Flim-Flam! Psychics, ESP, Unicorns, and Other Delusions - James Randi [144]
On the Carson show, seeing the ace of spades on the bottom of the deck as Ed McMahon shuffled it, Suzie asked four people at the table to select cards. She saw McMahon take the correct card, and then, with her back turned, asked them to choose "the highest card" in anyone's hand. Of course, it turned out to be the ace of spades in McMahon's hand! How can we be so certain of that? Because in this day of home video recorders several people taped the performance, and the ace of spades even showed up on the bottom of the deck for the home viewers. Also, viewers saw Suzie kneeling down at the table to get a better peek.
These photos were prepared from videotape (made without her knowledge) of Suzie Cottrell performing her card trick. (1) Cottrell haphazardly spreads the cards, face down, to "mix" them. (2) The cards are gathered together and straightened out. In the process, the card faces are turned toward her and the fingers of her right hand slide the top card (marked with an X) up so that she can peek at it. From this point on, she carefully keeps track of the top card, the Three of Hearts. The spreading of the deck that took place in the first frame shown necessitated that the cards be handled in this way, and thus the movements required for the "top peek" seem perfectly innocent. (3) She riffle-shuffles the cards, making sure that the top card stays on top. Several similar shuffles follow. (4) In a sudden move, she leans forward and spreads the deck. (5) Immediately, a small group of cards from the top is pushed to one side. (6) The left hand draws back the top group while the right hand pushes others forward and around in an arc.
(7) After much spreading and circling of the cards, the top card is still close to her, under control. It gets nudged from time to time but remains identified. (8) She stops a moment, the top card still within reach. (9) The cards go into motion again, and the left thumb, which is most often used to control and move the critical card, takes hold of it again and pushes it forward. (10) After the cards have been patted and pushed into position, the top card ends up somewhat inside and partly underneath the mass of cards. It is in an ideal position to be selected by the spectator. (The cards marked "O" and "X" are the cards that are about to be selected.) (11) Five cards are selected by the spectator. The fifth one is the former top card, and it is placed in position number five. The spectator is then asked to name any two numbers from 1 to 5. Those named are 1 and 4. "Good," says the performer. "That makes five. Turn over the fifth card." (12) The card is turned over and turns out to be the card predicted by the performer.
Which brings us to a point that certainly must be troubling the astute reader who has been following the protocol and implementation thereof in this account. I said that Suzie had agreed to being recorded on videotape from the moment she entered the test room, but I then referred to the video recorder as "ready but not running" after we had entered the room. True, that machine was not running, but in the next room the actual machine of record was running, and it recorded all Suzie's "informal," uncontrolled tests in great detail, unknown to her! Thus, she had made no great effort to hide her methods, figuring we were falling for the trick.
Later, of course, we were able to verify our observations very easily—able to see her peek at the top card,to observe the false cuts, false shuffles, and to note the final manipulation of the crucial card. Frank Garcia, the renowned expert on card techniques and gambling trickery, has seen this tape, and certifies that Martin Gardner's and my observations are correct.
Well, Suzie Cottrell, not realizing that we had the cat in the bag already, agreed that it was time for us to get down to serious business. We started the dummy videotape machine, and Suzie tried her trick several