If you get into mentalism, you’ve probably already heard of Richard Osterlind. I mean, he isn’t one of the great mentalists for nothing.
Today, we’re going to talk all about Richard Osterlind – his mentalism story and tricks.
Whether you’re a fan wanting to know more about him, or if you’re an aspiring mentalist looking for encouragement, this article is for you.
We’ll first talk about his history, then list some of the mentalism tricks that he is famous for.
So shall we?
Who is Richard Osterlind?
Richard Osterlind is a popular mentalist that is known for his uncanny ability to wow the crowd thanks to his mentalism tricks, confidence, and flexibility.
He is known to reveal answers so confidently even before knowing what it is. This is what leaves his audience in awe all the time.
But sheer confidence isn’t enough when it comes to mentalism. A big part of it is practice.
Osterlind has been practicing his mentalism techniques for 35 years. That’s almost 4 decades!
Despite being a popular mentalist, Richard Osterlind didn’t keep his secret to himself. He has written several books about mentalism and how you can learn to be a mentalist yourself. Some of his most popular works are Magic and Mind Mysteries Guide Book.
He’s also known for his videos about 13 mentalism tricks. In the latter part of this post, we’ll talk about some of the mentalism tricks he teaches that you can practice at home.
Check out this video for Osterlind’s 13 steps to mentalism:
Osterlind’s Journey to Mentalism
Osterlind’s journey to mentalism started when he was young, but he never thought that it would be his career path.
He was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, and spent most of his teenage life in the state. His father owned a tool shop which Osterlind helped him in. It was during his spare time there that he started practicing some magic tricks.
From one of his interviews, he talked about practicing with a set of greasy cards that was so old, he couldn’t play with them properly.
Nonetheless, he continued practicing until his friends and relatives noticed his talent and skill in the world of mentalism. He was later invited to do magic shows.
Before Osterlind started doing shows, though, he and his friends had originally planned to create their own music.
As a music graduate at the Western Connecticut State College, he and his friends built a studio to record songs.
It took a while for Osterlind to realize that mentalism and magic was the path he wanted to follow.
It was only when someone asked him to perform during a stag party that he discover his love for mentalism. From there, he got invited to do more shows.
During those shows, he met someone from an agency that would eventually book him to perform in even more shows.
In the past few decades, Richard Osterlind was able to do solo performances in trade shows, business events, and other large events. He was also invited to do a segment for Naruhodo! The World, a Japanese TV show.
Osterlind’s Accomplishments
Aside from being a household name in the mentalism industry, Richard Osterlind is also known for his Mind Mysteries video series.
These videos are a set of instructional guides showing some of the most popular mentalism tricks performed by him.
But what makes these videos so widely loved is how Osterlind educates his audience by also teaching them why these tricks work.
While not exactly a how-to in the world of mentalism and showmanship, the video is an entertaining guide for people aspiring to be like Richard Osterlind.
Other than Mind Mysteries, Osterlind also released a set of videos called Corinda’s 13 Steps to Mentalism starring Richard Osterlind.
Tony Corinda is one of the most famous mentalists of all time and the video series shows Richard Osterlind teaching about the tricks the former has done. It was also a visual version of Corinda’s mentalism book.
One can say that the appeal of both Corinda and Osterlind made Corinda’s 13 Steps to Mentalism a huge hit.
Today, Richard Osterlind has become a public servant in Kentucky, as well as an Arkansas frequent traveler.
He was also awarded the Milbourne Christopher Award for Contributions to the Art of Magic back in 2006.
Richard Osterlind’s Mentalism Tricks that You Can Do
Richard Osterlind is known for a lot of mentalism tricks, and we’re going to teach you two tricks he always does in his shows – the One Ahead and the Swami Gimmick.
One Ahead
One Ahead, also known as billet reading, is a principle of knowing one statement ahead to influence a person’s choices.
You’ll see in a lot of Osterlind’s older shows that this is a trick he will always do at the start of his program.
You might be asking, how do you know what pre-determined statement you’re going to use? That’s the beauty of the One Ahead – you get to pick whatever it is you’ll ask your audience.
It can be anything.
For example, you ask what their favorite color is and pretend to write your prediction on a post-it. But in reality, you’re not writing your predicted color and instead, you’re writing that they choose a wallet.
You put the paper on the side, and then you ask the color the person was thinking of. You keep that in mind and you ask another question.
A question could be in the likes of picking a number from 1-20. You then write a different answer in the post-it, which is the color they told you a few moments ago, and ask what the number they picked.
And then you ask them to choose between three things wherein the wallet is a part of the choices. You write your prediction, but in reality, you’re writing the number they told you.
Do you see the pattern here?
The trick here is writing an answer to your last question. And in between the start and finish, you ask a series of questions wherein you write the answer to your previous question after asking the second question.
You can see here that this is definitely not magic nor is it mind-reading. It’s only a matter of asking the person’s answer and pretending that you’ve already written it beforehand.
Swami Gimmick
The Swami Gimmick is also one of Richard Osterlind’s tricks.
It’s projecting that you already know the future, or rather, know what that person has thought of “in advance”. What you’re doing is writing their answer after they tell it to you.
Let me explain further. For example, you ask someone to think of a number from 1-1000.
Right after saying that, tell the person that you’re going to guess what it is and write on the notepad. The notepad you’re writing on is the swami gimmick.
Here’s the catch – you’re not writing any number yet. Rather, you’re writing the phrase “the number is” just to show that you’ve written something down.
And after doing that, you ask the person what that number is and you engage them in conversation. You could ask them about their plans today, what they like most about the city, you name it!
But while you’re talking to them, your thumb is already writing the number they said onto the notepad.
After your brief conversation, you segue to the number you asked for and then show what you’ve written in the notepad.
It’s simple, right? But how are you going to write down a number without anyone noticing it?
It’s how a swami gimmick is made – a small piece of lead will be picked up by your thumb which allows you to write down the number.
Check out this video to see how it works:
To hide the lead well, a thumb-shaped adhesive with a lead tip is hidden between the pages of the notepad. There’s going to be a small dent on the side that will help you find where the lead is placed.
And that’s it! That’s how you “predict” the future.
Conclusion
These are just some of Richard Osterlind’s mentalism tricks that he usually does during shows and corporate events. And if you’ll notice, none of these tricks talk about magic.
And even someone as great as Richard Osterlind does simple mentalism tricks that you can always try and perfect at home.