Marucci's Bizarre Bazaar

"Where Wolf?"
by Peter Marucci

"Even a man who is pure of heart, and says his prayers by night,
"May become a wolf when the wolfbane blooms, and the autumn moon is bright."

Effect: The magus takes four cards from a folder and shows them; they are the picture of a werewolf and three pictures of a forest.

He turns over the top two pictures, and sets aside the bottom two faceup pix of the forest, and asks a volunteer to find the wolf in the remaining two facedown cards.

He mixes the two facedown cards and the volunteer picks one; when turned over it is a picture of the forest; the volunteer is given "another chance" and, with just one card to pick from, picks that card; it, too, is turned faceup and is a pic of the forest.

The werewolf is found back in the folder.

Working and presentation: You'll need four card (of any size); all four with a picture of trees on one side; three with playing card backs and the fourth with a wolf on the back.

You'll also need the same picture of the wolf inside the folder that will hold the four cards.

Have the cards in the folder: Wolf, and three forest cards.

Take the cards out, saying: "Four cards; three with the forest where the werewolf lives and one picture of the wolf."

Turn over all four cards as a package: "Now, if I were to ask you to track the wolf down, with all four cards hidden, that would be a one in four chance - not very good odds."

Turn the cards face up again. "But, if I turned over two cards (as you say this you APPARENTLY turn over two cards but really turn over three cards; the wolf card is now on the other side of the first, visible forest card.), and put the visible two aside, you would have a 50-50 chance of finding the wolf.

"Go ahead."

Mix up the two facedown cards.

She picks one and it is turned over to reveal the forest. It is put aside with the other two.

"Well, you didn't get it on the first try, but you seem like a nice person so have another try."

This should get a laugh as you "mix" one card and shift it from hand to hand.

She, of course, picks that card and, when it is turned over, instead of the wolf, it also shows a picture of the forest.

"Well, where did the wolf go? Could he have vanished and gone back to his den, which is in the folder?"

Open the folder and reveal the wolf.

Second thoughts: The presentation here is thin because you will want to come up with your own.

The quote at the beginning -- "Even a man who . . . ." -- is from the movie The Wolfman, starring Lon Chaney, and is said at the beginning of the film by gypsy Maria Ospenskaya.

All that, plus what you know about werewolves and the occult, should be far more than enough to build a story line.

Enjoy!

Peter Marucci