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Shayde Phoenix Regular user Canada 116 Posts |
For many years, I have been enamored with a card effect by the late Bro. John Hamman, titled "The Signed Card".
The effect is simple. A card is selected whose identity is unknown to both you and the audience, and placed face down on the table. You have 4 cards set aside. Say, 4 jacks. A spectator freely (really is a free choice!) removes any card from the deck and it is placed with the jacks. A moment later, the selected card vanishes leaving only the 4 jacks behind. The card that has been laying face down on the table the whole time is turned face up and found to be the missing freely selected card! The beauty of this effect is that you end clean. Only 4 jacks and the selected card are left. The selected card could also be signed (as Bro. Hamman does it) but I don't bother with that, preferring to put more emphasis on the story. In my version I streamlined some of the handling so that it is minimal. This is a truly unique effect. It's a card that, impossibly, is in 2 places at once! Which got me to thinking; the only thing that might be capable of being 2 places at once, would be a ghost. And so, years ago I came up with the script that you are about to read for this effect. It is one of my favorite card pieces to perform, and I hope that it encourages some of you to dig up the Hamman effect and try it out. Without any further ado, I hope you enjoy: THE GRATEFUL DEAD Long ago, before airplanes or cars, when the world was still largely unexplored, there lived four good friends. They were the best of friends, having grown together in their youth, and like all young men, had reached an age where the confines of their little village no longer held any interest or mystery. Stories of exotic peoples and cultures in faraway lands captivated their imaginations and filled them with wonder. Eventually the day came when they finally decided to leave their little village behind and venture out to see the world for themselves. The first few days of their journey went by peacefully until one afternoon when they came across the body of a man lying at the side of the road. Bandits were known to operate in the area, and it was obvious that a brutal robbery had taken place. The corpse must have been laying there for quite some time; it was so badly decomposed that even the family of the man would have been unable to recognize him. Having mercy on the poor soul, the friends buried him, and thinking no more of the event, they continued on their way. Later that evening, as the sun was beginning to fade, they met a stranger along the road. He told the four young men that he had just come from further ahead, and had discovered a camp of bandits who were hiding out, waiting to ambush any who passed by. He advised the friends to bypass the thieves by way of a large forest a few miles to the west. Unfamiliar with the forest, and with night starting to fall, the friends were in a panic. The stranger told them that he knew the forest well, and if they desired, would help them through it to safety in a little town on the other side. They gratefully accepted, and so, the five of them headed off at once in the direction of the woods. After many hours of walking through the darkness of the trees, they finally made it to the other side of the forest and could see the lights of the little town just a short distance away. They turned to thank the stranger for his guidance, but he was gone. Like a ghost, he had quietly slipped away and vanished into the night. Debt repaid, he returned to the grave, to sleep forevermore. |
Vic Nadata Special user Charlotte, NC 935 Posts |
Very Cool idea!
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