Mentalism

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Theatrical poster for a mind-reading performance, 1900

Mentalism is a performing art in which its

practitioners, known as mentalists, appear
to demonstrate highly developed mental
or intuitive abilities. Performances may
appear to include hypnosis, telepathy,
clairvoyance, divination, precognition,
psychokinesis, mediumship, mind control,
memory feats, deduction, and rapid
mathematics. Mentalists are sometimes
categorized as psychic entertainers,
although that category also contains non-
mentalist performers such as psychic
readers and bizzarists.

Background
Much of what modern mentalists perform
in their acts can be traced back directly to
"tests" of supernatural power that were
carried out by mediums, spiritualists and
psychics in the 19th century.[1] However,
the history of mentalism goes back even
further. Accounts of seers and oracles can
be found in works by the ancient Greeks
and in the Old Testament of the Bible.
Among magicians, the mentalism
performance generally cited as one of the
earliest on record was by diplomat and
pioneering sleight-of-hand magician
Girolamo Scotto in 1572. The performance
of mentalism may utilize these principles
along with sleights, feints, misdirection
and other skills of street or stage magic.[2]

Performance approaches
Performance approaches
Styles of presentation can vary greatly.
Traditional performers such as Dunninger
and Annemann attributed their results to
supernatural or psychic skills.

Some contemporary performers, such as

Derren Brown, attribute their results to
natural skills, such as the ability to read
body language or to manipulate the
subject subliminally through
psychological suggestion.

Others, including Chan Canasta and David

Berglas would make no specic claims
but leave it up to the audience to decide.
Contemporary mentalists often take their
shows onto the streets and perform tricks
to a live, unsuspecting audience. They do
this by approaching random members of
the public and ask to demonstrate their
supernatural powers. Performers such as
Derren Brown who often adopt this
method of performance tell their audience
before the trick starts that everything they
see is an illusion and that they are not
really "having their mind read." This has
been the cause of a lot of controversy in
the sphere of magic as some mentalists
want their audience to believe that this
type of magic is 'real' whilst others think
that it is morally wrong to lie to a
spectator.[3]

Mentalist or magician
Mentalists generally do not mix "standard"
magic tricks with their mental feats. Doing
so associates mentalism too closely with
the theatrical trickery employed by stage
magicians. Many mentalists claim not to
be magicians at all, arguing that it is a
different art form altogether. The
argument is that mentalism invokes belief
and when presented properly, is offered as
being "real" be it a claim of psychic ability,
or proof that supports other claims such
as a photographic memory, being a
"human calculator", the power of
suggestion, NLP, etc. Mentalism plays on
the senses and a spectator's perception of
tricks.

Magicians ask the audience to suspend

their belief and allow their imagination to
play with the various tricks they present.
They admit that they are tricksters and
entertainers, and know the audience
understands it's an illusion and the
magician cannot really achieve the
impossible feats shown, such as sawing a
person in half and putting them back
together without injury.
However, many magicians mix mentally-
themed performance with magic illusions.
For example, a mind-reading stunt might
also involve the magical transposition of
two different objects. Such hybrid feats of
magic are often called mental magic by
performers. Magicians who routinely mix
magic with mental magic include David
Coppereld, David Blaine, The Amazing
Kreskin, and Dynamo.. Notable mentalists
who mix magic with mentalism include
The Amazing Kreskin, Richard Osterlind,
David Berglas, Derren Brown, and Joseph
Dunninger.

Notable mentalists
Alexander
Theodore Annemann
Keith Barry
David Berglas
Derren Brown
Chan Canasta
Bob Cassidy
Corinda
Joseph Dunninger
Anna Eva Fay
Glenn Falkenstein
Maurice Fogel
Uri Geller
Burling Hull
 Al Koran
The Amazing Kreskin
Max Maven
Max Major
Mysterion the Mind Reader
Lance Norris
Marc Paul
The Piddingtons
Marc Salem
The Zancigs
Guy Bavli

Historical figures
Mentalism techniques have, on occasion,
been allegedly used outside the
entertainment industry to influence the
actions of prominent people for personal
and/or political gain. Famous examples of
accused practitioners include:

Erik Jan Hanussen, alleged to have

influenced Adolf Hitler[4]
Grigori Rasputin, alleged to have
influenced Tsarina Alexandra[5]
Wolf Messing, alleged to have
influenced Joseph Stalin[6]
Count Alessandro di Cagliostro,
accused of influencing members of the
French aristocracy in the Affair of the
Diamond Necklace

"The Amazing Kreskin" has audience

members hide his cheques before the
show; if Kreskin cannot nd the cheque at
the end of his performance, he does not
get paid.

In television
Eric Dittelman, a mind reader,
performed on Season 7 of the NBC talent
competition America's Got Talent. He made
it to the seminals, and was the rst
mentalist to be featured on the show.
 Cristian Gog, a mentalist, won the big
prize on Romania's Got Talent.
Tricks of the Mind: a British TV show
starring Derren Brown
Pasmons Kontrol: Kobra TV Channel
by Nicholas Kin
Katherine Mills: Mind Games: a British
TV show
Spidey Mentalist performed on Penn &
Teller: Fool Us on CW and Wizard Wars on
SyFy

In fiction
The Mentalist: an American crime
procedural television series in which the
main character, Patrick Jane, worked as
an independent consultant for the
California Bureau of Investigation and
later the Federal Bureau of Investigation,
solving serious crimes by using his skills
of observation and his frequent use of his
abilities as a former professional
mentalist.
Psych: an American criminal comedy
television series in which the main
character, Shawn Spencer, works as a
consultant to the Santa Barbara Police
Department as a "psychic detective."
Though he purports to be a psychic, the
truth is that his exceptional observational
skills, amazing vision, and near-
photographic memory allow him to
portray himself as such.
Now You See Me: Merritt McKinney,
played by Woody Harrelson, performs as a
mentalist.
Pretham: John Don Bosco, played by
Jayasurya, performs as a mentalist in the
Malayalam movie released in August
2016.[7]

See also
Cold reading
James Randi
Telepathy
Memory sport
 Mnemonist
Psychomagic
Scientic skepticism
Theatrical seances
Thirteen Steps To Mentalism (book)

References
1. Cassidy, Bob: "Fundamentals of
Professional Mentalism". Lybrary, 2007. pp.
7-9.
2. Randi, James (1995). "An Encyclopedia of
Claims, Frauds, and Hoaxes of the Occult
and Supernatural" . St. Martin's Press.
Retrieved 2008-03-28.
3. http://www.sorcerers-
apprentice.co.uk/karma.htm
4. Gordon, Mel: "Hanussen: Hitler's Jewish
Clairvoyant". Feral House, 2001
5. George King, The Last Empress: The Life
and Times of Alexandra Feodorovna, Tsarina
of Russia. Replica Books, 2001. ISBN 978-0-
7351-0104-3
6. Hamilton-Parker, Craig (December 1,
1996). "Medium with a message". Scotland
on Sunday. p.5.
7. "Jayasurya to play a mentalist in Ranjith
Sankar's 'Pretham' " . Retrieved 2016-08-13.

Further reading
 H. J. Burlingame. (1891). Mind-Readers
and Their Tricks . In Leaves from Conjurers'
Scrap books: Or, Modern Magicians and
Their Works. Chicago: Donohue,
Henneberry & Co. pp.108127
William V. Rauscher. (2002). Mind
Readers: Masters of Deception. Mystic Light
Press.
Barry H. Wiley. (2012). The Thought
Reader Craze: Victorian Science at the
Enchanted Boundary. McFarland. ISBN
978-0-7864-6470-8

External links
Media related to Mentalists at
Wikimedia Commons
 PSYCRETS British Society of Mystery
Entertainers
Psychic Entertainers Association .

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