From: Kyle King <kyleking.nul>
Date: Fri, 17 Sep 2004 18:08:23 -0500
Fwd Date: Sat, 18 Sep 2004 13:13:40 -0400
Subject: Re: UFO News 17th Sept 2004 (Australia) - King


>From: Sheryl Gottschall <gottscha.nul>
>To: <ufoupdates.nul>
>Date: Fri, 17 Sep 2004 08:09:00 +1000
>Subject: UFO News 17th Sept 2004 (Australia)

>UFO News 17th September 2004 (Australia)

<snip>

>How very curious I thought, but even more fascinating to me was
>the response by the audience at our UFO meeting. Some saw
>Blaine's levitation as a trick and offered ideas as anti-gravity
>plates under his shoes, invisible cables around his waist,
>others offered that spiritually advanced people have been
>reported as developing special abilities and maybe Blaine was
>one of them, while others just sat on the fence to wait and see.
>Later I wondered to myself if this might be at all reflective of
>our response to ETs landing on Earth.

Sheryl,

An interesting aside on the Blaine "Street Magic" special... The
producers mentioned several times during the broadcast that
there were no camera tricks used for Blaine's illusions.

Nonetheless, in the street scenes there are two versions of the
levitation illusion. One is a "demonstration" of the levitation
where Blaine is lifted by wires. The producers later explained
that those that were watching this particular "demonstration"
were aware of the wires, so no "trick" was involved. The other
instances of Blaine's levitation illusion involve a simple yet
startling parlor trick that depends on a highly specific viewing
angle and the ability to raise ones weight onto the ball of one
foot with little apparent effort. Under the proper circumstances
it is a truly amazing illusion.

Blaine's illusions are very popular because they appear to be so
impromptu... not staged. This is Blaine's talent, whether
through innate ability or extended practice or both. He dresses
in jeans and a t-shirt. His nonchalant manner is deceptive of
his extreme control over the perception of those watching.
Devilishly clever! :)

The gullibility of an audience watching a magic show, the
willful suspension of disbelief, is an apt area of study for
those involved with investigating UFO cases. The reactions of
magic show patrons reflect the variety of reactions found in the
UFO literature. It is precisely this dynamic which you observed
at the conference. The environment was such that those present
felt at ease letting the imagination run with it. In a different
but equally manipulative setting, perhaps the timbre of the
discussion would have been more sober and concrete and less
theoretical.

I use the term manipulative in a non-pejorative sense here...
UFO conferences are in the ideal a good environment for
encouraging the imagination. We start to stagnate a little when
we stop letting our imagination take us away a little now and
then. Hence the popularity of magic shows even among those that
do not believe in it.

I honestly wonder how many truly unusual objects are seen every
day, and dismissed as nothing but a misperception... and go
unreported.

Thanks for the post!


Kyle