THE

PARANORMAL
ENTERTAINER
By
Paul Voodini
 THE PARANORMAL
ENTERTAINER.

FULL SCRIPT, NOTES AND INSTRUCTIONS FOR A

GIMMICKLESS EVENING OF SUPERNATURAL
MYSTERY, INCLUDING:
OPENING ROUTINES,
READING TECHNIQUES,
OUIJA AND GLASS MOVING SESSIONS,
AND THE ART OF THE SÉANCE.
PLUS COMPREHENSIVE “MARKETING YOUR
ACT” SECTION.
 PLEASE NOTE:

THIS BOOK IS COPYRIGHT 2008.

AS WELL RESPECTED MEMBERS OF THE MAGICAL

COMMUNITY I’M SURE YOU WOULD HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO
INTENTION OF EVER PHOTOCOPYING THIS BOOK SO I WON’T
EVEN MENTION IT.

NB Please note that throughout this book, text in bold is spoken by the performer.
 CONTENTS.
1. Introduction. Including respect for those who hold different beliefs to ourselves,
creating the right ambience, welcoming your guests, and timetable of events.
2. Opening Routines. Including “Zodiac Sign Routine”, “Zenner Card Routine”,
“The Cult of Card Guessing Routine”, “The Ghost & The Spirit” introduction,
“Temperature Fluctuations” introduction, “Some Useful Definitions” and “The
Difference Between a Psychic and a Medium”.
3. Readings. Including “A Happy Medium?”, and “The Readings”.
4. Glass Moving. Fully scripted and including hints and tips, subtleties and more!
5. Séance. Also fully scripted and including hints and tips, subtleties and more!
6. The Paranormal Entertainer’s Toolkit. All the kit you need to do your job
properly.
7. Marketing Yourself. Creating opportunities for yourself as a Paranormal
Entertainer.
8. Recommended Reading. Books wot are good.
 INTRODUCTION.

Paranormal entertainment, spook shows, séance theatre, call it what you will, is a very
specialised area of mentalism. For that reason, this booklet is only being made available
to the serious student. It is assumed that you have read 13 Steps and Practical Mental
Magic, that you are comfortable handling an audience, and have at least some experience
in the esoteric arts. If you have no idea what 13 Steps is, well done. You’ve managed to
blag it this far. Let’s see how far you can get before you bail out!

Now the good news. There are no gimmicks, sleights or tricks detailed in this book
(actually, thinking about it, there is one sleight detailed within these pages, but it’s very
tiny and you already know how to do it - honestly you do - and you don’t even have to
use it if you don’t want to!). That’s right. There are no billet switches, centre tears,
impression pads, invisible thread, ventriloquism, stooges or even balloon models to worry
about. It’s all straight forward and above board. Easy.

The bad news? It might not actually work.

But it will! Well, it probably will. And don’t worry. If it doesn’t work your guests will
still have a great night! And besides, I’ve supplied all the “outs”, tricks and subtleties to
ensure that everything will go just swimmingly - whatever happens. Promise.

This book has come about after spending several years working almost exclusively as an
entertainer and host within the “spook business”. I work alongside shut-eye mediums and
psychics, I run glass moving and ouija sessions, I conduct ghost walks, and I lead
séances. Within these pages are all the psychological tricks and word games that I use to
ensure my guests have truly frightening (and awe-inspiring) night. I have also contained
the tricks of the trade used by shut-eye mediums and psychics, as told to me in person -
direct from the horse’s mouth as it were. You will also find a smattering of anecdotes
from the world of the ghost business that once read and digested will allow you to appear
like a very learned and experienced paranormalist indeed.

This is very powerful stuff and not the kind of information that we want just anyone
getting their hands on. That’s why the print run of this publication is tiny, and it will only
be sold to people that I know of personally or professionally. I would also like to stress in
the strongest possible terms that this booklet is designed for use as a guide book for
providing entertainment. Please do not use this book to try and start a new cult, sell
yourself as some kind of psychic messiah, or con people out of their life savings. That
kind of behaviour is not to be encouraged. This is all about entertaining people.

This book is also not about debunking anything. I’m quite unusual (but not as unusual as
I once believed) in that as well as being passionate about mentalism I am also passionate
about the paranormal and have a lot of belief in it. I have, for example, seen a ghost. I
have a level of belief. But I also know how to provide a good night’s entertainment.

And so, a little about myself. I am a full time magician, mentalist and psychic with
around 90% of my work, as I mentioned earlier, being in the paranormal entertainment
business. I have been interested in the supernatural for as long as I can remember, and I
have a long-standing interest in the world of magic. I can recall, as I’m sure many of us
can, watching Paul Daniels on a Saturday night bringing magic to a mass audience.
However it wasn’t Paul’s brand of light entertainment that set my pulse racing, rather it
was the strange guests he would sometimes have on the show. Men with goatee beards,
black polo-necks, and oddly staring eyes. These were men who could actually read your
minds, and they reminded me of the super-heroes I was obsessed with at the time - super-
heroes with names like Mastermind, Doctor Strange, and the Shadow!

This interest in the worlds of magic, the occult and the supernatural has grown and
developed over the years, and now my particular obsessions are the spiritualist movement
of the 19th and early 20th Century, and the spook shows of the 1930’s and 1940’s.

As a movement, spiritualism is very well documented and if you are interested I have
listed several fantastic reads in the “Recommended Reading” section at the end of the
book. One point that is worth mentioning is that spiritualism was very much a UK and
USA based movement. Although it did flourish for a short time in mainland Europe, the
real devotees and superstars of this religion (and it is a religion) were to be found in
Britain and the States. The cultural reasons for this are many and varied, but it is worth
also mentioning that ghost stories are also a tradition that tends to be confined to the
English speaking world. Certainly central Europe has its own folklores and traditions that
tend to centre around giants, trolls, magical rings, and supernatural creatures of a
Germanic nature. One ex-presenter of Britain’s most famous ghost hunting TV
programme told me a story about when he and the rest of the crew travelled to Belgium
to film a “special”. As the resident historian it was his job to go to the local library and
research the history and folklore of the area. He asked the librarian, a kind old gentleman,
for books on the history of the area. The librarian happily obliged. “Great!” said the TV
historian. “Now, have you any books on local ghost stories?” “Ach!” cried the librarian.
“Ghost stories are for the English!” Perhaps this attitude and cultural difference is the real
reason why spiritualism failed to maintain any kind of grip in Europe.

Spiritualism of course still exists as a religion today, although the old days of table-
tipping and tambourine banging have long gone. These days guest mediums (who are
paid very little if anything) stand at the front of drafty old churches passing on personal
messages to a dozen or so devotees, while the local administrators organise “psychic
development” circles. It’s all a far cry from the heady Victorian days when mediums
were huge celebrities and everyone from kings to paupers were keen to experience a
séance for themselves.

The spook shows however are a different matter. They seem to have been all but
forgotten by history, which is a real shame. In some small way I hope that the work that I
do - and perhaps that you will do with your new-found knowledge after reading this book
- will continue this tradition. Taking place in cinemas, spook shows were purely a US
phenomena. The doors to the cinema would typically open at midnight and the eager
audience would be treated to a horror movie, followed by a mentalism and mind-reading
show, and then the evening would be brought to an end with a lights off séance in pitch
darkness. However unlike the gimmick and novelty free séance presented in this book,
the séances of the spook shows were packed with floating ghosts and ghouls, actors
dressed as zombies, and all manner of wild and crazy creatures designed to make the
audience, huddled together in the darkness, scream and laugh in equal measure.

By the late 1940’s the golden era of the spook show was growing to a close and in a
desperate attempt to maintain audiences, the organisers were forced to bring in more and
more strictly horror elements and even “guest appearances” from well known characters
such as Frankenstein, Dracula and the Wolfman. TV proved to be the final nail in the
coffin (so to speak) of the spook show and a unique slice of haunted Americana slipped
gently into the graveyard of history.

One quick final word; I use throughout this book the term “shut eye” to refer to people
working within the paranormal industry who are absolute true believers and do not come
from a mentalism background. I do not use the term in a derogatory way. I completely
respect the beliefs of people who have faith in spiritualism or the occult or the
paranormal - I have a lot of belief myself in these areas - and I also work with a great
many “shut eyes” and count several of them as friends. I only use the term “shut eye” to
differentiate them from ourselves in the mentalist community.

So, read on and enjoy. This book is best enjoyed at midnight, read by candle-light whilst
seated beside a roaring log fire. Hang on, just be quiet for a minute. I thought I heard
something upstairs…
Now for some very important messages:

THIS IS NOT A MAGIC TRICK OR A MAGIC ROUTINE!

THE AUDIENCE, YOUR GUESTS, WILL NOT, REPEAT NOT, BE

LOOKING TO YOU TO DO AMAZING THINGS.

YOU ARE NOT GOING TO BE SHOWING PEOPLE HOW CLEVER

YOU ARE.

YOU ARE THERE TO HELP CREATE A VERY SPECIAL EXPERIENCE

FOR YOUR GUESTS.

YOU ARE THE CONDUIT.

YOU ARE THE GUIDE.

THE “MAGIC” DOES NOT LIE WITHIN YOU, BUT WITHIN YOUR
GUESTS.

IF YOU ATTEMPT TO USE THE ROUTINES WITHIN THIS BOOK TO

SHOW HOW CLEVER YOU ARE OR TO TRY AND IMPRESS PEOPLE
WITH YOUR AMAZING ABILITIES, YOU WILL FAIL.

IT’S TIME TO LEAVE THE MAGICIAN’S EGO, THE PERFORMER’S

EGO, AT THE DOOR. MOVE ASIDE AND LET YOUR GUESTS (AND
THE SPIRITS) TAKE CENTRE STAGE.

NB Please note that throughout this book, text in bold is spoken by the performer.
And now, before we start, a very important word on respect and sensitivity…

RESPECT.
When conducting evenings of paranormal entertainment, you will encounter people who
are attending for a variety of different reasons. Some will be there for pure entertainment
and bit of a fright, some will be there just for a laugh and don’t really know what to
expect, some will have no belief in the paranormal at all, some will be on the fence, and
some will be true believers. It is very important to respect the values and beliefs of all
your guests. You really do not want anybody feeling left out, picked on, or ridiculed. I
think the best way to illustrate this is to simply recite what I always say at the beginning
of an evening (and remember, throughout this book text in bold is spoken by you, the
performer):

The groups that get the most from these evenings are the groups that put the most
energy into them. If you’re upbeat and positive we’ll have a great time. The spirits
seem to gain energy from our enthusiasm, so the more enthusiastic you are the more
chance you have of experiencing something amazing tonight. Now one thing I need
to point out. I’m not here tonight to change anybody’s mind. So if you’re a sceptic
or if you don’t believe in the supernatural please don’t think that I’m going to be
banging on all night trying to convince you otherwise. I’m not. I’m here tonight first
and foremost to entertain you. One thing I will say though is that even if you’re the
biggest sceptic in the world, just for tonight try to put that disbelief to one side and
enjoy tonight for what it is - entertainment. And who knows, something might just
happen that will give you reason to ponder your beliefs, or maybe not. At the very
least you’ll have a story to tell your friends about tomorrow!

Now there may be people here tonight who believe very strongly in the paranormal
and the existence of ghosts and spirits. I would ask everyone here tonight to be
respectful and mindful at all times of each other’s beliefs, whether you’re a believer,
a non-believer, or a fence sitter. We’re here tonight to have fun and share some
experiences, there’s nothing that will suck the energy out of an evening faster than
people feeling slighted or picked on.

You get the idea? Honestly, just make sure that everyone feels valued and included, that’s
the best way. And certainly don’t let your own personal beliefs colour your opinion of
people or treat some differently to others. Be professional.
 CREATING THE RIGHT AMBIENCE
Creating the right ambience, the right feel, atmosphere, and surroundings, for an evening
of supernatural entertainment is obviously very important indeed. On a personal level I
prefer to go for an “old school” Victorianesque feel - plenty of candles, crystal balls, old
style tarot cards and floaty table cloths. You may have your own ideas of the atmosphere
you wish to create, or you may also go along with the old school look.

As far as the old school look is concerned this is relatively easy to achieve if you are
entertaining in a stately home, an old castle, or a hotel that once was a grand house. If
you are entertaining in your own home you will have plenty of opportunity to achieve the
look you are after. However things can get a little more difficult if entertaining in
somebody else’s house and if that house is decidedly modern. But with a little
imagination, the judicious use of lighting and candles, and the right props, small miracles
can be achieved. Never underestimate the power of lighting. Imagine for a moment a
brightly lit room, bathed in electric light. A pretty sterile environment. Now imagine that
same room but this time with no lights on at all but just one or perhaps two candles
flickering in the middle of the room. Suddenly a sterile room with little atmosphere
becomes a very organic feeling place with shadows dancing across the walls. Perfect!

WELCOMING YOUR GUESTS.

Hopefully on the evening of your performance rain will be lashing down, thunder will be
rolling across the hills, and lightning will be illuminating the heavens. Or perhaps an
impenetrable fog will descend - a real “pea-souper” straight out of a Sherlock Holmes
mystery. Well, probably not but we can hope can’t we?

I’m not going to dwell too much in this book on “character”. I hope that we’re all big
enough and clever enough to realise that if choosing a character for ourselves, it must be
a character that fits well with us and one that we can “carry off”. Personally my character
is basically myself but with a few embellishments. I may tell the odd porkie about
experiences I’ve had and places I’ve been, but apart from that I’m really just myself.

Others may prefer to go down the bizarre route and rename themselves Baron Von
Shadow or something. That’s fine if you can honestly pull it off. I know I couldn’t, but
equally I know of others who can. Character must be a personal choice, but for goodness
sakes be honest with yourself. Don’t kid yourself that you are acting the role of a gothic
dark lord if what you are in reality performing is a camp pastiche of very badly acted
1960’s horror.

With this in mind, when welcoming my guests I will be upbeat and enthusiastic:

Hello everyone. My name is XXX and I’m your host for this evening of paranormal
entertainment. I’ve been involved in the supernatural, the occult, call it what you
will, for around 20 years now. I’m a tarot card and palm reader, I’m a psychic, and
I’ve lots of experience in glass moving and séances, all of which hopefully we will be
experimenting with later. If you have any questions throughout the night, either
about how the night is going to be run or about the paranormal in general, please
don’t be afraid to ask. I won’t bite. Honest.

I will then go on to explain the events that will be taking place and the timescale for those
events.

However if your approach is more bizarre, you will have your own ideas about an
introduction more fitting to your character.

Greetings my friends! Welcome to this humble gathering….

Etc. etc. I’m sure as a bizarre performer you will have a better idea than me about how
your introduction should sound, so I won’t embarrass either of us by pretending I know
more than you do in that area!

TIMINGS.

Below is a suggested timetable for your evening. However you can obviously “tweak” it
to fit with your needs. Always remain flexible in your outlook. If the glass moving is
working wonderfully and people continue to be amazed, be prepared to just carry on as
long as people are having fun.

8pm - 8.45pm Welcome & Opening Routines.

8.45pm - 9.30 Readings.
9.30pm - 10.30pm Glass Moving.
10.30pm - 10.45pm Break.
10.45pm - 11.00pm Question & answer session and set up Séance.
11.00pm - 12 Midnight Séance.
12 Midnight - 12.30am Summing up and question & answer session.
 OPENING ROUTINES.
At the beginning an evening of “paranormal entertainment” I like to get everybody
relaxed and just go through a few exercises and routines to make everyone feel at ease
and perhaps put a smile on their faces - they may be a little nervous or unsure about how
the evening will progress after all! Although we as magicians, mentalists and psychics
may be used to conducting séances or glass moving sessions, the average person in the
street certainly isn’t. It is well worth bearing this in mind. The entertainment you are
about to provide will probably be a once-in-a-lifetime experience for your guests or
sitters. If done correctly this will be something they will still talk about 10 or even 20
years from now.

NB Do not by any means feel that you have to include all the opening routines listed
below. Feel free to cherry pick the ones that you think will work best for you, or
introduce opening routines of your own. Time constraints may also play a large part in
determining how many opening routines you use, and of course you need to keep an eye
on your guests and judge their mood. No point ploughing through a full hour of opening
routines if your guests are getting restless and want to get on with the “ghost hunting”!

Zodiac Sign Routine.

So, once everyone is gathered I will introduce myself and perhaps explain how the
evening will run. Then I’ll say something like: “Well, before I start the evening I always
like to get a feel for what energies we have here in the group. First of all, have we any
Aries here tonight?” A few people may respond. I’ll continue, “Right. Do you know how
many Aries it takes to change a light bulb?” I will then go through the list below. The list
of how many people of a certain star sign it takes to change a light bulb isn’t side-
splittingly funny, but it is humorous enough to relax people and ease them into the
evening which is an important step.

ARIES: Just one. Why? You looking for an argument?

TAURUS: Well, I prefer natural light if at all possible. Are you absolutely positive that
light bulb is burned out? I hate to throw it away if it still might be useful.
GEMINI: Probably one is best, because if there are more than one, they'll get so
wrapped up in talking to each other that they'll forget all about the light bulb - especially
if they start telling each other how attractive they find each other!
CANCER: Only one, but three therapists will be needed to help with the grieving
process. OR: Only one, as long as his mommy holds his hand.
LEO: Leos do not change their own light bulbs. They find someone else to do it for them.
VIRGO: 1.117, give or take 0.013%.
LIBRA: Well, I could do it, unless of course you'd prefer to do it, but you look sort of
busy right now. What do you want to do?
SCORPIO: None, because Scorpios aren't afraid of the dark.
SAGITTARIUS: The sun is shining, the day is young, we've got the rest of our lives
ahead of us and you're worrying about a stupid light bulb?
CAPRICORN: Well, Capricorns are probably thinking “what on earth is this stupid man
going on about and when do we get to see the ghosts!?”
AQUARIUS: Well, it depends on what plane of reality you’re working on because
although the light bulb may have gone in this reality it may still be working in an
alternate dimension.
PISCES: What light bulb?

In case you don’t know, I’ve listed below all the signs of the Zodiac with their respective
dates. You really need to know this off by heart. Any self-respecting paranormalist
should be able to reel off this information at the drop of a hat.

March 21 - April 20 ARIES

April 21 - May 21 TAURUS
May 22 - June 21 GEMINI
June 22 - July 23 CANCER
July 24 - August 23 LEO
August 24 - September 23 VIRGO
September 24 - October 23 LIBRA
October 24 - November 22 SCORPIO
November 23 - December 21 SAGITTARIUS
December 22 - January 20 CAPRICORN
January 21 - February 19 AQUARIUS
February 20 - March 20 PISCES

Zenner Card Routine.

The next thing I like to do is test the group to see how “psychic” they are. For this I use a
set of jumbo Zenner (ESP) cards - square, circle, wavy lines, star & cross. These are
available from most on-line card suppliers. I explain the history of the cards with a few
embellishments added. Basically I say:

Zenner cards or ESP cards were developed in the 1930’s at Stanford University in
the USA. Up until the start of the 20th Century the paranormal or supernatural had
all been centred around spiritualism and séances, table-tipping and the like.
However at the start of the 20th Century people started to come forward who
claimed to be able to perhaps see through a locked door or be able to divine the
contents of a sealed envelope. So a certain Professor Rhine developed these cards
from an initial idea by Professor Zenner, hence Zenner cards, to test if these people,
these “psychics”, were actually telling the truth about their abilities. Basically the
person conducting the test holds up a card, and the person who claims to have
psychic ability tells him which card he is looking at. We’re going to do a quick test
now, just for fun really, to see who amongst you is the most psychic. And who
knows, perhaps we’ll see if the people who do well at this test experience the most
later in the evening when we conduct the séance?
I explain what each of the symbols is (I usually have one of each card on display for all to
see). Then I may also mention how famous psychics such as Uri Geller have been tested
in a similar way, but this would depend on time constraints. I would always explain that
we were about to have 5 “goes” with the cards, by which I mean that I was about to hold
up 5 cards one at a time (the backs towards the guests obviously!) and the guests will see
how many they can correctly divine.

I would explain that there are 5 different symbols but multiples of each card in the deck,
so each symbol can come out more than once. I will also let the group know that when
having 5 “goes“, the law of averages states that a person should get one right from pure
guess work. I explain how most of the guests will indeed get one right, but a lot will get
none (“There are a lot of very un-psychic people around!”), around 25% will get two
right which is double the law of averages, around 5% will get three right which is very
good, and very rarely does anyone ever get four right or even rarer is five out of five. I
have a couple of “weird” stories about people I’ve seen get 5 out of 5, such as an old lady
in a mental institute and a ten year old boy with his parents who thought it was a magic
trick. A good weird story will help encourage whole-hearted participation. Feel free to
use mine or make your own up. And after doing this for a while, and as you have more
and more experiences, you’ll find the need to use “made up” stories or other people’s
stories diminishes as you develop a bank of true stories and true experiences of your own.

I would advise the guests to trust their first instinct - “Don’t try to out-think the cards or
change your mind. Always go with your first instinct.” After each card I would reveal
what the card was and then ask who got it right. At the end of the 5 goes I will ask who
got 5 out of 5? Usually nobody. Who got 4? Sometimes, very rarely, someone may get 4,
so I would get a round of applause for them and give them a big congratulations.
Anybody get 3? Some will, so again big round of applause. Who got 2? Well, that’s
double what the law of averages predicts so another round of applause. Who got 1?
Who’s average? Another round of applause. And hands up who got none, who got zero?
Give them a round of applause also and then say: “Because, you know, sometimes getting
none out of five is almost as interesting as getting five out of five.” There may be some
sage nodding. Then say: “Nah it’s not! It’s rubbish!” This will hopefully get a bit of a
laugh, again helping to reduce tension and get people relaxed.

The Cult of Card Guessing Routine.

I almost didn’t include this opening routine because I know that a lot of people will throw
their arms in the air and shriek when they read it. You see, this routine uses playing cards.
Yikes. I know. However please hear me out, and if you still feel like shrieking afterwards
simply ignore this routine and move quietly along.

As a magician or a mentalist or a psychic (or even as all three), you will have your own
favourite “pick a card any card” style routine, whereby you correctly divine the card of
the spectator. You may also (and this is even better) have a routine where your spectator
correctly divines a card. If you do, and I’m sure you do, now is the time to use it. This is
the one and only use of a sleight that is mentioned in this book. This is the one that I
mentioned in the introduction. We’re going to take your routine and we’re going to dress
it up and transform it into a historically correct experiment in ESP. I think that the
wording for this routine will explain all.

In 1882, at the height of spiritualism, the Society for Psychical Research, or SPR,
was formed. The group consisted of interested, intelligent parties who were keen to
discover if the phenomena witnessed around the country during medium-led
séances were real or fraudulent. We must remember that back in the mid-1800’s it
would not be unusual for bunches of flowers, or bowls of fruit, or even the spirit of a
long dead pirate in full regalia to actually appear during a séance! With such
amazing and downright weird things appearing out of the ether, the SPR wanted to
discover the truth.

As well as being present at séances, members of SPR also had an interest in ghost
stories and the possibility of telepathic communication or ESP. Between 1888 and
1892 members of SPR were encouraged to test themselves and their friends for the
possible existence of ESP, and the tools chosen for these experiments were normal
playing cards. The idea was simple. That either working in pairs or by themselves,
members of SPR would attempt to divine the number and suit of a pack of cards,
one card at a time. Obviously the cards would be face down! Now the chance of
correctly divining the suit of a card is 1 in 4, or 25% of the time. But what members
of SPR discovered was that they were guessing correctly a third of the time, totally
at odds with the laws of probability.

This caused great excitement, and for a time “the cult of card guessing” as it became
known threatened to surpass séances as the past-time of choice in drawing rooms up
and down the country.

What I’d like to do now is a little experiment in “card guessing” and ESP. Do we
have a volunteer? Somebody who perhaps feels that they’re quite good at this kind
of thing?

And from here you would present your favourite card divination routine, dressed up as an
experiment based on those of the Society for Psychical Research. The routine could
involve peeks, forces, any number of routines from Royal Road to Card Magic, or even
(and here’s a thought) a way of presenting Out of This World. I even have an aged pack
of cards that I claim were used by SPR during these experiments. They’re far from it of
course, just an ordinary pack of Bikes dipped in tea, but it’s a nice touch.

Do this straight faced, be amazed and a little shocked with the outcome, but most of all
do NOT revert to Mr. Magician and start smiling and accepting the applause of the
guests. This is not about you cleverly guessing the card correctly, it is about your guests
experiencing a strange psychic phenomena.

The story about the SPR and card guessing is all true. Present it with conviction because
it’s the truth. A certain Miss N. Robertson, SPR member, tried over 15,000 guesses. The
poor dear. She claimed a 50% success rate on naming the suit which is pretty impressive
if true.

There. That wasn’t too painful. Was it?

EDIT: Even at the last minute before printing, I’m still debating actually including this
routine in the book! Let me quickly make something very clear - I wouldn’t use the card
guessing routine at every paranormal event I work at. I would probably save it for special
occasions - birthday parties or Halloween or Christmas events, that kind of thing. Or if
the guests were young and eager to have fun. I certainly wouldn’t use it if the event was
for the local paranormal enthusiasts group or similar. What I’m saying is use your
judgement. If the routine fits, fine. If not, don’t force it. If in doubt don’t use. There.
Hope that clears that up.

The Ghost & The Spirit.

For the last opener I explain how in the “real world”, the world outside of the séance
room, words like “ghost” and “spirit” and fairly interchangeable, they basically mean the
same thing. However inside the séance room or on a paranormal investigation the correct
terminology is very important. So I will quickly explain that:

A Ghost is like a recording of an event that has long passed. It’s like watching the same
tape of Eastenders again and again. An event has taken place that was of such an
emotional intensity that it somehow managed to burn itself onto the atmosphere or
perhaps the fabric of time. So for instance a ghost of Mary Queen of Scots may be seen
again and again walking down the same staircase, seen by different people over a large
number of years. However if you jump out in front of the ghost and wave your arms
around there will be no response. There is no intelligence behind a ghost. It is purely a
recording of a past event. You cannot communicate with it, and the ghost has no
awareness of itself, its surroundings, or of anything else. It has no more intelligence than
a DVD player.

A Spirit is completely different. A spirit is the soul or energy of someone who has passed
over. The spirit will typically return from “the other side” to communicate with the
living, or on very rare occasions it may be a spirit that for whatever reason has remained
on earth. It may have some important message to impart or it may simply want people to
know that it is okay. But there is most definitely an intelligence there, and it can be
communicated with. It is the spirits that we hope to establish communication with later in
the evening.

Why would a spirit remain on earth? Well perhaps it still feels it has work to do or has
an important message to pass on, perhaps it simply doesn’t realise that it is dead or has
simply chosen to ignore the call to “go into the light”, or perhaps it even prefers to stay
on earth and enjoy itself frightening silly groups of people who think its funny to hold a
séance!
Temperature Fluctuations.

I would also explain the phenomena of temperature fluctuations. When standing or sitting
in the séance room, or while glass moving, or during the ghost walk, people may feel
suddenly very cold or even suddenly very hot. This is thought, in paranormal circles, to
be a phenomena that occurs when a person is standing in the same space as a spirit. Some
people, due to their “energy”, interpret spirit as being very cold, while others with a
different “energy” may experience that same spirit as being very hot. And if someone is
experiencing a temperature fluctuation on just one side of their body, this simply means
that they are only half standing in the spirit’s energy! Encourage your guests to speak up
if they experience any temperature fluctuations during the night (in old houses, castles,
hotels etc these temperature fluctuations may be perfectly explainable due to draughty
windows etc., but keep your wits about you. A report of a temperature fluctuation could
be your way in to giving your guests their first paranormal experience of the night!).

Yes, very interesting. What Jenny is reporting here folks is a very cold sensation
down one side of her body. Now these extreme temperature fluctuations are a sign
of spirit energy, and the fact that Jenny says it’s just down one side of her body is an
indication that she is only half standing in the spirit’s energy. Jenny, could you do
me a favour and move your whole body into that cold area? Thank you. Now tell us,
how does that feel? Is the cold still just down one side or…?

I leave the “or…?” trailing because as many of you will know that encourages the
spectator to fill in the blank and give the answer you are looking for.

Some Useful Definitions.

As a paranormal expert you may also be asked other questions, so a short list of
definitions may prove useful:

Aura. The aura is believed to be a field of energy that surrounds all living creatures.
Many clairvoyants claim to be able to see auras, and can produce “aura readings” based
on what they see - size, shape, colour, vibrancy etc.

Cartomancy is the art of fortune telling using cards, whether that be playing cards, tarot
cards, oracle cards or even angel cards.

Clairaudience means clear hearing. A psychic ability which enables someone to hear
voices or noises unheard by other people - usually the voices of spirit.

Clairvoyance means clear seeing. A psychic ability to see objects, people or events not
perceived by the 5 traditional senses - usually spirit.

Demon. A demon is a malevolent spirit or more accurately a fallen angel.

Ghoul. A ghoul is usually a demon, but sometimes a human, who enjoys eating human
flesh - typically dead human flesh from corpses it has dug up!

Halloween is also known as All Saints or Samhain (pronounced Saw-ain). Traditionally

it lasts from sun down on October 31st to sun up on November 1st. It is thought to be the
time when the veil between the world of the living and the world of the dead is at its
thinnest, and communication between the two worlds is easiest. It is a celtic tradition to
leave a candle in the window to guide home the spirits of departed loved ones, and from
this the Halloween pumpkin grew. It is also traditional to leave a seat at the dinner table
empty in case a beloved spirit should choose to join the family for tea. Perish the thought.

Orbs are also known as spirit lights. They are believed to be balls of energy that signify a
spirit is attempting to manifest itself and/or a young spirit that does not yet have the
ability to manifest itself completely. Another school of thought is that they are dust
particles caught in the flash of a digital camera or other recording device. You decide.

Ouija board. The Ouija board was developed as a simple, easy to carry alternative to
“glass moving” which was very popular during the spiritualist movement of the mid-
1800’s. It is simply a board with letters of the alphabet and numbers on it, and a wooden
pointing device (called a “planchette”) is used as an instrument through which the spirits
can communicate with the living. This is all covered in great detail later in the book. The
Ouija board was first copyrighted by the Kennard Novelty Company in the early 1890’s,
and the copyright holder at time of writing (2008) is Parker Bros. Ouija boards are easily
available in the USA, being sold at many large toy retailers. In the UK they are held
somewhat in awe with all kinds of silly urban myths attached to them.

Sensitive/Intuitive. Someone described as being “sensitive” or “intuitive” is often

someone who has latent psychic abilities. They may not have developed their skills, but
they may experience very strong deja-vu’s, very vivid dreams, and will certainly have
had the odd “weird” moment when something they were just thinking about has actually
happened. A sensitive or intuitive person may also be someone who isn’t quite psychic
but has definite leanings in that direction. In many ways it is a watered down psychic, and
the term intuitive is being used more and more these days by professional psychics and
mediums who wish to shy away from traditional stereotypes.

Tarot cards are the most popular form of card used for fortune telling and divination.
Tarot card originate (or at least this is one theory amongst many) from ordinary playing
cards being placed together with a set of cards used for reciting tales from the Old
Testament, probably during the 1700’s.

Voodoo is a religion that originated in Africa but travelled across the Atlantic with the
slave trade. It is a very popular religion in Haiti and parts of the Caribbean. It is a heady
mix of witchcraft, spell casting, wildly enthusiastic rituals, and Catholicism.

What’s the difference between a psychic and a medium?

A psychic has the ability to know things instinctively, things such as what a person is
thinking, what is behind a locked door, or what the contents of an envelope are. The
psychic may also have special abilities such as the ability to stop or start watches or bend
metal. Uri Geller is a good example of a psychic.

Psychics glean the information from their own abilities.

A medium can talk to the dead. He can bring forth messages from loved ones who have
deceased, and also pass messages onto the deceased. Mediums are often (though not
always) “spiritualists”, which is a Christian based religion that also believes it is possible
to talk to the deceased through mediums. A medium may or may not exhibit psychic
tendency. Often the two abilities go hand-in-hand, but not always. John Edwards and
Colin Firth are examples of mediums. One would not expect to see John Edwards, a
medium, bending forks. Likewise one would not expect to see Uri Geller, a psychic,
talking to dead people.

Mediums glean the information by talking to spirits.

And so we bring the opening routines to a close. I’m sure you’ll agree that although there
are precious few “tricks” involved, there is plenty of magic.
 READINGS.

This book is not about trying to teach people how to provide good accurate readings. I am
assuming that as a mentalist you are pretty much okay when it comes to doing readings,
whether they be tarot, palm, rune or whatever. However if you’re not happy with
readings and would like to know more (as a purveyor of paranormal entertainment I
would see readings as being pretty essential), I have listed some brilliant resources in the
recommended reading section at the back of this book.

A Happy Medium?

There are plenty of character choices you could decide to go with when providing
paranormal evenings. You could choose to be a psychic/intuitive, or a student of the
paranormal who has experiences to share, or a bizarre character, or even a medium
receiving messages from the spirit world.

I personally use the psychic/intuitive character combined with the student of the
paranormal which is basically who I am anyway (but just exaggerated slightly). The
bizarre character I would see as suiting a very specific kind of person, and it can work
very well. The medium is a slightly more dubious character in my estimation.

As a medium you may be called upon (by the very definition of your title) to engage in
personal readings, IE connecting with the spirit world and bringing forth messages from
departed loved ones. These kind of personal messages are fraught with pitfalls, not least
of which is the ethical pitfall. I cover this further during later sections of this book, but in
short I would strongly advise keeping well away from claiming to be a medium unless
you genuinely feel a calling in this direction and you’re willing to see it through.
Mediumship is not something to played at or taken lightly. You would be playing with
some very strong emotions and it really is a minefield. It’s just easier and better (in my
humble opinion) to steer well clear.

Even shut eye mediums that I know and work with tend to shy away from giving
demonstrations of clairvoyance or mediumship (IE talking with the dead). Rather than
stand in front of an audience and bring through the spirits of the departed, mediums
would far rather spend their time telling the story of their life, how they were always
regarded as “weird” when they were younger, what a medium actually is and how their
gift works. As you can imagine, if the medium is booked to do a 60 minute
“demonstration” and they spend 40 minutes waffling on about their life and their gift (and
even having a question & answer session to fill out the time), that only leaves a short time
to pass on personal messages. And the less time they have to pass on personal messages
the happier mediums are. It just means they have less time to get it wrong to be honest.

Another “trick” employed by mediums to avoid actually doing any mediumship is to do

platform or stage readings that have nothing to do with “spirit”. So they may decide to
give aura readings or even tarot readings from the stage, and rather than say “Uncle Fred
says you’re going through a lot of changes right now” they’ll say “the cards are telling
me that you’re going through a lot of changes right now.” It just enables them to avoid
saying that they’re talking to dead relatives. It’s such a fraught area that even shut eye
mediums can shy away from it.

Not wanting to bang on this drum for too long, I will let the subject rest in peace (boom
boom) by simply saying that the first thing that happens when a medium relays a message
from the other side is that the sitter bursts into tears. Do you really want to deal with that?

The Readings.

So, we’ve done our introductory routines and we’re about to engage in some readings for
our happy party of paranormal party-goers. You can choose to give any kind of reading
as mentioned before - tarot, rune, aura, palm, even tea-leaves! I personally use the tarot as
they have a very mystical image, people know a little bit about them from horror films
etc., and they have lovely and/or striking images that people can look at.

Now if your group is fairly small (say 6 people), you can quite easily give every one of
your guests a reading each. Simple. Just keep it brief and punchy and upbeat. It works
best if everyone else can watch each other’s reading, that way you haven’t got people
wandering off, you can spend some time explaining to everyone the history of the tarot,
how they work etc., and obviously you don’t need to go too deep or personal.

If your group is quite large though (say 10 or more people) and you won’t have time to
give everybody their own reading, I would advise borrowing a trick from the shut eye
mediums. You are going to engage in a platform or stage demonstration of readings! But
this is really quite simple if you are already okay with giving one-to-one readings, honest.

All you are going to do is stand at the front of your guests with your tarot cards (or
whatever) in your hands. You will shuffle the cards and look around the room. Let your
eyes settle on someone who looks very keen and interested. This person will receive the
reading. Stop shuffling the cards and turn over the top three cards into your own hands.
These 3 cards will represent the past twelve months, the present, and the next twelve
months (one card for each) of the guest you are going to read for. So you then deliver the
reading. Use lots of positive words, nod your head often, smile, and use phrases like
“Yes, that’s right isn’t it?” to encourage good interaction. Using phrases like “yes that’s
right” will mean that even if the guest receiving the reading isn’t overly convinced, the
rest of the group are likely to believe that you’re delivering a wonderful reading.

In the timetable I have allowed 45 minutes for the reading section. If you are delivering
the readings from the front of the group I would use the first 10 minutes explaining a
little of the history of the tarot, the difference between the major and minor arcana, and
how you believe the cards actually work, which then leaves only around 30 minutes for
actual readings. If you keep each reading between 5 to 10 minutes long, you will only
need to deliver 4 readings. As I said earlier, use all of your best lines, all the tricks of
readings that you may have picked up along the way, and be positive.
A couple of stock scripts that I always use before I start the readings:

Now, has anybody ever had a tarot reading before? Okay, I’d just like to explain
before I start that there are no bad cards in the tarot deck. You’ve probably seen in
films or on the TV people turning over the Death card and everybody going
“argh!”. Well the Death card doesn’t mean that anybody is going to die or anything
silly like that! It only means that in films! The Death card is actually about rebirth
and rejuvenation, so if you do happen to get the Death card don’t faint or fall off
your chair or run out screaming - we don’t want to cause a commotion do we?!
Mind you, having said that if I scream and run out of the building you know it’s
time to worry!

I would just like to say that tarot cards are, at the end of the day, just pieces of
cardboard with pretty pictures on them. They’re made on the same machines that
make Happy Families cards, Monopoly cards, all those kind of cards. They’re made
by the same bloke on the same machine, not by a bunch of naked druids by the light
of the full moon! So please bear in mind that whatever the cards say is not written in
stone. You always have the power to do what you want with your life. The cards just
give an indication of where things look like they’re heading if you don’t change
anything. But you always have control over your life.

Hopefully you’ll notice that the above statements as well as imparting some very
important pieces of information, are also designed to break down the barrier between
yourself and the sitter. I always use the same statements above whether I’m standing in
front of a group of people at a night of paranormal entertainment or working at a psychic
fair as a tarot reader where people sit in front of me and pay for a reading. I’ve used the
script above to win over some very sceptical and cynical sitters. Used with lots of eye
contact, smiling and laughing when appropriate but also being serious when need be, the
above two paragraphs can be the most powerful weapon in your arsenal as a reader. They
will break down the barriers between you and the sitter.

And then, once you’ve dealt out the cards either into your hands (stand up demo) or the
table (sit down readings), the killer statement:

Gosh. There’s a lot going on with you isn’t there?

Their response to that statement will hopefully give you a ton of information. Watch their
face and see how they respond. Usually they will say something like “Not half!” or
they’ll sigh heavily and say “Yes!” If they don’t really respond I would follow up with:

But I’ve seen worse! I think!

And again, judge the response and move on from there.

Now look at this. This book isn’t about telling you how to do readings, but I’ve just given
you some very powerful tools to use in your readings! How generous am I? I think we’ll
leave it there though, and leave me with enough unwritten knowledge to allow me to
write another book solely on readings at a later date!
 THE SCRIPTED GLASS MOVING (OR OUIJA) SESSION.

Once the introductions, opening routines, and readings are complete, it’s time to get
down to business!

Glass moving is probably the oldest form of physical communication with the spirit
realm, and its routes lay with the spiritualist movement of the 1800’s. All techniques
described below equally apply to the ouija board, however I tend to shy away from the
ouija purely because of the “baggage” attached to it. People have often heard all kinds of
crazy urban myths about what has happened to people after using the ouija. It’s all
nonsense of course, but because of the negative ideas that people often harbour about the
ouija it is probably best just to steer clear. But this is purely my own personal opinion. If
you’d rather use a ouija, then go for it.

Glass moving is very simple. All that happens is that a perfectly normal wine glass (stem
variety works best for me) is turned upside down on a table. A number of volunteers
place an index finger on top of the upturned base of the glass, and then spirits
communicate with the living by moving the glass.

I have a set of alphabet cards (around the same size as normal playing cards) that I place
around the table in alphabetical order, and I also place a burning tea-light at one side of
the table. Once these are in place the spirits can communicate by either moving the glass
to the letters in order to spell out words, or by moving the glass towards or away from the
candle in response to simple yes/no questions - so for example a question of “are you
happy?” would be answered by the glass moving towards the candle for “yes” or away
from the candle for “no”.

Glass moving hints and tips.

Always use a table that has a nicely polished surface. This will obviously allow the glass
to slide more easily. A rough topped table will result in the glass either not moving at all,
tipping rather than moving, or at best moving in a very juddery manner. A nice polished
surface is ideal. I have my own table that I take with me to events. It is about 2 ½ feet x 1
½ feet and is ideal, and of course I keep it highly polished.

Tell people to keep a nice, light touch on top of the glass. They don’t want to press to
hard. It needs to be a “feather-light” touch. More on this in the script.

Once the glass is moving, allow it to just go where it wishes for the first minute or so.
This is called “finding the table”. Then begin with some simple questions that can be
answered by moving the glass towards the candle or away from it. If the “contact” with
the spirit is good and strong and the glass is moving freely, move on to asking questions
that need to be answered by using the alphabet cards.

It is very rare that you will get the glass answering questions coherently and perfectly
using the alphabet cards. Normally the glass will make no sense at all and may just seem
to be touching cards at random. Other times it may make sense, but only after a little
deciphering takes place - perhaps the glass misses out vowels or misspells words slightly.
If you do get a glass that is answering questions in perfect English and with little
hesitation, then you probably have a “pusher” (see below).

As far as volunteers go, I like to have groups of three with their finger on the glass. Three
seems to be a good number, although if the glass is having problems getting going I may
up the number to four just to add a little bit more “energy”. Women make the best
volunteers and mixed groups for whatever reason seem to make the worst. So first option
would be 3 females, second option 3 males, and as a last resort a mixed group.

I always try to use people who have done glass moving or the ouija board before to have
the first “go”, especially if they have successfully had the glass moving on previous
occasions. I explain that this is because they know what to expect, and people who have
never done glass moving before can then see what to expect for themselves. The truth is
slightly different in that I choose experienced glass movers for the same reason that a
hypnotist often prefers volunteers who have been hypnotised before. If it worked for
them before, it’ll work for them again. This then puts confidence in the minds of the
“virgins” and they think “Wow! This really does work!”

It also helps if your volunteers are a little bit on the show-off side. But more on that later.

Before starting I tell people that no harm will befall them from taking part in glass
moving, but if anyone would rather sit-out and just watch that’s fine.

I explain how very rarely we may get a personal message coming through. I’ve already
touched on this subject in the “Readings” section, but I think I ought to go into some
depth here. When we’re playing around with devices designed to communicate with the
dead, sooner or later you’re going to be faced with the moral dilemma of somebody’s
dead relative “coming through”. I discourage this by telling my guests before we start
that what we’re after is communication with the spirits of people who used to live in the
building we’re stood in or the surrounding area. I will say that this evening of paranormal
entertainment is not the appropriate place to communicate with deceased loved ones, and
I will mention the local spiritualist church as the place to visit for such messages.
Hopefully this will put the idea out of the heads of the guests.

But…well, sometimes its going to happen. How I deal with it is probably best described
by the script I use before the glass moving session begins:

If it becomes apparent that we have a personal message coming through for

somebody stood at the table, I will let it proceed. However if the message is for you, I
will ask you first of all if you’re okay to carry on. You can say “no thanks, I’d
rather not” and we’ll just stop the session there and then. If you do want to carry on
I will ask the spirit to try and spell its name or at least give us an initial that you
would be able to recognise it from. Then I will ask it to spell a message. This is
usually quite frustrating for both the person at the table and the spirit. It very
rarely works and you might get quite frustrated saying “come on, tell me where the
money’s buried!” (Gallows humour. It usually works quite well.) Then I will ask you to
say thank you and good-bye to the spirit, and we’ll let it go. Standing here at the
table with 20 people gawping at you is not the ideal place to receive a personal
message, so we have to be very cautious.

A word to the wise: If the glass moving does bring forth a personal message, the person
receiving the message will invariably be in tears. Be prepared for this mentally. They are
usually tears of happiness, but still you need to be a good “people person” in this
business. Be patient, be understanding, and most of all tell the guest how wonderful they
are and how well they’ve done.

Tell your guests that if at any time anything “funny” starts to happen, if the glass starts to
spell anything that’s “not nice” I will stop the session immediately and turn the glass the
right way up thus releasing the energy. I am also not beyond telling spirits to “bugger
off” (or worse!) in a loud commanding voice if anything stupid starts to happen. Always
remember that this is your glass moving session, you’re in charge, and it’s your
responsibility to make sure that at the end of the night everyone has had an exciting,
entertaining and just a little bit frightening time! If someone ends up as a gibbering wreck
in the corner you have obviously failed in your duties! More on that in the script below.

Before you start the session, TELL YOUR PEOPLE WHAT WILL HAPPEN! There
must be no doubt in your mind that the glass will move. Don’t even mention the
possibility of failure. Be confident, appear hugely experienced, and harbour no thoughts
of failure.

When people first step up to the table, before they place their fingers on top of the
upturned glass have them rub their hands together vigorously. This is an old tip given to
me by a psychic. She believed it released energy from the chakras (or something), but for
whatever reason it does seem to help get things moving a little quicker.

So without further delay, here is the script. Quite clearly no two glass moving sessions
are the same. However you should get the general idea from the script. This script
assumes that the glass starts to move fairly soon after fingers are attached. What to do if
nothing happens and the glass refuses to budge is listed after the script. More details on
all the subtleties in the script follow afterwards.

Okay, so what we’re about to do now is called “glass moving”. Glass moving is
probably the oldest form of spirit communication and dates back to Victorian times.
Quite simply all that happens is that we have letters of the alphabet around the table
in a circle, and we have an upturned wine glass. Three volunteers place the index
finger on top of the glass and I’ll ask out “are there any spirits here who wish to
communicate with us?” or similar. What we’re hoping to happen is that the glass
will start to move and will answer our questions by pointing at the letters of the
alphabet. We also have a candle here for asking simple yes or no questions, so for
example I may ask the spirit if he or she lived in this building. I will then say “move
the glass towards the candle for yes, or away from the candle for no”.

Now, what glass moving is not is a ouija board. I don’t use ouija boards, but
personally I think they get a bit of a bad press. As you’ll be aware there are all sorts
of silly urban myths and legends regarding the ouija board, things that happened to
a friend of a friend and stuff like that. It’s because of this negative impression that
people have of the ouija board that I don’t use them. Plus of course a regular ouija
board is only about the size of an A4 piece of paper, and having a dozen or so people
squashed around trying to see it is quite impossible.

Now if anything “funny” does start to happen, if we get any odd messages coming
through that perhaps aren’t altogether nice I will stop the session, turn the glass the
right way up to release the energy, and tell the spirit “thank you very much but
please move away now”. I won’t stand for any nonsense from our spirit friends. And
believe me, if we get the glass spelling out something stupid like “devil”, it won’t be
the devil! It will just be some spirit who thinks its funny to try and scare the hell out
of a group of silly mortals who are standing around in the dark pushing an
upturned wine glass around a table!

(You should also mention the piece about personal messages here).

So what will happen? Well, we have three volunteers step forward. They will place
their index fingers on top of the glass. I will ask if there are any spirits present and
the glass will start to move. Whatever you do, when the glass starts to move don’t
pull your finger off the glass and go “Argh! It’s moving!” because that will of course
stop the glass stone dead (this usually gets a laugh). Likewise don’t press your finger
down on the glass really hard “because-the-glass-is-moving-oh-my-god!”. What you
need to do is keep a nice light touch on top of the glass. Nice and light.

People often ask me how do you know it’s not somebody just pushing the glass.
When you see it on TV you probably think to yourself “well it’s just somebody
pushing the glass”. All I can say is that once it has happened for you, you’ll know
that no-one is pushing. It’s a very weird experience and one you have to experience
for yourself.

Now, have we anybody here who has done glass moving or perhaps the ouija
before? (Hopefully one or two hands will go up - if not don’t worry. Just choose the
candidates who look the keenest and may have an interest in the occult/paranormal etc.).
Okay, great, do you want to step forward. I usually like to start the session with
people who’ve done this before, purely because they know what to expect and it
gives the rest of you a good idea of what will happen when it’s your turn.

Now just place your index fingers on the glass. That’s great. And I’ll ask - are there
any spirits with us this evening? Any spirits who wish to talk to us? Please use the
energy of the people in this room and the energy of the people who have their
fingers on the glass, take that energy and use it to move the glass. Move the glass for
us to let us know that you are here. Use our energy spirit, and just move that glass
for us!

(Hopefully after a minute or two the glass will start to move. It will usually start moving
slowly at first and then pick up speed.)

That’s it! Push the glass for us! Just push the glass to let us know you’re here! Push
the glass harder. Move it around the table and gather your energy. Move that glass!

Once the glass is moving freely, you can now start to ask all sorts of questions. After
each question is answered, it is important to tell the spirit to move the glass back to the
centre of the table before asking the next question. This avoids any confusion. Always
talk politely (please, thank you etc.) but be firm and in charge.

Questions to ask are:

• Move the glass to where you’re standing. Show us where you are spirit.
• Are you a man or a woman? Are you male or female? Move the glass towards the
candle for male, away from the candle for female.
• Did you used to live in this house? Move the glass towards the candle for yes or away
for no.
• Did you work in this house? Move the glass etc.
• Did you “pass over” in this house? Move the glass etc.
• How old are you? Move the glass towards the candle for a child. Move away from the
candle for an adult.
• Are you happy? Move the glass towards the candle for yes, move the glass away from
the candle for no.
• Are there any other spirits in this room with us? Move the candle etc.
• What century did you live in? Move to the candle for the 20th Century. (Wait a
moment or two.) Or the 19th Century? Move to the candle for the 19th Century. Etc.
through the centuries.

Be sure to give clear instructions of what to do after each question, and always get the
glass moved back to the centre of the table after each question has been answered
(“Please move the glass back to the centre of the table. That’s right. Move the glass back
to the centre of the table so we can you another question. Thank you.”)

Once you have exhausted the yes/no questions (and there’s no reason that should really
happen - use your imagination!) or if the glass is really motoring around the table, you
can turn your attention to the alphabet cards and try to get the spirit to spell out their
name or any message they have. This rarely works to any great degree - the message will
usually be garbled nonsense - but it looks impressive and is a natural progression from
the yes/no questions.
I also encourage the people who have a finger on the glass to ask questions themselves.
This helps to get everyone feeling involved, and if the glass is being a bit sluggish a new
voice asking the questions can improve matters.

To finish off a glass moving session I would ask the spirits to move the glass around the
table in a big circle, faster and faster. I would use lots of encouragement, almost shouting:
“That’s it spirits, faster and faster now! Show us how strong you are! Move the glass
faster and faster!” Having the glass shoot around the table in a big circle with the
volunteers struggling to keep their fingers on the glass is a most impressive sight.

What to do if the glass doesn’t move.

First of all get the volunteers to take their fingers off the glass and do the hand rubbing
exercise again. Make sure they really put some energy into rubbing their hands together.
You do it to. Rub your hands and say: “That’s it! Let’s get the energy levels right up!” Be
optimistic, upbeat and positive. There’s no way you’re going to allow that glass to not
move!

If the glass still remains sluggish, try another three volunteers. Or you can add a fourth
volunteer to bring more “energy” to the proceedings - or even a fifth or sixth volunteer.
The more fingers you have on the glass the better chance you have of getting a sluggish
glass moving. “Come on spirits!” I would say. “There’s five (or whatever) people on the
glass now! There’s no excuses! There’s lots of energy for you now, so move that glass!”

Finally, as a last resort, say “I’m just going to put my finger on the glass to help get the
energy circulating”. Place your finger on, the glass will start moving, take your finger off,
and the glass will continue to move. “There,” you would say, “it’s all your own work
now! You just needed a blast of energy from a psychic!”

Subtleties.

So what’s going on here? Well, despite having a quite a sizeable amount of belief in the
supernatural, I believe that glass moving is usually brought about by people either
subconsciously pushing the glass (that is, pushing the glass but thinking they’re not) or
by ideo-motor function (that is, small movements of muscles in the tip of the finger and
hand and arm building up to eventually start pushing the glass). Now I did say “usually”
just now because sometimes the glass reveals information that nobody stood at the table
could ever have known. And sometimes, just sometimes, the glass really does seem to be
moving on its own! Now on these occasions I’m perfectly willing to accept that maybe,
just maybe, there is some kind of supernatural force at work.

Whether the glass is moved by unconscious pushing, ideo-motor function, or by the

spirits themselves, it is always an amazing sight. Even with years of experience the sight
and sound (the glass makes a wonderful “whooshing” noise as it skates across the table)
of a glass moving still gives me goose-bumps! And it will be a wonderful experience for
your guests. It will be something they will talk about for years to come. It is my
experience that engaging in a successful glass moving session is second only to actually
seeing a ghost to most lay-people. It is that profound an experience.

Pushers.

Pushers - people who are consciously pushing the glass for whatever reason - have to be
watched like a hawk! At the beginning of a session a pusher may well be your friend. The
glass is moving easily, messages are coming fast and furious, and everyone is amazed.
The trouble is a pusher may take it too far. They are enjoying being the centre of attention
and they just push (sic) their luck too far. Nothing takes the wonder out of a glass moving
session quicker than someone saying to the pusher “Hang on! You’re pushing that glass!”

You’ll know a pusher by the fact that they were quick to volunteer, they may be very
strong believers in the paranormal, and the messages coming through are just too good to
be true. The glass will move around the alphabet cards spelling out “good night darling I
love you” etc. It’s too much and people will soon catch on that there is a pusher in their
midst. And, very simply, a pusher’s finger may look like it’s pushing the glass! The
volunteers’ fingers should be resting very gently on the upturned base of the glass, but a
pusher’s finger may well look very stiff and tense and appear white at the tip where the
blood is being forced out by the pressure.

The best thing to do is let the pusher have his/her 5 minutes of glory, then quickly change
the group. But do it sooner rather than later.

Why do people push? All sorts of different reasons. Some pushers I’m sure even deny to
themselves that they are doing it. The main reasons are:
• They really believe in the paranormal and want everyone to believe and experience it
too.
• They want a message from a loved one, or they want a friend to get a message from a
loved one.
• They are awful show offs and want the attention.

Handle with care.

Bringing the session to a close.

If you’re running the glass moving for 60 minutes, this will give you plenty of time to
engage several groups of 3 or 4 people at the table. Once the time feels right to bring the
session to a close, and a suitable break in proceedings presents itself, simply ask the spirit
to move the glass back to the centre of the table, ask the volunteers to remove their
fingers, and then thank the spirits for talking to the group. “We thank you spirits for
coming to us and communicating with us. Thank you for taking time to be with this
night. We now leave you in peace, and wish you well.” Turn the glass the right way up,
allow the energy to dissipate, and then allow people to catch their breath and discuss their
experiences! There will normally be nervous giggling, the puffing out of cheeks, and
excited chattering.

Glass moving add-ons.

Some simple ideas to engage even more people in glass moving are:
• Have more than one table “working” at one time. Personally I don’t like this as it
takes away the wonder of the single table and becomes a bit like a production line.
• Scrying. Scrying is the art of seeing things in crystal balls, mirrors etc. Have one
member of your group turn his/her back on the group engaged in glass moving. Then
have them hold up a small mirror (I have a lovely Victorian hand held mirror) and
observe the group via the mirror. The idea is that spirit energy is easier to see via the
reflection in a mirror or glass, and so have this person shout out if they see something
or if darkness envelopes the group. Standing alone in the dark while looking through
a mirror can induce all kinds of exciting visions!
• Automatic writing. Automatic writing is the method of communicating with spirit by
having spirit take control of your hand and write messages on a blackboard or piece
of paper. I usually set up the volunteer by using some hypnotic techniques to “relax”
them. While the rest of the group is doing the glass moving, have this volunteer sit in
a corner with pad and pen (or similar) and see if any spirit messages come through
onto the pad. Again this can often lead to some very exciting and interesting results,
but you must choose and “prime” your volunteer with care.
 THE FULLY SCRIPTED SÉANCE
A séance works best with around 13 participants (13 is the tradition number of “sitters” -
probably because it is seen as a strange and spooky number!). Of course a séance will
work perfectly well with as few as 4 sitters. If you have more than 15 sitters, I would
recommend not having a séance, but rather a “vigil”. A “vigil” is similar to a séance, but
rather than having your sitters sat around a table you have them standing up in a large
circle around the room holding hands. You, acting as the psychic or the leader of the
group, would stand in the centre of the circle. In a more traditional séance you would be
seated alongside your guests. The wording for a vigil would be exactly the same as for
the séance scripted below.

As you will have hopefully gathered by now, the séance script employs no physical tricks
or gimmicks, but it does employ several “tricks of the mind”.

My personal opinion is that when it comes to the paranormal there is “something out
there”. I have worked at many séances where there have been occurrences that could not
be explained by over-active imaginations. When hosting a séance, do not be surprised if
“weird” things happen while it is being staged. But then, that’s the point isn’t it?!

However, silly urban myths about “evil things coming through” and continuing to
“haunt” people after the event are in my opinion just tittle-tattle. If I ever feel a little
unsettled after a séance I just think in my mind “GO AWAY! GO BACK TO WHERE
YOU CAME FROM!” and that seems to sort it! I blame Hollywood for most of the urban
myths that surround the occult, but then we can’t complain too much as it is these urban
myths and misconceptions that fuel the excitement and interest in our dark arts!

One small point I would make here is to be careful if you are hosting an event in your
own or somebody else’s home. Despite all the common sense in the world telling you
otherwise, it may be an unsettling experience to hold a séance in a room where normally
people relax, watch TV and make small talk. Thoughts of weird happenings that occurred
during the séance may take the edge off what was once a very relaxed atmosphere.
People’s minds can play all sorts of weird and wonderful tricks, and the last thing you
want is for your partner to suddenly refuse to use your living room because it feels “odd”
or has a “cold atmosphere” after hosting a rather successful séance. I would always
advise, if hosting a night of paranormal entertainment in your house, using a rarely used
room. Or somebody else’s house! For goodness sake’s don’t use a child’s bedroom. The
very thought…

So, without further delay, here is the script:

Have your sitters sit around the table. A round table is best but by no means essential. Do
not allow the nervous giggling and excited chatting to get too carried away. Bring the
sitters to order. At this point the room should be in darkness except for a few candles or
tea-lights (see also “Setting the scene” in an earlier chapter). Perhaps you have just
undertaken a glass moving or ouija session. If this has gone well, your sitters should have
an air of excited anticipation about them. This is good. This means their imagination and
creativity are fired up, which in turn means that they are more likely to experience
“phenomena”.

I always like to excite the imagination of my sitters by telling them what I’m “picking
up” from the surroundings. Particular favourites that always hit the spot seem to be
Victorian children and large oppressive males, perhaps in monks’ hoods or similar. If I’m
working at an old location such as a stately home it’s very easy to tie these characters into
the location. I’ll walk around the table, looking suitably mystical, and say “Yes, there’s
two Victorian children over here, their energy is very strong in this area of the room” and
I’ll explain to the sitters seated in that particular area that they may experience a child’s
hand touching them or stroking their hair. Stating that a Victorian girl likes to stroke the
hair of females is a very strong suggestion that I use all the time. Likewise with the large
oppressive hooded monk. I “sense” an “oppressive energy, a religious man, hooded, who
isn’t a very happy soul”. I tell people seated in that area of the room that they may feel
hands or a weight on their shoulders, like someone or something is trying to impose
themselves on them. Planting these ideas at the start of the séance will pay dividends later
in the evening.

Talking about Victorian children or hooded monks may be slightly more difficult if your
séance is taking place in a modern or 20th century house. However it is an easy matter to
simply say that the spirits used to play here or work here etc. before the current house
was built. It always pays to do a little research on the location of the séance before the
event in order to gain some historical references and also for inspiration regarding what
energies you might “pick up”.

What you are hoping for here, and what you can expect to happen, is for people’s
imaginations to run away with themselves in the dark. You are looking for every twitch
and itch on their body, every creaking noise, and every flash before their eyes to be
interpreted as being of paranormal origin. And of course if the real paranormal wants to
put in an appearance as well, so much the better! But in the main we are creating the
illusion of the paranormal by providing a stage onto which the sitters’ minds can fool
themselves.

In total pitch darkness (a rare and somewhat unsettling experience for most people in this
day and age) it is normal for the human eye to create flashes in front of itself as it
searches in vain for a horizon. It is also quite normal for the imagination to begin to fool
people into believing that there is a dark shadow standing right in front of them. Total
darkness can feel very oppressive. People are used to their eyes slowly becoming
accustomed to darkness, but in total darkness this does not happen. The darkness appears
to intensify. These are normal physiological responses, but we will be utilising them to
our advantage during the séance. We will certainly not to be discouraging anyone from
believing that they are of paranormal origin!

Always explain that if anyone gets too scared you will put the lights back on. Also
reassure your sitters that nothing bad will happen to them. You may find it wise to also
explain that you will not encourage personal messages from deceased members of your
sitters’ families. If you and your sitters are happy to do this, then fine. It may even be the
reason why some of your sitters are attending the séance. However on a personal level I
don’t like this and much prefer to keep to more “general spirits” that may be located in
the building or just “passing through”.

As ever, it is important for you to appear confident and in charge. You must give the
impression that you have conducted 100’s of séances before, even if this is your first
time! Your sitters need to believe that you know what you are doing.

Please place your hands on the table palm down in front of you. Now link hands
with the person next to you. You can either just lightly touch fingers or if you feel a
little nervous you can actually hold the hand of the person next to you. Very good.
Now I’m going to blow out the candles.

Lean forward and blow the candles out one by one. Do this a little slowly to introduce
tension. Once the room is in darkness you continue:

Now I need everyone to just relax. To aid this I want us to just do a little breathing
exercise. Breath with me, nice and deeply, in through the nose and out through the
mouth. In through the nose and out through the mouth. Very good. Continue to
breath in through your nose and out through your mouth, until you feel that the
whole circle is breathing in unison. Wonderful.

You will notice that there is lots of praise in the script. This is good, as it allows your
sitters to feel that they are doing the right thing and this in turn helps them to remain
positive and up-beat.

Now I want you to imagine that there is a wonderful, warm white light glowing
across your shoulders. A wonderful warm light, glowing and running across your
shoulders. And I want you to imagine that this white light travels across your
shoulders, down your right arm, into your right hand and into the hand of the
person sat next to you. This light then travels up their arm, across their shoulders,
down their right arm and into the person next to them. This wonderful, warm light
travels around the whole circle, up our arms, across our shoulders and into the
person next to us. The light goes around and around. This light is here to protect us.
If you feel scared or afraid, always remember the white light that encircles us and
protects us with its purity and warmth. As long as we hold hands, and long as we
are sitting in a circle, we are protected.

Now I want us all to adopt a feeling of welcoming, as though we are waiting to meet
some old friends who we haven’t seen in a long time. Perhaps you are waiting at a
train station or an airport, waiting to see the face of the one you love. Or waiting for
a phone call from someone who you can’t wait to hear from. Allow this feeling of
welcoming and excitement to fill your body. That’s it, open up your emotions, open
up your mind, and let them in.
And I say - are there any spirits here this evening who wish to communicate with
us? Any spirits who wish to take this opportunity to speak with us? Please let us
know that you are here. Can you make a noise? Bang on the table? Or touch
somebody? (a sitter will usually giggle “Not me please!” at this point! If they do it is a
good sign. They’ll probably be a “screamer” - see below.) Can you touch somebody?
Place a hand on their shoulder? Or push them in the back? Or can you make a light
appear? Can you make an orb for us? Anything you can do for us spirits, please do
it now just to show us that you are here.

Please use the energies of the people in this room. Take our energy and use it to give
us a sign. Please do that now spirits.

After the initial invitation to the spirits, allow silence to descend for a few minutes. The
tension will be high, and there is every chance that a noise will be heard or someone will
say they have been touched. It is not unusual for a sitter to say that they think there’s
someone standing next to them or behind them. If they do, encourage it. Phrases such as
“Yes, it does seem very dark around you” or “Yes, you seem to have a darker shadow
next to you” are very good. Likewise with any phenomena experienced by your sitters
(whether they see things, feel things or hear things), you should encourage it. Ask other
sitters if they can see/hear anything as well. “Can anyone else see the shadow over X?”
etc.

You also need to reassure anyone who may be a little scared. Simple phrases like “It’s
okay, you’re doing great,” are all that’s needed. You want to encourage people to be a
little scared, it’s even great to have a “screamer”, but you don’t want to put anyone in a
mental institute. So control the fear as best you can. Always reassure. If anyone gets too
scared (and after a “screaming” incident - see below), always relight the candles and
allow people to regain their composure.

Tricks, tips and hints.

If nothing “happens” a few minutes after the initial invitation to the spirits, simply
reiterate the original invitation. If nothing then happens, you have several options:
• Ask another sitter to “call out”. This gets people involved with the event and also
helps to build-up the “energy”, by which I mean that friends of the person calling out
are perhaps more likely to experience something when it is instigated by a familiar
voice.
• Move the sitters around. Get all the women to sit on one side and all the men to sit on
the other side. This has no real benefits except it is an opportunity for people to gather
their thoughts and start again with renewed optimism.
• There are some stock phrases that can help. One particularly good one is “Is it me or
is it getting darker on that side of the room?” I would then go on to say “It’s weird.
Your eyes should get used to the dark, but to me this whole room is just getting
darker and darker.” By starting this conversation you will hopefully encourage others
to a) agree and b) say something like “I thought I felt something, but it might have
 just been imagining it” to which of course you say “No, no, please let us know about
anything you’re feeling. Tell me, what did you experience?” Note here how the
“something perhaps imagined” has quickly becomes an “experience”.
• Another good stock phrase is to mention the temperature in the room. “I’m beginning
to feel very cold now. It’s like there’s an icy breeze going over my hands.” Again
others will hopefully agree. Some may say that they are in fact feeling very warm.
This is good. Explain how when spirits are present there are often fluctuations in
temperature, and some people may perceive these changes as being cold while others
will experience them as being warm. You will also get people saying things like “I’m
feeling very cold but just down my left/right side”. This is also good. Explain how
this indicates the presence of a spirit on that side of their body. See also “Temperature
Fluctuations” in the Opening Routines section.
• If ABSOLUTELY NOTHING HAPPENS AT ALL, you still have several options.
Firstly you can explain how the spirit realm is not like switching on a TV. One cannot
simply expect spirit to perform on cue. And the fact that nothing has happened shows
how “genuine” your séance is. But before it gets to a situation where you have to start
explaining the lack of activity away, you could - if you so wished - fake something.
Spirit possession or “trance mediumship” is a good option here. What this entails is
you breathing heavily and starting to talk weirdly! If you’ve ever seen Derek Acorah
on “Most Haunted”, you’ll know the kind of thing. Or any number of horror films
where a medium gets possessed by the spirit or voice of a dead person. It’s very
simple really, but highly effective. Simply breath heavily then start mumbling about it
being cold or dark, perhaps adding phrases like “difficult to see”, “who are you?”,
and “I can’t find my way out”. This will seriously start to weird people out. Slowly
stand up, still holding hands with the sitters next to you, mumble “no,no,no,” then
perhaps scream “NO!” and collapse back down into your chair. Open your eyes and
ask “What happened?” Light the candles or turn on a small lamp. There will be
nervous laughter and some people will be totally freaked out. Let them explain to you
what happened. Pretend you don’t remember any of it, but explain that it does
sometimes happen to you. And bring the séance to a close by thanking everyone for
being there, and say “And thanks for looking after me when I went all weird!” Be
happy and smiling and reassuring. See also “Bringing a Séance to a finish” below.
Another option is to bring the séance to a premature end and return to glass moving or
the ouija if that was more successful earlier in the evening. Your justification would
be that “the spirits seem to prefer talking to us more directly tonight.”

Timescale wise, I would recommend the “isn’t it getting dark/cold in here?” type ideas be
used if nothing is happening after the first few invitations to spirit to join your circle. The
more drastic measures such a trance mediumship or reverting back to glass moving
should be undertaken if nothing has happened after you have exhausted the other ideas
and around 25 minutes have passed.

Screamers.

Often at a séance you will have one or two “screamers”. These are people who will
experience a touch on their arm or hair or hear something, and they will respond by
screaming the house down and exclaiming “Oh my god! Oh my god! I don’t like it!” and
similar. Screamers are great because their fear and excitement is contagious, and soon
you will have many people having their own experiences and beginning to feel very
scared. However please treat screamers with kid gloves. Always ask if they are alright,
ask them if they want the lights turning on (they often will), or ask them if they want to
continue or not. Their friends will often encourage them to carry on, but as the host it is
your job to be concerned for them and to do anything in your power to make them feel
comfortable. If they wish to leave the séance, that is fine. Make sure a friend goes with
them to look after them.

If things go really wrong, if a screamer turns into an hysteric, or if the sitters in your
group get seriously upset or just too spooked, turn on the lights. All of them. Forget the
candles. Forget the ambience. Just turn on all the electric lights in the room and let reality
flood back into proceedings. Be prepared to enter into a little amateur theatrics, whatever
it takes to calm everyone down: Begone spirits! Begone! Leave these people alone!
Bother us no more! Move into the light and begone! Look around the room, and after a
moment say: Yes. They have gone. All is well. Then be upbeat, positive, smiling. Crack
a joke and let people start to laugh (albeit nervously) about their experiences. If there is a
radio or television on the room, turn it on. Whatever it takes to allow reality to return.
However please note: it will be a very, very rare occasion when you will need to do this.
Never, in all the hundreds of séances I have engaged in, have I had need to take such
drastic measures. The worst I have ever had to do was turn on the lights to calm a couple
of screamers down who were on the verge of hysteria.

Remember - people come to a séance to be scared. To be spooked. It’s the same desire
for thrills that makes people ride on ghost trains or roller coasters. I would advise that if
anyone contacts you for a séance because they want to contact Uncle Fred who died last
year, you recommend them to the nearest spiritual church who will be more than happy to
assist. I recommend you keep your remit as being “séance theatre”. This subject is
covered in more depth in the Readings section and the Glass Moving section.

Bringing a Séance to a finish.

Your séance should last no longer than an hour. 45 minutes seems to be a good timescale
if things are going well. Any longer and you are risking “itchy bottoms”. What may be an
amazing phenomena 10 minutes into a séance can become commonplace after 40
minutes. It doesn’t take long for the human mind to adapt!

When it is time to bring your séance to an end, simply instruct your sitters to unlink their
hands from each other. Then thank the spirits for coming through. Something like:
Thank you spirits for talking to us this evening. Please now go in peace. Thank you.

Relight the candles or perhaps turn on a small light and allow your sitters a few moments
to compose themselves and for their eyes to adjust to the light. Many of your sitters may
be very excited or spooked. They may want to talk about their experience. Give them
plenty of time to do so, then reiterate that “nothing from the séance room can cause them
any harm or trouble them in any way”.

Once everyone’s initial excitement and chatter has died away slightly, I would then stand
in front of the group and recap the nights events. Obviously this will need tailoring to
your individual event, but I would typically say something like:

So let’s just try and remember all that’s happened tonight. It seems a long time ago
now when we all arrived and I did the ESP test with the Zenner cards! Do you
remember that? And some of you did very well at it too. Well we also had readings
with the tarot cards which I was very pleased with. Did you all enjoy your readings?
Very good. And the glass moving, well what can I say? That was some of the best
glass moving I’ve ever experienced. Some very strong contacts and some quite
intense experiences for some of you. It really is weird, isn’t it? I think “weird” is the
best word to use. Whatever your beliefs are, I think that glass moving has a very
strange quality about it that can be quite unsettling. And finally the séance. You
were all fantastic, we had people calling out to spirit, we heard some very audible
noises, some people felt a child holding their hand and stroking their hair. Very
intense, and something that some people here tonight will remember for a very long
time.

It’s always nice to finish with a round of applause, so you can end your summing up by
saying something like: …and most of all, it’s thanks to you. You’ve been a wonderful
group, one of the very best I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with, so well done
you! Then start to clap your hands. Everyone else will then join in the applause.

Shake hands, answer any questions quickly and bid your sitters a cheery good night.
There is a danger that people may try to back you into a corner and question you ad
infinitum about the paranormal, experiences they’ve had, and the worst of all - pester you
for further readings. Unless you intend staying up all night and discussing things until
your head spins, I would advise being quite firm - be polite and chat cordially but head
towards the door as you do so. Decline any invitations to do more readings by saying that
you are very drained after your evening dealing with the paranormal. Hand out business
cards and ask people to send any questions via email and you will do your best to answer
them at a later date.

A Final Thought.

When summing up the evening always concentrate on the positive. Don’t even mention
anything that might not have worked well. If you had a nightmare with the glass moving
for example, just gloss over it. Say something like, “…and we also had a go at glass
moving before moving onto the séance which was really exciting.” Then explain how
wonderful the séance was, consigning the glass moving to the dustbin of our memories.

The group that you have worked with have always been “a wonderful group”. If the night
has been successful, then they are “one of the best groups you have ever worked with”.
Stroke their egos and make them feel good about themselves. There’s nothing at all
wrong with making people happy.

I once worked at a haunted house in Derbyshire over two nights, a Friday night and a
Saturday night. Some people attended both nights, while most of the guests attended on
either the Friday or the Saturday. On the Friday, during the séance, for some reason that
now escapes me, I wanted to move a ticking clock from the mantelpiece. It was an old
clockwork timepiece, and as I picked it up I must have dislodged some of the intricate
workings inside and the clock stopped ticking. “Oh dear,” I said, “I think I’ve broken it.”

By the time the new group arrived on Saturday this story had changed amongst the
people who were attending both nights. They gleefully told the newcomers how on the
previous night, during the séance, the mantel clock had stopped ticking by itself! No
mention of me picking it up. No mention of delicate old clockwork mechanisms. In the
space of 24 hours the story had changed beyond all recognition into a “true story” of the
unexplained.

The human mind is like that. People love mysteries and wonder, and will happily
restructure the truth in order to bring that mystery and wonder into their lives and the
lives of others. As magicians, mentalists, and psychics, it is our job to create such
mysteries. And if we do so I believe we have done A Very Good Thing.
 THE PARANORMAL ENTERTAINER’S TOOLKIT.

Items that you will need are:

• At least one pack of tarot cards. Carry your tarot cards around in a “tarot
bag” (easily available from on-line retailers) rather than the card box they
are supplied in. This is what the professionals do and you need to do
likewise.
• At least one pendulum.
• A wine glass for glass moving wrapped in silk, cloth, or at the very least
tissue paper. I still use the same glass that I used for my very first glass
moving session many years ago. I suggest you do the same - use the same
glass again and again. After a while it will almost seem as though the
glass knows what is expected of it before the guests even place their
fingers on to it - but that couldn’t be true, could it? And anyway, you may
feel a bit odd about using the glass for drinking out of once it has been in
touch with the spirit realm! A stemmed bowl type of wine glass works
best - a flute quite obviously does not work well at all. In fact it just looks
silly.
• A selection of candles and/or tea lights.
• Matches and/or lighter. I suggest having both as a kind of belt and braces
approach. There could be little more unprofessional than the paranormal
entertainer asking the guests if they have a box of matches he could
borrow.
• A good torch and preferably a back-up too.
• A pack of Zenner cards and a pack of jumbo Zenner cards.
• A pack of playing cards.
• A pack of alphabet cards.
• A good supply of business cards with your contact details on them.
• A nice bag or wooden box to place all of your goodies in. I like to use an
old doctor’s bag, but anything that looks serious and gives the impression
that you are the consummate professional would be ideal. Not ideal
would be a plastic bag from Tesco.
• And if at all possible find a table of your own to use for glass moving.
Having your own table can pay dividends. There’s nothing worse than
arriving at a venue to find that there isn’t a table suitable for glass
moving. I know, it’s happened to me too many times!
• Take a leaf out of the Boy Scouts handbook and Be Prepared!
 MARKETING YOURSELF AS A PARANORMAL ENTERTAINER.
There now follows a list of ideas for you to consider should you wish to become a
professional paranormal entertainer. You may have some very specific ideas of where
and how you want to work, and these may not be listed below. Great! That means you’re
thinking carefully and know the kind of market you want to enter. Obviously you also
know your home town and local area better than me. There may be a perfect opportunity
for a paranormal entertainer that you’re aware of in your local area, and if so - brilliant.

Being a paranormal entertainer is something of a niche market and you may have to work
quite hard in the beginning to open up opportunities for yourself. But there are
opportunities; all it takes is a little imagination and a touch of dedication. And you’re got
those in spades, right?

• Local hotels can be a good place to host a paranormal evening. This is particularly
good if it is a hotel situated within what used to be an old mansion or estate house.
Independent hotels are usually more open to new ideas, but hotels that are part of a
chain are worth having a talk to as well. Give them a ring, talk to the party organiser
or whoever puts on “party evenings”, tell her about an interesting idea you’ve got and
make an appointment to go and see her. Our special brand of magic always comes
across better face-to-face. If you try to explain all the details over the phone you’re
likely to come across as a weirdo! If the hotel already hosts events like murder
mystery nights, you know that they are open to new ideas. How the evening would
work is that the hotel advertises the event and sells tickets. You supply the
entertainment for the evening for either a set fee or a cut of the monies generated by
ticket sales. Also mention that you know of a lot of people in the local area who
would buy tickets right away, mention other hotels that are staging similar events
around the country, and really sell yourself. When you visit the hotel dress smartly
enough to give the impression that you’re not just some idiot who’s wandered in off
the streets! Search the internet for “murder mystery nights” and you will immediately
see how to pitch your “paranormal evening”.
• Same as above but with public houses. Pubs are having a tough time of it these days,
so anything that might bring in extra punters and their cash will be welcomed. Old
pubs with a long history work best obviously.
• And also restaurants!
• Advertise your paranormal evenings as an idea for dinner parties and other adult
celebrations. If you live close to a large metropolitan area (London, Manchester etc.)
there may be a thriving dinner party scene that you can tap into.
• If you live in an area that attracts tourists then you should approach the pubs,
restaurants and hotels with much gusto! The idea of a paranormal evening is just the
kind of thing that overseas visitors to ye olde England, Scotland, Wales or Ireland are
suckers for.
• Host “psychic evenings”. These are similar to Anne Summers parties, but rather than
buying a pair of knickers the guests all buy a short tarot card reading (EG £10 for a 10
minute reading). You can host these in your own home to kick start interest, or you
 can provide them for other people in the same way that people may welcome the
Virgin Vie representative into their home for a party. At these parties you should
mention your paranormal nights, have literature to hand out, and generate lots of
interest. It isn’t such a huge leap to go from someone hosting a psychic party to
hosting a paranormal evening.
• Hire out your local village hall or similar and sell tickets to a paranormal evening.
Contact the local press who will jump at the chance to report something “different” in
their newspaper. This will give you a ton of free publicity. Also contact your local
paranormal investigators group (there’s bound to be one) and tell them about your
event - offer them a group discount on ticket prices, but be sure to tell them it’s
“entertainment” just in case they get a bit huffy about you treading on their toes! The
phrase I would use when talking to them would be “Well it’s entertainment first and
foremost, but it is quite genuine as well.” There, I think that phrase covers all the
bases!
• If you work as a more general magician, you can always offer your paranormal
entertainment as “something a bit different”.
• Advertise your services purely as an “entertaining” tarot card (or whatever) reader for
weddings, parties, etc. Then hand out “paranormal evening” literature at these events.
• Place fliers in all the esoteric/new age shops in your area. Ask them if you can put up
a poster - they’ll usually say yes.
• Contact your local press and tell them about your new exciting venture as a
paranormal entertainer. If it’s a slow news week (and it usually is with the local
press!), they’ll send out a photographer and do an article about you. By being a
paranormal entertainer you are suddenly a very interesting if slightly odd character!
The local press are your friends!
• Use your imagination! Never stop looking for new and exciting ways to promote
yourself or new and exciting venues that may be interested in your services!
 RECOMMENDED READING.

Most of these books should be available from Amazon.

Tarot Card Readings (shut eye).

“Tarot - Plain & Simple” by Anthony Louis. A good starting point.

“78 Degrees of Wisdom” by Rachel Pollack. An in-depth study for the serious student (IE
you!)
“Professional Tarot” by Christine Jette. Loads of ideas about marketing yourself.

Palmistry (shut eye).

“Palmistry - From Apprentice to Pro in 24 Hours” by Johnny Fincham. The only shut eye
book on palmistry you will ever need.

Readings (from a mentalist point of view).

Anything by Richard Webster. Richard’s website www.richardwebster.co.nz usually sells

all his books, but it does tend to be a bit “up and down”. You may be better searching
other magic sites for his books. However avoid his books on Amazon. They are aimed at
the shut eye market, not the mentalist.

Spiritualism, Séances etc.

“The Table-Rappers” by Ronald Pearsall. A wonderful book that covers séances, ghosts,
glass moving, reading etc. In fact all the stuff that we’re involved with. Highly
recommended!

“The First Psychic” by Peter Lamont. My favourite book of all time which centres around
a personal hero, D.D. Home, and the spiritualist movement of the late 1800’s. Again, a
must buy. This book inspired me into the paranormal market. I hope it will do the same
for you.

“Talking to the Dead” by Barbara Weisberg. A marvellous book about the Fox Sisters
and the birth of spiritualism.

“Ghosts by Gaslight” by Troy Taylor. A must-have book! Covers everything that we are
interested in - from séances and mediums through to magicians and spook shows!
Includes articles on Houdini, Arthur Conan Doyle, the Amazing Kreskin, Joseph
Dunninger and more! You need this book!

And finally one book from the Popular Psychology shelf:

“Intuition” by David G. Myers. An interesting, entertaining and engaging read. Well
worth picking up.
 THE PARANORMAL ENTERTAINER’S WORKSHOP.

I also offer day-long workshops for the paranormal entertainer covering all
the areas included in this book and more besides (probably!). These
workshops take place in your own home (IE I visit you), and normally last
from around 10am until 4pm.

The workshops are great fun, and are designed for you to gain a greater
insight by talking to the horse’s mouth (that would be me) and seeing me
demonstrate everything in this book up close and personal (as they say). And
you of course can ask as many questions as you like and really get beneath
the skin of everything mentioned herein.

The workshops are currently (2008) charged at £100 for the full day plus
petrol expenses (usually around £20). However as you’ve purchased this
book you get the workshop for just £75 plus petrol expenses, so in effect you
get the price of this book refunded.

If you’re interested you know where to find me. PM on TM.