Card prediction to Walnut in Discoverie of Witchcraft, circa 1584

Feb 24, 2021
27
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I recently bought a hardback copy of Discovery of Witchcraft. I had been looking for one for a long time. It looks like a facsimile of the original first edition, however it does contained minor tweaks originally made in a reprint in the early 1800s. It is still in the original Middle English, but a few letters have been switched to make it more readable. So, Reginald Scot refers to all Magicians, Carnies, Street Hustlers engaged in scams, ect as "Jugglers" and uses the word Jugglings for sleight of hand tricks. In the original version these words were spelled iugglers and iugglings. They switched the i for a j, but still used all the same words.

The book is shocking and how modern the descriptions of magic tricks are. The card section was especially shocking. He even says that people using sleight of hand to cheat at card and dice games was a huge problem in England at the time.

Well, he talks about card controls, slip shuffling, and forcing cards. He also mentions a card prediction to Walnut that is freaking awesome. He says to bore out a little hole in the Walnut. Write the force card on a small piece of paper and stick it in the Walnut. When you crack open the Walnut you destroy the evidence.

Well, this trick is still killing audiences on national television to this day, but people generally use an orange. That way they can fit a whole card in the orange. However, in 1584 a single deck of cards was very expensive. You had to make one deck last. I'm guessing that in 16th century England, oranges were an expensive luxury item as well.

My idea for really cranking this up would be to rip a small corner off of a card and then tell tell the spectator to hold out their hands and crack the Walnut open and reveal the corner.
 

WitchDocIsIn

Elite Member
Sep 13, 2008
5,877
2,945
Nice. It's funny how you can find the basis of almost all current material in these old books. I have a copy of The Discoverie of Witchcraft that was printed in 1930 - it's one of my favorite items.

I have had very similar experiences when reading texts like Erdnase. When I was studying that one I found the foundations of most current card techniques, and I could see how they had evolved over time with technological advances.
 

RealityOne

Elite Member
Nov 1, 2009
3,744
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New Jersey
Great idea. There is a lot of great old stuff.

I'm assuming you tear the corner off their card, vanish it and then have the corner reappear in the walnut? I'm hoping at some point you use the line "that's nuts!"

I wonder if you could use an entire card from some of the Double Decker decks which use thinner stock. Using card-to-box methods, you could do it with a signed card.
 

WitchDocIsIn

Elite Member
Sep 13, 2008
5,877
2,945
There's a fold taught in The Aretalogy of Vanni Bossi that I think would be good for that idea, David. Might get a full (thin) card small enough to fit into a "walnut".
 
Oct 8, 2021
1
0
it is actually very funny how you can find the basis of almost all current material in these old books.
 

WitchDocIsIn

Elite Member
Sep 13, 2008
5,877
2,945
Yep. Very little that is released to market these days is entirely original. It's all re-works of what's been done in the past.
 
Aug 22, 2021
8
5
Thanks for this tip, I know there's been a few times people (myself included) have used the card to orange technique and the spectator says that the´ve already seen it, so this will be a great tool to freshen up a classic trick in magic.
 
Mar 31, 2017
16
10
Cibolo
I think an effect by Joshua Jay might fit well with the Walnut payoff. I really do like objects in "impossible" places effects.

Picture this, you borrow a dollar, once you obtain one, you tear off a corner and give it to the spectator "A receipt in the event this trick goes wrong." You then proceed to destroy the dollar only after promising that your trickery will keep it protected. It fails miserably, the dollar is destroyed totally and completely. Discarding the remains, you grab a sack filled with walnuts, in exchange for the "receipt" the spectator gets to keep one walnut. Freely fond--choosing a nut from the sack you put the bag of rude jokes away. Offering to crack the nut, you do so for the spectator to enjoy their dollar treat. However, there is no meat to be found. Instead, everyone finds a folded up dollar. It is opened and revealed that it is indeed a dollar missing a corner the spectator's receipt matches!

I think the method is Joshua Jay's Cornered. Bit of a cliche narrative but hey, it would be fooling.
 
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