Elemental Science
By Professor Spellbinder

Based on an idea proposed by Dr. Steve Murray (docsteve at The Magic Café)

Four people are asked to select one of the four elements, earth, air, fire, water. As each chooses, he or she writes down the choice on the front of a sealed envelope. The last remaining envelope is designated the "Spirit" element and is hung on a ribbon for later use.

The Tattwa symbols pictured above are also used in the routine.

Each person also writes a random number from 1 to 1000, and a date from among the past ten years. On opening each envelope it is discovered that each envelope contains a newspaper clipping from the chosen date, and that each element represents a natural disaster; earthquake, hurricane, wildfire, flood. In each disaster, the news story states the number of people killed- the same as the number chosen by each spectator.

Before opening the fifth "Spirit" envelope, a die is rolled to select a random number from 1 to 6. This matches the exact number of victims found in a news clipping of a current story in today's paper about a murderer with a troubled spirit.

Note: The routine as written requires two assistants, but methods of cutting out one of the assistants are discussed.

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