Devin Knight – The Skeleton of Jekyll and Hyde

Most magicians are familiar with the Do-As-I-Do card trick, where both the magician and spectator select the same card from two different decks. This has been a staple of card magic for over 100 years. But can you imagine doing this with two dictionaries where both the spectator and magician select the same word?

Can you imagine doing this with no forcing of a word! It’s possible using a long-forgotten secret from the 30s and updated for today’s performers. Read on.

Let’s assume you are the spectator and I am the magician. I have two identical large-print dictionaries. You chose a page (left or right), a column (left or right) and the word position from the top of a page, but not a page number. I hand you one dictionary and go into an adjoining room and select a word, on any page of the selected side of my dictionary, in the column and position you have chosen. While you do the same with your dictionary…a word, on any page, in the column and position you have selected! I return and you and I exchange dictionaries. Then, each of us looks up his word in the other person’s dictionary, writes the word on an index card and seals it in an opaque envelope and leaves it wedged against the page listing the word.

We exchange dictionaries again and I open yours to where you have wedged the envelope. I see by where you wedged your envelope that the word you selected is in the ‘M’ section. I tear open your envelope. You have selected the word, ‘mystery’. Now, you, the spectator, open my dictionary with my envelope in it…and find it is also in the ‘M’ section. You tear open the envelope and find the word I selected is also ‘mystery’!

An amazing coincidence that seems impossible, as you both selected the same word while in different rooms.

• no nail writers or secret writing

• no sleights

• no switch of the envelopes

• very easy to do

• a one-man effect, no secret assistant required

A diabolical method that is a real magician fooler and uses a principle that most magicians will not be familiar with.

NOTE: This trick is designed for PSI parties and for doing in your home for friends or while visiting another person’s home or attending a social party. It is not suitable for stage and parlor shows.

1st edition 2016, 13 pages.