Chris Angel Murphy

This is a fantastic mentalist trick where you can easily and powerfully demonstrate your ability to mentally project simple thoughts into the mind of your subject. This illusion uses a simple deck of cards, and some set up beforehand, as well as some decent patter. Since the patter is only used for mental misdirection, you can talk about any old thing and it will work fantastically.

Here’s how the trick will look to your soon to be massively impressed test subject. You tell them you have a deck of cards, and you will take each card off the top, and concentrate on the color, red or black. Then you will project the color into their brain, and they will automatically choose the right color. You methodically go through the whole deck, projecting either black or red into their brain.

When you are finished, you will have two stacks of cards. Whenever they guess red, you put the cards to the left, and whenever they guess black, you put the cards to the right. You make it clear that based on simple statistics, if they only get three or four in a row, that can be written off to chance, but to get five or six in a row is something special. Then simply ask them to choose black or red, and pick whichever pile has been labeled as such. Then pick up whichever stack is that color, and ask them how many cards in a row would convince them of your powers. Most people will say something between four and nine.

You then proceed to flip ten cards over, all the exact color that they predicted. You have proven your ability to powerfully project your thoughts into their brain, and they will never look at you the same way again.

Here’s how to do the trick. Beforehand, you’ll need to separate out all the red and black cards, put them into the deck. What you’ll have then is 26 black cards on top of 26 red cards. When you are “projecting” the card color into their brain, you’ll go through all the black cards, and all of the red cards. Since they’ll likely choose randomly between black and red, after the first half the trick is over, you’ll have two stacks, with black on top of red, on either side.

Naturally, they will expect one stack to be all red, and one stack to be all black. So when you ask them which stack they’d like to look at first, just remember which color is on top. If they choose red, show them ten cards in a row from the bottom, and if they choose black, show them ten cards in a row from the top. While you pick up the stack they chose, you’ll need to keep talking, looking them in the eye, to keep their attention of the deck, so they won’t notice which side you pull the cards from. This trick always amazes them, and will convince any skeptic beyond a shadow of a doubt of your psychic projection abilities. Have fun.