Living or Dead by Borodin

Effect: A very strong routine for bizarrists and/or Halloween. The props supplied are great, but the strength here are the two presentations described by Borodin which turn a standard “living or dead” test into a piece of theater.

In one routine, the spectator checks the performer’s pulse as he picks up each slip while blindfolded. She announces that his pulse has stopped exactly when he holds the slip with the dead person’s name.

The second routine could be quite frightening, as a candle holder in the shape of a pentagram is used along with some tea lights and printed cards. Four spectators write the names of living persons on their cards, a fifth writes the name of a deceased relative on theirs. The cards are mixed and placed around the pentagram, one near each candle. As the group concentrates, one of the tea lights suddenly goes out. The card next to the extinguished flame bears the dead person’s name.

(Description supplied with permission by Joe Long)

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