Witch Hazel by Steve Peebles Bizarre Magic Trick Mentalism

Description: Witch Hazel by Steve Peebles Imagine living in a world so filled with dirt, death, and despair, you can’t see a future. Imagine dreading each day as you wait for another dust storm to swallow your home and town and as it does it takes another piece of your dying hope leaving fear in its place. Imagine crying literal tears of mud as you bury a young sibling who choked to death from the dust pneumonia. Imagine trying to outrun a wall of dirt a mile high and two hundred miles wide. Imagine a storm so black you can’t see your hand in front of your face… outside your house at noonday. Imagine watching your parents, your pillars of strength; go completely insane or in many instances commit suicide, from the soul-crushing pain that the dust and depression brings. Imagine all this and you're only… 9 years old. If you were around in the dustbowl era of the 1930’s you didn’t have to imagine any of it… you lived it. The 1930s brought to the United States one of the most horrifying environmental disasters the world had ever seen. It came to be known as the dustbowl. Millions of acres of topsoil lifted from farm fields on the Great Plains hurling through the air at deadly speeds destroying everything in their paths. Mountain range size tsunami’s of dirt that seemed self-aware in their intent to crush spirit and soul. These apocalyptic dust storms raged with ever-intensifying ferocity for more than ten years. Many believed it was the end of the world. For many it was. The children became the dustbowl’s innocent victims. Not knowing from day to day if they would be taken by the dust. On many days the storms came during school only to be told by a panic-stricken teacher, “Run home as fast as you can before it gets here.” Some children got caught in the storms trying to find their way home and would be found the next day lying dead, suffocated by the dust, only yards from their homes. Those that lived didn’t know when the dust would come for them, and if it did, where would they spend eternity? As a way to cope with the fear and uncertainty that the dust storms brought, children began to create ways to escape by playing games that gave them back a small sense of control. One such game was a small handmade fortune telling device they could ask yes or no questions of. It also had the ability to answer even darker questions like “Will I go to Heaven or Hell?” The game caught on and soon dustbowl children from small towns in Oklahoma, Kansas, Texas, and Colorado had crafted versions of their own, gathering on school playgrounds during recess asking it questions. The device was usually made from a ceramic lid jar secreted away from the medicine cabinet without their mother’s knowledge. It was then outfitted with a small piece of thread attached to a tiny cork, perhaps remnants from a worn out pop gun. In the bottom of the Jar was glued a cardboard disk and/or a soda pop bottle cap that said Yes and No as well as the word heaven. On the inside of the top of the jar was the word hell. The children could ask it any number of questions by shaking the jar to receive an answer. The braver kids would ask it if they would go to Heaven or Hell. The only rule was to never ask the jar a question if you’re not prepared to live with the answer. Many children later swore there was more to the jars than what appeared. Accounts of unbelievable accuracy to questions posed and one particular phenomenon that scared many of them into not playing with it or even touching it ever again. Others believed the jar was truly haunted. The children had a few different names for their little fortune telling devices, but one name, however, stuck more than the others. It came about by the preferred jar they used in constructing them. At the time, Witch Hazel was a common household remedy for several different conditions, mostly as a treatment for skin irritation from the dry and dusty atmosphere that plagued their lives. As a result, they named it, T** W******* J** as many of the Witch Hazel bottles had images of witches printed on the labels. They believed there was something in those jars that had the ability to give them the answers and security they so desperately needed. Some Depression-era historians have called them the precursor to the Magic eight ball and are amazed at the ingenuity and creativity these children demonstrated in the face of such difficult circumstances. Needless to say, it is extremely rare to see an existing example of one of these jars as they literally ended up being buried and blown away by the passage of time and dust. One can today only imagine what secrets these children of the dust kept hidden away inside their jars of fate and fortune. The jar is completely examinable. (Before, during and after the performance). Can be performed in the spectator’s hands with no angle concerns. No memorization or “moves” (Allows the performer to focus entirely on the story/performance). Instantly repeatable. Totally self-working. No electronics. Completely angle proof. Can be performed with a detailed back story or as a quick demonstration of a depression era artifact. A unique impossible object that is not a Bell, Cards, Box or Book. WITCH HAZEL is a homemade depression-era fortune-telling device, created by the children of the dustbowl to cope with the fear, uncertainty and terror that haunted them throughout their childhoods. The Phenomenon: A small ceramic top bale wire jar is shown. Inside is a piece of thread attached to a small cork, all affixed to the bottom of the jar with a cardboard disk and an old soda pop bottle cap. Written in pencil on the disk are the words Yes and No along with the word heaven. The lid of the Jar also has a cardboard disk attached to it with the word hell written on it. A series of Yes and No questions, in the form of a child’s rhyme, are asked while the jar is shaken. Where the cork lands (either on yes or no) determines the jars answer. Finally a last question is posed to the jar, one of heaven or hell. When the jar answers this question the cork atop the thread is unexplainably floating inside the jar with no visible means of support. No matter which way the jar is turned by the spectator the thread and cork remain bewitched and unmoved, defying logic and scientific convention. When the spectator looks closer he/she sees that the cork appears to be defiantly pointing to Hell. What you receive: 1 aged period correct small ceramic top jar. (Dimensions) Appx. three and one half inches tall by one and three-quarter inches in diameter. 1 aged drawstring burlap carrying bag. Appx. four and one-quarter inches wide by seven inches long. 1 Custom aged cedar wood box to hold all of your props in! You also receive a 20 plus page PDF set of instructions detailing different performance suggestions and options. The PDF includes printable photographs of dustbowl children as well as dust storms to be used during the performance. Also included is a printable replica poem written by a young girl during the dustbowl to be used in an alternate séance routine. WITCH HAZEL was limited to only 50 ever made! CHECK OUT THE VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=9&v=FlLn-JpPN3U THIS IS VERY VERY RARE! LIMITED TO ONLY 50 MADE! NOTE: BOX IN THE PICTURES IS NOT INCLUDED! FOR DEMONSTRATION PURPOSES ONLY! NO REFUNDS! NO RETURNS!

Price: 399.99 USD

Location: Murrieta, California

End Time: 2024-11-13T19:35:16.000Z

Shipping Cost: 29.99 USD