Marc L
Thread Killer
- Joined
- Dec 13, 2005
- Messages
- 1,739
Since coming to these boards, I'm reminded of an incident a couple of years ago at boot camp. We had a couple of brothers in our division, and one of them claimed the supernatural ability of levitation. It was known that I am an atheist, so the guy involved offered to show me "proof" of his ability.
After lights out (when our Division Commanders had left, and thus we were able to associate freely), he sat down on the floor with his brother sitting on the rack (bed, for you landlubbers) in front of him. His brother held his hand out over the guy's head, a couple of feet away as if giving a blessing.
It was dark, with only a flashlight to see by (though not shone directly on the performer, of course, as it might 'disturb his concentration').
In the performer's hand was a small piece of folded paper (they took an 8.5 x 11 piece of paper, tore it in half width wise, and then folded it to about the size of a Post-it Note). He placed the paper in the palm of his hand, and then, with his other, proceeded to make it "jump". "Ok," I said to myself. "This is easy. He's got a piece of thread attached to his hand that he's using to make it jump."
Suddenly, the paper leapt from his hand and begin to spin. He removed his palm, and with both hands cupped, he moved them around the paper, almost completely covering it (to make it appear that there was no thread suspending it in air (remember his brother's hand?).
The people present expected me to, of course, admit that the guy had supernatural powers. I didn't, of course. I'm no James Randi, but even I can figure out some magic tricks. I told them, "I don't think so."
His next trick was to levitate himself. He went to the end of an aisle of racks (they're stacked on top of each other like bunkbeds), and proceeded to lift himself up a bit. His hands weren't touching the racks, and again we weren't allowed to shine the flashlight directly on him.
Of course at this point, I burst out laughing. "Sure, I can do that one to," I said, and proceeded to demonstrate. See, I've got good night vision, and even though the room was very dimly lit, and the guy was wearing black socks, I could plainly see that he was just standing on his toes.
For some reason, I didn't get invited back to any late night magic shows after that...
Marc
After lights out (when our Division Commanders had left, and thus we were able to associate freely), he sat down on the floor with his brother sitting on the rack (bed, for you landlubbers) in front of him. His brother held his hand out over the guy's head, a couple of feet away as if giving a blessing.
It was dark, with only a flashlight to see by (though not shone directly on the performer, of course, as it might 'disturb his concentration').
In the performer's hand was a small piece of folded paper (they took an 8.5 x 11 piece of paper, tore it in half width wise, and then folded it to about the size of a Post-it Note). He placed the paper in the palm of his hand, and then, with his other, proceeded to make it "jump". "Ok," I said to myself. "This is easy. He's got a piece of thread attached to his hand that he's using to make it jump."
Suddenly, the paper leapt from his hand and begin to spin. He removed his palm, and with both hands cupped, he moved them around the paper, almost completely covering it (to make it appear that there was no thread suspending it in air (remember his brother's hand?).
The people present expected me to, of course, admit that the guy had supernatural powers. I didn't, of course. I'm no James Randi, but even I can figure out some magic tricks. I told them, "I don't think so."
His next trick was to levitate himself. He went to the end of an aisle of racks (they're stacked on top of each other like bunkbeds), and proceeded to lift himself up a bit. His hands weren't touching the racks, and again we weren't allowed to shine the flashlight directly on him.
Of course at this point, I burst out laughing. "Sure, I can do that one to," I said, and proceeded to demonstrate. See, I've got good night vision, and even though the room was very dimly lit, and the guy was wearing black socks, I could plainly see that he was just standing on his toes.
For some reason, I didn't get invited back to any late night magic shows after that...
Marc
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