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Regurgitation

by Mark Edward, Jan 31 2009
Sai Baba and parrot

Sai Baba and parrot

In response to a blogger to my last post on levitation who requested something “intellectual” with some “brain meat” on it and at the risk of possibly spoiling your appetite if you happen to be reading this before eating, allow me to ramble on another band of performers that might bear some looking into and who to my knowledge haven’t been given a scientific overview. These are the rare but powerful acts of regurgitators. Why? Read on and I promise that by the end of this post you will understand how it ties in with being skeptical. I will also address several hot issues that have been surfacing here of late and answer another comment with no, not everyone is aware that magic is trickery. Far from it!

Regurgitators are people who swallow objects than spit them back out, sometimes in a called for order such as numbered coins or trinkets that are shown beforehand to the audience. This  feat is one that should interest not only those concerned with bizarre conjuring, but also medical and psychological scholars who would see bulimia taken to a whole new level. There may be some obscure psychological connection between anorexia, bulimia and exhibitionism, I’m not sure. Probably not, but it might be interesting to look into. Stay with me here, I’m going to make a point eventually, hence the parrot and the shoes.

In my experience with side-show performers, I have seen amazing things done in the name of entertainment. Some involve sleight of hand or a “gaff” of some sort, but the lion’s share of those who deal in fire-eating, sword-swallowing, water-spouting and wonders like eating light-bulbs or piercing their skin with sewing needles don’t use any “tricks” at all. There are assuredly “techniques” that allow these modern day fakirs to do their thing without hurting themselves or ending up in the hospital, but for the most part, performers like my friend Todd Robbins; www.toddrobbins.com the preeminent sideshow worker on the scene today whose work I admire more than any 100 standard magicians put together and who remains one of the few truly talented exponents of an art form that had virtually died out as an entertainment but is seeing a healthy resurgence thanks to the Goth and residual punk scenesters who can’t seem to get enough of tattoos, piercings and pushing bodily functions to the limit,  really does eat the light-bulb. There’s no trick. Watch Todd earn his pay using only his breath to fully inflate a hot water bottle to gigantic size before it explodes and you will see what I mean. Some “entertainments” are more about specialized skills than deception and tricking. Feats of super-human endurance like these and the latest spate of living-in-a-box or standing-on-a –telephone-pole for days like David Blaine, fire handling, strength resisters, magnetic ladies and poison eaters can fall under this semi non-magic trick category. This is a “magic” of a different sort.

Sideshow or “geek” acts are out front in your face performers and part of their charm is the fact that what they perform is  for the most part “real” albeit off-beat in nature. Few if any are out to cheat the unwary by getting them to buy into their performances as anything psychic or supernatural, but there are correlations with gaining the confidence of gullible people who might see such displays not as pure entertainment but as something more realistic and therefore make false assumptions and choices based on wherever those few unscrupulous people might lead them.

Hold on. Don’t get me wrong here. I’m not suggesting another willy-nilly expose of secrets. No way. Todd and people like him are carrying on a noble tradition of American folklore and have worked way too hard to be treated with anything other than complete respect. What interests me and here what may inspire others to take a closer work at “miracles” or” “messiah marketing”of any sort is the psychological mindset or a parapsychological presentiment that allows people to make the leap from what is clearly a theatrical stunt to what can easily become something faith credited or taken beyond the midway and edited into our living rooms as something paranormal  – or even divine. Nope. Not everybody is aware that magic is trickery. Not by a long shot. No conspiracy paranoia intended here, but take a look around. We are living in an era of unparalleled “personality cults” and it seems to me the further away from the carnival midway and the higher up we go up the food chain we go, the more layers of double speak, black ops, dirty tricks and subterfuge reveal the modern covert sideshow we are witnessing play itself out every day. Take Obamamania… You bet I’m skeptical. 

If you doubt that things of this nature haven’t been historically twisted to the advantage of mediums and other underhanded scam operators, might I suggest reading about people like the aforementioned levitator D.D. Home? In a demonstration he did many times, (which usually commenced with prayer sessions) Home could hold white-hot embers in his bare hands. He was even seen to plunge his hands and his face into a hearth fire, “moving it about as though bathing it in water.” His skin showed no signs of injury whatsoever. According to the experts, (whoever they were back then) Home was not once – in any of his 1,500 séances – caught in any kind of deception or exposed in perpetrating a hoax. A man after my own heart… 

Some more present day examples may be in order. Going into the political arena would be superfluous what with people like the Terminator in office. Let’s take the religious cult of Sai Baba that includes claims of transparent parrots, materializing shoes (see photos) and constant streams of vibhuti or “sacred ash.” Check out his “Gallery of Miracles” at www.saibabamiracles.com. Are you getting  my point? This folderol is not taken as sideshow or carnival entertainment in India. In these questionable instances, despite what some sensitive magicians, mentalists or “psychic entertainers” may decry never happens, I’m confident that rather than manifestations of spiritual contact, my bet is that sleight of hand or some more down to earth deception is taking place in every one of the “miracles” shown.

shoes11

One has to ask, “…Materializing shoes? …why?  To gain the confidence of the gullible, that’s why. The easier and more down to earth the miracle, the better. And what could be more down to earth than a pair of materializing shoes? You have to hand it to Sai, if anything …he’s creative. We all know the pious and reverent have used trickery (and science) to portray what they do as something deific. Remember Peter Popoff? Well, guess what? He’s back to his old tricks:

www.deceptioninthechurch.com/popoffback.html. Incredible.

Hey, I like a transparent parrot as much as the next guy, but when it’s tied into God or “godmen,” I get irritated. Don’t you? According to Sixty Minutes, Sai Baba told their crew that cameras would not be allowed into his temple because. “…They do not want to know the truth.” Nice double speak there. Mentalists call that verbal deception. As far as I’m concerned, magicians, mentalists and “psychic entertainers” who make an honest living performing at reasonable venues like colleges, private parties, events, showrooms and on radio and television have nothing to worry about. But if they fall into the age old trap of getting greedy and starting a cult, opening a church or calling yourself a holy man when it’s clear you’re using a thumb-tip or Photoshop, it will be difficult for this performer to not raise his voice in protest. For rational thinking minds (not even counting atheists) and those who can see the con going down and who venerate the Art of Magic, things like this give magic, magicians and mentalists a bad name. Part of the challenge of being able to put something compelling, innovative and entertaining on The Skeptologists will be finding new ways to gently push the envelope between what we have accepted and defined as “magical”  for so long and what is being sold to us as fact by the media, charlatans and woo peddlers today and in the future. Nobody is saying this will be easy to do. I don’t like the word or concept of “de-bunking” and destrtoying people’s belief systems is not entertaining or heroic. It’s not something I want to be a part of. However, to put a finer point on it:

Back in 1987 when Popoff was de-bunked by Randi for using a radio transmitter earphone to receive and then call forth pre-show information culled from his audience that his assistant was piping to him electronically, a secret method that had been used by “thought readers” for decades was let out of the bag. To me, this was a classic example of the ends justifying the means. I doubt that there was a mentalist out there who suffered  much from that type of “exposure” or would argue that it was a clear case of fraud. Randi made a heroic move and a milestone in skepticism. We can only hope to follow in those kinds of  clear-cut footsteps.

Would the world have been better off if Randi had known what he knew and done nothing?  I don’t think so. It was Popoff who took it upon himself to take a mentalist tool and subvert its use for his own nefarious purposes.I put it to the reader that in cases like this nobody for a long time knew that the magic Popoff was doing in the name of religion was trickery. This is the kind of con that’s going on out there in the big-time psychic-televangelist-world right now! I can cite a dozen methods that people like  John Edward (no relation …please) and others too numerous to mention use to generate their own special kind of “miracles” on a syndicated daily basis. 

So there you have it. Professional magicians and mentalists “in the know ” are well versed in these methods and (speaking for those I still hang with) know it’s wrong but can be understandably head shy to get involved with speaking out because doing so could conceivably take cherished secrets (and cash flow) out of their pockets and put them squarely in the cross-hairs of the less experienced amateurs, who unfortunately can have the loudest voices but little of the streetwise experience to know or care what’s really going on. These neophyte know-it-alls can make things very uncomfortable for those of us who have climbed the “professional psychic entertainer” ladder and stepped back down with a conscience. I know. Because of literally one false move, I’m now officially banned from lecturing in the U.K.  I can no longer show my face as a magician in one of my favorite cities in the world because of one person who took it upon himself to start a holy war against me. Believe me, I too cherish many of these methods and I would be hard pressed to share them with anybody, but there comes a time … 

Although I doubt that Joe Public gives a fig either way, it gets a little awkward and will require careful treatment if we are to separate taking down criminals who are genuinely defrauding the public and crossing some arbitrary line by pissing off magicians and mentalists. It’s a small but vocal niche we need to get on our side and not against us.

This issue has been a never ending battle that goes way back to Houdini, Dunninger and other magi who hopped on the anti-spiritualist bandwagon. Then as now, there were some who questioned the real reasons behind why these stars of magic found it imperative to speak out. The consensus in Houdini’s case was that he saw a  chance to cash in on the whole controversy, but that’s a whole other issue.  …Or is it?  Then of course we have all the speculation about his search for his dead mother’s ghost and who could fault him for doing that?  A clever man Harry.  

Bottom Line:Simple de-bunking and showing magic as tricks as an adjunct to critical thinking is just not going to cut it. We have to do much better than that. Regurgitating old ploys is not enough. We may have a chance to clear the air once and for all, clearly define what we as voices of reason stand for and change history. Lofty goals? Yes.  Possible outcome: A better understanding of some of the ways science can influence religion and vice versa. How our collective Skeptologist voice gets raised and how we handle this borderland territory mined with so many explosive opinions will be what makes us different from any other program on the planet. I’m ready. Are you?

17 Responses to “Regurgitation”

  1. Corvus says:

    Bwa ha ha. I used to have his exact “very old version of the Bible, written in Russian, and long lost for nearly 2,000 years.” It was a dollhouse mineature I picked up at the local craft superstore back when I was young enough to believe whatever the church and related authorities said. It made a regular appearance amongst my childhood stuffed animals and My Little Ponies. I think I burned it when I hit my teens.

    I bet I could still buy one if I wandered to Hobby Lobby today, though I don’t know what I’d do with it. Fool the credulous, apparantly.

    I suspect just bringing skepticism into the public eye, particularly in a positive light, will go a great way towards forwarding those lofty goals in society as a whole. Today: the blogs. Tomorrow: TV. Then the world!

  2. Mastriani says:

    Gads, I appear to have offended someone’s sensibilities. With so little effort? Really? Interesting.

    We may have a chance to clear the air once and for all, clearly define what we as voices of reason stand for and change history. Lofty goals?

    Goals that attempt to stand in the face of history, and more particularly, neuroscience.

    The article isn’t a bad bit, but the likelihood of success approaches zero, concerning the conclusion. Considering the scope of information required to create a proper rebuttal, I’ll just defer to brevity.

    Hominids don’t change, and as social pressures mount, sheer numbers and mass of individuals ever increasing, and most largely; the abject failure of the American education system, it will likely remain as it has always been.

    Not to leave the issue with a sour tone; the direction and effort of the Skeptic society is appreciated, by the smaller numbers.

  3. oldebabe says:

    As an ordinary person, I’ve never been able to understand why when one sees something incredible, one isn’t immediately skeptical, as I am, rather than taking it to be something magical or religious. Yet, it seems that most people do want there to be, and see, something ‘otherworldly’, no matter how bizarre or unbelievable.
    Therefore, showing others the pointlessness (and sometimes danger) of accepting foolishness as truth, is a big challenge. If The Skeptic Society, or Skeptologists, or any of these ‘smaller numbers’ at least make a dent… however and whatever…keep on.

  4. Mastriani says:

    Therefore, showing others the pointlessness (and sometimes danger) of accepting foolishness as truth, is a big challenge. If The Skeptic Society, or Skeptologists, or any of these ’smaller numbers’ at least make a dent… however and whatever…keep on.

    If one understands the amount of the populace that are susceptible to suggestion, (5 – 10% high susceptibility, 65 – 70% moderate susceptibility, 20% generally not susceptible, +/- 5% insusceptible), and couple this with educational levels in relevant percentiles …

    The likelihood of success comes in line with those already in a position of skepticism and requiring evidence for claims.

  5. Nathan says:

    I’d really like to see the skeptic movement go forth in a way the atheist movement has for the past few years. I remember when I was an atheist pre-9/11 and the polls said that 1-2% of those polled were atheistic/non-believers. I think now it’s up to 16%. The reason isn’t that the atheist movement hasn’t changed 15% of the population’s minds, but perhaps it’s made them realize that they are atheists, or hit those moderates of religion and after several years made them realize that they don’t need god.

    Now it’s time for scientists and skeptics to help push those who want to think critically but weren’t aware that it was an option. P&T’s Bullshit is a great example, but it comes on late at night, is meant for an adult audience and is on a channel that you have to pay a premium for. The Mythbusters have done a great job fighting for skepticism, but they can only fight it in critical thinking, their format prevents them from touching paranormal, supernatural, psychics, preachers and the like.

    I really can’t wait until The Skeptologists airs. Mark, I’m very grateful that you’re on the cast, it’s magicians and mentalists who reach the public from a different angle in the fight against fraud by psychics. I remember watching James Randi bending spoons with his mind and moving objects across a table through telekinesis then proclaiming that they were all tricks by a magician, and if a magician could do it through natural processes in the real world, which would a psychic use?

    I had been an atheist for quite some time, and I was scientifically minded (mind you I was in high school, I am now working on a degree in Physics), but I had still believed in mild paranormal feats like telepathy and hadn’t thought to question them. However once I started seeing and listening to James Randi, I became an instant skeptic. It’s those who are intelligent people but aren’t skeptics yet that we need to reach, and one of the greatest weapons you can have in your arsenal in the fight for reason is a magician.

  6. Rogue Medic says:

    It would be great, if we could dramatically lower the number gullible people. There are so many who convince the gullible to keep believing, because there is money to be made off of the gullible.

  7. Carl says:

    If it isn’t too unpleasant to talk about, I’m curious about your being banned in the UK.

  8. Mastriani says:

    I think now it’s up to 16%. The reason isn’t that the atheist movement hasn’t changed 15% of the population’s minds, but perhaps it’s made them realize that they are atheists, or hit those moderates of religion and after several years made them realize that they don’t need god.

    Or it is highly probable that there is just an increased visibility of atheists/irreligious/non-believers. Much as with the latent social visibility of homosexuality; it’s not that necessarily there are more, but the ones that have always been there feel it’s safe to “come out”.

  9. Mark Edward says:

    To Carl,
    Yes, it’s somewhat uncomfortable to relate, but such is life and maybe here’s the place to set the record straight if anyone out there cares:
    Back in 2002 when I did “NBC’s Secrets of the Psychics,” I had just come off the incredible high of success with my Penn & Teller “Speaking with the Dead” episode of “Bullshit!” I wanted to do more of the same sort of thing. All my training as a mentalist and psychic reader had actually helped expose a real crook and I felt I had finally reached a point in my life when I was doing some real good for a change.
    I was approached by NBC to do much the same sort of deal: show how psychics like John Edward, VanPraagh et. al. use pre-show techniques and other audience manipulation to create the illusion of accuracy. When it came time to shoot the show, about two days before, the producer told me he needed “a prediction,” Or, …how could I show how a psychic would make a prediction happen in front of an audience? By this time I had signed contracts and without too much elbow twisting, I consented to do a mentalist bit where numbers are randomly chosen by the audince, then secretly switched by using a very old dodge of a double-sided notepad: My “force” numbers were written in different handwriting styles to make it look random on one side of this pad and each spectator wrote their numbers on the other side. All I had to do was casually flip over this pad on my way back on stage and then have those numbers added up. When the math was checked, a sealed envelope that had been in plain sight all along was opened and voila; instant psychic accuracy. I had made a verbal agreement (my first mistake) with the show’s producer that I would agree to do the bit “in character” and not showing the “gaff” or “turnover move.” Two caveats to cover my ass from the ire I knew I would probably catch from magicians had to be in place: #1) the voice over narration had to say “One of the ways Mark Edward could have accomplished this feat would be ….” leaving it somewhat open and me a little more off the hook and #2) another person’s set of hands would be shot doing the actual “turnover move” close-up not showing me. Well, lo and behold, on the fateful night as I’m watching the show, these two things didn’t happen. Not only was the narration left totally out as well as the promised close-ups, but the camera zoomed in and a little bubble of light actually highlighted my hands doing the move. As soon as I saw that my heart sank and I knew I was screwed – and nationwide too. The phone began ringing immediately that night – and for weeks afterward.
    Meanwhile, I was booked to do a lecture tour of Scotland (my second one, the first being very well received.) Soon after this show aired in England and unfortunately two weeks before I was to leave,the show was repeated nightly in a week long back-to-back marathon of “Masked Magician” shows that were highly publicized on BBC. My goose was pretty well cooked. I was told by the promoter of the events scheduled that I was now banned from lecturing in the UK and that Britain’s Magic Circle was up in arms against me and had put my name on their bad boy list. I ended up losing many “friends” and my airfare as well. I’m still treated with ill regard as a traitor to magic nearly ten years later at websites in the UK. Crazy really, because some of the Magic Circle’s own members were apparently hosts of some of these shows. Go figure. This “exposure” also pretty much killed my Magic Castle career, which was odd because only two years before, I was ostracized by their members for doing a psychic infomercial. Seems you just can’t win, unless you are in the middle of the road. A position I have a terrible time occupying. Funny thing is, the person who is largely credited for using this effect and who put into print this old chesnut (the double pad thing) back in the early 60’s is a very good friend of mine who could care less about the whole thing! It only took one wag to produce a cyber flame-out that still continues today over this two second blunder. I have had no end of grief over this misadventure. Nonetheless, I will still stand by the rest of my part in the show (the psychic readings and “talking to the dead” bits) and feel that desptie how the show was ultimately edited and portrayed, (rather a sorry bang-up “show all” parade of mentalist effects)it’s all been a tempest in a teapot. I had no part in the way the show was put together or edited, so to me, it’s a hopeless no win situation. The worst of it is this: of all the television work I have done, this one show is the only one that keeps on running over and over all over the world. Figures doesn’t it?I don’t even get residuals anymore for some reason. You live and learn. As they say, verbal agreements in Hollywood aren’t worth the paper they are written on. Now I hope you can see why I plan to be careful with what gets spilled.

  10. Jim Shaver says:

    Mark:

    Thanks very much for replying and giving the back story about your problems with the Magic Circle in the UK. I too was interested in knowing some more detail, and maybe telling the story to a generally like-minded audience has been a bit cathartic for you. Good luck to you, and especially good luck to the Skeptologists team!

  11. Max says:

    What a bunch of Magic Circle jerks.

  12. Dr. Dim says:

    I do enjoy these blogs and I am hopeful that ‘The Skeptologists’ makes the air and becomes a big hit.

    However, I have a suggestion for the blogs. Some of the contributors to this blog are not writers by trade or nature. So, you guys really could use an editor. The blogs are interesting and informative, it’s just that some writers need a little help. I mean, the frequent run on sentences are incredible.

    Just try reading this segment of a sentence from the text above without pausing for a breath before coming to the first comma….

    “…the preeminent sideshow worker on the scene today whose work I admire more than any 100 standard magicians put together and who remains one of the few truly talented exponents of an art form that had virtually died out as an entertainment but is seeing a healthy resurgence thanks to the Goth and residual punk scenesters who can’t seem to get enough of tattoos, piercings and pushing bodily functions to the limit, really does eat the light-bulb.”

    It can be done if you take a big enough breath before reading, but I don’t want to work that hard.

    Noted skeptic, George Hrab, on his very entertaining Geologic podcast, gave some advice to people who write anything: letters, emails, blogs, etc. His advice was simply to read it to yourself before sending or posting. I find reading out loud is especially helpful. That way you might be able to catch errors in grammar and make certain what you write makes sense.

    I know no one likes a grammar cop, but I’m trying to help. If you can’t get an editor, at least read your piece before posting.

    I’ve read this, out loud, to myself five times before posting.

  13. Mark Edward says:

    Dr. Dim. Sorry, I’m primarily a performer, not a writer. Maybe if we get a series up and running one day, we will have enough to be able to afford an editor. In the meantime, this is just a blog, not a novel competition.

  14. Suggestion: Don’t read blogs out loud. There. Problem solved.

  15. Mastriani says:

    Dr. Dim. Sorry, I’m primarily a performer, not a writer. Maybe if we get a series up and running one day, we will have enough to be able to afford an editor. In the meantime, this is just a blog, not a novel competition.

    Because there is admiration for the time and effort expended, I’d gladly and honestly offer my proof reading services, free of charge. For no other reason than to help keep the standards of this group’s efforts above the margin.

    Let the offer stand, accepted or not.

  16. Geez, a Muffinista AND a butt-kisser…. (lol, j/k)

  17. Mastriani says:

    Geez, a Muffinista AND a butt-kisser…. (lol, j/k)

    WOW!!! If this medium allowed for it, that is most deserving of a standing ovation.

    Well played sir, well played.

    (Truly, such viciousness of wit nearly brings a tear to my eye.)