Devil Device

Effect

The sitter is ushered into the “reading” room of the medium. He is seated behind a flat top desk or table. The seeker of enlightenment is seated opposite and invited to write his or her most important queries, not upon a pad or fileboard, but upon a plain blank business card.

From a small box the seer takes a crystal ball. He gazes into the sphere of so many hidden mysteries, shakes his head, and then advises the sitter to drop his card into the now empty box, writing side down. The box is closed and remains in full view before the subject.

Now, and without opening a desk drawer to get at the spirits, and without doing anything that might seem out of the way or uncalled for, the medium proceeds to answer question after question. As the last one is answered the seer opens the box, reaches in and hands the dumbfounded (?) onlooker his question card.

Thereupon the believer leaves, thoroughly (we hope) satisfied that here, at last, is a strange man with a strange power - and for weeks to come he shows the card to skeptics, his story growing with each telling - which same happens to the mental marvel's reputation to his benefit, if not to that of his subsequent and eager patrons.