Bob Cassidy - The Schattenjaeger

16 Pages·2003·0.75 MB·English

Der Shattenjaeger – The Shadow Hunter
Copyright 2003 by Robert E Cassidy
All rights reserved

They might be giants.
- Cervantes, Don Quixote

Absolute authenticity of detail is essential to our work.
Anything less is mere quackery.
-The Magic Christian
TABLE OF CONTENTS

The Schattenjaeger’s Workshop 2
Dr. Crow’s Book of Numbers 2
Bandaged 7
The Paradigm Deck 8
Vision Quest (The Schattenjaeger’s Cards) 10
The Jam Readings - “Ragtime Mentalism” 14

The Schattenjaeger’s Workshop

One of his secrets is the knowledge that everyday objects are really effects whose instructions
have been lost. A glass object on a supermarket shelf might look like a jelly jar, for example, but is that
what it really is? He looks at the fluted glass sides that distort the appearance of the contents and
realizes that it is a cleverly disguised secret device. He asks himself, “How does it work?”

At the checkout counter, while he is waiting to purchase his new discovery, he carefully peruses
the mini-magazines that purport to reveal the secrets of numerology and how to harness your psychic
powers. Are they simply pieces of bait to hook the gullible, or do they have another purpose? He looks
behind their tacky facade and sees what they are really for.

His own appearance is equally deceptive. Most people assume he’s dangerously psychotic.

They are wrong.

He is the Schattenjaeger. His workshop is everywhere.

Dr. Crow’s Book of Numbers

Every two weeks or so, a company called American Media Mini Mags, of Boca Raton, Florida,
delivers yet another publication to supermarket checkout counters throughout the country. Featuring
such titles as “Is Your Pet Psychic?” “Are You Psychic?” “How to Talk to Your Cat” and “Everyone is
Psychic Except You”, these and similar “mini-mags” have become commonplace..

“Dr. Crow’s Book of Numbers” is a mentalist’s utility device that appears to be just another of
these ubiquitous releases. It is a sixty-six-page booklet, which you can easily print out on your
computer. (Separate .pdf and .doc files, ready for printing, are included in the file that contains this
eBook, as are full size versions of the front and back covers.)

Here are the covers and the first few pages from the booklet:
The booklet is 4 inches by 6
inches in size. The pages are printed
on blank index card stock. (You can
do them on newsprint if you want to
make the book look exactly like the
supermarket versions. I prefer the
cardstock as I use the booklet in a
platform routine in which it is only
handled by one person. The card
stock makes the book somewhat
more durable.
The covers are printed in color
on glossy photo paper. (You may
prefer to have these done at your
local print shop.)
The next several pages continue in this manner,
giving the meanings for each of the “name numbers”.
(The actual pages, contained in the files accompanying
this eBook, are formatted with headers, footers,
appropriate margins, and gutters)

The remainder of the book consists of entries for
every day in the year. These correspond with your
volunteer’s birthday and contain his lucky number
combination and lucky color.

Following are some of the entries from the
“January” section of the book -

E
very day of the year has a different six-digit lucky
number combination and is assigned one of nine
different colors – the seven colors of the spectrum
plus “black” and “white.”

Again, look at the attached files to see how
these pages are laid out.

The secret to the booklet is very simple –
without referring to its pages you are able to
determine the number and the color assigned to
every day of the year!

Unassembled book printed on 4 x 6 blank index cards
The most effective way of using the booklet is to first secretly obtain the participant’s birth date -
unless you use the pocket writing option mentioned below. A center tear, billet switch, or impression
device can also be used for this purpose. (If you perform an effect with a borrowed bill earlier in your
routine, you can often get a glimpse at the driver’s license when the spectator removes the bill from his
or her wallet.)

I ask the participant if she believes in lucky numbers. I show the Dr. Crow book and state that it
is a numerology book I picked up in the supermarket. Handing the booklet to her, I ask her to look
through it.

“Look up your birthday and it will tell you your lucky number combination and your special
color.”

You already know what her number and color will be, and may reveal that information as you
wish. (Those who are skilled in pocket writing will have no problem presenting this as a prediction
effect – just ask for the birth date and while the spectator looks it up you pocket-write the lucky
number and later pretend to remove the slip with your “prediction” from an envelope that has been in
plain view from the start.

The color is the easiest to determine quickly. Simply by body indexing nine envelopes, you can
hand one containing the proper color as soon as you know the date.

Use the mnemonic you probably learned in school to help you remember the seven colors of
the visible spectrum – ROY G. BIV. The letters of this guy Roy’s name stand for the colors Red, Orange,
Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, and Violet. Since the name is a three-letter word, a single initial, and then
another three letter word. It is easy to determine the numerical value, from one to seven, of any of the
colors and vice versa. There are, however, nine different colors used in the book, so we use “Black”
and “White” to represent numbers eight and nine.

To determine the color for any given day of the year, add the values of the month and day
together and then add the digits in the result. If the result is a two-digit number, add those two digits
together until you arrive at a single digit. That digit corresponds to the color for the date in question.
(Mathematically speaking, you are simply “casting out nines.”)

For example, if the birthday were June 23rd, you would add 6 (for June – it is the sixth month)
and 23, arriving at a total of 29. 2 + 9 = 11 1 + 1 = 2 Color #2 is Orange. (“O” is the second letter
in “ROY”)

January 8th is White. Why? Because 1 + 8 = 9 and 9 is White.

Determining the number for any given date is almost as easy. A very simple calculation, based
on Burling Hull’s “Master Memory Feats”, gives you the number for any day of the year. While you
should have no problem doing it all in your head, you may, if you wish, calculate the number with
pencil and paper while ostensibly working out the participant’s “Name Number” as per the first section
of the booklet.

Put the value of the month FIRST and the date SECOND. (This is the normal way of writing a
date in the US, but the rest of the world puts the date first. So if my overseas friends will just remember
that we are a little backwards over here, you will know to put the month first when doing the
calculations for this effect.)

Ex. - January 1 = 11
January 2 = 12
January 13 = 113
October 31 = 1031
Etc.

Thus, the month and date will yield a two, three or four digit number. (Think of January 1st, for
example, as eleven, January 13th as one hundred and thirteen, and October 31st as one thousand thirty-
one.)

Add five to this number. Using January 13th as an example, our number would now be 118.
(113 + 5)
Reverse this number: 118 becomes 811.
Now, as per Hull’s system, add the last two digits together to obtain the next digit: 8112
Again add the last two digits together to obtain the fifth digit: 81123.
Once more add the last two together to get the sixth, and final digit: 811235

If you arrive at a two-digit number when adding the last two digits together, disregard the
number in the “tens” place. Only use numbers in the “ones” place. Example:

August 7

Written as a two-digit number: 87
Add five and your total is 92
Reverse these digits to get 29
Add these two together to get the next digit and your total is 11. DISREGARD the 1 in the “tens”
place.
The number is now 291
Add nine and one together for the next digit. The total is 10, but disregard the 1.
The number is now 2910
One and zero give us the fifth number:
29101
Zero plus one gives us the sixth, and last, digit of the lucky number:
291011

The “lucky numbers” in the book are listed sequentially by date, thus it is possible to see that
they have a discernable relationship to one another – especially in the two-digit months of October,
November, and December. This would be a problem if the effect were based on the premise that a
random number was assigned to each day of the year. These numbers, however, are NOT
represented as being random at all – they are ostensibly the result of careful numerological
computations and OF COURSE there are relationships between the numbers in given months. (That’s if
anyone should ask about it in the first place, which is unlikely if the presentation is fairly brisk and the
spectator is not given the opportunity to leisurely look through the book.)

If, however, you have secretly obtained the birth information as suggested earlier, the spectator
should believe that you didn’t know her birth date to begin with, let alone the six-digit number and
color it is associated with.

As you become familiar with the booklet, many other applications will suggest themselves to
you.

As the Shattenjaeger says, “Look beneath the surface.”

Bandaged

There are those who will say that this portrait of me is among the
finest of my many likenesses . It is a perfect example, however, of things
that are not quite what they seem to be. While it appears that my head is
wrapped in an Ace bandage, it is in fact wrapped in a disposable paper-like
athletic wrap manufactured by a company named Nexcare. It has two
qualities that set it apart from the cloth Ace bandages that it so closely
resembles.

The first is that it sticks to itself, so there is no
need to pin or knot it after putting it on. While this
makes it very convenient to use as a blindfold or as a
base for an even more elaborate eye covering, its other
quality is what makes it particularly valuable to the
mentalist.

It is a very stretchable material, but unlike the
Ace bandage, which contains elastic, the Nexcare is best
described as a sort of heavy-duty crepe paper.
Something very interesting happens when you stretch it
out – it becomes almost transparent.
I took the photograph of myself wearing the bandage with the webcam mounted on the top of
my computer. I am actually looking at the monitor and setting up the shot with four feet of this
material wrapped around my head.

The visibility is so good that I have taken to wearing the bandage underneath my regular cloth
blindfold (The Master Mentalist’s Blindfold – which is also based on a hidden transparency principle) I
still have adequate straight ahead vision.

I recently tested the bandage with Osterlind’s Stainless Steel Blindfold and found that I still had
perfect vision to the left and right. In practice, the bandage should be removed from the inner plastic
cylinder (around which it is wrapped when you take it from the box.) and rolled up like a regular Ace
Bandage. You should also refer to it as an Ace bandage during your performance. (Throw away the
box that it comes in – you don’t want anyone to realize that it is anything other than an Ace.)

The bandage comes in two varieties – one is designed for use on the elbows and wrists, and is
an inch narrower that the leg bandage shown in the photo on the right. To my knowledge, the unique
properties of this relatively new first-aid item have not, until now, been discovered by mentalists or
magicians. For that reason, this is an extremely valuable secret and I ask that you keep it closely to
yourself.

The Paradigm Deck

Can you guess which card the
Schattenjaeger is peeking at?

But there is a bit more to the
Paradigm Deck than what lies before
your eyes or the Schattenjaeger’s. The
marks are worth noting, however. I think
you will agree that they are pretty hard to
miss. As in the original “Peek Deck
Pappy” described in J.G. Thompson’s My
Best, each card, with the exception of the
top card, which is not marked, bears the
identity of the card directly above it.
Since the marks are on the upper halves
of the cards, the pack can be casually
spread from the other end without the
markings being seen.

The Paradigm Deck, though, is
also a “Psychomatic Deck” – in other
words, the cards are glued together in
pairs and the uppermost card of each pair
is one of twenty-six identical force cards.
The lowermost cards of each pair are all
different and are cut short. (It is exactly the opposite of a Svengali pack, in which the force cards are
short) The pairs of cards are glued together at the ends. The cards, therefore, can be freely spread in
a face up condition and shown to be “well mixed”, “all different” or whatever else you claim them to
show.
In the photograph, the pairs are glued together at the upper end of the pack. No matter where
the spectator stops me as I riffle the cards toward him at eye level, he will see an indifferent card. Of
course, I will know what it is as soon as he does - thanks to the blatant mark that is facing me.

In combination, these two principles create a very powerful and fast platform demonstration. As
the routine begins, the pack is secured with a rubber band and resides in the performer’s jacket pocket.
The cards are not kept in their case – if they were, what would you need the rubber band for?

The performer approaches a spectator, removes the pack from his pocket, and takes off the
rubber band, which he snaps around his wrist. He spreads the cards face up, asking her to verify “for
the benefit of the people in the cheap seats” that all of the cards are different.

“As I flip through them like this, just stop me somewhere.” The cards are held at the spectator’s
eye level, as in the photograph, and riffled with the right fingers, which pull back toward the performer
– ie. the cards spring towards the spectator. When you perform this routine yourself, keep your head
turned to the side during the riffle, thus making it obvious that you are not looking at the cards.
Caution the spectator not to think of the bottom card “because everyone can see what it is.”

Hold the cards high enough so that the spectator cannot see the faces as they riffle. When she
tells you to stop, show her the card in the exact manner shown in the photo. At the same time, turn
your head back toward the spectator and tell her to remember the card she is looking at. Since the
mark is staring you in the face, you remember the card as well. Close up the pack and rapidly go to
another spectator who is asked to think of a card in the same manner. Repeat this procedure as rapidly
as you can with as many spectators as you can handle. This, of course, will be dictated by how many
cards you feel comfortable memorizing. If you have mastered a card memory system, you should have
no problem remembering seven or eight cards, which is about right.

After the eighth spectator has remembered a card, say, “You know, maybe it’s not so good that I
am touching the cards. Here, let’s try it this way.” As you speak, give the cards several overhand
shuffles – faces of the cards toward the audience so as not to flash the markings. Retain the top
(unmarked) card in position at all times.

Approach a final spectator and, as you reach her, snap the rubber band around the pack.

“Here, I want you to hold the cards like this on your outstretched left hand.” Demonstrate by
holding the cards on your own palm-up hand. The deck should be face down and the glued ends of
the cards should be closest to you.

“I am not going to watch when you peek at a card. In fact, I am not even going to touch the
cards. I am going to hand you the deck and I want you to lift up a bunch of them from the end, like
this, and peek at just one card. Don’t let a lot of them flip by like this, because then you will be
thinking of too many different images.”

The performer turns so that the spectator can see over his right shoulder as he gives this little
demonstration. Since the performer riffles from the glued end while he is explaining why the spectator
should not flip through the pack, the participant will see several indifferent cards, thus “proving” once
again that all of the cards are different.
When the mentalist hands the deck to the spectator, however, he places it face down on her
hand so that the unglued “force” end of the pack is facing her. This is the standard handling for the
Psychomatic deck.

Turn away from the spectator and ask her to peek at a card and fix it into her mind. When she
indicates that she has done so, ask her to drop the cards into your jacket pocket, as you “don’t want to
touch them again.”
That last bit is important, for it is what the audience will remember after the show – many will
even forget that you were holding the cards while the other spectators made their selections.

Conclude by asking everyone to concentrate intently on the card images they have fixed in their
minds. In a brisk and forthright manner call out all of the selections, finally turning to the volunteer
who got the force card. Reveal the card she is thinking of, once again mentioning that you never
handled the cards after giving them to her.

While the handling in this routine is almost obscenely blatant, the effect is nonetheless very
powerful. The main thing to remember –other than the cards, which you’d better remember - is to work
this one as fast as you can without confusing anyone.

Vision Quest (The Schattenjaeger’s Cards)

I was playing around with one of Doctor Crow’s “Allegedly Authentic Mojo Dolls” a while back
and I realized that the little pocket on the front of his outfit was a perfect holder for a billet switch.
Those of you who have read Theories and Methods for the Practical Psychic, Part 3, will remember the
“Crossover Billet Switch,” performed as the right hand removes a folded billet from a candlestick-like
holder. The same maneuver can be performed while removing a billet from the doll’s pocket. (Or in
PRETENDING to remove it – it’s just as simple to push the billet all the way down into his pocket while
apparently removing the one you had palmed in your right hand. It’s a nice approach that leaves you
completely clean.)

I went to my cabinet for some 2” by 2” billets to practice with, and there I found two packs of
miniature playing cards that I had purchased many years ago. They were (and still are) made by Piatnik
of Austria. I liked them because of the lifelike images on the court cards. Here’s a picture of a few of
them. See what I mean?

The cards are about an inch high, and,
as I quickly noticed, just about the same size as
a folded billet. Why not put one in the doll’s
pocket and use it for a prediction?

I mulled over several possible
approaches, all of which involved switching
the card in the doll’s pocket for one that
matched a full-sized card freely selected, or
thought of, by a spectator.