Parallel Universe (the Stage Version)
By Professor Spellbinder

Jim Gerrish is working on Parallel Universe, the PVC Pipe and Duct Tape Grand Illusion, but he recommends starting out the Grand Illusion version by setting up the theme with my smaller “stage magic” version. So I guess I’d better publish my small version first!

After some discussion of the recent theories of Alternate and Parallel Universes, the result of Quantum Madness in the field of Physics, the Wizard declares that the proofs for this were well known to the ancients. The Egyptians, in particular, were on track with their construction of the pyramids. However, they added one too many sides to the pyramid for it to serve as a “gate” to access these parallel worlds. If they had been able to construct a THREE sided pyramid, we might all be speaking Egyptian today.

The Wizard offers to demonstrate the connection between a three-sided pyramid and the doorway to the past.

Effect: Two golden three-sided pyramids are displayed. A ring, an analog watch, and a quarter are borrowed from members of the audience. As the least expensive borrowed item, the quarter is marked by the owner with a Sharpie indelible marker (the spectator can choose any color ink- black, red, blue or green). After marking the coin and blowing on it to make sure it is dry, the owner tests the ink to make sure it is indelible. The Wizard attaches a piece of cellophane tape to the coin and fashions a loop from the tape, because, as he explains, it will need to be able to hang up for the experiment. The Wizard attempts to borrow a live white mouse, but after discovering that no one has brought a live mouse, he brings forth his own mouse in a small cage and sets it on a table next to the other borrowed items.

Now the borrowed ring is taken and placed on a hook under one of the pyramids. The pyramid is lifted and the ring has vanished, but now appears under the other pyramid.

The time is noted on the borrowed watch by the owner, and it is placed on the hook under one of the pyramids. It vanishes, but fails to appear under the other pyramid. “Don’t worry,” says the Wizard, “the watch will appear later.”

The live specimen is next. The live white mouse is marked using a water washable marking pen of any color chosen by the spectator. The animal is enclosed in a “cloth bag” so that it can be hung from the hook under one pyramid and it reappears under the other, along with the missing watch that still shows the same time that was recorded when it first vanished.

How is this possible? The Wizard attempts to explain. Objects placed under one pyramid enter the space/time gate and are “frozen in time,” as the ancient Pharaohs had hoped their mummies would be. Since they are in the past Universe, we cannot see them in the present. The pyramid itself travels into the future, but objects placed inside it are acted upon by electro-magnetic forces created by the gold covering, which keep them in the past. The second pyramid is out of phase with the first. Objects from the past continue to move slowly back into our present time, and we can calculate the distance to place the second pyramid from the first by using that most magical number of the ancients, pi (3.14159).

The proof of this is seen in the passage of the watch, which still shows the same time that it was placed in the first pyramid.

The passage of live animals shows that, in theory, a human could be sent through space/time in this manner. The animals seem to be unharmed by the experience. However there is a dark side to this force that must be solved before we dare to use it with a human.

The Wizard then proceeds to show an open-bottom three-sided pyramid constructed with one clear glass or Plexiglas side and two shiny gold sides. We will call it the "Crystal Pyramid."

Now the marked borrowed quarter is placed under the first gold pyramid. The second gold pyramid is replaced by the Crystal Pyramid. In a few seconds, a coin appears floating in an insulated vacuum glass ball that has been placed inside the Crystal Pyramid. The ball is removed and cracked open with a Pop! like a light bulb. The Wizard explains that the coin appeared in a vacuum. It is removed and the signature on it is verified. Meanwhile, the Wizard replaces the glass globe and moves the clear pyramid to a new location, which he claims has been precisely calibrated according to pi. In a few seconds, a coin again appears in the glass globe inside the pyramid. The Wizard asks the spectator who marked the coin to look through the walls of the pyramid and into the glass, but not to attempt to touch the coin, and to verify that it has the same signature as the one he is holding. He is given a magnifying glass and asked to check the date on the coin. It is the same as the one he is holding.

How can this be? The Wizard explains that coins continue to pass from one space/time Universe to this one, only the coin that is now inside the glass pyramid is made of anti-matter and is highly unstable. If it were to come in contact with its other “self” in this Universe, the resulting nuclear explosion might well destroy everything within a range of three miles… more or less. Instead, by just leaving the anti-matter coin in the pyramid, it will slip away again, but in a rather spectacular manner. Pow! A tremendous bright light flashes from the pyramid. All the lights in the theater (or whatever room you are in) are dimmed as if from a tremendous surge of energy, and finally there is a tremendous BANG! that can leave the audience startled. The glass globe is removed from the Crystal Pyramid and the coin is gone, just as the Wizard predicted.

“And THAT is why we are reluctant to try the process with a human being until further studies have been made,” says the Wizard, concluding the lecture and lowering all his paraphernalia into some wooden crates marked “TOP SECRET.”

Back to Wizards' Journal #12 Contents - Back to All Journals Contents - Back to The Magic Nook