Mind blowing Mind meddler

Neal Kirmer Staff Writer

Wizard? Witch? Entertainer?

At 7 p.m. on Feb. 7 in the McCasland Ballroom in the MCC, Cameron University’s Programming Acitivities Council (PAC) hosted mind meddler, mentalist and comedian Troy Peters.

Peters wowed the crowd with his ability to seemingly read the thoughts of those in attendance.

He accurately read the thoughts of those selected to participate, which included knowing what word from a book the attendee was reading, or what type of animal they were thinking of.

Peters is also billed as a mentalist. Those who practice mentalism demonstrate highly developed mental or intuitive abilities, such as the ability to guess when an audience member is thinking of a horse or the color red (more on the color red later).

Those who are adept at mentalism use the power of suggestion and the ability to read body language to predict what people are thinking.

The performance by Peters was a showcase in the abilities of mentalists. Peters began the show by correctly identifying three things that audience members were thinking of, well almost correctly.

He correctly guessed that one audience member was thinking of a horse and that another was thinking of broccoli.

When Peters asked a third participant to think of a number, he was slightly off in his guess on what number the audience member was thinking of; however, several other people in the audience had the same number that Peters predicted in their heads it was just that their brain waves were louder than the participants. That is the power of suggestion. Mentalists are not actual mind readers or psychics. They use the power of suggestion, along with the body language and mannerisms of those they are “reading” to predict the outcome of the questions asked.

At the end of his show, Peters asked a volunteer to color in a drawing however they saw fit. Peters correctly predicted that the volunteer would give the drawing a red shirt, yellow tie, green shorts and so on.

Peters was so sure in his prediction that he was wearing that exact outfit under his stage clothes, and revealed the attire to much laughter from the crowd. Even those in attendance had picked out these colors in that specific order.

Even for those who understand how this is done, knowing the how does not take away from the experience.

Cameron University student Marshall Sadler not only enjoyed the performance but also participated as a volunteer.

“I really enjoyed the show. I thought that it was really cool how he incorporated our free choices in his act,” Sadler said.

PAC hosted the event as part of a week-long list of activities for homecoming week.

PAC is dedicated to enhancing the college experience for those attending Cameron.

Jadance Black, a Cameron student who was involved in bringing Peters to campus, looks forward to bringing similar acts to Lawton.

“We focus on what people like to go to. We try to mix it up and get everybody something that they would like. We do novelties, crafts and shows like we saw tonight.” Black said.

As for the Mind Meddler himself, Peters said that he would love to come back to Cameron and perform again.

“I am really impressed with your campus,” Peters said. “[Cameron] Has very unique and interesting students. Tonight, was a small but energetic crowd, who were really into the show.”

For more information about events hosted by PAC, follow their social media accounts on Instagram (pac_ cu) and Facebook (PacCameronU).