Samuel Cox Hooker and his Rising Cards by Chris Wasshuber

Dr. Samuel Cox Hooker's Rising Cards have been an unexplainable fascination for nearly a century. Hooker first showed his effect in 1914, and in 1993 and 2007 John Gaughan gave abbreviated performances. Nobody who has seen the Hooker Rising Cards performed has ever been able to explain how such effects can be accomplished. This includes the most notable and most knowledgeable magicians from past and present. How can, from a borrowed and shuffled deck, any card called for rise in the fairest possible manner on a well lit stage only a few feet from the spectators?

This work is not just about how I think Hooker achieved these incredible effects, but about a fascinating man and the fascinating history of rising card apparatus. Samuel Cox Hooker and his Rising Cards will first examine three famous card rising apparatus: the Hofzinser card automaton, the Neyhart houlette, and Joseffy's rising cards. It then examines Hooker the person covering his private, scientific, and magic achievements.

This is followed by two theories of how the Hooker Rising Cards could be done. The first theory was purely based on my conclusions studying the historical record and is most likely not how it is done. The second theory arose from observations brought to me by individuals who have seen one of the 2007 reenactments and it can exactly replicate a core set of effects. I built a Lego prototype to prove that this mechanism works, is practical and indeed replicates the effects precisely. You will be able to see photos of the prototype and read a detailed description of it.

I have studied the historical records, I have extensively communicated with people who have seen Gaughan's reenactments in 1993 and 2007 and I have thought for countless of hours, pieced together clues, and applied my own understanding of magic methods and technology. However, it is not possible for me to say that one of my methods is 'the' method used by Hooker, but I have proven it is at least 'a' method. Potentially it is even a more practical method than the original method.

Samuel Hooker created his rising cards to stimulate magicians to think and come up with their own solutions and explanations and through that process of inquiry, to develop new methods and techniques. As a scientist this is a very natural way of learning. Nature exposes us to all kinds of mysteries, questions, and puzzles and scientists try to explain them. They conduct experiments and think logically about them to advance their understanding of nature. Fundamentally scientists are driven by nature’s secrets and want to understand and explain them. In the same way Hooker is presenting magicians with a mystery and he is asking us to think about ways how it could be done. Hooker himself solicited explanations from his spectators. This work is my answer to Hooker's solicitation.

This publication was written with this very spirit in mind. Perhaps it stimulates others to also think hard about new ways to achieve such effects. I have communicated with other magicians, some of them notable and recognized, who have developed their own theories about how Hooker did it. This lead to exciting and stimulating exchanges of ideas and critiques – exactly the kind of effect Hooker wanted to achieve with his “Impossibilities”.

(For a short biographical sketch published in a Google map click here.)

At the end of the book you will find a chronological record and reproductions of many articles and letters, including unpublished records, related to Samuel Hooker. This makes for fascinating reading regardless of if you agree with my theories or not.

[Please keep in mind that the book and ebook differ in the following way: All photos and illustrations which are color in the ebook are in b/w in the book. The book has been reformatted to a smaller form factor 6'' x 9''. Should I have the time to release a video of my prototype, then such a video will only be part of the ebook, not the book.]

Contents
Acknowledgment
Introduction
Other Famous Any Card Rises
- Hofzinser
- Neyhart
- Joseffy
Hooker the Person
How Could it be Done? (theory #1 - probably not)
- Hooker’s idea
- Boundary conditions
- Fundamental method
- Multiple methods for the same effect
- Afterthoughts
Card March
How Could it be Done? (theory #2 - much better)
People in the Know
Chronological Source Documents
1913, July
1914, April
1915, June
1915, August
1916, January
1916, March
1917, July 6th
1917, September 25th
1918, January
1918, February
1918, February 16th
1918, March 16
1918, March 23
1918, April 20th
1918, May 11th
1918, September
1927
1929, April 10th
1929, April 20th
1929, April
1929, April
1929, June
1929, June 10th
1929, November
Undated
1934
1935, January
1935, October 14th
1935, November
1936
1936, June 19th
1936, September
1936, November
1937, June
1937, July
1937, August
1939, January
1944
Undated
1945, July
1947, June
1949, April
1949, April
1949, June
1951, August
1955, February
1966, July 5th
1966, June
1966, October
1967, April (John Mulholland in Pallbearers Review and Magic Circular)
1970, July
1976
1993
1993, November, 6th (Gene Matsuura's personal notes)
1994, January
1994, January (Bill Miesel in Precursor)
1994, April
1994, May 9th
1995 (John Booth in Fine Art of Hocus Pocus)
2007
2007, November 9th
2007, December
2008, January
About the Author
About the Publisher
1st edition 2007, 109 pages.
word count: 55341 which is equivalent to 221 standard pages of text