I saw the Amazing Kreskin ten years ago in college. After the performance, I set out to figure out every trick and within a week, I figured out them all. Still, I got into enormous arguments with people sure I was wrong and Kreskin wasn’t a fake. Some tricks were very sophisticated and required a great deal of skill, (Hypnosis for one.) and some could be pulled off by any sidewalk Grifter.
I discovered some principles for those who want to debunk psychics or go into the biz themselves:
First thing, although some people really believe in the Psychic, most people are skeptics. However, they want to believe in the PHENOMENON of psychic ability. Why? Because THEY want to BE psychic. THEY want to be able to read minds, tell the future and communicate with the dead. If this guy can do it, you might be able to one day too.
A good Psychic will actually fan the skepticism of himself. You can’t be “too perfect” or people will get suspicious. You want the Subject to think they must help the Psychic with their own ESP for the Psychic to succeed. Instead, they send out the overt info subconsciously, the Psychic makes the Big Hit, and the Subject is floored. They “know” the Psychic was real because they “felt” it. They are really less impressed with the Psychic’s ability then their own because they feel their efforts to psychicly tell things to the Psychic WORKED.
Kreskin starts the show off, interestingly enough, by telling everyone he is NOT a Psychic. Moreover, he dares to expose anyone claiming to be a Psychic, even offers up money if anyone can prove the existence of Psychic ability!
This is a brilliant move because he’s raised the ire of the audience who want to prove Kreskin wrong. No need. His later actions “prove” himself wrong.
Kreskin claims he is not a Psychic but a MENTALIST. But he doesn’t bother to explain what the hell a Mentalist is. The Audience makes their own definition: A Mentalist is a Psychic only for Real. My Definition: A Mentalist is a Psychic that admits that they are phoney and just doing tricks. Brilliant reverse psychology, though.
He had the audience write down three things on a scrap of paper then had the audience put the scraps in envelopes. Seal them and sit on them at the end of each aisle. Then he did typical Psychic mumbo jumbo, leading in a meandering path to a few unimpressive things but finished by accurately “guessing” a guy’s Social Security Number.
It was a Hot Read. Kreskin first just dumped the envelopes in the middle of the room. Since his intruction was for each aisle to have an envelope, he had to go back into the audience and pick up some and move them out to the sides. And, no doubt in the process, PALM a few scraps.
So, if Kreskin palmed sheets, why the awkward, “I’m getting the name of a man beginning with a B or a D”? If he just read the scrap, you’d suspect a trick. If he goes through the stupid @@@Woo Woo@@@ you “know” he’s not reading. Plus he shows his incompetance a few times until he lazers in on the Ten-Digit number no one could possibly Cold Read. His “best” discernment is with a guy with his driver’s licence in hand ordered to “clearly” visualise the number. See. Kreskin needs your help to succeed.
Then there’s the Grand Finale. Hide the Check. I’ve seen him do this on TV several times, so I suppose it’s his Big Closer. Kreskin says he’ll leave for a while and the Audience gets to hide his check anywhere they want in the auditorium. If he can’t find it in ten minutes, he doesn’t get paid. He’s blindfolded and holds the hand of an audience member so he doesn’t bump into things.
How Kreskin finds the Check is pretty simple. I imagine it’s merely the “Clever Hans Phenomenon.” The closer he is, the tenser the audience gets.
Of course, making a Bee-Line for the Check wouldn’t stun and amaze. We’ve got to get down to the wire. Nine minutes and 45 seconds of awkward fumbling then a Bee-Line for the Check is better. But Kreskin can top that. HE FAILS! How does he fail? You make him fail!
While Kreskin is gone somebody stands up, says he knows a little trap door on the stage that is virtually invisible. He thinks it would be funny if the check was right under Kreskin’s feet the whole time. He tries to get it open but can’t find it. Someone suggests under the Mic stand, but that’s too obvious. Then this Guy gets a brilliant idea. Let’s all PRETEND the Check is under the Mic stand. Then the audience picks another place out in the audience.
Like sure fire, Kreskin comes out and every time he leaves the stage, he’s “Stragely drawn back.” With a dramatic burst, he turns over the Mic stand and asks if the Check is there. Soon he starts feeling the stage for that secret trap door himself. The audience chuckles as time expires. Kreskin is to go home penniless.
You won. You fooled Kreskin. Your psychic powers won over his. He’s not so Amazing now, is he?
Then someone in the audience confesses to the trick. The audience decides to let Kreskin have Do-Overs and be good. He finds the check within a minute.
Obviously, the trick would be a sham if there was a Plant in the audience telling Kreskin where to go. Hence the blindfold.
Come on, Peeps. The GUY is the PLANT. The Plant doesn’t tell the audience where to put the check but how to try to fool Kreskin. Again brilliant Reverse Psychology. Who would plant someone in the audience to try to get him to miss out on his lunch money?
