Influence: The PsychCrypt Imp
/It’s very rare for me to stumble over a premise out in the real world that requires absolutely no manipulation to make it work with a magic trick, but a couple of weeks ago, I found just that.
Now, early last year I did a whole series of posts on the Influence premise. My issue with it for social magic is that my friends and family know I’m not a master of influence. And if I was, I’d be using that skill to get my landlord to give me a discount on my rent, or cops to let me out of speeding tickets. I wouldn’t be using it to make you choose a particular poker chip.
It’s also as premise that feels very “thirsty” to me. “I’m so clever I can make you do things against your will!” That’s something I maybe wanted to convince people of when I was 13. I’m a grown ass man now.
I’d rather go with a clearly unbelievable premise than something people might be tempted to believe, or (worst of all) something people might think that I want them to believe. What would be more pathetic than a guy using a trick in hopes that you’d think he was smart and persuasive?
This variation on the influence premise is pretty wild, but it’s not something someone could completely dismiss.
It’s predicated on this fun fact (?) I read recently:
The premise sort of works itself out from there.
You have someone over for drinks or dinner. At some point you show them a short video clip or have them listen to a snippet of audio.
Later on, they’re able to perceive something which normally they wouldn’t.
Let’s take a look at it with just a standard card force. (For illustration only, this is no way to actually do it.)
Boring Magician Version
“Look, I wrote down ‘You will touch the 10 of Diamonds.’ It wasn’t really a free choice after all. I actually influenced you to touch the 10 of Diamonds.
PsychCrypt Version
“What card did you get? The 10 of Diamonds?? Haha… jesus… well… I guess I’m a real magician because I wrote down, ‘You will touch the 10 of Diamonds.’ I can’t believe that really works.”
Your friend will be a little confused by your reaction.
“Okay, I admit. It wasn’t a magic trick. Have you ever heard of P$ychade1ic Crypt0graphy?” [Altered spelling so this site doesn’t show up in a google search for that term. It’s not super widely known.]
You then explain that you laced their broccoli cheddar soup with a certain chemical compound that allowed them to perceive a certain embedded message in the video you made them watch earlier. (I wouldn’t claim it was LSD.)
You then queue the video up to a different spot and try another experiment.
✿✿✿
Believable? Not exactly. But you still wouldn’t want to perform it for someone who doesn’t know you well enough to know that you wouldn’t actually slip something into their food or drink. But as a fictional story to immerse someone in, it’s so much more interesting than, “I influenced you to touch that card!”
You can read more about this concept here.
And here’s a generic PsychCrypt video you can use as part of your Imp (you would want to hide the title from them initially). I used white nosie, so you can claim the commands are embedded in the video or the audio. Don’t make anyone watch the whole thing, of course. Just, like, a 30 second snippet.