“Longview Asylum in Cincinnati, Ohio was opened in 1927 ‘for the safe-keeping,
comfort and medical treatment of such idiots, lunatics and insane persons of
this state as might be brought to it for these purposes.’ During the 1950s and
early 1960s, my mother volunteered at that hospital, helping brighten the
patients’ otherwise tedious and lonely days.
“Madeline Pierce, a resident of Longview in the 1930s, might well have been lost
to history had not workers demolishing the facility in 1984 discovered this crude
yet mysterious handmade packet of cards hidden within a rodent-infested
mattress in Room 1465, the room where, according to institution records,
Madeline Pierce spent a significant portion of her lifetime.
“Some have said that these cards possess unexplainable psychic powers.
Tonight, I am going to attempt to connect with those powers, which I believe
stem directly from Madeline Pierce herself.”
A spectator secretly selects one image from a packet of 30 possibilities.
From two matrices of the 30 images in different configurations, he
indicates only the rows in which his image is found.
“Now, please touch my fingertip with yours, and I will attempt to summon
the spirit of Madeline Pierce and ask that she guide me to your choice.”
Based on the results of his efforts, the mage concludes, “Perhaps
Madeline Pierce was neither an idiot, a lunatic, nor an insane person!
Perhaps she was just…different.”
What you receive:
A packet of 30 hand-made cards with colorful images of various objects,
wrapped in muslin cloth and tied with twine
A photograph of Longview Asylum, with a quote on the reverse
A photograph of Madeline Pierce
A two-sided layout of the 30 images in two different configurations
An instruction manual printed on parchment-like paper, complete with
suggested patter