The Dualism

The Weblog of the 2magicians Barry and Stuart

The Ouija Board

If you come and participate in our séance, currently running at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, you might, as the poster suggests, be asked to use a Ouija Board.

What exactly is a Ouija Board? Is it an ancient demonic tool, crafted by Satan himself to allow us to communicate with the other side? Or is it merely an innocent toy that has been grossly misinterpreted?

“The Talking Board,” or as it is more commonly known “Ouija Board,” is actually a fairly recent invention. American businessmen Elijah Jefferson Bond and Charles Kennard patented the first board with letters on it to be sold with a planchette (the pointing device you put on the board) in 1890. A keen inventor, Bond also trademarked the word ‘Nirvana’ and invented a steam boiler. In fact, he would have made an excellent addition to “Dragon’s Den.”

In 1901, an employee of Kennard, William Fuld took over production of the talking boards and marketed them under the name “ouija” from the French and German words for yes, oui-ja. The board grew in popularity from the 1920s-1960s and many similar boards were marketed by Fuld’s competitors. He filed several lawsuits at other companies who were using the term ‘ouija’ in their marketing. Fuld reinvented the history of the board and anounced that he alone devised it.

The true origin of the board, however, is claimed by Fuld’s rivals to date back much further in history. Fuji is a form of automatic writing from China first appearing on record in 1100 BC. With Fuji, no board is used, instead a large planchette with a pencil attached is placed onto paper and when the planchette moves it creates letters, pictures or symbols. This apparently was the inspiration for Bond’s invention.

Years of ghost stories, horror movies and tales of people opening doorways to the other side through improper use of the board has led many to believe that the board should not be sold as a toy. Despite this, Parker Brothers, who bought the rights to the Ouija Board in the 1960s, market many variations of the original design, including a lovely pink edition designed for teenage girls who want to find out if the spirits can give them a date for the night.

Ghost on camera

An interview we gave to spoonfed.co.uk is featured on their site today. The interview is about the séances that we are conducting at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. In it we mention that we captured a sort of human looking shape on camera during a recording of a preview. We thought we would post the image on the blog here so you can tell us what you think of it.

For us, as sceptical magician types, we know that the shape is just a glint of light against the camera lens. It only lasted for a second and in any of the other 24 frames in that second this is the only one in which it took a form which was vaguely human. But it is interesting how the brain wants to take random patterns of light like this and make something meaningful from them. Here is the image.

To see the full interview click here.

EMC going live in 1 minute!

The Essential Magic Conference is going live on the internet in a minute. If you are a magician, or have any interest in magic, it is the most important thing you can do with 50 of your hard earned pounds this year. Registration is open here

Go see this..

Penn & Teller

The legendary and mighty Penn and Teller are in London for five nights only with what is, in our shared opinion the greatest magic show in the world ever.  Actually that is not just our opinion, it is a cold and objective fact. It’s been years since they have performed in the UK and who knows if they will ever return, either way you will regret it fully and thoroughly if you don’t attend.

They are at the Hammersmith Apollo from the 14th – 18th July and tickets can be purchased here.

The ChatRoulette Trick – REVEALED!

Ever wondered how magic works? Have a look at the video above where we manage to correctly predict what playing card someone is just thinking of.

Impossible right? Not so.

How does it work? keep watching and we’ll show you.

Was it worth the effort? probably not.

Enjoy!

Demon Tongue Translated

Google have added a closed caption button to some YouTube videos that amazingly automatically listens to the words being said in the video then tries to work them out and print them as subtitles on the screen. The feature is still in BETA and for a good reason. The translation for our trick below is not entirely accurate. Our cautionary tale about oral hygiene and demonic possession is now about “four oh hi jean I didn’t want to because it should.”

You could use this feature to write your very own abstract poetry. The opening of “This is a tale unlike all the rest about a young boy whose tongue was demonically possessed” becomes “this isn’t a lot like a little less about a young boy whose tongue was still on a clean cassettes.”

As for “OJ Simpson slapping away”… I wish we did put that in the poem now.

In Google’s defence, maybe the bots don’t like the Scottish accent?

To access the captions you currently need to view the video on YouTube and turn on the BETA function from the bottom right of the player.

Seeing Jesus

I love optical illusions and as magicians we have a real fascination for visual perception tests. One aspect of these visual phenomena is called pareidolia. This is the experience of seeing something in a visual stimulus that’s totally random.

You have probably experienced this yourself at some point when looking at clouds and believing you can see images of animals or faces in them. This is the basis for the Rorschach inkblot test.

jesusface

In the above beautiful example it may, at first glance, look like there is a bearded face in profile with closed eyes beside the man in this Victorian photograph. Actually, it is just the way that the light and shade is falling on the toddler that the man is holding.

Jesus is a recurring theme in pictures like these. He often makes an appearance in dirty crockery or on burnt food.

jesusseen

One couple even hit the headlines after seeing a crucified Jesus whilst having an ultrasound of their unborn baby.

jesus-sonogram

If people are seeing the son of God you can bet they are also seeing the enemy of the Lord too…

queen

The above portrait of Elizabeth II appeared on the 1954 Canadian dollar bill. Many people thought they saw the face of the devil in the Queen’s hair and some believe that this was the reason why the bill was cancelled.

People pay good money for such collectibles on Ebay and when reports come in of such religious figures appearing in the everyday world, people will go to great lengths to see them. In India, March 2008, reports came in of a miraculous image of the Virgin Mary in the sky and it led to 50 people blinding themselves by staring at the sun.

I’ll leave you with one more Jesus image, this time seen in the derrière of a dog… you may wish you were blind after seeing it though!

doggod