American University Professor Reveals Magic Abilities

 Professor Barry Gordemer (middle) explaining his magic trick to students at American

University on Thursday, Oct. 2, 2014.  (Photo by Jaclyn Merica) 

Students at American University watched Professor Barry Gordemer control their minds during a magic

trick last Thursday. Gordemer said he's inspired by the movie Star Wars and Obi Wan Kenobi's ability

to control people's minds, so he learned how to do that, too.

It all started when Gordemer pulled out a pack of cards in front of his class and explained that he used to be a magician. The professor for a “Writing for Communication” class called himself “The Sort of Amazing Barry”. Before beginning, Gordemer reminded each student that “you think you're in control here, but you're not.” He put his students into groups and gave each group five cards. Gordemer told the groups to choose a card with “as little speaking as possible.” He collected the cards and shuffled the deck. He then laid the cards out in five rows on the table. Gordemer asked each group to let him know when his hand was over the row with their card in it. Then he sensed a strong pulse from a card in the row, which meant he had found the group's card.

Gordemer hold his hand over the row of cards during a magic trick.

(Photo by Jaclyn Merica)

Gordemer began with the first group and lifted his hand to the rows. Once group one told him which row their card was in, he correctly guessed “Queen of Clubs”. He moved to the next group and correctly guessed the “King of Diamonds”. However, Gordemer was stumped by the next row and asked if he could come back later to that group's card. He gave the third group an envelope to hold on to while he guessed the other groups' cards.

Gordemer correctly guessed the other two groups' cards and returned to the group with the envelope. He asked a group member to open up the envelope he had given them earlier. Inside was a piece of paper with their card, the Ace of Clubs, written on it.

The class gasped and asked how he did that. American University Sophomore Kirsten Klohr said, “I was watching his hands to see how he was tricking us, but I couldn't find anything! It seems like he knew what we were thinking.” Students were waiting for Gordemer to mess up because they didn't believe he could do it. Student Federica Degwitz even thought Gordemer had messed up when he told the group “I'll come back to you”.

The trick inspired other students to get involved with magic. Sophomore Bryna Kramer said “Magic is really cool and intriguing. Now I want to learn the trick and amaze other people.”