In Your Mind

Ben Salinas

A technical refinement of the Annemann classic ‘Two Papers and a

Spectator’
FIRST...SOME HISTORY

In1944 Max Holden published Practical Mental Effects, a collection of Ted Annemann’s
greatest effects from the pages of The Jinx. On page 43 is ‘Two Papers and a
Spectator’; a double mind reading miracle.

The original was done using a thumbtip to affect the switch of the billets. I loved the
effect, but I don’t like relying on a prop for my mentalism. I have done away with the
thumbtip and replaced it with a couple of easy to do billet switches.

PROPS AND SET-UP

- Cut a stack of 3x5 index cards in half to get cards approximately 2.5 x 2.75
- a stack of pre-folded billets in the RIGHT pocket
- a pen

PERFORMANCE

Remove stack
Pre-fold 1 Paper and hand it to the spectator
TURN YOUR BACK (fold a dummy and set it behind the stack of papers (between the
hand and the stack)
She writes a NAME on the billet

Take the NAME billet on top of the RH stack, press the creases flat, FLIPAWAY
SWITCH for the DUMMY billet onto the table

Place the switched-in DUMMY billet to your left.

1 paper to the spectator

She writes a PLACE on the billet, you TURN YOUR BACK
READ the NAME billet & REFOLD

Finger Palm the NAME billet in LH

Place the stack of papers in your right pocket

Take the PLACE billet in your RH and EB SWITCH it for the NAME billet as you reach
for an object to place it under

Place the NAME billet to your right

Position Check:
The DUMMY billet is on the table to the left (spectator thinks it is the NAME billet)
The NAME billet is on the table to the right (spectator thinks it is the PLACE billet)
The PLACE billet is finger palmed in your RH

Spec Thinks: Name Place

Reality: Dummy Name Place (finger palmed)

RH retrieves the papers from your pocket, use the UMBRELLA MOVE to open the
billet against the stack before you remove the papers from your pocket.

Read and remember the PLACE, then pretend to write a prediction on the PLACE
billet. I use my finger to scratch along the paper as if I am writing, not letting the tip of
the pen touch the paper.

Act as if you have changed your mind; pretend to scratch out what you wrote. Refold
the PLACE billet and move it to the back of the stack.

Write the PLACE prediction on a fresh billet. Fold it up and drop on the table between
the tabled NAME billet (to the right) and you.

LH finger palms the PLACE billet. RH pockets the papers

She opens your (PLACE) billet; you grab her (NAME) billet

and do the UNFOLDING SWITCH.

RH picks up the DUMMY billet and ANNEMANN SWITCH it for the NAME billet as you
bring the billet to your forehead to concentrate on it.

Reveal the NAME you memorized earlier.

Open out the NAME billet to check if you were correct. I like to open it on top of the
folded DUMMY billet, so I can reveal her writing in a clean way while the DUMMY is
hidden beneath.

FLIPAWAY SWITCH – T.A. Waters Mind, Myth and Magic pp 159-160

The billet to be switched is placed on the stack of papers

UNFOLDING SWITCH – Elliot Bressler SwitchCraft pp ???-???

Switch while unfolding the hidden billet

ANNEMANN SWITCH – Theodore Annemann, Practical Mental Effects pp ???-???

Switch billet fingerpalmed billet for visible billet