Playing Cards with the Devil
Happy Halloween my magical friends (or should that be fiends!). 🎃👻💀🦇
The image of a magician playing cards with the Devil (or a demon) holds a significant place in the history of magic, becoming a popular motif among turn-of-the-century magicians in the early twentieth century. This theme is closely related to the well-known trope of “Chess with Death”, where a character engages in a contest with the Grim Reaper, Satan, or another supernatural entity, often facing dire consequences if they lose.
The first time I encountered this odd situation was in the pages of the Terry Pratchett Discworld novel Small Gods:
“Death looked long and hard at the board. The abbot waited to see what long-term, devious strategies were being evolved. Then his opponent tapped a piece with a bony finger. REMIND ME AGAIN, he said, HOW THE LITTLE HORSE-SHAPED ONES MOVE.” 1
If you’re a regular reader of the blog, you’ll know that I’ve been developing a taste for bizarre magick presentations. I don’t consider myself a bizarre magician like Tony Andruzzi—well, not in the traditional sense, and I don’t want to convince people that I’m the real deal or perform gory or shock magic. However, I’ve always held a strong admiration for bizarre magick and its practitioners because of its unique ability to touch the audience on a deeper emotional level than most ordinary magic does. In the same way that Ben Folds Five used to bill themselves as “Punk Rock for sissies”, then maybe I’m advocating “bizarre magick for wusses”! That is, applying story-based, bizarre magick-infused presentations to classic close-up magic tricks.
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| A poster depicting illusionist Alexander Fredrik, known as “Fredrik the Great”, playing cards with the Devil. |
One of the most famous images of this type is a window card titled “Carter Beats the Devil”, which shows the magician playing poker with the Devil (Carter holds four Aces to the Devil’s quartet of Kings). This poster is the cover art for the historical mystery thriller Carter Beats the Devil by Glen David Gold, a book that takes you back to the golden age of Vaudeville. While the novel is fictional, the story weaves in several true stories about the real-life illusionist Charles Joseph Carter.
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| The famous “Carter Beats the Devil” lithograph. Photo Credit: The Huntington. |
I love images like the ones above of Fredrik and Carter the Great. I’ve long thought that, since playing cards were once referred to as the Devil’s playthings or the Devil’s picture book, a story-based presentation featuring a “Magician versus the Devil” theme would create a very entertaining piece of card magic. Therefore, a few years ago, I started playing around with the idea of performing a version of Spectator Cuts to the Aces, but with a more Faustian feel. Instead of cutting to the four Aces, the spectator cuts to three Sixes—The Mark of the Beast—while you, the sinister magician, convieniently cut to a Seven!
Before my fascination with magic took root, I was drawn to the widespread popularity of ghost stories and eerie folk tales. One such tale, a migratory legend that has captured the imagination of Europe, is known in academic circles as “The Card Players and the Devil”. In this tale, a group of young men engage in a fateful card game with a stranger, who ultimately reveals himself to be the Devil. The stories often depict the men engaging in vulgar and immoral pursuits, such as arguing, swearing, staying out late, and drinking to excess. It was, most likely, propagated by the Church to curtail gambling. This legend, a shared cultural heritage across many European countries, has been classified as legend type ML 3015 by Norwegian folklorist Reidar Christiansen. It is this story that may well have influenced magicians such as Frederik and Carter. In this article, and because Halloween is nearly upon us, I’ve decided to continue the tradition of telling these spooky tales. Below, I’ve included some of my favourites, many of which originate in Ireland.
The Gamblers of Tyndrum
The first terrifying tale is my attempt at writing a short story based on one recorded and transcribed by the Scottish folklorist Calum Maclean in 1951, from the recitation of Archibald MacInnes of Achluachrach, Brae Lochaber in Scotland. 2 I’ve called it The Gamblers of Tyndrum.
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| Path to Heaven near Tyndrum. Photo Credit: detlef-kuonen via Flickr. |
In the bitter Scottish winters, when darkness held dominion from late afternoon until dawn, and the wind howled like a hungry ghost across the frozen moors, the farming folk of the Highlands gathered nightly around their fireplaces to play cards. In those days, “Catch the Ten” was the game of choice—a simple pleasure that kept idle hands busy during the long, bleak evenings.
It was on such a night in Tyndrum that a well-dressed gentleman appeared. No one heard a knock, no one saw him enter—he was just there. His towering figure compelled him to stoop beneath the ancient beams of the barn. The stranger’s smile was too quick, and the smoke from the hearth seemed to curl around him unnaturally. His piercing eyes captured the firelight in a disconcerting manner, and his elongated fingers danced across the cards with a swiftness and elegance that seemed scarcely human.
Round after round, the stranger won. Not once did fortune favour his opponents, though they were all skilled players who had spent countless winters mastering the game’s intricacies. The stranger’s sudden appearance and uncanny abilities left the farmers in a state of bewilderment. Each win only deepened the unease that had settled over the room. The players grew quiet, their earlier banter fading to tense whispers as their purses grew lighter and the night grew darker.
As the clock struck midnight and weariness draped over the gamblers like a heavy shroud, a card slipped from the stranger’s grasp, fluttering to the floor. When the farmer’s wife bent down to retrieve it, the flickering candlelight revealed a sight that froze the very breath in her lungs. To her horror, where the gentleman’s boots should have met the flagstones, she saw the grotesque, twisted hooves of a beast!
She wanted to scream, but wisdom stilled her tongue. With trembling steps, she made her way to the far end of the croft. There, among her precious things, lay a bottle of holy water blessed at the sacred springs of St. Fillan’s Well.
The drops of water fell like stars in the firelight, scattering across the room. When they touched the gentleman, the air itself seemed to rupture. With an unholy shriek that set dogs barking for miles around, the sinister stranger was suddenly engulfed in a plume of blue and white flames. His form dissolved into a column of writhing smoke. Up the chimney, it roared, so hot it cracked the stones, leaving behind only a handful of playing cards, their edges singed black as the night sky.
A thick, sulphurous stench clung to the croft for days afterwards. The chimney stones still bear the scorch marks, and on certain nights, when the wind howls fiercely across the moors, wisps of brimstone-scented smoke curl down from the blackened stones, though no fire burns below. Some swear you can still hear the faint shuffle of cards and the sound of hooves on the flagstones. But no one plays “Catch the Ten” in Tyndrum anymore. Some games are best left unfinished.
Hellish Houses
These stories of men gambling with the Devil often feature a “big house” located in Ireland, Scotland or Wales, such as Loftus Hall, County Wexford, or the Hell Fire Club in County Dublin.
In most of these stories, the Devil appears as a well-heeled gentleman. However, in one of my favourites, he takes the form of a black cat! 3 🐈⬛
The story is called Kilfane’s Haunted House (I’ve lightly edited the story for the sake of clarity):
Many years ago, a very rich man named Power lived in Kilfane, a village about seven miles from the city of Kilkenny. He had a beautiful house, which was kept for him by a great number of servants. Every day, he fared sumptuously, and he never ate a crumb without a visitor, be he a beggar, scholar, or chieftain.
His only pastime was card playing, and every night, he always had a full house. The game began every evening at seven o’clock and lasted until midnight.
One day, he invited two neighbours to play with him. The boys came, and when they did, the first thing they noticed was that their host always won. This went on for a week or so, and at last, the boys became suspicious because when they entered the man’s house every night, they were always followed by a black cat.
So the next night, one of the boys went to the parish priest, who told him the whole story. The parish priest immediately donned the boy’s overcoat and arrived at the house in due time. On entering, he noticed the black cat lying near his master’s chair. He began to play and soon noticed that it was by the aid of the black cat that he won every game.
At midnight, when the game ended and the cat was about to leave the room, the priest, with unwavering courage, jumped up and stepped in front of it, and then, from his coat pocket, he drew a bottle of holy water and a prayer book. Then he placed his hat on the wall and his cane in a corner of the room near the window. Then, he began to sprinkle the holy water and to read from his prayer book. As he read, the black cat became bigger and bigger and then disappeared through the ceiling in terrible fury, leaving a large opening that can still be seen today. Many carpenters have tried to mend it, but their work was all in vain because no sooner was the hole closed than the wood crumbled away in dust.
Note: You can read the original text at The Dúchas Project, a site which aims to collect, preserve and make available the National Folklore Collection (NFC) found at University College Dublin (UCD). This digital resource is particularly helpful when developing a bizzare magick presentation because it offers lots of authentic details that you can add to your performance scripts.
The Devil and the Ghostly Card Players 👿👻👻
This story is also based on one from the NFC called “The Ghost and the Card Players”. 4
Long ago, two brothers lived in Erriamore and were very fond of card-playing. When they were fifty years old, they died, and their ghosts often appeared.
One fateful night, a group of weary travellers, returning from a lively dance, stumbled upon an ancient house aglow with an otherworldly light. Intrigued by this unusual sight, they ventured inside, only to be met with a scene that defied all logic. There, in the dimly lit room, sat the Devil himself, a sinister figure with piercing red eyes and a sly grin, engaged in a game of cards with the two departed brothers. His every move was calculated, and his laughter echoed through the room.
As soon as the visitors laid eyes on the unexpected players, they vanished into thin air, leaving behind a lingering sense of disbelief and unease. The Devil, in the midst of extinguishing the flames that danced from his mouth during the game, was gone.
The Devil is a Dog! 🐕
And finally, here’s one for the dog lovers! 5
Legend has it that on a moonlit evening, a man named John, known for his love of card games, set out for a game, a pack of cards nestled in his pocket. As he ventured further from his home, the moon casting an eerie glow on the deserted streets, a large, ominous black dog began to circle him. In a panic, he cast his cards aside, and the dog vanished into the night. It is whispered that this dog was none other than the Devil himself, a chilling encounter that sent shivers down John’s spine and left him questioning the nature of his beloved pastime.
This story highlights a curious superstition of old. In Ireland, walking at night with a pack of cards in one’s pocket was thought unlucky unless the deck was “báite” or “báiteach”, meaning it was split with one half of the cards facing the other. This intriguing belief could add cultural depth to a spooky tale you recount when performing your favourite rendition of Triumph.
High Card to Hell 🔥
Recently, I’ve been working on a handling of this plot inspired by Herb Zarrow’s “Revolver Aces” and the legend of the Card Players and the Devil. Here’s how it unfolds: the magician begins by cutting to the Seven of Clubs. The spectator, eager to beat this card, cuts to three Sixes in a row! The magician then offers the spectator a chance to win back his soul by locating the four Aces. The spectator makes a valiant effort and successfully finds three of the four Aces. Just when it seems like his soul is lost forever, the Seven of Clubs undergoes a miraculous transformation into the final Ace, saving him from a fiery fate!
As you’ve reached the end of this lengthy article, I will share the trick with you for free. Remember, once you learn the secrets of magic, you cannot unlearn them! Therefore, I encourage only those who truly wish to learn and perform the trick to continue reading the explanation.
Learn High Card to Hell 👈
Footnotes
Terry Pratchett, Small Gods, (London: Gollancz, 1992).
- Andrew Wiseman, “Playing Cards with the Devil,” The Calum Maclean Project, December 12, 2014, https://calumimaclean.blogspot.com/2014/12/playing-cards-with-devil.html.
Sr. M. Calasanctius, “Kilfane’s Haunted House,” dúchas.ie, https://www.duchas.ie/en/cbes/4758492/4748405.
An Br. Angelo Mac Shámhais, “The Ghost and the Card Players,” dúchas.ie, https://www.duchas.ie/en/cbes/4602676/4594620.
An Br. Angelo Mac Shámhais, “The Ghost and the Card Players (continued),” dúchas.ie, https://www.duchas.ie/en/cbes/4602676/4594621.
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