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from the author.

Copyright © 2018 by Nico Heinrich

K n ow i n g t h e t ru t h

What is better than knowing that someone’s lying to you? Well,

knowing the truth.

Effect: You show three business cards with incomplete

statements on their backs. The participant is asked to
mix up those statements and to answer them truthfully
– except one. Then, you not only reveal what they lied
about but also the truth.

Method: The core method is a secret marking on the

back of one business card – the card that you want them
to lie on.

For instance, write “My zodiac sign is _______” on one

card and mark its back. On the other two cards write
“My favorite color is _______” and “My mother’s first
name is _______”. In fact, you can make these
statements anything you want – as long as you already
know or can find out the truth behind one of them. If

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you don’t understand yet, you will soon, trust me.

The marking of the zodiac sign card can be super bold –

simply scratch its back with a knife or give it a little
donkey ear. The way the routine is structured, you can
spot the marking long before they know what is coming
– and then you don’t even look at the cards anymore. So,
don’t make it a big deal – just freakin’ mark that card.

In the performance, ask them to mix up the cards and to

lay them out in a row in front of them. All this is done
statement side down. While handing them a pen, notice
whether the marked (zodiac) card is on the left, middle
or right. As soon as you know, face away from your
participant and give your instructions.

Let’s assume the marked card is on their left side. We

would then say:

“Take the card on your far left, turn it around, silently

read that statement to yourself – and complete it with a
LIE. Take the pen and fill that gap there with a lie, got it?

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Good. Take the next card and complete that statement
truthfully – write the truth this time. And for the last
one, stick to the truth again! When you’re done, pick up
all the cards and give them a mix.”

If the marked card would’ve been on their far right, we

would have them write down two truths and one lie
instead of one lie and two truths – either way, it feels
completely natural.

Sometimes though, the marked card will end up in the

middle. In that case, say:

“Take the card on your far left, turn it around, silently

read that statement to yourself – and fill in that gap.
Take the pen and fill that gap there, got it? Good. Take
the next card and to make it more interesting, LIE this
time. Complete that statement with a lie. For the last
one, stick to the truth again, so we have one lie
sandwiched between two truths. When you’re done,
pick up all the cards and give them a mix.”

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Three is the perfect number of cards here, as it will seem
fair either way.

“Have you ever heard of the famous eye accessing cues?

Let me show you what they are. Do you remember what
you ate this morning? Interesting. Now, what would
you like to eat tomorrow morning? Perfect. Did you
notice how your eyes moved to your left when you
thought about what you ate earlier today? And how
they moved to your right when you imagined your
future breakfast?”

Most of the time, this will actually work perfectly but in

case it doesn’t, I still ask: “Did you notice how your eyes
moved to your x when you thought about y?” – See how
I never lie? I am just asking a question and they usually
agree, so they lie to themselves.

“See, if I were to ask you what you ate this morning and
your eyes moved to your right, that would be a strong
indicator that you were making something up. Using
this old NLP technique, you can spot lies as accurate as a

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lie detector. Actually, anyone could do that without even
practicing. I just canceled out that very method though
by giving you the opportunity to prepare for what is
coming.”

We not only justified the method here but made the

effect seem way more difficult.

“Take any of those cards and simply read the whole

statement out loud twice, please.”

Repeat with the other two and act as if you were not
100% sure.

“Yes, your favorite color IS pink. Actually, you are quite

obsessed with that color. Your mother’s first name IS
Susanne, even though some people call her Susi – you
lied about your zodiac sign. Just think about your actual
sign and I will try to figure out the truth.”

From here go into any star sign divination you like

(notice that you already eliminated one sign!).

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Obviously, you don’t have to use star signs – you can go
for any personal information. For example, if you know
their profession, the color of their car, their smartphone
pin, their parent’s name etc. – use that!

The beauty of this routine is that you can a) casually lead

them to think of information you already know/can find
out easily and b) give the impression that they could
have lied on any of those things and that you would
have been able to reveal the truth with all of them.