A crowd of Bluffton University students was on the edge of their collective seats Sept. 9 watching mentalist Christopher Carter perform tricks as part of the 60-in-6 event hosted by Marbeck Center Board.
“I was a kid magician, and super obsessed about it, and my parents thought I needed some other interests,” Carter said.
Mentalist Christopher Carter, center, directs two volunteers as part of the 60-in-6 event Sept. 9 hosted by Marbeck Center Board. Photo by Nathan Heinze
So they sent him to spend summers with his uncle, who played poker. When he told his mother, a psychologist, about watching his uncle’s lack of success with the game, she gave him a book on body language.
“I realized if I could combine the skills of an Illusionist with the skills of a psychologist, I could create something that looked a lot like mind-reading,” Carter said.
Carter’s show involved a variety of stunts and a few fakeouts. He asked volunteers to pick the side if a die as he was turned around, but read their expression to deduce which number they picked. Later, he successfully hypnotized another volunteer, followed by elaborately blindfolding himself and identifying items brought to him.
Later, audience members wrote their name, a number, a fact about themselves and a question on an index card. While still blindfolded, Carter identified the contents of the cards and jokingly answered the questions. He then gave a small sales pitch for his book as a sort of intermission before showcasing an elaborate skit on free will.
“I’ve never come to a show like this, and I thought it’d be really fun and I talked to him at dinner and he was a lot of fun,” said Cody Stuckey, a fifth-year business administration major who said he enjoyed the show.
Some people, however, were a bit more mixed with their feelings on the show.
“I am definitely very anxious after leaving the show, but I did have fun” said Rose Zimmerman, a fifth-year sociology major.
