Delayed ESP

In my previous newsletter for supporters, I mentioned a trick that was essentially a one-phase, thought of ESP symbol reveal. And in that article I said I would mention the method I’m using for this.

The method I’m using for this is Marc Kerstein’s Xeno app along with the custom site he and I created in order to learn what ESP symbol someone was thinking of.

And here’s how I do it. I call the person earlier in the day or the week, before I’ll see them. And I tell them I have this “thing I’m working on” and I ask them for their help. I direct them to that website and tell them to scroll to any one of those symbols and read up on how to transmit the symbol. I ask them to keep that in their mind for when I see them later.

The beauty of Xeno is that you can do it remotely without any strange steps to it. You just direct someone to a website and you’ll know what they choose to look at.

The reason I use this method as opposed to marked ESP cards or something like that is because I want to extend the moment in a natural way. If I have you pick an ESP card, and then I reveal the symbol in some way, that’s going to be a 2-minute experience, most likely.

But this way, I get to plant the seed earlier in the day, building up anticipation for something to come later. And I’m doing so in a way that makes sense. “Go to this website, and learn how to project one of these symbols.” It seems reasonable that maybe I’d want them to learn about this and let it “marinate” in their minds for some time, to give us a greater chance of success later on.

You might ask, though, “Why build anticipation over hours for a 1 in 5 reveal? Won’t that be anticlimactic”

It’s a good question. I’ll give you two answers.

First, my goal when performing is to mess with people in regard to their level of belief. I love really crazy tricks and premises, but I think you have to mix those in with almost believable impossibilities to keep people on their toes. The idea that I could have you read up on how to transmit a symbol mentally, and then when we get together I’m able to somehow tap into that mental energy to figure out which of these five symbols you’re thinking of… that’s the sort of trick that doesn’t sound like much, but it can end up capturing someone’s imagination because we devoted so much time to it. And because it’s so grounded compared to a lot of the other stuff I do, it carries a different sort of power over people.

So we might meet up for dinner and I ask them to think of the shape and focus on how to transmit it to me (as they read earlier on the website). I would imply I’m getting “something,” but I’m not too confident, so maybe I’m just imagining it. Then I’d go back to them a few more times through the night, ask them to concentrate. There’s no big “ah-ha” moment, but each time I’m getting a tiny bit more certain.

Before they leave for the night, I ask them to try again. “I’m down to two that I’m thinking of. I want to see if this will push me in one direction or the other.” After they’re done focusing this final time, I can reveal what I’m “picking up.”

Again, it’s not meant to be the most fun thing I do, or the most impossible. But it’s more tethered to reality than most of what they see me do, so there’s this sense that there’s maybe something else going on there besides it just being a trick.

The second reason to do it this way—where you get them thinking about it early in the day building to a reveal later on—is that you now have a few hours to set your reveal up.

For example, I have a neighbor kid who is about 4 years old, He’s a funny kid and I knew he’d like messing with people. So a couple of times I’ve gone over and talked to his mom and asked for the kid’s help. I tell him I’m going to bring someone over later and when I ask him to tell me what the person is thinking, he should say a square.

I’m able to set this up in advance because I did the Xeno bit with my friend earlier on.

So now when I meet up with my friend later, I can say, “Do you remember the shape you looked at earlier? Don’t tell me, I don’t want to know. But I want you to meet this kid. He can do this crazy thing. It’s super creepy.”

And we stop by the neighbor’s house and the kid will “read their mind.”

The kid loves it, because he gets to be the center of attention. It allows me to do the trick without forcing the ESP symbol, or teaching the kid to have to learn to read marked cards or something like that.

That’s just one example. Any interesting reveal you have that might require a little prep time is possible with this structure.

And with Xeno you can create a site about anything and follow that same structure (get them to visit the site earlier in the day, and then build up to a revelation later in the day.) So if you don’t think the 1 in 5 nature of an ESP reveal is worth it, you can create a site with many more options. You just need to come up with a rationale in regard to why you’re asking them to check the site out earlier in the day.