Marucci's Bizarre Bazaar

The Red Death
by Peter Marucci

In 1842, Edgar Alan Poe wrote his classic short horror story, Masque of the Red Death.

In it, the Red Death is sweeping medieval Europe and no cure is in sight for the plague which kills within a half an hour. The victim’s internal organs liquefy and blood streams from every pore.

But Prince Prospero and his court have no fear of the plague. They have taken to a remote abbey to wait until the horror has passed.

To help while away the time, the prince has decreed that a masked ball be held and the courtiers dutifully turn up.

As they are dancing, one figure is seen to be disguised as a victim of the Red Death, direct from the grave; he wears a shroud and grave clothes and his face is streaked with blood, apparently brought on by the plague.

The prince is offended that anyone should take such liberties in his presence and moves to attack the guest. But, before he can strike the person down, he himself falls dead – a victim of the plague.

It is then that the other guests realize that they are in the presence of a real victim of the Red Death and they have all been infected and will soon die!

Effect: The magus shows a box, symbolizing the abbey, in which lies a joker – all quite normal.

As he tells the story, he closes the box and, on completion of the tale, opens the box again – and the joker has turned completely blood red!

Working: This is just a locking card box and two jokers, one normal and the other colored blood red.

The red joker is under the flap while the normal joker is in the box.

When the lid is closed, the flap also closes and the red joker is now, apparently, alone in the box.

Second thoughts: This is almost entirely dependent on presentation.

Poe’s short story, Masque of the Red Death, is short enough to be told in its entirety during the routine (you can find the story here -- Shane).

The title is a bit of a play on words; “masque” can mean a mask or a masked ball, both of which are key to the story.

(That has no bearing on anything; it’s just a bit of useless trivia!)

Peter Marucci