By GAIL LOWE
WAKEFIELD — The weather Wednesday night was dark and stormy, just the right backdrop for Rory Raven’s (O’Brien) visit to the Beebe Library.
The timing was right, too, since Halloween is Friday night.
Raven, a mentalist and mindbending author, was invited to the Beebe Library to showcase his mind bending talents and an audience of about 30 people filled Lecture Hall on the lower level to watch him in action. He did not disappoint.
Raven says he is neither a psychic nor a magician. He tells people what he does leaves them talking about it for the rest of their lives. And no wonder.
There were audible gasps heard during his presentation when Raven correctly guessed the Ace of Diamonds and Jack of Hearts chosen out of a deck of cards by volunteers.
Raven joked with the audience throughout his one-man show and told us how he got his start as a mentalist extraordinaire.
“I got some disease like the measles or mumps when I was a kid and my parents put me in a dark room,” he said. “My sisters read Edgar Allen Poe stories to me.”
He then went on to read Dracula and Sherlock Holmes books and eventually thought he might become an English teacher but then found a niche as a mentalist.
At one point during his presentation, he asked if anyone in the audience had artistic talents. One man volunteered to draw something out of the ordinary — nothing simple like a flower, house or tree.
Raven then gave the volunteer artist a sketch pad and asked him to go to work on his drawing.
While the drawing was in progress, Raven correctly identified what another volunteer was holding — first, a Galvin Middle School teddy bear wearing a pink sweater and second, a Tupperware container with a blue cover — all while blindfolded with duct tape and a black eye mask.
He also practiced psychokinesis and bent forks and spoons to the amazement of the audience.
Meanwhile, the artist completed his drawing and was asked to bring the sketch pad to the front of the room and place it face down on the floor. He was then instructed to stand on the sketch pad while Raven attempted to draw a similar sketch.
And when Raven revealed his drawing, it very nearly matched the Elvis drawing done by the volunteer.
Raven also read minds as part of his presentation — one volunteer was thinking of someone named Carl. Another person was thinking about Salt Lake City. Yet another was thinking about April 1.
And Raven guessed each one correctly.
How he manages to read minds, bend spoons and guess what someone has drawn is a mystery. The secrets of his talents might involve a simple explanation but he won’t tell. Regardless, Raven’s presentation was both mesmerizing and entertaining.
He also had copies of his book on hand — “Gallows Hill” — a fictional account of a murder investigation in the middle of Halloween season set in none other than Salem.
Police Detective Andrew Lennox deals with tourists, self-styled witches, college students, tarot card readers, local politicians, retired police and recent immigrants and soon discovers that everyone in Salem keeps secrets — and some people will even kill to keep them.
Visit www.roryobrienbooks.com for more information. The book sells for $12.95 and contains 226 pages.