marko - the great eyeless vision act

8/11/2019 Marko - The Great Eyeless Vision Act

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The Great Eyeless Vision ActBy

Marko

This act has produced many bookings for the author.Worth many $$$$$ to the working performer!

Iam going to explain to you, step by step, one of the most effective andpractical tricks you can do, namely, the X-Ray, Blindfold or Seeing With theFingertips Act. This is a trick that can work real wonders for your act as ithas done for mine. This has been my finale for about five years now (I amwriting this in 1994) and I have polished and developed it throughout thattime, constantly adding new touches. I am giving you all the details here, sothat you too may enjoy success with it.

First let me tell you that you don't have to be a so called mentalist to

perform this in your act. Even though it is very strong in effect, it's still atrick, just like the Egg Bag or the Cut and Restored Rope. In fact, I performthis as the finale of my act in which I previously perform the above twotricks! Many will think this is heresy as traditional thinking forbids mixingmagic (and articularly this kind of magic!) with mentalism but not only it canbe done but I have found from experience that it is most effective.

You too can mix magic and mental tricks and in doing so place yourself inthe company of the likes of Pinetti, Robert-Houdin, Herrmann, Kellar, Carterthe Great, Dunninger, Copperfield.... nice company, isn't it? So take out ofyour mind the notion that if you do a magic act you can't include mentaltype tricks. Mental tricks need not be that different or special. They just

show another of the magician's "powers": that which allows him to divinefacts as opposed to those which allow him to cut and restore a rope or makean egg appear and disappear. Of course there is a difference in quality ofeffect, that's why the Blindfold trick is the finale of my act!

There is something else. I don't believe in the supposed extra sensorypowers of the mind. I know that many people believe in these things andthis belief costs them time and money. Because of this I decided a long timeago not to foster the belief in the so called paranormal and deleted from mypatter all references to the mind, telepathy, ESP, precognition, and all liketerms. Furthermore, I don't act as though I'm concentrating or exerting anykind of psychic force. This in no way lessens the impact of this or other

mental tricks I have included in my act from time to time. On the contrary, Ibelieve that by taking out all these terms and histrionics my presentation ofthe Blindfold Trick has developed along more effective lines, as you will see.Okay, now you know how I stand on the ethics of this matter. Of course youcan do as you wish.

Let's begin then with the matter at hand which is the explanation of theBlindfold Trick. I use the best known of the different methods for this trick:the downward peek and since the method is the least important part I'll takecare of it at once.

he Great Eyeless Vision Act

ttp://www.magic4you.co.uk/books/blindfld/001.html (1 of 18) [6/2/2002 9:05:12 AM]


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First you need a blindfold. The drawings show you how to make one just likemine, which is not faked in any way. It is a simple sewing project. Nextyou'll need a roll of 2" wide and a roll of 1" wide surgical tape. You can buythis in any drug store. They have flesh color and white. Buy white. You alsoneed two half-dollars size coins.

From the 1" tape cut two pieces about 3 1/2" long. From the 2" tape cut onepiece about 7" long. Stick one coin in the center of one of the smaller piecesof tape and closing your right eye, stick the coin over it in a slanted positionjust like drawing 1 shows. Now stick the other coin in the center of the othersmall piece and closing your left eye, stick it over this eye the same as youdid with the other. Drawing 2 shows how you should look.

Now take the wider piece of tape and stick it horizontally over your eyes justlike drawing 3 shows. When doing this, close your eyes tightly and press thetape over your brow so it sticks there good. Of course you also press thistape all over so it sticks perfectly to your face. The most important place it

must stick is both sides of your nose so that there are no holes in any ofthese sides.

At this moment you can't see anything (mainly because you have your eyesclosed! Before putting the blindfold on top of everything, open your eyes andexert a little force with your brows and the tape will unfasten from the sidesof your nose and you will have a clear view downwards. Now you can put onthe blindfold and as long as you don't put it way down, it won't have theleast effect on your downward peek.

Practice this a few times so you can get the hang of it. Then have somerelative blindfold you some more times. You will find that this is so easy it's




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ridiculous. Just as it's impossible to tie somebody with a long rope and notleave some slack here and there, it is also impossible to blindfold you so youcan't peek along the nose.

I should say "almost impossible" as once, in one my first publicperformances of this trick, I was blindfolded in the way I have explained toyou and I couldn't see a thing. That is why I told you to check if you canpeek before you have them put the blindfold on top of everything. I alwaysdid it from the very first time I began performing this and since I hadanticipated this could happen I was ready with a solution which consisted

simply in asking for the blindfold, taking it with both hands as shown indrawing 4 and putting it on myself. Note where my thumbs are in thisdrawing. Lower your head a little and when you put on the blindfold asshown in drawing 5, both your thumbs go under the tape at both sides ofyour nose and unstick them a little. The moment you do this, move ourhands to the back of the blindfold and straighten your head so nobody thinksyou are cheating which is what you just did. It must be the work of aninstant. Now have the blindfold fastened at the back and you can begin towow them.

There is another problem you will find the first times you do this: your eyeswill tire and your vision will blur. This will mostly happen when in public andI suppose that the natural stress of being before an audience may worsenthis condition. The only thing you can do is, as they say, practice, practice,practice. Put on the coins, tapes and blindfold at home and wear them forlonger periods of time each day until your eyes get so used to this that youwon't have this problem any more.

Those of you who wear a moustache may have some trouble with this,depending on the bulk of the moustache. I don't know but I suppose it could

pose a problem if it's too bushy.

If you wear glasses you will have to take them off to do this, of course. Thisis one problem I had but I changed to contact lenses and that was thesolution. Using contact lenses you can peek perfectly downwards without anyproblem.

The last problem I will talk you about is your eyebrows. When you finishdoing this trick you'll have to take off the tapes. You can also take off half ofyour eyebrows. The way to take off the tapes is to do it s-l-o-w-l-y. You'llalways take off some hairs but not quite as much as if you pulled the tapes




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fast. Besides, there is a kind of knack I can't explain to taking off the tapeswhich you'll get once you have done it a few times.

Okay, now you know everything there is to know about the technical side ofthis trick. Now we'll pass on to explain the presentation which is the mostimportant part.

Props:

Besides the blindfold, the coinsand the pieces of tape you'llneed a metal tray big enoughso you can stick the tapes to itand place the blindfold on it.Also you'll need a felt markerand a big drawing pad. Draw aline accross the middle of thefirst page of the pad and placean "X" on the top section(drawing 6). The tray looks like

drawing 7 when everything(except the big pad, of course) is on it. This is one of the features thatmakes this trick so practical: the preparation is simple and everything goeson a little metal tray. You can place the big pad on a chair and the tray ontop.

Performance:

Ask for a lady and a gentleman to come on stage. In my case they arealready there from a previous trick. I just ask them to stay with me for fivemore minutes. This is a lie as the blindfold trick takes more time but if I ask

them for just five minutes they'll say yes. They are both at my left side, theman nearest to me.

Now I'll begin putting my patter in italics.

"I'm going to finish my performance with something completely differentfrom what I have shown you so far. Please, notice something veryimportant: In a moment, all the things I'll be using in this demonstration willbe in the hands of these two persons from the audience. They can examineeverything and if there is some kind of trick they'll surely find it."

Take the pad and show it to the audience.




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"However, my first instructions are for ail of you. In a moment, Henry herewill go back to his seat and he will take with him this pad and a felt marker Iwant you to notice that the pad is divided in two sections by this line acrossthe middle. Henry will approach somebody, anybody in this audience andwhat I want that person to do is just take the felt marker and write his orher signature on this top section of the pad; the one marked with the X.Now, I don't want you to write a small signature. What I want you to do iswrite it very big. If it is possible I want it to take all this top space so eventhe nearsighted grandmother in the last row can see it clearly! Henry, please

take this pad and this marker and place them near the stairs so you can pickthem up when I tell you. Meanwhile stay with us up here."

When you tell the audience how big the signature should be written, yougesture with your finger on the pad so they understand clearly what youwant them to do. Take the blindfold and give it to the man.

"I have here a blindfold. Please examine it. You can feel it with your fingers.Is it made of several layers of very thick material? Yes? Can you feel anykind of mechanism inside it? Please pull on the ribbons. Do they come off dosomething suspicious? Examine the seams. Do they come apart or openanywhere? Okay. Now the true test. Put the blindfold over your eyes and

look at that bright light over there. Can you see anything through theblindfold? You can't! Do something else. Turn the blindfold around and lookthrough the other side. Maybe somebody could think this is some kind ofspecial material you can see through from one side and not the other! Canyou see anything through this other side? Of course you can't. Please passthe blindfold to Helen and would you please, test and examine that blindfoldany way you see fit."

It is very important that when you have the spectator put the blindfold overhis eyes, you ask him if he can see anything through the blindfold. If youonly asked him if he could see anything he could answer yes because he willbe seeing downwards! Please, remember this. On with the patter.

"Now here I have two half dollars. Please examine them. You'll find they arecommon 50 cent coins and have not been altered in any way. Pass them onto Helen so she can also examine them. I also have some pieces of surgicaltape, the common kind you can buy in any drugstore. Here, look over thispiece. Helen, you look at this piece. And here I have this last piece of tape.Look it over also."

At this moment, everything is in the hands of the two spectators. The tray,which you should be holding, is empty. Show it to the audience while yousay:

"Now everything is in the hands of these two people. They have examined allthe elements I will use. If some of these things were faked, they wouldsurely have found out. Are you two sure you have examined everything toyour complete satisfaction? Have you found anything unusual or suspicious?Then we shall proceed. Please give me the big piece of surgical tape. I willstick it here to the mike stand."

Take the big piece of tape and stick it lightly to themicrophone stand as shown in drawing 8. This is so thespectators don't have their hands full and to avoid thedanger of the tape sticking over itself or to another tape.




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Now the blindfolding begins.

"Please give me the coins. Thank you. Now give me one ofthe smaller pieces of tape. I'll stick one of the coins to thecenter of the tape. Please, open your hand."

Show the tape with the coin stuck in the middle on thehand of the audience and place it on the hand of thenearest spectator. Stick the other coin to the second pieceof ta e and hold it in your hand.

"Now that both coins are stuck to the center of a piece oftape I will stick them over my eyes, one coin over each eyebeginning with the right eye which I first close."

Close your right eye and stick the coin and tape over it. Make a great showof sticking it firmly in place.

"Please give me the other tape and coin. This I will place over my left eye.Henry, please, check this out. Press firmly on the tapes so they stick tightlyto my face. Go ahead. Don't be afraid, these are not your eyes! Are yousatisfied? Now, Helen, you come here. Women are better at detecting

cheating. Press over the tapes so they stick perfectly to my face. If you amnot too sure about this, you can peel off the tapes and stick them again asyou wish."

They'll always say they are satisfied with how the tapes are stuck but ifsomeday somebody peeled off the tapes and stuck them in place again,there would be no problem as I could hold them in the position I wanted forthe spectator to stick them.

"Now, Henry, take the bigger tape which is hanging from the microphonestand and stick it on top of my eyes, horizontally."

With your hands you gesture horizontally over your eyes so the spectatorknows just what he is supposed to do.

"Here you must do a perfect job. See that the tape is perfectly stuck to myface and that you don't leave any holes. Watch out specially the sides of thenose. I don't want anybody to think that it is possible that I could somehowsee through there. That's why we use adhesive tape, so you can stick itfirmly to my face without leaving the smallest hole. Are you finished? Helen,come here and check this out Please, press with your hands so that the tapesticks perfectly and firmly to my face. Are you both satisfied that I cannotsee anything? Is everyone in the audience satisfied? If there are anyskeptics, they should come up now to examine everything. Is anybody

coming?"In the above, by boldly mentioning the possibility of seeing by the sides ofthe nose, you eliminate this possibility of explanation from the mind of theaudience. Your invitation for them to check and re-check makes all seemvery, very fair. Nobody ever comes up from the audience but the open wayin which you invite anybody to come up convinces them that all is aboveboard. Now you turn your back on the two spectators on stage so the mancan place the blindfold over your eyes. Open your eyes to check if you cansee. You should be sideways to the audience. Once you are assured of yourdownward peek you continue:




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"Please, Henry, place the blindfold over my eyes and fasten it at the back.Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, now that I am completely blind I'll beginthis demonstration. Henry, please take the pad and felt marker to someonein the audience who will boldly write his or her signature. Please rememberto write it big enough. Henry, when you have the signature, please returnwith it and the felt marker to your seat. Let's give Henry a hand."

I always have the man place the pad and marker near the stairs of the stageso he can pick them up when he goes into the audience. When telling him topick them (in the above) I can perfectly see where they are but a subtle

touch I use is to point apparently at them while I speak but instead point toa point a little to the side. They see this and the idea that you can't see isfurther reinforced in their minds.

"Now I want you all to help me. I want everybody here to take some objectfrom their pockets, purse or wallet. You can take anything you want If youhold this object in your open hand like this, I'll pass through the audienceand I'll pass my fingers over this object without touching it.... please keepthat in mind. I will not touch the objects.... but I'll try to tell you its color, itsshape, what material it's made of and I'll even try to tell you what the objectis. The only thing I ask of you is not to take out objects that are too commonlike cigarettes, lighters or pens. Instead take out the most uncommon objectyou have with you, something that you feel will be a challenge for me.Helen, please grab my left wrist. Your job will be to take me through theaudience so I don't fall down and wherever you see something uncommonthat you think will be interesting, you take me there. Now help me go downthe stairs."

Here the demonstration proper begins. While she is helping you to go downthe stairs off the stage (if there is one) you close your eyes so you are reallyblind. Thus you can give a passable performance of a blindfolded personbeing helped down the stairs. I say passable because with time you'll get soused to this that you could even run down the stairs with your eyes closed.Now the woman takes you into the audience and she approaches someobject she thinks is interesting. I haven't yet talked about the microphone.You have it in your free hand and the best is a wireless one. These are fairlycommon in Spain where I live but one with a long cord is the next bestthing. You should consider having your own wireless mike which you won'thave any trouble connecting to the main system in the place you perform.Otherwise you could could carry with you a long microphone cable andseveral types of jacks or plugs to adapt to any mike you find.

When you approach an object you can see it some time before you getthere. The moment you see the object ask the assisting spectator to placeyour hand over it without touching the object and you wiggle your fingers

over it and begin telling things about it. I'll go into this later. Once you knowexactly what the object is, you should turn your head away from it. Thisshould be done in the first few seconds when the assisting spectator isplacing your hand over the object. When you first approach any object oucan see it before getting there. If you identify it then, the moment theassisting spectator moves your hand towards it, turn your head away. Donot call attention to this fact. They notice it. The idea you want to transmit isthat when you got to the object your face was pointing the opposite way.

You will be shown many kinds of objects, some really hard ones and someeasy ones that the owners think that will be hard for you. Hopefully thepatter has eliminated all silly-easy objects which would just make this trick




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die. I got the idea for this by reading "The Blindfold Book" a booklet thatcame with Richard Osterlind's Apex Steel Blindfold. In my opinion the bestpart of this booklet is Section IV where you find the correspondence betweenFauceft Ross and Paul Fox about this trick. It is very interesting and maybeyou should read it.

On page 27 Ross mentions Dr. Tarbell's performance of this trick and how hedidn't get any "breaks" the night he saw it and the presentation was plentysad. He also mentions Francis Carlyle and how he also depended on "breaks"or special circunstances or objects that could be profited upon by the

performer. If you didn't use my patter or something like it, the audiencewould mostly show you silly things like cigarettes and eyeglasses but usingthe words I teach you the audience feels this is a challenge and they showyou folding scissors, eye cups, condoms, fake plastic female breasts, coughmedicine, tampax, bananas! I have all these and many, many more takenout for me to "guess".

Another very important detail is the number of objects you should "see".Never, never do more than five. Even with all the things I'll teach you tomake this an interesting and impressive show every new object is more ofthe same and they'll get bored and will begin to think that you can see.

Now I'll teach you a lot of very important details that will make this asensation. All of these details have come through the many repeatedperformances I have done of this trick. When you approach the first objectyou try to see it efore getting there. If it is fairly common you "photograph"it in your mind and turn your head away while the girl assistant places yourhand on top of this object. By "photographing" the object I mean that youdon't try to consciously remember its color or shape or what it is but justform a picture in your mind without using words.

Its very important that in the first two objects you don't completely get whatthey are but get close enough so there is no doubt you know what you'retalking about. This is a way to build tension and the wish in the audience tosee you succeed 100%, which you'll do on the third object and there you'llget a strong hand.

Let's suppose the first object you identify is a gold medal or locket without achain. You can tell them something like:

"This is something very small. I think it's made of metal, maybe silver. Theperson who is holding this is the owner? You were wearing this a momentago, weren't you? You just took it off to test me! It's some kind of jewelryand it has engraved on it the figure or a woman. Please show it to everybodyso they can see if I'm wrong or I'm right."

It's important you deduce things about the object you couldn't possibly knoweven if you could see them. In the above example (which by the way, is verycommon) the fact that the medal was without a chain almost certainlymeans that the person was wearing it and took it off a moment before toshow it to you. There are some near misses like saying silver instead of gold.This gives credibility to act.

There is another thing I call "The memory of objects". It means that thereare many, many things you know and the moment you see them you don'thave to see them anymore because you can describe the object in yourmind. For example, sometimes they show me a contact lens case. This is




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usually white plastic with a couple of compartments each one with a screwcover. This is the pocket or purse variety and since I wear contact lenses andhave one of these myself I know that it has a little heart engraved on one ofthe covers so that you can put the left eye lens there. I also know that if theperson has this, he or she must surely be wearing the contact lenses andhas the case in case his or her eyes grow weary and has to remove them. Inthis case the case is surely filled with special contact lens fluid. Here is moreor less how I do this object:

"I feel some kind of bottle. It is filled with some kind of liquid. I feel it's very

clear in color or even white. Somewhere, maybe in a label it has the pictureof a heart Is this true? Yes! Now I get it! It's a small plastic bottle ofsweetener! No? Don't tell me! Hmm, the liquid inside.... it's not sweet. It'srather salty. There was something inside this bottle but now it's not insideanymore. I think you are wearing this somewhere on your person. I don'tget it. This bottle is really strange. Now I feel two covers and one of themhas the drawing of a heart. Is this all true? Could you show the audience theobject?"

As I told you, the first two objects you don't tell what they are. You just getclose as shown in the examples and it really gets the audience wanting youto succeed 100%. It also convinces them subtly that you can't see because ifyou could you wouldn't make those "mistakes". The mistakes in this case aremuch, much better than being completely correct because you get so closethat it looks real.

After this you get to the third object and in the same style you begin homingon it until this time you tell them what it is. Every time you finish with anobject you ask the person to show it to everybody and ask the rest of theaudience to take out difficult things. By this time the woman assisting youshould have caught on and will take you to interesting objects. If you seeshe takes you to a silly object like a pair of eye glasses of a key chain youcan try to pass on to another object in hope it would be better. In somecases you'll hear people calling the woman to take you to where they are. Ifyou detect it is a group which is calling by all means go there because theobject is bound to be very good and will most probably give you a chance atcomedy. In this way I've got shoes, woman's sanitary napkins (unused andin their wrappers, of course) and many off beat objects like a carrot, once.Depending on where you are performing you'll get gross objects but pleaseremember its not you who took this out but them. You just describe it thebest way you can and sometimes you can make clear what the object iswithout mentioning its name. There is a candid way to do this that will getyou laughs and applause. I have never performed in the United States andthe idea we have here maybe wrong) is that it's a very prudish society. I liveand perform in Spain where people are very open about sexual matters: any

beach is full of women without any bras, you can see porno films on TV andsometimes I get items that might be considered risky in other countries buthere it's done in the spirit of fun. I leave to you to play it by ear should yoube shown one of these objects. However I'll tell you how I deal with acondom. Let's say, as is usually the case, that a man --the owner-- isholding it up for you.

"I get the idea that the owner of this object is a very optimistic person.(Thisis a big laugh). He has been carrying this thing in his wallet for a long timenow.(Another big laugh). I think it has expired.(Another laugh)."

Telling what that the object is a condom would be an anti-climax in the




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above example so you just move over to the next object.

I'll give you some more examples so you can get the feeling.

Always remember to tell more than could be known simply by seeing theobject. For example, I perform a lot at banquets and dinners. Many timessomebody (almost usually a man) shows me a blister card of pills, great biground pills I immediately know are Maalox or some other preparation for thestomach. The man suffers from a stomach disorder, possibly even an ulcer.He thought he would have acidity from the food. If all the pills are there you

can bet he has had a good dinner. However if you see pills missing he hashad trouble with the food but you don't want to say anything about thisbecause you might want to continue working in this restaurant! Sometimesyou'll see that instead of taking the whole blister card of pills he has cut asection maybe with four pills. This is what you can say:

"This is something plastic. Possibly a credit card, but I don't think so. Thereis some metal, silver metal. There are also some round things. Could this bea plastic toy car? No. Wait. Has this been in contact recently with somemetalic object. Think hard. Maybe before you left home you touched thiswith some metallic object like a knife or scissors. Yes! I can state this:before you left home this evening you or somebody, maybe your wife, took a

pair of scissors and cut this plastic thing. Let me ask you something. Are youhaving stomach problems? Yes! But I can tell you that tonight you arefeeling very well. And why not? You have had a great dinner in thisrestaurant and so you haven't had to take one of those big pills you carryaround with you!"

Similar to this was the man who showed me a leather case for two cigars.This was also at a dinner. The case was closed but I guessed he must havesmoked one of them after the dinner while taking coffee as is the customhere. The case was closed and I didn't know if he had given the second cigarto some friend at his so I did it like this:

"Hmm, this is something made of leather. Leather is somewhat easy for me.It must be very dark, dark brown or even black. It's not a wallet or anythingof that sort. It's some kind of box or case. Do not open it. There issomething inside, isn't there? Yes. I'll try to get what it is. I feel that beforeyou came here tonight, when you were still at home, you opened this....container.... and put something inside. This was just before coming heretonight. Maybe you put in one thing, maybe you put in two things. Right nowthere is only one, isn't there? Yes! A while ago you opened this and tooksomething out. I get the feeling that you destroyed it. Wait. I get it now.Inside this there is one cigar. Open it and show it! You just smoked the otherone!"

Sometimes at banquets people take things from the table to show you.Things like forks, salt shakers, napkins, and flowers. Sometimes they havegiven out some kind of awards or plaques and which they'll show you. Theseobjects could be very boring so you pass over them rapidly trying to makethem interesting like this:

"This is something that the person who is showing it to me didn't have whenhe or she came here tonight. Isn't this true? This object doesn't belong toyou.... it's something you just took from the table to test me. I feel it's apiece of cutlery. Show it to everybody."




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In these cases do not be too specific as to what the object is. The feeling youwant to transmit is that you'll not waste your time anymore with this.However if it is a plaque you can read the persons name and without tellingit completely you can just give out the last name. Here's a tip for you. If youknow or find out that they will be giving away awards or plaques, befriendthe man in charge before the show and while talking with him take a goodlook at the plaque or award. Then you can describe it from memory withyour head looking to the other side should somebody show you one.

You'll also get credit cards, membership cards and lottery tickets. With the

help of a good mnemonic system you can memorize credit card numbers.The name is easier but never say it completely. You could also use theexpiration date.

"This is made of plastic. There is something electronic in it.... no, it'smagnetic. I guess it's a credit card. You want the bank? Who do you think Iam? Okay, I'll try. It's a big bank. Could it be Citybank. It is? Well, there youhave it, Mr. Jones. Show it to everybody! Oh, by the way would you like thenumber? Oh, yeah, I would, he says! So would I! Okay, I'll try. 4540 33676700 8231! Oh, by the way, your card expires next month!"

Sometimes your recent experience can give an unexpected break. Some

time ago I went to a big department store in Barcelona (where I live) andwhile paying with their house credit card the woman told me they now had anew model credit card and that in five minutes they could change my old onefor the new one. I said OK and just to talk I asked her how long they havehad this new card. She told me less than a month. A few weekends later aman takes out one of these and he shows it to me. This is more or less how Iwent about it:

"This is something made of plastic. It has a lot of letters and numbers. I feelthe color white, I feel the color green. There is also another color. It's blackor very dark brown. No? Isn't there something of this color on the object.Oh, I didn't tell you: It's not visible now because it is on the other side. Turnit around and you'll see it. See? I told you! I'm blind and I tell you somethingabout your object that even you didn't know! Okay, this is a credit card. Ican feel something about this. I think you have had this for a very shorttime. I can tell you that last month you didn't have this. Isn't it so? Yes! Youwant me to tell you what kind of credit card it is? Why, it's from El CorteIngls, Mr. Rovira!"

After the show the man told me that he had lost his wallet with all his creditcards about a month ago and he had them all made again. He was shockedabout how I could have known this! I didn't. I just knew his card couldn't bemore that a few weeks old, but in his mind he tied both things together.

When you get a very strange object that you don't know what it is you canjust describe it and pass rapidly to the next one. However you should try toguess what the object is before giving up. I've had great moments withstrange objects. Once an old lady took out a small odd shaped cup made of astrange kind of plastic. It was somewhat scratched and looked old. I didn'thave any idea of what it could be but it suddenly came to me from an oldscience book from my school days: it was an eye cup used for washing one'seyes. I already had begun to describe what it looked like when it came tome. So I asked the lady to show the object to the person who was seated infront of her and I asked this person (a man) is he knew what the object was.By having her show this to a person in front of her I could be sure he wasn't




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with her and didn't know what the object was which could happen if she hadshown it to somebody at her side (this was a theatre). When this man saidhe didn't have an idea of what the object was, I told him:

"You don't know? You can see and you don't know? I cannot see and youwant me to tell you what this strange object is? Okay. The owner of thisobject has used it today, haven't you? Oh, you're a lady. I had theimpression you were a man, excuse me. So you have used this today? Withsome liquid, didn't you? Yes! You know what this is, sir? You don't? It's alittle cup she uses to wash her eyes! Isn't it true, madam? It is! Show it to

everybody!"

Now, once in a while you'll get a challenge. Somebody might say loudly thatyou can see. Whenever this happens, stop and say something like:

"I heard somebody saying that in spite of all the bandages I have over myeyes I can still see. Who said that? Would you like to make sure that all theadhesive tapes are still stuck firmly to my face and that there is no openingwhatsoever through which I could see?"

Saying the above you pull the bandage down so it rests around your neckand so doing manage to press the tapes to the sides of your nose so they

stick there. When doing this it's important you shut your eyes tightly. Thusyou can show that your eyes are securely sealed. After this have somebodyplace the blindfold over your eyes again as in the beginning and you againget your peek hole.

This situation is great for you as by the time you have described two or threeobjects the audience will begin to try to explain in their heads just how youcan accomplish this and the only answer they can get is that you somehowcan see.

Not long ago I was performing this and approached a table where a couplewas sitting. The man was holding a medal and when I approached him his

woman companion said in loud voice that I had already seen the article. Iwent on describing it and when I finished she said: "Of course you can sayall this, you saw the medal when you approached". Here I went into thepatter I have written above and pulled down the blindfold inviting her tocheck the tapes. She began to pull at the tapes at the sides of my nose tocheck if they were stuck. They were but I said to her: "Well, if you pull onthe tapes you'll unstick them and then you will say I can see through there.Please just check and see that they are firmly in place". She finally wassatisfied and I had the blindfold put on again and then she said: "Well, nowlet me see you tell me what I'm holding". I knew that could be coming nextso I had already taken a peek and had seen her taking something fromunder her napkin on the table. I immediately recognized it as a religious

stamp or card as are common with Catholics. These have on one side thedrawing of some saint or virgin and on the other side there is a prayer. Shehad the prayer side up and I could recognize it by the Spanish word"oracin" (prayer) on top. So I immediately knew what it was even beforeshe asked me so I already had my head turned away.

I asked her to put the object under my fingers without me touching it andsaid something like:

"I feel this is a flat object. It might be plastic or it might be paper orcardboard like a post card. There is a picture. I think it's a woman. Please




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tell me: Is there a picture of a woman on it? (She answered "Yes). It is incolor but.... It is not on the side you are showing me, isn't it? I tell you thatthis picture is on the other side, the side that you have against your hand.The side that you are showing me is full of letters!"

This was really sensational and got me gasps from the people on the nearbytables that could clearly see the object plus a big hand from the audiencewith her embarrassed companion clapping the loudest. I tell you about it soyou can see the many wonderful things that can happen during theperformance of this trick. I have no way of knowing what you'll encounter (I

can't even know what I'll get when I do this!) but after a while situationsbegin to follow some kind of pattern and you can be ready for almosteverything.

It's time to get on with the presentation. When you have described aboutthree objects, go to the next one and this one you fail to get. You saysomething like: "I can't get this one. It's too difficult. Please take mesomewhere else". However, what you just did is take a good look at theobject and at the person holding it. As I told you before you don't try toremember the details, you just do a "mental photograph" of both the objectand of the person. If the person is sitting you can even see their face andnote the style of hair, eyeglasses and jewels if any, color of shirt or blouse,type of dress, any corsage or pin, skirt or trousers, etc. Then the ladyvolunteer takes you to another object and this one you describe successfullyeven telling what it is at the end and then you ask your lady volunteer totake you back to the stage.

Going back to the stage you ask for the pad with the signature and the feltmarker and when you are at the middle of the stairs (if any) or just about toget on the stage area, you stop with your back to the audience and say:

"There is one object I didn't get and I want to apologize to this person.However I think I can try it now. Will the person whose object I couldn'tdescribe stand up.... with the object in hand. Yes. A lady. Blond. Short hair.Eyeglasses. She's wearing a blue dress with small white flowers and has verybeautiful legs! She's holding a key chain with the keys to her car I see youare a Hyundai owner!"

The above is a sensational climax. Half way through you'll be interrupted bygasps, exclamations of surprise and laughter. By the way, it's easy to get thecar if you familiarize ourself with different car keys. Some of them have thebrand name engraved and some are so characteristic you just can't miss.You can get great effect out of this as people very often show you their carkeys. I also look out for remote controls which some people keep on thesame key chain as their car keys.

Of late I have been having such a great success with this last part that I'mseriously thinking of finishing my presentation here. However I stil do afinale I began doing from the first time I performed this. It is an idea of Dr.Jaks I read in a Milbourne Christopher book. (By the way, the fine idea offailing to get one object and then getting it at the end and also describingthe owner is due to my good friend, the Argentinian magician Oscar Keller).

When the lady volunteer has taken you back on stage ask her to place youfacing the audience and behind the microphone stand. Close your eyes andgrope for it, finally placing the mike back on the stand. Ask the lady for thepad and the felt marker, thank her for her help and ask the audience for a




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big hand for her. Here is another nice touch. By thanking her first, shebegins to leave the stage so that when you ask for a hand for her shealready is on the way to her seat but you point to the side where she was onstage (as if ou thought that she was still there) and say "Thank you, Helen".People don't fail to notice this and it reinforces the idea that you really can'tsee a thing.

Now I say:

"Here I have a signature; a signature which is unknown to me. I know it's up

here in the pad because if I put the wire spiral to my right, the signaturewould be in the higher position. To finish my performance I'll try to imitatethis unknown signature as close as I can. However, for you I'll do it the hardway --upside down!-- I just ask you for a little silence."

What you do here is turnthe pad upside down sothat the signature is in thelower position and hold it infront of your body just likeshown in the drawing. Open

the felt marker and placethe cap between yourteeth. Hold the marker inyour non-writing hand withwhich you should be

holding the pad. Pass your writing hand several times over the signature andover the blank space above and begin doing an imitation of what you'reseeing upside down. The above is really easy because being upside down,you don't do a signature, you just imitate some scrawlings and your idea ofletters doesn't interfere and your own handwriting stays out of this. In thisway you can do a passable facsimile of the signature. You'll hear them gasp.

At the end turn the pad rightside up so they can see the signature and yourimitation of it and there will be applause for you.

Here's something very important. During this part of the trick your headshould remain completely motionless. Everybody is looking at you now andyou don't have the advantage of moving among the audience so DON'TMOVE YOUR HEAD! Before beginning to imitate the signature, place yourhead so that you can see it well and then lock it in this position. If thesignature is too long and there is some part of it you can't see, then movethe pad instead of moving your head.

Once the have seen both signatures and they have applauded you, drop the

pad on the floor, take the cap from between your teeth and recap themarker. Put it in your pocket. Now we come to a very delicate part. The trickis already over but you're still on stage with a blindfold over your eyes. Youhave to take this off in front of the audience but this isn't entertainment andcan be anti-climatic. I have a way of doing this I feel keeps the interest ofthe audience. I say the following:

"Now I need only show you that everything is in its place. The blindfold is inits place (take off blindfold), the tapes are in their place, the coins, you cansee their shape through the tapes, are in their place. Now I'll take the tapesoff.... very carefully.... There you are! I hope you have enjoyed thisdemonstration and I hope you continue enjoying this nice dinner. Thank you




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and good night."

Finishing the above I bow to the audience and take my applause which mostof the time will not be bigger than the one before (at the end of thesignature bit) but this is because people will be still a little confused andbaffled with what they have just seen, so don't worry about it.

Going a little back, when you take off the blindfold you shut your eyes tightlyso as to close the openings on the sides of your nose and put the blindfold inyour pocket. Then, when mentioning the coins, place both your forefingers

over the tapes where the coins are and trace their shape. This action alsosticks back the tapes on the sides of your nose. Now, the way in which youtake off the tapes is very important. You must always begin taking it off bylifting the extreme end of the wide tape and never, never by sticking yourthumb under the somewhat looser tape at either side of your nose so as notto give away our little secret to the smarter members of your audience.

Well, this is the Blindfold Trick as I perform it. When I perform it I don't sayit is X-Ray Vision or Seeing with the Fingertips, as it has also been called. Ijust don't say anything about the supposed cause of the phenomenon, I justdo it. My recommendation is that you do the same.

Also there is the idea that when you do this kind of trick you have to tell theaudience first that what you are about to do is completely natural and notdue to supernatural causes, etc. In my opinion this is silly because this kindof useless patter really slows down your act. It also shows lack of modestyon your part because you tell people you fear they might believe you aregifted with supernatural powers. The most intelligent members of youraudience will instinctively know that if you had some kind of power youwouldn't be performing these things to pay your rent. In regards to the leastintelligent, you can just forget about them because if they want to believeyou are a gifted mortal, nothing you can say will make them think otherwise.

One last warning I almost forgot: You should never touch the tapes when

they are stuck over your eyes. The only exception is the emergency casewhen you can't see and in this case, this action is covert and so, theaudience isn't supposed to see it. I repeat, never touch the tapes over youreyes.

There have been some writings on this trick where the authors havedescribed many demonstrations with other objects such as identifyingcolored ribbons or balls, filling glasses of water and such. Myrecommendation is: don't bother with any of this. You don't need to carryany more props and set up a table just to hold them.

Also, some authors and some other artists who perform this do not leave the

stage area but instead collect (or have someone collect) several objects on atray or such and then they are brought on stage where the performerdescribes them. Sometimes I have had to do this because it was impossibleto go into the audience (too high a stage without stairs in front). I can tellyou this is much, much weaker this way. You can try it yourself and you'll beconvinced with my way, which is going into the audience. When you describethe first one or two objects, many people take out harder or stranger objectsjust to test you and this is what makes this trick sensational. When youcollect several objects at the beginning, that's it. You are stuck with whatyou got and you'll get very common objects, I assure you. Just perform myroutine as I have taught you in these pages and you'll have a great trick in




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your repertoire.

Before I did this trick I just had a "nice" act. Since I began doing it as afinale, I have something they talk about and remember me by. I havenoticed a great increase in contracts and personal fame in my area of workand with agents since I began doing this so please give it a try as it's notdifficult. You'll never regret it.

Magically yours,M a r k o

Note:I write the following a couple of months after finishing the manuscript.After putting it on paper I began using regularly the idea explained herewhich I only used when I heard somebody say that I could see. I reasonedthat most of the time nobody said this but a lot of people would surely bethinking it! How else could I do what I was doing? So now, after the thirdobject I stop and say:

"At this moment in the demonstration, many people think that somehow Ican see. I'll take off the blindfold and I'll ask the person nearest to me to

examine my face and see the condition of the tapes and coins. There! Pleasecheck them! See? They are stuck firmly to my face! Press them with yourfingers. See that there is no way I could possibly see with all this in front ofmy eyes. I'll ask any skeptic to come and check. Are you satisfied? OKPlease put the blindfold over my eyes again."

By doing this, you jump ahead of them and destroy the only theory theymight have in regards to the working of the effect. Since I began using thison a regular basis, I've noticed a greater reaction with the next objects untilthe finale of the routine.

I told you before I don't believe in psychic powers and such. I would like toadd that I also respect the right of others to believe and since I'm nocrusader either, almost never will I express my views in this matter in frontof spectators during or after a show. I don't like to knock psychicphenomena, fortune telling, etc. There is nothing to gain by doing it.

In the above paragraph I said that I almost never will express my views onthis in front of spectators. I have done it a couple of times. Both have beenTV shows to which I have been called as "expert" in trickery and as anskeptic. I saw a good reason to appear in those programs and argue againstother panel members. This reason was the amount of personal publicity I gotfrom these programs since I was asked to do some demonstrations. This is avalid and honest reason since I just expressed my true beliefs and didn't lie

or misrepresent anything.I must say that both shows have been beneficial to me, specially the firstone which gave me a great break for other TV shows here in Spain. I shouldwarn you, however, that its not easy to appear in one of these debates andmake good since so many people believe in psychic phenomena and they willnaturally oppose you. In fact, I've seen magicians (and skeptic scientists)give a very sad image in this type of TV debate. In my case I knew this fromobservation and had the time to prepare for it with a great dose of charm,frankness, innocence, and some very effective mental tricks. Also, I waslucky enough to be attacked verbally on camera by one of the psychics soeverything that I did later was just in self defense (I crushed him!). From




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that moment on the show was mine.

I just wanted to tell you this so you know how I behave in front of people inthis matter in case you gain fame using the blindfold trick and find yourselfin this type of situation.

I'm not bragging when I say this routine of mine is sensational. Just to showyou, a couple of weeks ago I performed in a magic gala show with 8 othermagic acts. The clipping above is from that show. I get 6 lines at the end ofthe article, 5 lines at the beginning (not shown) and the two small columns

you see in the clipping. The title says more or less: "Marko, the Main Courseof the Evening". All of this I got because of the Eyeless Vision Routine youhave just read. In the article, the journalist reviews at length the EyelessVision Routine which shows he remembered clearly all details. You'll agreethis rarely occurs. I'll translate a few lines for you from the Catalanlanguage:

"The..... magician offered an act in which he combined humor and comedywith serious magic which left everybody dumbfounded. The instantdisappearance of a cage with a bird inside or the rope that was cut in threeand put together again were just the preamble to the real performance ofthe magician.

"Two audience members covered Marko's eyes with coins held with adhesivetape. On top, a blindfold examined beforehand by several spectators,eliminated any possibility of vision.... the magician was taken to various




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spectators whom showed him the most original objects from a make-up caseto a bottle opener. Marko, without touching any of them, told the audiencethe material they were made of, what shape and color they had, what theywere used for and finally he identified the object.

"Only during one moment it seemed that the magician was giving up withoutbeing able to say anything about an object. But Marko didn't disappoint theaudience. A moment later he not only revealed that the object was atelephone but he also described the man holding it.

"And the grand finale came when, without uncovering his eyes, he perfectlyduplicated the signature of an spectator chosen by chance."

So, you see, the journalist who wrote this remembered everything and theEyeless Vision clearly impressed him. Also, the combination of "normal"magic tricks with this one didn't seem to bother him much. All the time herefers to me as "the magician", which is exactly what I want (not "thementalist" or "the mindreader" or anything of that sort). I reproduce this notas an ego trip but to show you what can be gained by performing this trick.

The End


marko - the great eyeless vision act

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