Blog: Mind of a Mind Reader
Jeff Newman: Mentalist, Magician, Trickster.
A Mentalist Explains: How Ouija Boards Work, and The Ideomotor Effect
But do Ouija boards actually send you messages?
Well, in a way, yes. But they don’t come from the spirit world.
The human brain, to most, is a miracle machine. It can do incredible things that we aren’t even aware of. Even some of the simplest day-to-day tasks we take for granted are incredibly complex calculations made by what is, essentially, a three-pound lump of gooey flesh.
A Magician's Worst Nightmare
For those of you who are unaware, I have a university degree...in Kinesiology. Which I usually joke is a “degree for lifting heavy things for fun and fitness,” but the truth is, it provided me with an extensive knowledge of the why’s, how’s and what’s of the human body...including a pretty in-depth knowledge of human hand anatomy.
So once the first shock of panic and pain from the accidental slice occurred, the logical side of my brain automatically started doing an assessment of what could be wrong. With all the suspense of a Prime Time medical drama, I started to identify and landmark all the tendon, nerve, ligament, and muscle tissue locations that run through a thumb. Once the glass jar was removed and blood started to flood the area, the lack of visual accuracy and sudden increase of pain put a cease to the impromptu examination, but definitely didn’t put a cease to the panic that was going through my mind.
Why the panic? Because the thumb (and honestly, all your fingers and toes for that matter) are actually quite complex and delicate. We don’t usually put a whole lot of thought into it...mostly because we use our hands for everything. Cooking food. Reading books. Performing magic tricks. Changing tires. Building houses. Our hands get put through some pretty tough stuff, but in reality, it doesn’t take much to do some serious damage.
WHAT DO YOU REMEMBER?
What is the Mandela Effect?
Well, to put it simply, it’s a memory you possess about something that you are absolutely sure is true, but isn’t. But, it’s not just you. Hundreds - or even thousands - of people remember the exact same thing.
For example, a very large amount of people grew up reading The Berenstein Bears: a wonderfully innocent, wholesome series of children’s books that taught valuable morals through the family life of anthropomorphic cartoon bears.
Except that’s wrong. It’s the Berenstain Bears.
Many, many people are convinced that the names of these bears are, and always have been Berenstein (and, coincedentally, one of those people is Hannah).
Countless examples of this strange phenomena exist. Many people remember Pikachu’s tail having a black tip (it doesn’t). Or growing up watching the classic children’s cartoon The Looney Toons (actually spelled Tunes). Or that Carrie, Charlotte, Miranda, and Samantha all had wacky adventures in Sex in the City (but it was actually Sex and the City). Or that the air-freshening spray Febreeze is spelled with three E’s (It’s not; it’s Febreze). Or that the comedian Sinbad starred in a movie in the 90’s called Shazaam where he played a genie (he didn’t).