From Tarim@altern8.demon.co.uk Sat Apr  1 09:20:28 GMT 1995
Article: 18677 of rec.juggling
Newsgroups: rec.juggling
Path: hal.COM!nntp-sc.barrnet.net!nntp-hub2.barrnet.net!nntp-ucb.barrnet.net!agate!howland.reston.ans.net!torn!webster.srv.gc.ca!pnfi.forestry.ca!pnfi!gateway!altern8.demon.co.uk!Tarim
From: Tarim@altern8.demon.co.uk (Tarim)
Subject: Re: Magnus Nicholls
Message-ID: <556@altern8.demon.co.uk>
Sender: juggling@pnfi.forestry.ca
Reply-To: Tarim@altern8.demon.co.uk
Organization: Petawawa National Forestry Institute, Canadian Forestry Service
Date: Fri, 31 Mar 1995 23:28:43 GMT
Lines: 63

  Tarim *knew* he'd seen that name before somewhere!  For many
years Tarim has had a book called "The True Illusionists" by
Geoffrey Kurd.  If you can cope with his somewhat odd style of
writing, Tarim just dug the following passages out of it:

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  On the return from my travels, I was pondering still the
mystery by which these fakirs, performed only in certain parts of
the Indian sub-continent and then only ever with one of two
"tricks"; either that of apparently attaching a rope to thin air
and climbing it, or that of seemingly mutilating and chopping up
a small boy into pieces and then making him reappear whole; when
an event occurred which is typical of the many "coincidences"
which happen to one such as myself.

  I was visiting a music hall, for the sole reason of relaxation
and enjoyment, when a performer, whom I later learned was named
Magnus Nicholls, appeared on stage and began to vocalise the very
same chant used by these fakirs which I had been investigating,
in order to entrance their audiences.  On hearing this, I
immediately began the breathing technique which I had been
taught, so as not to succumb to the spell of this performer.
Well that I did, for I witnessed an amazing sight; when the other
members of the audience were safely under the control of our
performer, instead of, as I had expected, cutting up a piece of
meat, or holding a piece of rope in front of him, Mr Nicholls
proceeded to move around the stage, sometimes waving his arms
about his head and body, sometimes throwing a small ball in the
air and catching it, and all the time describing the most
difficult feats of manual dexterity with many and varied objects.
After the show, I casually questioned other members of the
audience, and it appeared each and every one of them believed
they had actually seen that which Mr Nicholls had so eloquently
described.

  I hastened backstage, in order to talk with this "Western
fakir", and convincing Mr Nicholls of my credentials, and that he
would be unable to entrance me, to enquire into his history.  He
revealed that, as a young man, he had been taught many techniques
by none other than Rasputin, of whom I have already discoursed
much.  When Nicholls was but twenty-one years of age, Rasputin
died, and he had embarked on a journey, very similar to that of
my own, meeting many of the same fakirs.  On his arrival in
Europe he decided to attempt these performances of entrancement,
which he had learned, but had discovered that the audiences would
believe much more freely, the acts of dexterity which he
described, rather than those used by his Indian counterparts.  It
is unfortunate that, so soon after meeting this remarkable man,
he had to move away in fear of his life!  Apparently, many genuine
performers were becoming angry with Mr Nicholls, who, of course,
could perform an act limited only by the imagination of himself
and his audience.

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  So really, Nicholls was just(!) a stage hypnotist, not a
juggler at all, and still fooling people years after his death it
seems.

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