IN COLLABORATION WITH JOE SILKIE

Audiences have long been fascinated by the Living and Dead Test. It’s also an effect they will remember and talk about long after other mental effects have faded from memory. This is an updated version to the classic Living and Dead effect! Please note that you can do this effect without the ESPY system.

You probably have your own favorite method to perform this effect, and now your spectator can perform it “with ESPY”. With every photo tagged, the spectator can mix the cards and one by one place them face down and you can instantly know what pile to place that photo in.

ESPY gives you the uncanny ability to pick out the one correct photo from a group of photos under seemingly impossible conditions. We can adapt these photos to use for a traditional, yet tasteful, presentation with names supplied by the audience or adapt to (living and dead) celebrities, historical figures, astrological signs, or even names from a mock “whodunit” murder mystery.

HH Holmes Living or Dead Test

A story is told of a dinner held by the county coroner in 1896 at his home attended by two guests. At 8pm they sat down to dine. By 10 pm, He presented 24 guest photos – someone stamped some “exhibit”, others just the room number.- Living and Dead.

As you recount the horrific details of the murders, you hand your spectator photos look over.
They see that these photos are old looking photographs of both Living and the unfortunate victims. The Living and the victims are mixed, and you explain that it is down to your spectator to separate the Living from the dead.

As a killer ending (pun intended), during the presentation you can be “unsure” of one photo “Holmes” and have them place that one aside, at the end they turn it over to read that it is HH Holmes.

Your audience will be ‘dying’ to know how it’s done!

You can present this Living and Dead test effect in reverse!

• 24 plus Photo cards aged.
• 2 Divider cards “Witnesses Discovery”.
• 2 Divider cards “Exhibit 165 Victims”.
• All photos work with the ESPY system.
• Every card chipped.
• This effect will work with or without the ESPY system!