During the course of a fine evening’s dining the conversation turns to the more sinister topic of Voodoo and the wishing of ill upon those who cross your path badly. One of the stranger characters present becomes the main focus of the conversation and with a twinkle in his eye he suggests they attempt something unusual together. The other guests agree, albeit with an edgy feeling of trepidation.
The guest dressed impeccably in black removes a pad and a pen from his weathered leather satchel, whilst explaining that he needs two assistants - one to be the helper and one to play the ‘victim’… He draws what appears to be the outline of a body on a sheet of the paper. He then asks one of the guests to be the helper and place themselves in a situation they can recall very vividly when they felt engulfed with feelings of hate and anger. They are then to actually imagine all those feelings being sent out to the person who caused them.
Next, an empty wine bottle is spun on the table top to ‘select’ the unfortunate guest who will play the ‘victim’ and be the outlet for the hatred and anger! The unlucky ‘victim’ diner is invited to stand along with the helper, who is still firmly placing their mind in the situation they recall so well.
The ‘victim’ is asked to stand with their eyes firmly closed and to attempt to relax! The helper is then asked to mark the paper with a bold X representing the area of the body they wish to harm. This sheet of paper is then rolled firmly and placed in full view standing in the neck of the wine bottle, as a new attractive centre-piece - with a soon to be macabre story to accompany it.
With the ‘victim’ stood with their eyes firmly closed, the dark and somewhat menacing character who has been overseeing the whole affair requests the helper to actually see themselves drawing that large X over and over again, to actually focus upon nothing except those emotions they have in their memory and the drawing of the X. They are also requested that they close their eyes to help focus their mind upon the feelings and the image they have.
The would-be witch doctor asks both the victim and the helper to open their eyes. He asks the guest who had the unfortunate stroke of luck to be the ‘victim’ if anything happened?
“I felt two or three sharp prods in my left arm.”
The first guest appears slightly taken aback by this revelation. The performer asks the helper where she marked the X. She replies: “The left arm.”
The mysterious stranger who has overseen the whole thing suddenly reaches forward and grabs the paper and tears it into several pieces, explaining that to ensure the spell is broken the paper need be destroyed.
Suddenly, he then grabs the slightly dazed guest who was
responsible for drawing the X by both wrists with a firmness that was not expected. He stares deeply into her eyes and suddenly begins to describe in detail the time she had been so consumed with hate. Without warning he allows the charming woman's arms to tumble back to her side and makes a hasty exit.
The other guests all agree that he was definitely not the best person to invite to the wake after all…
Method:
Please excuse the somewhat impassioned write up of this dramatic piece. I felt it worthy of some kind of theatrical staging in the writing, as it is such a huge part of the effect – this, without the correct performance, will not work - however with a strong performance delivered with conviction I think this can be something really quite chilling.
The bare bones of the actual method are surprisingly simple. You will obviously have received the position of the X and the events surrounding the helper’s unpleasant memory via your favourite impression device - currently I use Larry Becker and Lee Earle's wonderful “Kopy Kat” pad.
What makes this effect play is the appearance to the audience at large that only an X was written and the information you relay describing the event was purely being thought of and had not been recorded anywhere. This is in actual fact not true, as on the page along with the outline of the body is also a checklist of sorts consisting of three titles: Where, When, Why. I draw a thick black line above and below the writing forming something of a box for the spectator to write within.
The checklist and lines are not written during the performance only the body outline is - this is then taken by the impression device. The spectator fills in the X on the page and due to the way you word the presentation they understand they are to fill in the details on the page as well.
Obviously the position of the X and the other information is thus known via the impression device. The reason for tearing the page at the conclusion is to destroy the evidence of the written
simply a use second sheet of paper and during the effect draw the outline, placing the X on the correct part of the body. It appears as though you have predicted the position of the X, although actually you are only making a prediction in order to get your glimpse! I hand this out to a member of the group, and then move onto the revelation of the spectator feeling the taps. I am sure many of you reading are well ahead of me on the method at work here. It is simply a modified version and new presentation for my good friend Banachek's wonderful PK Touches. I then close the sequence with the revelation of the information written.
If the X has been drawn on either of the feet obviously Steve’s original handling would not work so I came up with the following to overcome this problem:
The performer touches no one and yet when he asks the spectator if they have felt anything, they reply;
“Taps.”
The performer enquires; “How many and where?” The spectator replies; “Two on my left foot.”
Method;
This is obviously an outgrowth of Banachek’s PK Touches. I sometimes use this effect after the original PK Touches effect to produce a powerful sequence.
Under the visible action of tapping a spectator’s foot, you will secretly tap a different spectator’s foot as well.
This is accomplished by the larger action covering the smaller action. This will be a very easy addition to all who already use Banachek’s wonderful effect PK Touches.
Let us first deal with the positioning of the spectator who will secretly be touched.
Positioning of the spectators:
Spectator One (who has closed eyes throughout the effect) is positioned facing the audience directly behind (upstage) to yourself. If performing this to follow Banachek’s original then Spectator Two is positioned to your right and slightly forward of the other.
If you are not using the original PK Touches you will not need the second spectator, as you will appear to only touch a member of the front row of your audience.
You will appear to lean forward, bending at the knees to reach down and touch a spectator on their foot. You will in fact need to lean all your weight on your left foot, which is positioned slightly more forward than your right foot. This will naturally allow your right foot to leave the floor. This is simply a matter of balance. You will now be bending very slightly at the knees, leaning all your weight on your left foot. The right foot now leaves the floor
slightly as your entire body moves toward the foot of a spectator. The best way to describe this is to imagine you were picking something up from the floor, bending at the waist and slightly at the knees. One foot takes all the weight, and the other leaves the floor slightly. This is a very natural position and something that does happen naturally when you bend at the waist and the knees slightly.
large gesture with your right hand, moving your entire right arm, and forming a pointing first finger with your hand. Move this hand in a wide arch and in a swooping action come forward and tap the foot of a spectator sat in the front row.
It is under this cover that the raised right foot contacts the foot of the spectator with their eyes closed on stage. It is important you make a big deal out of the visible tapping with the hand, on the spectator’s foot. The more visual this is, the harder it is for the audience to think you could have somehow sneakily touched the other spectator’s foot. Which is indeed true, it would be close to impossible to do without being seen.