Paranormal and Artifacts: A Mysterious Experience
Paranormal versus Artifacts
October 14, 2002
Third part.
Another "experiment." I take a wine glass. I ask you to take it and examine it carefully. It is not rigged. You are to take a pitcher of water from your cupboard and fill it with water from your own faucet. I touch nothing and remain at a distance. I ask you to take your handkerchief from your pocket and a coin that belongs to you. Then I place the coin under the handkerchief and hand you the whole thing. I ask you to place this coin, under the handkerchief, on top of the glass. I remain at a distance and ask you to release the coin. You hear the clink as it falls to the bottom of the glass. I ask you to remove the handkerchief. You do so—and... the coin has disappeared. I ask you to pour out the water. You do so: nothing. I ask you to break the glass. You do so, and on the floor we find only glass fragments.
Clearly, I have "dematerialized" the coin, haven't I?
Let's go over the trick. In magic, such effects often rely on a moment of inattention. When did I actually intervene? When I took your handkerchief and your coin, and placed the coin under the handkerchief before returning both objects to you. That was the only moment I touched the objects. So?
I simply replaced the coin with a glass disc of the same diameter and nearly the same weight. That's what you felt through the fabric of the handkerchief, convinced it was the coin. When you poured out the water, the glass disc—otherwise "invisible"—stayed stuck to the bottom by capillary action. When you shattered the glass into a thousand pieces, you even destroyed yourself the traces of this deception!
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