Acts of Violet(71)
Which lends credence to Volk’s sincerity about wanting to clear the air.
“I can’t control other people’s opinions. I also can’t control every single aspect of a stage show that requires dozens of people to make it work. It’s not for lack of trying—I’m one of the bossiest bitches you’ll ever work with. But I can’t do every person’s job for them. If I could, there wouldn’t have been any accidents. I had the hottest ticket in Vegas and didn’t need to endanger lives to pack the house. Even if that wasn’t the case, I would never, ever willingly put someone in harm’s way for attention. I never claimed to be an angel, but I’m not that level of asshole, either.
“Some magicians safeguard their shows more than others. For example, our saws had modified chains with no teeth … not everyone uses them, and it can go badly, like one guy who accidentally sawed through his wife’s neck and killed her. Then there are effects that are gonna be dangerous, no matter what. The Bullet Catch goes smoothly ninety-nine times, and the hundredth time you can still get shot in the face. Do all the risk management you want, but you’ll never get it to be a hundred percent safe. Accidents happen even when you’re a pro.”
This is true. Stage magic has its share of hazards and tragic stories of lives lost while practicing or performing. The deadliest trick in all of magic, the aforementioned Bullet Catch, has claimed the lives of at least twelve magicians and has also killed or injured countless assistants and spectators. Other magicians have died from suffocation while being buried alive, drowning before they could escape a water tank—back in the day, one magician even died from accidentally swallowing a straight razor.
All of which is to say, Violet Volk’s magic show wasn’t the first to bear a fatality and, sadly, will likely not be the last.
“I can give you two reasons why accidents kept plaguing my show, neither of which has to do with grabbing headlines.
“Reason one: after the first accident, people got nervous. Someone got hurt, so everyone started acting extra careful. They were paying so much attention to each little detail of their performance, it became less fluid. When you rehearse a routine enough times, it becomes ingrained in your mind and body until it’s a natural extension of you. It gets to a point where you don’t need to think because muscle memory takes over. But that first accident made a lot of the performers start overthinking the routines. Which made them more self-conscious. And when you get self-conscious, you’re not gonna be in the flow, and you’ll be more prone to making mistakes. I think that’s why there was a second accident, then a third, then a fourth. It set off this unfortunate chain reaction.”
I’m curious to learn what this second reason is, and Violet can tell she has me on the hook, but something in the quirk of her mouth dares me to be less predictable. So instead of waiting for her to provide this second reason, I take the dare and go back to the topic of Higher Dimensions. I ask what she meant about not getting the full story.
This seems to instantly revitalize her. She moves the drink pitchers aside so she can lean in closer and lowers her voice, as if we might be overheard.
“I think there are things science either can’t or won’t explain. There are ancient tribal mythologies involving shadow people, and some claim to see them to this day. Who’s to say they aren’t some sort of interdimensional beings? I haven’t seen them myself, but I’ve seen other strange shit. Orbs, weird distortions. Before you ask, no, I wasn’t on drugs—I don’t take them, remember?—and yes, my carbon monoxide detector was working properly.
“It’s more than reality glitching out. I think we’re catching hints or residue of these other places. This book proposes that some enlightened beings—your Buddhist monks, Indian gurus, South American shamans—are able to raise their consciousness to levitate, teleport, all kinds of wacky stuff. Then you have theorists who believe multiple worlds exist on different vibrational wavelengths, but we’re tuned into a single one. I don’t know, it seems like those more enlightened individuals have already found a way to tune into other wavelengths. I just wish that this book would tell me how to do it, specifically, step-by-step, instead of vaguely chalking it up to deep meditation.”
Once again, I’m rendered speechless. Violet seems disappointed that I have nothing to add, so she returns to the topic of her Vegas show.
“Anyway, the other reason I think all the accidents were happening—and I expect to get shit for this, but I’ll say it anyway—was because the show was cursed. Not in a witchy way, per se … I hate the term ‘witchcraft,’ it’s so reductive and stigmatized. But I do believe people can influence the world around them with their energy.
“When my sister and I were little, we were once playing on the beach in Brigantine and this creepy old lady walking by told my parents what a pretty little girl Sasha was. As soon as she walked away, Sasha cut open her foot on a broken bottle in the sand. You might call that a coincidence. My mom called it the evil eye. From that day on, she made us wear red strings tied around our wrists to ward us from it.
“Intentions can manifest themselves in the real world, in a negative or positive way. After feeling like I was the target of so much negative energy, I used that as fuel, determined to transform it into something beautiful. That’s how You Are Magic came about. My hope is that the book and the seminars will empower people to channel their intentions toward the positive.”