"HAVE YOU SEEN THIS?" (2)

In earlier posts we introduced Jerry Andrus, our late friend who pioneered the nexus between magic and neuroscience.


The story of Jerry Andrus is the deceptively simple story of a straightforward man, with only a high school education, who opened his eyes and discovered the universe.


Jerry first made his mark as a magician. He took the magic scene by surprise, bursting out of nowhere to show up in New York one day where he stunned a roomful of the world’s finest card manipulators. He bamboozled them blind with his very first routine, his unique version of a simple trick every magician knows – the "slop shuffle." When Jerry began it they rolled their eyes. Couldn't believe this rube from Oregon was showing them the slop shuffle. They waited patiently to see him do the key move, something called a "half pass." But suddenly, the chosen card was revealed, the sloppy deck was back in perfect order and the trick was over. He had achieved the same effect, with no half pass. It looked like real magic, even to those hardened pros. Jerry became an instant god of the magic world.

Jerry discovered the secrets of magic on his own, during his day-job as a high-tension lineman for the Mountain States Power Company. Standing like a combination of Merlin and Jove on power poles high above the pine forests, he practiced diligently, holding 69-thousand-volts of electricity in one hand, and a deck of cards in the other. 

It was on the power lines that Jerry first became aware of the life-and-death nature of illusion. One lineman on his crew was reaching into a welter of live wires, intending to grab one for repair. Jerry saw the man was about to grab a hot wire -- he had misjudged the distance, because the repeated pattern of parallel black lines created a “figure-ground” illusion in the man’s brain. “Look out! Blink your eyes, angle your head and look at it again!” Jerry yelled. As the man did so he realized Jerry had saved him from a horrible death by electrocution.

Jerry also became a professional "ghostbuster," investigating alleged paranormal events. In Part Three of our film, coming soon, we follow him as he brilliantly solves the Mystery of the Oregon Vortex.