Ok guys I need some help. I want an effect that is impromptu looking dosent have to be though. That will really shock and scare the spec. Something that will make them say don't mess with him. you know what I mean. nothing with cards unless you think it can live up to the challenge.

I think being able to scale a card into a brick wall would intimidate the **** out of me. But then again, you said no cards. Oh well.

Okay, razor blades. Anything with razor blades. Slash your arm, eat them, whatever.

But really, I think your in the wrong forum. You might want to check out the side show forum. There's not much here that is actually going to cause people to be afraid of you. Goat and child sacrifices are old hat, now a days, and even show up in the news of all places. And they're really not that frightening unless your the one being sacrificed.

Okay, I'm being flip. Really, why would you want to intimidate your audience? There are a lot of things I'd like my audience to feel, but shocking them or scaring them, at least in the way I think you mean, isn't one of them. Awe, sure sometimes...surprise, yes... suspense, absolutely...genuine fear? I don't think I'd keep many people in my audience if I went that way. People tend to go AWAY from other people who are scary or shocking. Yeah I know we're in the bizarre forum, but do you really want to creep people out that much? There are a FEW people I can think of that might get away with that, but they are truly few and far between.

Or are you trying to gross them out? In that case, I have to say David Blaine really started to lose a lot of his audience when he pulled his heart out on the Daly show (?). Okay, so he still appeals to teenage boys, but how much are they paying you to perform? Nobody else really gives a flying rodents behind anymore.

I guess what I have been not so successfully trying to say is, I think we can all learn more from Hitchcock than from the current bunch of slasher flicks. The scariest, grossest things I've ever seen in movies (or in magic for that matter, look up the "ceremony of the rock" Andruzzi, Brother Shadow) happen in my head, not on the screen.

Just my two (maybe puritanical) cents,

Mark

Lastnitesfun is exactly right , people would leave, want their money back, and then you get in trouble with the manager

I too agree with Lastnitesfun on this one. I LIVE to scare people.
I have spent years in the haunt industry and I bill what I do as
"Dark Entertainment." Even so, unless I happen to be dressed as
a werewolf, the last thing I want is the spectator to be afraid of
ME. On-the-other-hand, perhaps we are simply misconstruing your
question. Would you to care to elaborate on exactly what you would
like to accomplish?

Dave

Any reason this same exact topic/question is posted in the street magic section? You must really be in the mood to haunt. Check out "The Book of Haunted Magick" by Rick Maue. Or if you can find it "Spirit Theater" by Eugene Burger.

Phil

This may sound weird coming from me, but I'm not sure that magic is the right medium for intimidating people. They can be a little imtididated by the spririts you appear to conjure up or the secrets you seem to keep, but a .."don't mess with him " mindset ?
That's not very realistic. You'd do better to spend the time in a gym or learning Shotokan or Tae Kwan Do, or carrying around a sawed off shotgun under your trenchcoat.

Perhaps a Voodoo routine with a prediction of death as a finish.

Many (not all)people who are skeptics of the paranormal are afraid of Voodoo.I know it makes no sense, but that's my experience.

Most people won't fool with a Vodoo guy.

best regards,
Tony Razzano

No, contrary Mystician, this does not at all sound weird coming from you...LOL

But yes magic has always carried an aura of mystery and fear for the laymen...it has been used for that "don't mess with me" attitude...perhaps not tricks, but the very thought of magic once carried a feeling of dread and fear for the uninitiated...even today in Haiti et al, a Magician is seen as a very poweful and awe inspiring being...without a doubt...

as I say o'er again, ANY effect you perform has within its bosom the potential to be PRESENTED in any fashion under the sun...its up to YOU to get inside their heads enough to invoke the desired responses and feelings...

Lol
Well, Baba, you kinda minced my words a little there, but..

Definitely, in some places, (and times) it can and does intimidate.
But out on the street, say in a major city or suberb in the ol' USA, in mid-summer.. probably not. In general, that is - not in any neighborhood I knew.

But jeez, just burn a 20 foot wide pentagram into your lawn for Halloween and people get all uppity and nervous !!

LOL!!!!!! youre so crazy!!! LMAO!!!!! cant imagine why theyd be all nervous...LOL

Hi sandman

but what is the purpose for intimidating people not to mess with you?
if you want to give that feeling, because it is part of the presentation of your magic... I think its alright

but if your purpose is to intimidate them so they would be afraid of you, for you're own selfish reason... man I think you're wrong... it might backfire to you... let say you show a knife through arm illusion so that they will be intimidated that you can injure stabs or injury... and this one guy really wanted to test you because he sees you as a threat. and when you're about to go home, he and his gang waited for you and stab you right into the heart well...

Very valid point!
All of you! You have left me where I will sound like a broken record.

You want to intimidate people; Learn a form of martial arts. But if you take it for that reason, " I take martial arts you can't beat me." Or
" I take martial arts you should watch yourself."

I will guarantee you from my 13 years of martial arts experience. There is always that one person that can, and will rip you to pieces given the chance.

If you want magic to do it for you, biting a coin will not get you there. Granted it may get you an reaction something like this, "What the h*** how did you do that!?" But not intimidating to say the least on the street.

Throwing playing cards into a brick wall I think is what Mark said.
I have put one into a piece of thin wood. BUT! If I seen someone put one into a brick wall. You can be sure I will have bolted.

Not trying to be cruel, but magic is not the way to go in suburbia for scaring people.

HOW EVER! If you take drama classes, work on well versing yourself with mediums/ spirits/ strange occurrences that have been documented.
And you really got into the part of, " sorcerer"
That might be intimidating, but if you mess up. It is all down hill from there.

Besides if people fear you, no one will want to see you. Thus you are out of a job.

Your friend,
~Mayo

Blindfold Card Stab.

Bullet Catch.

You are now armed. No problem.

LOL! ROFLMAO! JAZZ! That was funny!

Hi, Sandman.

I took a tip from Eugene Burger, dressed up the old "ashes in the palm" routine with an explanation of "The three axioms of shamanism" and a little bit of suggestion (when the subject is agreeable) and the result has had me asked the following:

1. Do you believe in God? Like as in Jesus?
2. Are you a ghost? (No s**t! )
3. Did you learn that or were you born with the power? (I love that: "THE" power. Not just "A" power but "THE" power! I think I'm going to start using the word "THE" as a synonym for magic. Maybe the letters stand for "Telekinetic/Hypnotic/Extra-sensory." )
4. You aren't going to hurt me or make me have bad dreams, are you? (This one I get A LOT! I tell them that I don't do such things except to those who are truly impure. I don't say evil, because everyone is on the side of "good." I say "impure" because, well, aren't we all?)
5. Did you sell your soul to Satan?
6. Are you a witch? (You'd think I'd get that more than #2, above... but you'd be wrong.)

I am either asked one of these or they shriek or scream.

I had one young woman grab her cross and run! (This was funny on so many levels for me.)

I had one young man inform me he'd been studying Wicca (!) and would I apprentice him?

I've had some discover (both through accident and via shrewd observation) the secret.

Most people just enjoy it and grin.

I don't think that you can have just ONE response to an effect. That's impossible. The response depends upon not just the nature and presentation of the effect but also upon the response it gets. The magic doesn't come from us, it resides in the mind of the spectator. Thus, unless the spectator perceives the effect as spooky AND strong you have no guarantee that the trick will be frightening or merely campy.

But good luck! Grab something, think about things you can do to make it scary, and present it as such. Remember, even a card-speller routine, if explained and presented properly, could serve to unhinge someone's weltanschauung.

Post-Script to my Previous Post:

One of the end results of my performing a few card tricks, some simple cold-reading, and this signature piece (Thanks again, Mr. Burger You rock ) is that my nick-name is now "Voodoo Man" in the local bar and Café scene in my hometown.

I can not only live with that, I can appreciate it!

"You want to intimidate people; Learn a form of martial arts. But if you take it for that reason, " I take martial arts you can't beat me." Or
" I take martial arts you should watch yourself."
I will guarantee you from my 13 years of martial arts experience. There is always that one person that can, and will rip you to pieces given the chance."

Or, someone who actively practices 'gun-fu.' No matter how fast a martial artist is...or thinks he is...a bullet is faster.

Steve

It is interesting how many people in the bizarre forum have
noted and interest in the martial arts. A connection or
coincidence?...

As for me Muy Thai and Brazilian Jujutsu.

Dave

That is awesome. I did not notice that, I wonder why it is like that?

How many years have you taken martial arts Dave?

And Mystician how about you?

Your friend,
~Mayo

I think it is less a combat thing and more an esoteric thing. The Eastern martial arts have that 'mystical' element.

As for me, a non-combat discipline - hatha yoga.

Steve

Mayo,
I have been training in Muy Thai and BJJ for about ten years. I
boxed and wrestled for years before that. For me it was a "combat
thing" that got me started. I was a police officer and was introduced
to martial arts as part of my training.

Steve has a good point that the eastern martial arts have a mystical
element to them. I would like to hear from others. Is the connection
for you the mystical or is it something more mundane. I have to wonder
if the discipline and practice that both require does not attract the
same personalities