletch

Created on: March 16, 2007   Last Updated: April 03, 2007

How to make the most effortless & simple magic trick amaze anyone!

I've been involved in magic of some sort since I was 7 years old. If there is one thing that I would consider to be the most important aspect to master, it would be SHOWMANSHIP! (or acting)

Every great magician, or illusionist, performs their magic as some type of character. If you perform a trick, no matter how amazing or complicated it may be, won't impress anyone if your audience thinks that "Joe Normal" is performing the trick.

For example: David Copperfield, Criss Angel, David Blaine, Houdini and many others didn't get famous by allowing their audience to believe that they were just a normal guy. They all work really hard to convince you that they are somewhat mystical and have some kind of superhuman power of some sort.

I don't have any superhuman abilities or mental powers, but I act as though I do! Event though I try to explain to people that it is an act. Some people are convinced beyond a doubt that I have some kind of mystical power. They believe so much in what they see and hear, that they actually will believe you are doing real magic. If that's what they want to believe, then fine by me.

I use a story to setup my character. When I was in the military I spent some time over in Haiti. In Haiti their practicing religion is Voodoo! Now it's nothing like the Voodoo that most people see on TV and in the movies. It's just a religion, like any other, and I don't have any special knowledge in Voodoo that any normal person couldn't read in a book from the library. But I use that misconception to my advantage to cause an audience to believe that the magic I perform is real. At least for the length of my show, I always explain afterward that it is all entertainment. What this does, though, is make any trick, no matter how simple, blow peoples minds! I make up a story for my character. I tell them something like this:

"When I was in Haiti, I got separated from my unit and had to take cover in a mud hut that was owned by a wise old Voodoo Doctor. I couldn't communicate with the old man and he became fearful for his life. He began to chant and cast spells in my direction. When I finally made it back to camp, all the local Haitians looked at me with the same respect they showed the old Voodoo Doctor. The next day I began to notice that I could do things with my mind that I had always thought to be impossible."

After telling them this, I can do any trick I want and they will think I have some magical,

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