By Emily Rautenberg

Hart Welles - Jim Karol amazes students in Jacobus with his tricks.

Standing in the packed lobby of Jacobus, it was clear that the students of Stevens were anxiously waiting for the latest Duck After Dark event to begin: a show put on by Jim Karol, the "Psychic Madman." Karol had arrived earlier in the evening, and Rich Adamski, head of Duck After Dark, brought him to Pierce. Karol gave students a preview of the performance with card tricks - one involving a bruise appearing on his arm which mirrored the card the student thought of. Many of the students he met that evening came out to see him, not entirely knowing what to expect.

When the doors finally opened, every student received a ticket. Every ticket was different, with a ticket number, a movie, a country and its capital, and a bar code printed on it. Pizza and other refreshments were served, and once everyone was seated, the show began.

Allison Outwater, who was "shadowing" Adamski so she can take over Duck After Dark next year, introduced Karol. Karol has appeared on shows such as "Ellen Degeneres," "NBC's Today Show," "Phenomenon," and "The Tonight Show." He also appeared in the movie "Jackass Number Two," in which he threw cards at a man's butt. At first, no one knew what to think of him. One of the first things he said was that he got into magic because when he was young he tried to impress a girl by breaking a cinderblock over his head; then he told the audience that he was still married to her.

Karol's first main trick involved three volunteers: Sean, Deana, and Matt. Matt pulled out a three of hearts from Karol's deck. Karol then proceeded to tear up the card, giving a small piece back to his volunteer. Matt held a balloon, and Deana held two melons, which elicited a couple of chuckles.

Karol told the audience he was reenacting a "Star Trek" scene, in which he would beam the object to the mother ship, which was orbiting "Uranus"... of course pronounced "Your-anus." First, he said he would make the card appear in the balloon, but then showed the audience it clearly was not there. Next, he told the audience that perhaps it wound up inside one of the melons. Picking one of them, he instructed Deana to hold it over the head of the nearest man, who happened to be Stevens' own Nick Catania, SGA President.

Koral then pulled out a large knife and demonstrated how sharp it was... by slicing into his own arm. Laughing, he pulled it out and showed the audience it was a trick knife. Pulling out another, much larger one, he dropped it to the floor so that it stuck in the stage. Yep... that one was real. Next, he prepared to throw the knife at the melon on Catania's head... needless to say, Catania is still alive and well, and the knife was not thrown. Instead, Karol took the melon and sliced it open himself, revealing a card, a three of hearts, with a small piece missing - the piece that was still in the first volunteer's hand.

Next, Karol picked two new volunteers, Matt, who received a blue deck of cards, and Leena, who received a red deck. Matt took the top card, looked at it, and placed it in his pocket. Taking a second card, he placed it in his pocket without looking, simulating the idea of Black Jack.

Karol then proceeded to tell the audience he knew Matt's card must be a spade and a number card. Sure enough, he rightly guessed it was the two of spades. The next card, however, he needed some help with. Another volunteer had rubbed the card, and it wound up inside Matt's pocket. After much uncomfortable rubbing, Karol predicted the card would be a five of clubs. Of course, he was right.

Leena picked two cards from her deck as well, one of which Karol stuck to the ceiling of Jacobus (which may still be there) by throwing the deck at the ceiling. Somehow, only the ace of clubs stuck. Next he threw more cards, except this time at Leena. The queen of hearts, her second card, wound up in her shirt.

Other fun tricks followed, until Karol decided it was time to show off his amazing memory. He asked the audience for some out of area zip codes and then proceeded to tell a girl from Texas and a guy from Massachusetts exactly what areas they were from. As it turns out, he has over 80,000 zip codes memorized, along with all of the countries of the world, and their capitals. As for the tickets each member of the audience received, he had those memorized too, including the bar codes.

Even more impressive than the extensive amount of facts that he had memorized was his seemingly "psychic" gift, and his ability to pass on his skill to another person. After picking a student from the audience, he gave a small whiteboard to a girl in the audience and asked her to write down her birthday without showing it to anyone. He then "passed" his abilities to the student on the stage.

Half laughing, believing he would be wrong, the student asked, "Are you an Aquarius?" The answer, of course, was yes, and her birthday, correctly guessed, was February 8. Next, Karol asked another girl to write down the color of her panties, and the student guessed green. Though this was never proven to the audience, she led them to believe he was right.

Karol also tried to convince the audience that "pain is all in your mind" after he almost set a real bear trap on another student's fingers. Instead he did it to his own fingers, which appeared to be extremely broken.

His last major mind trick was an "electric chair," which shocked students if they lied. Three guys were chosen to be asked yes or no questions by Karol and the audience. The first student was surprisingly honest, even admitting that he has "checked out other guys and compared when he was in the showers." He was not shocked.

The next student, Matt, seemed much more nervous, and was asked, "Do you love your girlfriend" and "have you ever cheated on your girlfriend?" He honestly replied no to both questions. When asked "have you ever thought about cheating on your girlfriend," however, hejumped about a foot off his stool after replying with a simple "no."

The third student, however, was asked questions like, "do you want Matt's girlfriend," and "have you ever checked out Matt's girlfriend." He replied "no" to both questions, and seemed very uncomfortable, scrunching his nose and holding on to his chair, clearly receiving shocks.

After, he scared the entire audience, making them believe he would shock them next, but he refrained, closing the show. He stayed after for a couple hours, showing more tricks and speaking with a bunch of the students. This Stute writer had the pleasure of talking to him personally, and found out Karol only started teaching himself how to expand his memory at the age of 49. He used to work in a steel mill and claims he struggled through college. He is now 58, and continues to learn every day. "I exercise my mind like an athlete exercises their body." Karol seeks to prove that he can teach others how to expand their own minds. He believes it is "never too late" to learn and defends that "I am not a freak. This is all self-taught. I think I can change education."

To sum it all up, the event was a huge hit. Adamski said they had over 100 people attend and are excited to have Karol back next year. Several years back, Karol put on a show, and Kristie Damell, Associate Director of Student Life, suggested he come back. The Stevens students were clearly in approval of this decision and cannot wait to see more. "I didn't know what to think the entire time," Nick Catania stated afterwards, clearly surprised and impressed. In Jim Karol's own words, he is "Rocky Balboa meets Rain Man in a nutshell."

http://www.thestute.com/mobile/psychic-madman-shocks-stevens-students-literally-1.2604348

Jim Karol will be making his 8th appearance on Coast to Coast with George Noory tonight at 1am EST. Jim will talk about his latest bizarre dream, his new book "Psychic Madman", his upcoming TV series and several other things that YOU won't want to miss.

Jim Karol signed a deal with Powderhouse Productions from Boston and will be developing his own TV series for a major cable network. The series may be up and running as early as early as January 2011. Details of the series will be coming soon!

Jim Karol and his new friend Montel Williams visited some of the injured troops at Walter Reed Hospital in DC last week. Jim plans on returning again in July and has a big event planned with the USO in October.

Jim Karol is planning to participate in at least three World Poker Tour tournaments later this summer and Fall. Jim and new manager Ed Crowston are becoming avid poker players and will be heading to the Borgata and Foxwood events.

Jim is currently in negotiations for a "One Hour" special with TV agent David Steinfeld. The special may be shot in August and aired later in the Fall.

Jim Karol is scheduled to perform at Saturday Night Spectacular on February 6th the night before the Super Bowl. The event will be hosted by Jim Carrey and Jenny McCarthy and is one of the biggest Super Bowl parties each year.

Jim Karol performed a couple of shows last month at the Palms Casino in Las Vegas. Jim teamed up with fellow mentalists Guy Bavali and Banachek. The show was called "Purely Mental" and will return to Vegas later this Spring.

Jim Karol's new book "Supermind" will be coming to a book store near you this March. The book will reveal some of the unusual stories that occurred in Jim's life along with some of the incredible people that he has met. Jim also reveals some of his tricks of the trade and tips for improving YOUR memory.

Jim Karol will be teaming up with Mike Super and Steve Banacek for a showcase at the Palms Casino in Las Vegas. The show will take place in November with the hopes of being picked up full time. Mike Super was the winner of NBC's Phenomenon and Banacek is one of the top Mentalist's in the world.

Jim Karol performed last night in Downtown Cleveland in party held to welcome Shaq to the Cleveland Cavaliers. Over 700 people attended the event, including numerous players from the baseball and basketball teams. More than a thousand people lined the street waiting to get a peek at Shaq. Jim also had the opportunity to have dinner with Shaq and hang out for a few hours, showing Shaq tricks. "Shaq is one of the coolest people that I ever met". JK

Jim Karol became a grandfather on Saturday when his daughter Adrian gave birth to a bouncing baby boy. The baby was named "Michael Angelo Colosimo" and is Jim's first grandchild.

Jim Karol will be Hosting and performing in Downtown Cleveland on Sunday to help welcome Shaq to Cleveland. Also scheduled to appear at the event are Lebron James and several Cav's along with several players from the Cleveland Indians.

Jim Karol performed in Dallas last night in front of some of his favorite Cowboy players from a few years back. Emmitt Smith, Tony Dorsett, Jay Novacek, Darren Woodson, Ed "Too Tall" Jones and Bill Bates were just some of the ex Cowboy greats in attendance.

Jim Karol is currently in negotiations with a major US casino for his show "Mind Games". No information can be released at this time, but we will keep you updated.

Jim Karol performed in Palm Springs on May 16 for the Karma Foundation. The following day while Jim was performing at the Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood, he experienced his first "minor" earthquake. Jim will be returning to LA again in June.

Jim Karol recently donated his "shock chair" to be sold for charity. Tom Yurasits, the original builder of the chair, has constructed two new chairs which promise to be even better than the original.

Jim Karol headlined Comic Strip Live and the show was a big hit. Several people commented afterwards saying that "Karol's show was was of the best shows they've ever seen".

Jim will be making seveal appearances in Las Vegas in July. His first appearance will be his regular stop at the World Series of Poker's "Ante Up For Africa" event. Jim will also be making appearances at a Las Vegas College and the Palms Casino. While in Vegas, Jim will also be meeting with a casino about a possible show beginning in the late Fall.

Jim Karol will be headlining tonights show at Comic Strip Live. In attendence at tonights show will be Robert Wachs and Richie Tienken, who will be taking a close look at Jim. Robert and Richie managed the career of Eddie Murphy for many years and co-produced several of his movies.

Jim Karol has performed at the Playboy Mansion three times and will be making his fourth appearance in June. Karol recently performed in Palm Springs for the Karma Foundation who is the main promoter of the event.

Jim Karol has become a regular guest on the national radio show Coast To Coast with George Noory. Tonight, Jim will make another guest appearance to talk about his card counting abilities and his prediction for the year 2012.

Jim will be performing at a private party which will have more that 20 Super Bowl champions in attendence. The party will be held at an undisclosed location in Atlanta.

Jim Karol performed at several Super Bowl parties in Tampa last week. His first appearance was the Leather and Laces party with Carmen Electra and Jenny McCarthy. Karol was also the MC and performed at Kevin Costner's event known as the Saturday Night Spectacular. The event was attended by numerous NFL players, coaches and owners along with several A list celebrities.

Jim Karol will be the MC at the Super Bowls BIGGEST party the Saturday Night Spectacular with Kevin Costner. This is the 2nd major event that Karol will be performing at in Tampa.

Jim Karol will be the MC and perform with Carmen Electra and Jenny McCarthy and this years Leather and Laces event at the Super Bowl in Tampa. This is one of the Hottest parties at the Super Bowl and Karol attended it last year in Arizona.

Jim Karol has made two appearances on Howard Stern and is about to make it three. On his first appearance, Jim made Howard's card appear in a very unique place and shocked Howard's interns with his "Truth Chair". On Jim's 2nd appearance, Jim used his mental abilities to burn Howard's and Robins wrist with tin foil and later had Howard read Robin's mind.