I was practicing various moves with my Hummer Card the other day sitting at home. There was a knock on the door which I assumed to be my fiance so I didn't bother stopping my practice and opened the door with the card levitated and spinning between my hands only to find that it was a pair of religious folk spreading their word. When the door swung open they looked right at the card and sat staring without saying a word. I snatched up the card and tried to be friendly but it seemed to end any conversation they had in mind.

God must have been looking out for you.

I once did a show for a chuch , did not realize that my music I put in was from my college show . The opening production started with music cranked ( it was running with the devil by Van Halen) needless to say they were not amused . And I did not get re-booked LOL.
Lesson always check your music

I actually made a pianist disappear doing magic at a church and she hasn't been back since.

That's awesome!!! I have a cousin that thinks it's the devils work even though I tell him that it's really not,but he also thinks his mother is possesed(really)

That's so great, I wish I coulda seen that. I would have just left the card spinning and told them to make me a ham sandwich

You should have said..

"Unless your god has shown you how to do this, I'm not interested".

-MM

Ha! I can relate!

In 1978, I did a show for the after-church crowd at the Baptist Church in West Peru, Maine. It was the Zombie...you can probably imagine the outcome...

I was politely paid, and told I would NOT be invited back!

Doug

Should have said, "Just practicing for the rapture."
Rick

If I had a dolllar for everytime religious folks thought I was the devil, I'd be a wealthy man. In fact, that close mindedness on the part of a certain pastor toward all things magical caused me to leave church, and I have not returned since.

Truthfully, I would love to teach them and help them, but how can I do that when their mind is saled so airtight that they will not even listen to a single word I say? It's sort of like talkin to a wall...

I know a magician named Jack Baldwin who is also a preacher. He's very well-respected in the community, and he is a great magician. He also teaches at our local college. Even though Jasper is a very religious town, his magic is A-okay with just about everybody. I don't know how he manages to juggle that . . . but I really respect him for it. If I can ever make my grandmother quit worrying about me being into magic, I'll feel like I've accomplished something. It all went down the drain when she caught me reading one of the Harry Potter books.

LOL, well I'm a Greek Orthodox Priest. I do magic from time to time around the church, mostly during our coffee hour after liturgy, once in a blue moon in a religious education class to help make a point. We were having a lunch following Pascha (Orthodox Easter) recently, and I was doing a couple of tricks to entertain a couple of kids sitting at the table with me. Used a loop to PK a couple of things around, a ghost key, levitated a ball point pen with the loop, did a thumb tip trick. Well, I was surprised a couple of weeks later to hear from the wife of one of my parishioners that her husband, who was sitting at the table also, thought that I was working miracles and showing "spiritual gifts". Guess you never know what a reaction will be in a religious envirionment. Makes me recall that section in the early part of Tarbells where he covers the history of magic and religion.
A few weeks ago, I was sitting in a local diner for breakfast. An elderly lady sitting at the next table waiting on some of her friends to arrive, noticed my collar and began a conversation. She thought I was Roman Catholic and asked what I thought about the new pope. I told her I was Greek Orthodox, and she being Roman Catholic immediately understood that we aren't part of the papal church. We chatted a few minutes, and her friends came in.
She was telling them about our conversation and how she had asked me about what I thought about the new pope. Just at that time the waitress had finished taking my order, I eat there a lot and the waitresses know me as a magician, to entertain the waitress I used a loop to start moving a small bottle of hot sauce across the table apparently by PK. The elderly woman was about half way through her tale to her friends about asking me about the pope at this point and suddenly I heard her shout "To H*ll with the Pope! Look at that! I'm converting!"
Got quit a laugh in the place, and I , of course explained to her it was an illusion , not a miracle. I do have to remember when I'm wearing that collar to explain to folks that this is entertainment.

Wonderful story, Photius!

Thanks for that!

Cheers!

Doug

Absolutely wonderful photius!!
I had a similar situation, using IT, at a wedding reception once.
A lady backed up and almost fell over a chair. She was totally awe struck.

Another, not so magical incidident.
I was once Dungeon Master for the role playing game Advanced Dungeon & Dragons.
Two Jehovah Witness' come to the door.
I'd had a few drinks and wanted to babble so I invite them in.
On the coffee table are the books for the game.
Devils, monsters and demons on the covers.
Instead of them taking me into their realm, I babbled about AD&D, the Twilight Zone, etc.

I wasn't cruel about it and respect their efforts but as I said, I was drinking and the looks on their faces were good for a private laugh.

I keep a knife thru arm next to the front door for such an occasion.

So...all I have to do to keep the Watchtower crowd from my doorstep is practice my Hummer Card more often? Done deal! I have a version of my kid show which I refer to as "The Imagination" show. I get the occassional call from religious groups and parents asking for a magic show without the magic...believe it or not. It's basically the same exact show...minus all card bits as playing cards are Satan's tools, I'm told...but the effects are a result of the children IMAGINING them happening...not magic. Fortunately, their checks cash just as well as our heathen ones.

:o) Skip

I can see it know
"hey. mister salesman. if you don't leave right now this will be you." do trick.

Jaz as a D&D player/DM, Christian (not the nutcase variety), and magic fan, I found your story quite amusing. Did you ever do any tricks when doing D&D? You sure have enough materials handy at a regular D&D table.

I always loved doing dice stacking when playing Runequest (a better RPG than D&D ever was - at least the Chaosium version of it - not the mess that Avalon Hill made of it later!). The players knew that the game was going to go MY way when I was Game Mastering, that was for sure.

Good thing I had a reputation as being a fair Game Master!

In fact, I did my hypnosis show on the dealr's room floor at GenCon a few years ago, when the show was still in Milwaukee. THAT was a challenge, to say the least! Right across from Lou Zocchi dice, too - and they LOVED the dice stacking I did between shows!

Lee Darrow, C.H.