Hy Guys:

Any good stories to use with the Haunted or spookey Key??

There is a long thread on the haunted key in the bizarre forum (http://www.themagiccafe.com/forums/viewtopic.php?topic=127065&forum=14&93), you will find some ideas there.

But ask yourself, what might have happened in a room, so the lifeless key (or is it not?) still wants to open the door which no longer exists?

Good luck with this beautyful effect!

S/

Well, I would say there are a number of good tales in the media every day-
if one wants fiction, there are any number of haunted houses- surely there were keys used in them... V.C. Andrews books, and the attic series, a number of tales involving spirits moving the key trying to escape their untiimely deaths.
Then you have the real news- people escaping from jails, people losing their lives because emergency doors were not only locked but chained, people whose keys have been stolen in a purse and the bad guys use them to gain entry.....
And yes, you need to ask, what is the motivation- the key itself, or the spirits who might try to move the key?
k

Punx has a nice presentation in "once upon a time" and Peter Marucci's "key to borley rectory" also is quite good...

The story I want is more of something short and on the spooky side.

The presentation is the key point for such an effect, ins't it ? I would recommend "spirit theater" for an alternate ending and many essays on presentation, but no presentation is given for the haunted key, though... Still it's worth to check out, because in my humble opinion it IS one of the most important books in our field and the haunted key HAS potential to be very strong indeed.
BTW, have you read "making magic real" by Osterlind ? I think it's essential for anyone who wants to do the haunted key. Again no presentation, though...
So... You could create your own story (which is probably best) or you could go to "allmagic.com" or such and download a free story about the haunted key.
I would say, read the aforementioned two books and make up your own mind...

Thanks
Yes, I have read the osterlind book. I have read all of the osterlind books. Everything he puts out is great.
Thanks again.

I think the story should be about something people can relate to. Try using something that is in your area that everyone knows like an old historical house. Tell a story about who lived there and how they mysteriously died and you found the key while visiting there. I've scene it performed by Dick Williams here in memphis recently and he used Elvis and Graceland. He closed his hand around it and said he found it turning in a door there while showing it turning in his hand.

The Haunted Key is by far my favorite close up effect aside from my coin work and balls. It's so easy to carry around and can be done anytime. I personally have done this effect impromptu so many times that I makes stories up on the spot. For instance, pick out the local haunted house and use that for a story about how the last caretaker was in there for too long and when they finally broke the door down to find him he was...uhh, very messed up...and holding this key...apparently he was trying to get out and whatever got him reached him just as he was about to open the door...in fact, it's amazing how spirits of the deceased are attracted to people when they talk about them...lots of weird phenomena happen when you do this....here, I"ll show you...the guy who died..was my neighbor (ok, it's a horrible lie, but it brings the story home)...I don't show many people this but I've always carried it with me as a reminder of him...here it is.
(as you show it, it turns...act as thought it's never done this before...even jump back and go "holy !@##$#@#, what was that!)
Just an idea. It's basic and needs work, but some may get it.
Chris
Chuck Gruberman of Chuck's House of Magic in Homewood, IL turned me on to the "Haunted Key" years ago. Great magician...he told me he could tell by my story telling that it would become one of my favorites...thanks, Chuck!

Try this one
http://www.themagiccafe.com/forums/searc......=3944746

VERRRRY nice, Payne! Great work!
Chris

I have a routine for the Haunted Key that uses the Viking Psy-Key. It's in my lecture notes.

There is also a routine for the Haunted Key in Final Curtain which will be released officially Feb. 21.

I've never actually owned a haunted key but always wanted one. Does anyone here know about how much one costs and where I can find one?

Almost every magic kids set these days have one, very cheap!

Ahhh... the Final Curtain... sweeeet

I love the Haunted Key. Mine was all chromey and new-looking, however, and as a result it didn't look "authentic" enough for me. So I buried it for a few months to let it get all tarnished and rusty, then artistically dropped it into the red-orange coals during a barbeque last summer. By the time I dug it out of the ashes, it was blackened and crusty, and the shiny newness was, happily, gone.

As far as presentation is concerned, I took inspiration (or, more accurately, "blatantly stole") from Peter Marucci's fantastic "Key to Borley Rectory." Instead of a relic from England, I claim that it belonged to a young woman who died in the Great Chicago Fire. I explain that if you watch the key while visualizing fire (and imagining the pain of burning, the smell of smoke, etc.), the key will turn as the ghost of the young lady tries in vain, once more, to escape her blazing home.

-- Jake

Go to a flea market and look at old keys. Get a really decent sized key. Not to knock Bro. Marucci's product, but the keys for his routine are really too small for anyone to believe they belong to a rectory. Also, the idea of handing the key out is not something that I would find necessary or desirable.

Old, haunted jails are a good theme.

The possibility of a haunted hotel room makes sense -- and in that context, a smaller key will be appropriate.

I respect Dick Williams and his extensive work with the key, but I differ with him on one point. Dick likes to do a very long story with his routine. Modern "MTV" audiences won't sit through this. I try to make sure something is happening at all times, even if it is just good scripting, to keep the attention of the people who are used to rapid scene changes.

Dick Williams' Haunted Key works very well for him. Reminded me of Ormand McGill.

Yes, it does. But most of his performances of it were for captive audiences -- TV studio, etc. For a modern audience, it's way too slow-moving.

Do you know what this is? That's right, it's a key. But it's not a normal key. It's very old, and very special. You see, this is called a skeleton key. Do you know why it's called a skeleton key? These were the keys that were used to lock dead bodies inside their coffins.

Well ... at least they were "supposed" to be dead bodies. Sometimes they weren't. A long time ago, there used to be a graveyard near Boston Harbor. It was quite an old graveyard, with thousands of bodies buried there. In fact, for over a hundred years, the Federal prison had buried it's criminals there when they died.

This continued until October 17, 1903. That was the year of the great flood. Boston Harbor overflowed it's banks and the entire grave yard was under water for 6 straight days. The pressure of the water even forced a number of graves up to the surface. And that's when they made the great discovery.

Inside several of the open graves, they found scratch marks - almost as if someone had been buried alive and was trying desperately to scratch their way out. Now, obviously, that was impossible since each coffin had been locked by a single, silver skeleton key.

It was tradition at that time to leave the key in the lock so that, when the spirit reached the next world, it could be let out. But what happened when the person inside the coffin wasn't dead and the only way out was blocked by this key?

Eventually, the body died, and the spirit continued to try and escape through the key. Sometimes it worked. Other times, the spirit would actually get trapped in the key itself. This is one of those keys.

Kent