Pateo Voodoo

Neal does the following routine when he wants to show something different
and a bit darker. It's also ideal for bizarre magic shows. The routine is best
done on stage, but also works well in more informally situations with a
bigger group of people.

Effect:
Neal asks six spectators to join him on stage. He then asks a lady to assist
him with the following experiment. Neal asks her whether she has ever seen
or used a voodoo doll. No matter what she replies, he explains that voodoo
dolls are often used to inflict harm on another person by sticking a needle
into certain parts of a voodoo doll. The magic is achieved by having the doll
made with some personal things from the victim, such as hair and
fingernail clippings.
"Tonight", Neal says to her, "you will play the role of a voodoo priestess.
You will use your magical powers to find out who of the six people over
there is the lucky victim."
He takes out a drawstring bag, and says to her: "This bag contains a voodoo
doll. A big pin sticks in one of the doll's body parts. And you will soon try to
find out who of the six people feels pain in the exact same spot. This will
identify the victim in our game."
Neal then asks the lady to walk to a distant spot on stage or to leave the
room for a moment.
For explanation purposes, the needle is in the head of the voodoo doll. But,
of course, you could have put it anywhere you like. The choice is yours. But
for now, we assume that the needle is in the head of the voodoo doll. This
fact is unknown to the lady and the other spectators.
If you want, you could repeat the effect later with a different spot.
When she has left, Neal goes to the six other participants and explains that
he will give each of them a spot where the needle might stick in the voodoo
doll. They will not feel any pain or experience any harm because no hair or
fingernail clipping was used in the creation of that voodoo doll.
Neal goes to each of the six spectators and whisper in their ear a body part.
For example, he tells the first person to feel pain in his right arm, the second
person to feel pain in her left leg, the third person to feel pain in his head,
and so on, until all six know their dedicated spot.
Make sure that the spectators understand that this is meant as a crime game
(like finding the murderer). It is not a game of suggestion or hypnosis. They
do not really feel the pain.
Neal now brings the lady back and holding the bag he tells her to go over
with the bag and hold it over the head of each of the six people. Ask her to
close her eyes while she does this and try to feel the pain of the victim.
When she's done, Neal asks her to point to one person.
If she points to the person who was dedicated the head spot, Neal will ask
the person to say out loud where he feels the pain. He then asks the lady to
open the bag, take out the voodoo doll and check where the needle is. She
will find the needle sticking in the head of the doll. Neal will congratulate
her on her outstanding voodoo powers and will thank the six other spectators
for being such kind victims. All that's left to do is gracefully accept the
applause of the audience.
If she does not point to the person with the head spot, Neal asks her to point
to another person so that he can eliminate one of them. Then Neal will point
to two persons and she can eliminate any one of them. Then it's her turn
again to point to two people and Neal eliminates one. This continues until
only one person is left, which is of course the person with the head spot.

Method:
This is the good old PATEO force. If it's an even number then the lady will
start pointing to two. If it's an odd number, then Neal will start pointing to
two people. The rest is clever theatrics and psychology.

Variation 1:
With the following variation, you could do this routine with one person or a
smaller group. Instead of working with six people on stage, you use business
cards instead.
The situation is almost the same. You work with one person as your voodoo
priestess, and the drawstring bag contains the voodoo doll with the needle in
the head.
You then show a pack of business cards - thirty business cards with different
spots written on them; e.g. head, hand, foot, shoulder, etc.
Show to the spectator that all cards have different places written on them.
Shuffle the cards and keep the force card (with head spot) on top. Do the
cross cut force where you ask the spectator to cut off half of the deck and
you place the other half (the former lower half) on top of the cut pack so that
both packs form a cross. The card on top of the lower pack is the force card.
Explain some more about voodoo rituals to allow some time to pass. Then
ask the spectator to lift off the upper pack and look at the top card of the
lower pack (the force card).
Ask the spectator to open the bag and check if their powers guided them to
the right spot. To their surprise, the card and the needle show the same spot!

Variation 2:
Twenty business cards with the spots written on them are mixed up and
spread out face down on the table. Ask several spectators to select a card and
put it in their pocket without looking what's written on it.
The force card is marked on the back. Neal prefers a pencil dot or nail nick.
While everyone does this, you remember who selects the force card.
When they are done, you do the PATEO force or work with a pendulum to
eliminate everyone except one person. That last person, of course, has the
force card that is identical with the spot of the needle in the doll.

Additional touches and hints:

Neal feels that several little touches make this routine very strong in the eyes
of the audience.
When the lady points to a person, Neal asks the person what his/her
designated spot was. This seems fair and gives the impression that he does
not know. In actuality he whispered the spot in their ears, but this gets
forgotten by the audience.
Also, telling them to feel pain in that spot makes it more real and convincing
for everyone involved.
You can ask the lady to hold the bag in her outstretched arm in front of her
while pointing at different people. With a little bit of suggestion and the
right timing, you can make her feel that her arm is getting heavier at the
exact moment when she stands in front of the person with the correct spot.

Another great touch to hide the PATEO force is to pickanother person – not
the person with the bag – to select the "victims".

Voodoo in a box
Many magicians and mentalists own a few tricks and special items that often
end up collecting dust in their drawers. Neal thinks that everything can be
used in a creative and entertaining way, with a little bit of thinking.
Here's a routine that uses a common trick item in a bizarre way.

Effect:
The magician shows a wooden box and explains that it belonged to a voodoo
priest who, in his lifetime, must have cursed every single soul in his small
village. After the untimely departure of the priest, however, the curses did
not stop. And so the villagers started to suspect that something is odd with
this little box. They buried it deep min the woods, hoping that it will never
find its way back to the surface of the earth, until that dreadful day when a
hiking tourist found it while digging for some rare roots. Or so the legend
goes.
The magician tells the audience that he is a little skeptical about this, since
the box looks quite new and unscratched. But he's willing to put it to a test.
He opens the box and takes out 5 photos. Each photo depicts a person. These
he hands to a spectator with the instruction to turn them facedown and mix
them up.
After mixing the photos, the spectator is told to place them, facedown, in a
row on the table.
The magician then asks him to select any one of the photos. The other
photos are put aside. After he's done, the spectator turns around the photo to
have a good look at the "victim".
The spectator puts the photo of the victim in the wooden box, which is then
closed.
Explaining a little bit about voodoo, the magician takes out a voodoo doll
and a large pin. Dramatically, he sticks the pin in head of the doll, explaining
that this would either cause a light headache or certain death in the victim.
Curious, if this had any effect on the victim, the magician asks the spectator
to open the box again and to take out the photo. Gasps are audible in the
audience. The face of the person in the photo is now covered with blood!
Maybe the box does have voodoo in it, and maybe the unscratched
appearance is part of its magical powers.

Method:
The box is a simple card box, the type that Viking is selling. While not
necessary, it may be a good idea to adapt the look of the box to your
performance style and the nature of the routine; e.g. by aging the wood or by
adding other decorative features.
The photo of the victim is forced through equivoque or any of your other
favorite methods. The rest is dramatics.