Unexplainable Card Tricks

Back in the day my grandfather showed me a couple of card tricks he learned while living in Germany in the 1920's. He knew about a dozen or so card tricks that he attempted to teach me, a nine year old at the time. There were one or two tricks which freaked him out as he had no explanation as to how they worked.

Needless to say, just because my grandfather couldn't explain how the trick worked doesn't mean that there's not an explanation. However, I'm really curious to learn if there are any stories, urban legends, paranormal tales, or whatever about unexplainable card tricks.

Have any of you heard of such things?

Thanks!

a reply to: Bruce001

I think a better question is how did he perform a card trick without knowing how it works???

There are some self working card tricks as they're called but anyone who performs them still understands them and they can still be done wrong sometimes. They just work with minimal effort.

a reply to: Bruce001

Cool thread - I'll keep checking back to see what people come up with.

I don't have anything to share other than some of those card tricks make me really angry because I can't figure out the 'trick'!

Check this out though - there's tons a videos on the subject.



peace

I'd like to find out myself, nice thread.

a reply to: Bruce001

I have to say my first thought also is what m0j0m said, how could he perform the tricks if he did not know how they worked, could it be that as you were 9 at the time, part of the illusion was him stating that he did not know?

David Blaine comes to mind. Either he's really good, or he's the Devil... Although a lot of his stuff goes beyond card tricks.

originally posted by: Bruce001
Back in the day my grandfather showed me a couple of card tricks he learned while living in Germany in the 1920's. He knew about a dozen or so card tricks that he attempted to teach me, a nine year old at the time. There were one or two tricks which freaked him out as he had no explanation as to how they worked.

Needless to say, just because my grandfather couldn't explain how the trick worked doesn't mean that there's not an explanation. However, I'm really curious to learn if there are any stories, urban legends, paranormal tales, or whatever about unexplainable card tricks.

Have any of you heard of such things?

Thanks!

Well i know a couple that use math. For example on one if i count down 11 cards that will be the one you picked. So i guess maybe it was something like that were he didnt understand why it worked.

originally posted by: Plotus
David Blaine comes to mind. Either he's really good, or he's the Devil... Although a lot of his stuff goes beyond card tricks.

You can find out how he does most of his tricks online. But he is extreme as well for example when he eats glass he actually does it. Apparently hes destroyed his teach according to his dentist.

a reply to: dragonridr

Even those, you still understand how they work to do them.

Be it math or whatever, the trick is still known or you might mess it up.

a reply to: Bruce001

Can you describe the couple tricks that blew your mind and appeared to be actual magic?

I think that would give at least a better starting point to go from because the world of magic is a huge one.

originally posted by: Plotus
David Blaine comes to mind. Either he's really good, or he's the Devil... Although a lot of his stuff goes beyond card tricks.

Dynamo is the king!

This guy blows my mind every time i watch him...I mean seriously, he has to be able to stop time for everyone/everything around him, and then move things around when we are all frozen.

His magic (illusions if you prefer), including those involving cards, are just sick.

originally posted by: mOjOm
a reply to: dragonridr

Even those, you still understand how they work to do them.

Be it math or whatever, the trick is still known or you might mess it up.

Heres one thats based on probability and you dont do anything.

www.goodtricks.net...

originally posted by: dragonridr

originally posted by: mOjOm
a reply to: dragonridr

Even those, you still understand how they work to do them.

Be it math or whatever, the trick is still known or you might mess it up.

Heres one thats based on probability and you dont do anything.

www.goodtricks.net...

Iy only fails 10 percent of the time.

a reply to: UpIsNowDown

I gave the illusion part some thought. I don't think he was messing with me though. In the time frame I remember he was trying to teach me about a dozen card tricks, all but one or two he had an explanation for. Now that I think about it more clearly, I think it was only one trick that he could not understand how it worked. I'm under the impression that the person(s) who taught him the trick didn't have an explanation for how it worked either. Nevertheless my grandfather could perform the trick.

That one trick was the one he was trying to teach me that I never got. Of course, today I don't remember any of the other card tricks either. But I never did learn that one trick.

My grandfather was not given to too much fantasy, supernatural, or paranormal thinking. In fact, he didn't even do the Santa Claus thing with me. In his mind there was likely a natural reason the tricked worked. He simply didn't know it.

Now as to a paranormal connection... he was a skilled dowser. He tried to teach me that skill as well during the same time frame. I also failed to pick it up.

Likewise, he didn't think there was anything supernatural about dowsing. It worked. He didn't understand it. He was fine with it. So he was approaching me in that frame of mind when he was teaching the card trick.

The reason I became interested in this all of a sudden is because I was thinking back on his dowsing skill the other day and I remembered the card trick(s). I'm curious to know if there might be a connection.

Another interesting twist to all of this: My mother, his daughter, has absolutely no recollection of any card tricks at all. I'm still waiting on a response to see if she remembers the dowsing.

Now I'm starting to get a little freaked. Was this information only for me? I cannot remember if my grandmother was present for these sessions or not. Weird. He just never struck me as an occult kind of guy.

a reply to: dragonridr

I'm wondering if the trick was something along the lines of this. I wish I could remember it!

Maybe part of his illusion was to make you as a child believe magic is real.. All tricks like this are explainable and magicians are juat good performers.. The real magic is making the audience believe what they have just seen is real.

a reply to: CallmeRaskolnikov

If I recall correctly, we're talking memories from the late 70's, it was finding a card in the deck somewhere. It involved sorting the deck into multiple times. I cannot remember if the deck was subdivided into piles or not. I'm thinking it was. It was probably very similar to the trick dragonridr came up with. I think it had to do with one card though.

a reply to: dragonridr

Count 11 cards? I think that's moving in the right direction in terms of solving the mystery.

Sorry for reading this thread backwards. After all these years I should know better.

originally posted by: mOjOm
a reply to: Bruce001

I think a better question is how did he perform a card trick without knowing how it works

That was an excuse. Grandpa didn't want to reveal the secrets.

When I was growing up, I loved watching magicians. Some tricks really boggle the mind. When they show how a simple trick is done, you feel kind of foolish, lol. It's definitely an art, and sometimes it truly seems like they have some kind of paranormal ability.

When I was a 12 yr-old cub scout, friends and I entered a talent show deciding on doing a magic show. Part of our presentation was a levitating trick which incorporated lifting yourself up with your hands under a sheet and holding a stick with a fake shoe on the end of it. During the trick, the shoe fell off the stick and the audience roared with laughter! We had to improvise the rest of the magic show which turned out to be one of the best comedy skits for that night, lol.