Preston Heller knows what your favorite memory is and what you’d love to do in the future, even if you haven’t told him.
Especially if you haven’t told him.
During Thursday’s show at the Stephenson Memorial Library in Greenfield, Heller drew a picture of a flower almost identical to that of one drawn by 11-year-old Violet Fletcher, who had drawn hers hidden from view. He also intuited that she would love to be able to do a back-flip.
“I was pretty convinced,” said Violet.
Heller, a self-described “mentalist” who lives in Wilton, amazed and amused a full crowd with his displays of intuition, telepathy, and precognition. Each audience member wrote down their memories and wishes on small strips of paper, which they then dropped into a locked black box in the back of the room as they filed in to take their seats. Throughout the evening, Heller would randomly call out people’s names or initials and tell them what they had written.
Audience participation and cooperation were an essential part of Heller’s demonstrations, leading some in attendance to wonder whether he was a genuine clairvoyant or a talented magician.
“It has the potential to be totally bogus,” chuckled Aaron Spear, who himself was on the receiving end of Heller’s seemingly psychic abilities. “I was trying to get him to give me some information on the tactics he uses to do this stuff, but he wouldn’t tell me anything.”
Spear, a part-time assistant at the library, was, however, genuinely shocked by what would be Heller’s grand finale.
“That part was mind-blowing. I was at the library last Friday when Preston walked in and just dropped off this sealed manila envelope for us to bring to the event,” remarked Spear.
At the end of the night, Heller had two volunteers from the audience color in a photocopied picture of Sherman from the cartoon, “Mr. Peabody and Sherman.” While Heller’s back was turned, the volunteers selected colors from a collection of markers which they used to color in Sherman’s hair, shirt, pants, and shoes. After they were finished, Heller took the sealed manila envelope he had delivered to the library a week earlier and opened it to reveal that his colored picture of Sherman identically matched the colored picture the volunteers had just done.
The event was free, so Heller suggested that if they felt so inclined, audience members could put donations in a basket on their way out with all of the proceeds going to the Greenfield Food Pantry. Library Director and event organizer Julie Steenson collected over $80.