A Picture Is Worth

the outbreak Paul Prater Mary Flannery was excited about her new life. Coming to America was a big decision, but one that had paid off for her. While Five Points was no Garden of Eden and the work as hard, she met a wonderful man, Jack, who was now her husband and she had a little baby girl, that she named Lilly. All seemed perfect until 1832. Disease ravaged the population. People who were desperate to come to New York were now desperate to escape. The New York Evening Post reported, “The roads, in all directions, were lined with wellfilled stagecoaches, livery coaches, private vehicles and equestrians, all panic-struck, fleeing the city, as we may suppose the inhabitants of Pompeii fled when the red lava showered down upon their houses.”

Mary had seen babies die, she

had seen friends die. She was worried that she would be next. She couldn’t live with the fear. She sought a man who was known to be able to tell things about people. She knew she was not to visit such people, but the fear was overwhelming her, choking her. The man told her to bring a picture with her and she did as she was told. She showed the man the picture. He covered the picture with a cloth. “The eyes of the dead should not look upon us. You have been blessed, you know? The Hand of God has been upon you.” “What did you say first?” Mary asked. “Mary, the hand of God is no longer upon you. You are sick. You will know very soon. You may die or you may live, that I cannot tell. Your family, however, they will not be sick. They will remain healthy.” It was what Mary feared the most. “Mary, I need you to leave now, please. I cannot risk the sickness.” The man removed the cloth. He looked at it.

“Yes, you will die.” Mary fainted when she looked at the picture.

Method So what did Mary see? Turn a few pages further and you will see. I provided the images that you can print out for the routine. So, if you have done that, it is probably obvious that there is a switch. Yes, I did cover another technique using a switch earlier. Here I will disclose a different technique. This is an idea that I discussed in my first book Maleficium. You start with the picture in a frame. You could have a fun time hunting for the right type of Victorian frame for the picture. The frame will also need to have a lip around the picture. It can also be inset some. Read on and this will make sense. Once you have it, put the skull picture into the frame behind glass. Now, get the regular picture laminated. You can get this done at your local print shops. Now, trim the laminated piece to where it will into the lip of the frame. Now, it will look, at a casual glance, like you have a glass covered picture. I put a small ball of magicians wax on my thumbnail. When I am about to cover the picture

with the handkerchief. I place the wax on the top picture. When you place the handkerchief over the picture, you can press it into the wax. Now, turn the picture face down and the top loose picture will drop out. Now, when you are ready to remove the cloth, you can raise the picture and lightly lift the cloth as the top picture is now secured in the cloth. Put the cloth away and pass the picture around for all to see. They will see that it is behind glass, making it look more impossible.

Additional ideas This method really opens up a lot of different approaches for presentation. Using the working in “The Outbreak” you could have items appear or disappear. For instance, you could use a ring, which is in the photograph. The ring disappears from the photograph and appears in a locked box. As I stated, I used this idea in Maleficium with a very different (and some might say sacrilegious) approach. You can check that book out for how I used this method. Also, at my firm, I would regularly perform for the employees, but sometimes I would be out so I would miss the meetings. Well, one of the managers told everyone that I would make an airplane disappear. My father in law has an airplane. He also has a die-cast replica of his very airplane. So, I took a picture of the airplane in the hanger, then moved the airplane out of the hanger and took the same picture. I used a Devil’s Hank to make the die cast model disappear, and then showed the picture frame with the picture of the empty hanger. I had indeed made an airplane disappear. You can use this approach with any story you would like.