Paul Harris Presents Haunted
Eggink, Peter
Paul Harris
ANYTIME in your performance with a NORMAL UNPREPARED DECK...a friend shuffles then cuts to a genuine random card (signed if you want). You place the card back into the deck...which goes onto the table or floor. She can even cut the deck again and complete the cut...so that she's the LAST PERSON to touch the deck before the haunting starts.
The deck is sitting face down in the middle of the table. There is no secret stuff connected between you and the deck or the table. You can even put a clear bowl over the deck to completely seal it off from outside influences. And yet...while you're completely away from the deck...after about 7 seconds...the upper half of the deck ever so slowly begins to MOVE...SLOWLY, HAUNTINGLY, sliding itself...cutting into two halves! The spectator slides out the card just cut to. It's the one! And if she has the urge...she can once again examine the normal deck. Then whenever you feel the spirit...you can do it again. "HAUNTED" is ALWAYS ready to perform!
- NO LOOPS OR THREAD WORK
- NORMAL DECK CAN BE EXAMINED BEFORE AND AFTER
- PERFORM SURROUNDED IN ALL CONDITIONS
- ALL NATURAL ACTIONS. NO SECRET MOVES
- INSTANT RESET. ALWAYS READY TO PERFORM
- VERY, VERY EASY TO DO
COMPLETE WITH TWO GIMMICKS AND DVD (use your own deck).
NOTE: INCLUDES MARK TRAVERSONI'S BONUS HAUNTED HANDLING .PDF DOWNLOAD
Reviews
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Critical Update (2/8/2014):
This product has long been discontinued by Paul Harris Presents. They recognized the issues and released an updated and FAR SUPERIOR version of this effect. The review below is for the old (and really bad) version. Read a review of the brand new (and really good) version: Haunted 2.0
Well . . . I've got some mixed feelings for sure. In addition to the whole 'bacon comes from a filthy animal' vs. 'but it's so delicious,' I'm fighting the whole 'Haunted is Rubble' vs. 'Haunted is a gem.'
My first issue is that the ad copy says 'No loops or Thread work.' That is not quite true. The 'thing that they claim not to be using' is not something you have to wear or have connected to you; it's all self contained, but it's still being used.
The second (and biggest) problem is that you don't have control over when the cards move. You also don't have control over the smoothness or rhythm of the movement. Additionally, the original Baker effect (The Pack That Cuts Itself) handling caused the selected card to sort of pop out of the deck.
This version doesn't quite do that. The deck is sitting on the table when it suddenly (completely out of your control - in a bad way) sort of cuts itself (i.e. the top half of the deck angles over a little bit. If you want the card to come out of the deck like the original, you have to lift the top half of the deck. When you do, you've got a 75/25 chance (not in your favor) of the selected card flying across the table . . . it looks amazing. However, the other 75% of the time, the selected card just sticks to the deck.
At first, I thought that with time, you'd get used to the gimmick and be able to have better results. After all it looked pretty good when Peter Eggink did it. The problem is that this isn't a matter of practice. It's a matter of setting the gimmick and then letting the gimmick do all the work. It either will or won't, and you'll have no control over when it happens or how it looks.
On top of all this, ringing in the gimmick in the recommended way is nowhere near as discrete as Eggink thinks it is, and the said 'ringing' in is a little too noisy.
The DVD comes with the gimmick and the extra somethings you need to complete the gimmick. You are taught multiple handling ideas and it's all for $35.00.
Honestly, I just don't see this being very practical. You may enjoy playing with it, but I would not use this in a professional gig . . . it's not worth the risk. Then to top that off, the other night I thought I'd show some magi friends and a) the deck never moved . . . it just sat there. So I picked it up and set it back down again . . . then suddenly it moved a couple of millimeters.
Then I decided to try it again, and the gimmick broke. Sorry guys; I guess the only real mixed feelings I have are centered around bacon and not around this product.
Final Verdict:
1.5 stars with a Stone Status of Rubble.