What a Weird Inn!
In Monthly Update #22 for my Ruseletter, a magic email newsletter that I publish on Substack, I mentioned a trick by Herb Runge called “Weird Inn” that was published in The Jinx (#128, 1940) well over eighty years ago. 1 In the article, I also shared my handling of the Weird Inn plot, which was inspired by a trick called “Weird Inn Revisited” by David Britland (see Genii Magazine, December 2020). More recently, David published another approach to the plot called “The Convention” (see Cardopolis 34).
If you haven’t read it already, you can learn my variation, called “Jokers, Jacks and Kings”, below (reading this tutorial will help you understand the premise and plot of the “Weird Inn”):
Learn Jokers, Jacks and Kings (opens in new tab/window) 👈
The “Weird Inn” involves the performer reciting a puzzling poem based on a logical fallacy. However, Herb did not include a magical effect in his routine; he merely suggested that the poem would serve as a good performable puzzle for magicians, accompanied by a diagram of the inn drawn on a large piece of cardboard or a blackboard. The poem, first published in 1883, was originally titled “Is It Possible?”. It is now more commonly called “The Innkeeper and the Travellers” or “The Nine Rooms Paradox”. 2
 |
| Image Credit: Canva Dream Lab/Marty’s Bag of Tricks. |
Here it is in full:
Ten weary, foot-sore travellers,
All in a woeful plight,
Sought shelter at a way-side inn
One dark and stormy night.“Nine rooms, no more,” the landlord said,
“Have I to offer you;
To each of eight a single bed,
But the ninth must serve for two.”A din arose. The troubled host
Could only scratch his head,
For of those tired men not two
Would occupy one bed.The puzzled host was soon at ease—
He was a clever man—
And so to please his guests devised
This most ingenious plan:In a room marked A two men he placed;
The third he lodged in B;
The fourth to C was then assigned;
The fifth retired to D;In E the sixth he tucked away,
In F the seventh man;
The eighth and ninth in G and H,
And then to A he ran,Wherein the host, as I have said,
Had laid two travellers by.
Then taking one—the tenth and last—
He lodged him safe in I.Nine single rooms—a room for each—
Were made to serve for ten;
And this it is that puzzles me,
And many wiser men.
After developing my handling of “Weird Inn”, I decided to find out if anyone else had attempted to turn the puzzle into a magical effect. Well, in October 1977, in The New Pentagram, Peter Warlock did just that—a mere 37 years after the idea was published in The Jinx!
Peter Warlock’s Approach
Peter’s solution involves using nine cardboard drinking cups, labelled A to I, to represent the rooms and ten blank playing cards to represent the travellers; see page 59 of The New Pentagram (Volume 9). The method is simple but effective: when you put two cards in cup A, you actually insert three by first performing a double lift. The use of cups to display the cards in a vertical orientation makes this trick suitable for platform or stage performances.
One aspect that Peter doesn’t address is how to conclude the effect. The routine becomes even more puzzling if you collect the cards from the cups and hand them to someone to count. When they discover that ten remain, they’ll be completely baffled, especially if they don’t detect the logical fallacy in the poem.
The only downside to this method is that it isn’t particualrly suitable for close-up performances where you might not have enough table space to dispaly the nine cups in a row.
Using Envelopes ✉
After reading Peter Warlock’s version of the Weird Inn plot, it occurred to me that when performing this in a close-up situation, such as a parlour show, it might be better to use envelopes to represent the nine rooms. A stack of nine envelopes takes up less space than a set of nine nested paper cups. Labelling the envelopes with a pen is also much easier, and using them makes it possible for a spectator to put a single card into each envelope as you recite the poem, making the trick a little more interactive.
The envelopes also provide more opportunities to steal out one of the ten cards. For example, introduce ten labelled envelopes, the tenth being envelope J. Have a spectator count the ten cards into your hand. Then, pick up the stack of envelopes, with envelope J on the bottom, and temporarily place them on top of the packet of ten cards. As soon as the envelopes cover the packet, push the top card to your right with your left thumb, feeding it between your right fingertips and the underside of envelope J. Once the card has been stolen, immediately drop the packet to the table (or hand it back to the spectator).
Deal the envelopes on the table in an overlapping row, from right to left. Keep the final envelope (J) in your hand, with the tenth card hidden below it. Explain that one of the rooms is being “renovated”, so it cannot be occupied. Suiting actions to words, place the envelope and the card hidden behind it into your inside jacket pocket (or your close-up case or bag). Once the rhyme has been recited and the cards removed from envelopes A to I, remove envelope J from your pocket, keeping the tenth card hidden behind it. Drop it on top of the nine-card pile, secretly adding the card to the packet. Gather up the envelopes, then, as an afterthought, instruct someone to count the number of cards. To everyone’s surprise, there will be ten again!
Rather than using ten blank cards, with images of the travellers drawn on them as Peter Warlock suggests, I’d be inclined to use two Jokers, four Jacks and four Kings to represent the ten travellers, as described in my variation of “Weird Inn” called “Jokers, Jacks and Kings”. Using these cards makes it easy to personify the objects as you recite the poem. It also reinforces the idea that there are ten travellers (because a group of two and two groups of four total ten).
Instead of stealing out a card, you can also use the exact same method that Peter describes in The New Pentagram with the envelopes. For example, have the ten cards in the following order, from the top down: J-J-JC-JH-JS-JD-KC-KH-KS-KD. Turn the packet face up and spread it across the table to clearly display ten cards (two Jokers, four Jack and four Kings). Pick up the cards, turn them face down, the flip the two top card (the Jokers) face up bookwise. Spread over the cards, establishing a left little finger breal below the top three cards as you square up. Lift off all three cards above the break in right-hand end grip. Using youe left thumb, displace the top Joker to the bottom of the packet, keeping it side jogged to your left to display the two face-up Jokers. Carefully square up. The Jack of Clubs has been secretly stolen off the packet and is face down between the two face-up Jokers. Slide this squared packet into envelope A.
When it’s time to transfer one of the Jokers to envelope I, you can allow a spectator to remove either the top or bottom Joker from the envelope. Just make sure they don’t accidentally take all three cards. It doesn’t matter whether they choose the top or bottom card, as both are Jokers. They won’t be able to feel that there are three cards in the envelope. Allowing them to remove one of the Jokers creates the impression that only two cards are in the envelope. The psychology at work here is that if something sneaky were happening, you probably wouldn’t let a participant handle the envelope at all.
Once you’ve gathered up all the cards, slide the entire nine-card packet into envelope A. As an afterthought, take out the cards and get a member of your audience to count them. Much to their confusion, they’ll be ten again!
There are, of course, many ways to ditch one of the ten cards. One idea that I particualrly like is to perform a preliminary trick with, say, the four Jacks or Kings. Regular readers of Marty’s Bag of Tricks will know that I have an unhealthy obsession with Dr. Daley’s Last Trick; I have a handling called “Pocket Aces” which enables you to secretly transfer a chosen card to your pocket (without palming) during the course of the two-by-two transposition. This same trick would enable you to secretly ditch one of the Kings in your jacket pocket, leaving you with nine cards on the table instead of ten. I’m not going to share the details here because it will make this blog post far too long. However, if you’re interested in this approach, I’ll be sharing “Pocket Aces” in my regular Ruseletter column called Packet Trick Paradise. If you’re not a subscriber, then maybe now is a good time to join Marty’s Magic Ruseletter!
Instead of starting with ten cards, you can begin with a packet of nine (J-J-JC-JH-JS-JD-KC-KS-KH). Remove the cards from an envelope and flip the top two (the Jokers) face up bookwise. As you turn the cards face down again, injog the top card with the aid of your right thumb. With your right hand, pick up both cards from above by contacting the injogged Joker with your right thumb, lifting the two Jokers off the packet, and dropping them on the table.
Next, do exactly the same with the four Jacks. However, push down on the injogged card (the Jack of Diamonds), leaving it on the left-hand packet. You have apparently dropped the four Jacks (?) on top of the two Jokers on the table. In truth, you’ve only dropped three of them to the table. Spread the cards between your hands to prove you have four remaining. Square up, turn the packet face up and perform a Jordan Count to display the four Kings. Pause a moment, then perform an Elmsley Count, again showing four Kings. Yes, you’ll be displaying the King of Hearts twice. However, if you only call attention to the number of cards, not their values, and refer to them as “travellers”, this discrepancy will go unnoticed. Flip the packet face down, then slowly deal the four cards, one at a time, on top of the pile of cards already on the table, counting “Seven, eight, nine, ten...” as you add the four cards to the pile. You have displayed ten cards and dealt them to the table. In reality, there are only nine cards in the pile.
From this position, you can instruct a spectator to pick up the cards, turn them face up and put the two Jokers in envelope A. They can then continue putting cards into the other eight envelopes as per the instructions in the poem. As a final flourish, you can produce the King of Diamonds from a surprising location, e.g., from under your hat. This will give the impression that you secretly sneaked it out of the packet somehow, leading your audience down the garden path and making them falsely believe they understand the modus operandi of the trick.
Using this nine-card handling, you can perform the trick with just nine envelopes, nine cards and no deck.
Using Coins
One alternative approach worth considering is the use of coins and cups. For example, a simple way to perform this trick involves using nine regular coins and one matching expanded shell. Begin by displaying ten coins in a row on the table, and nest one of the coins inside the shell while you pick them up. To make handling the coin effortless and prevent the coin from accidentally separating from the shell, you can place a small amount of Blu Tack (or any other brand of adhesive putty) inside the shell. This will turn the shell into a locking unit.
Next, drop the nested coin into cup A, and then place another coin on top of it. Allow a spectator to take coins from your hand and drop them into the appropriate cup as you recite the “Weird Inn” poem. When the “tenth” coin is moved from cup A to cup I, carefully remove the regular coin (not the nested shell) from cup A and hand it to your participant to drop into cup I.
To conclude the effect, tip the contents of cup I into cup H, then transfer the two coins from cup H into cup G, and continue this process until all coins are back in cup A. As you remove the coins from the cup, unnest the expanded shell to make the tenth coin reappear.
🪙🪙🪙🪙🪙🪙🪙🪙🪙🪙
It is also possible to perform the routine with ten regular coins and ten cups. Put some repositionable glue or double-sided sticky tape on the bottom of cup J. Take ten pennies and drop them one at a time into cup J. Then tip the coins into a spectator’s open hand. Due to the glue/tape, the first coin dropped into the cup will remain in there. Place cup J mouth side down, to indicate that this room is “being rennovated” and is out of action.
Another handling technique I’ve developed using cups and coins is based on Terry Lynn’s “The Lynn Pennies,” which uses ten regular coins and nine cups. The full handling will be published in my regular Ruseletter column called Easy Does It later this month; keep an eye out for a trick called “The Lynn Inn”! I’m very pleased with this routine and will be keeping this one exclusive to paying Ruseletter subscribers. However, readers who are familiar with “The Lynn Pennies” should be able to work out a handling of the “Weird Inn” based on the core mechanics of this classic coin trick.
Using Other Items
Instead of using coins, you can use any small objects that are all alike, such as marbles, Lego bricks or match sticks. Utilising ten “match stick men” could be a fun way to stage a performance of the “Weird Inn”. The advantage of using matches is that it is very easy to finger palm a single match and then ditch it in your pocket as you retrieve another item, such as a drawing of the inn on which you can place the matches in their respective rooms.
 |
| Matches can be used to represent the weary travellers. Photo Credit: motointermedia via Pixabay. |
One bonus of using matches is that you can also use them to play some classic match stick puzzles with your audience. Here’s a good example of one that might work well before you perform the “Weird Inn”:
| A classic match stick puzzle. Video Credit: @SacramentoEscapeGames via YouTube. |
Another unique way to perform the “Weird Inn” is to purchase or create a copy of the historic board game “Three Men’s Morris”. This game is a simpler version of the more common “Nine Men’s Morris”; the board for “Three Men’s Morris” has nine spaces or intersections, making it a convenient way to represent the inn’s nine rooms. Typically, it is played with six counters, referred to as the “men,” in two different colours. So you’ll need ten counters of the same colour to perform the trick, along with the board.
Roberto Giobbi’s Handy Handing! ✋
In Roberto Giobbi’s Secret Agenda, the entry for January 2 is called “Presentation and Handling for Six Guests in Five Rooms”. 4 This is Roberto’s very clever adaptation of “Weird Inn” using nothing more than your two hands and ten digits! This routine doesn’t use the rhyming patter and Giobbi has reduced the number of travellers from ten to six. However, you could use a truncated version of the poem if you so wished (the rhyme would need to be rewritten to only involve six rooms, A to F). The use of the fingers reminds me of the old “I have eleven fingers” trick (see the video below by Eric Surf for a performance):
| Watch Eric Surf perform the “Eleven Fingers” trick. Video Credit: @ericsurf6 via YouTube. |
Imagine the laughter you could elicit by performing this after Giobbi’s “Six Guests in Five Rooms” as a humorous pseudo-explanation, e.g., “Do you want to know how this puzzle works? I have eleven fingers!” This type of visual stunt is a great way to keep your audience entertained and amused between more serious magical effects.
You can purchase an electonic version of Secret Agenda direct from Roberto Giobbi’s website for €58 (approx. £50 or $60).
Final Thoughts
The “Weird Inn” is an engaging performance puzzle that provides a refreshing alternative to a more traditional magic trick. The disappearance and subsequent reappearance of one of the “men” adds depth to the poem, making it more puzzling and enhancing the overall mystery of the “Weird Inn”.
I hope this article has motivated you to try it. If you do, please let me know by posting a comment below.
Footnotes
Theodore Annemann, “Unique Puzzles,” The Jinx, no. 128 (1940): 739. https://askalexander.org/display/15822/Jinx+No.+127/6.
Harper’s Young People (Harper & Brothers, 1883), 448. https://archive.org/details/harpersyoungpeop00newy1883/page/448/mode/1up.
Peter Warlock, “The Weird Inn,” The New Pentagram, Volume 9 (1977): 59.
Roberto Giobbi, “Presentation and Handling for Six Guests in Five Rooms,” Secret Agenda (2019): 4-5.
Comments
Post a Comment