“This is huge. I can’t begin to tell you how important this is. I am very excited by this announcement. Mark is evil in the best way possible and I know this offering will delight those of us that have more than a little darkness in our hearts.” – Todd Robbins

If you are a devotee of…

• Close up magic…
• Mentalism…
• Bizarre magick…
• Séance…
• Spirit magick …

… listen up!

This is for you. I come to you today to announce the release of a collection like no other in the history of magic. I have always been drawn to things that are off the beaten path. I have nothing against the road more-travelled, but have always preferred it’s less-travelled sibling. And nowhere is that more true than in how I approach magic, in all of its forms.

When it comes to my magic, since practically the very beginning I have sought out effects, approaches and methods that others are not exploring. Material and methods that are not the norm. Again, I have nothing against what is new and shiny, and what everyone is doing. In fact from time to time I have been known to indulge in it a bit myself. But when it comes to material that I intentionally seek out, I tend to favor those things that others either don’t know about or for the most part are not doing.

In the course of reading and researching over the years I have come across a number of things that fall into this category, and several years ago, after searching – again – for something I read once upon a time, I finally decided to start a running file of these things. I simply got tired of not being able to remember where I saw that thing that I really needed. I’m sure many of you can relate.

As a result, now whenever I see something that falls into one my many categories of interest, I immediately make a copy and it gets filed with the other information of the same type. I’m sure some of you reading these words do something similar. I actually have a whole slew of these files that I add to on virtually a daily basis.

One of my larger files is simply labeled “spirit stuff” and includes all manner of things that go bump, bells that ring, voices that only a few can hear, sensations that are felt when no one is near, objects that move as if by the hand of some other-worldly entity, messages from the other side and so much more.

Most of these are ‘happenings’ that if one didn’t know better, might be ascribed to the spirits. In the course of my career I have used a great many of these pieces of ‘spirit stuff’ in my own performances and have reveled in the fact that I alone was privy to what was happening, even among the majority of my conjuring friends.

Over the years my file marked ‘Spirit Stuff’ has swollen to over 500 references of all kinds. These range from the sublime to the ridiculous to the downright dangerous.

Just over a year ago I stumbled across a reference that I had never seen before and was immediately entranced by how unique it was. I was also immediately hit with the thought that I was probably one of a very small handful of conjurors anywhere in the world who knew about this little piece of spiritana. And by ‘a very small handful of conjurors’, I would lay money that I would be unable to find anyone (with the possible exception of the Maven, who seemingly has read everything) who was aware of this piece, despite the fact that it’s been in print for over 80 years.

It was then that a thought struck. Perhaps the conjuring community could benefit from a collection these little-known bits of ‘spirit stuff’. That thought led to the reason I come to you today.

For the last several months I have combed through my files and culled out a hefty cross-section of ‘spirit stuff’, most of which the conjuring community at large is unaware.

It is with the utmost pleasure that I can now announce the publication of… Murky Manifestations by Mark Strivings

Mark Strivings has taken his massive personal file of over 500 references of all kinds of spirit-attributed references and culled out over 70 pieces, collected them between two covers and they are now available to you.

But things don’t stop there.

In addition to sweeping extra commentary and updates on the vast majority of what is presented, Mark has also included a detailed bibliography of all 500+ references from his files, complete with commentary. This is invaluable all by itself.

Included in this wide-ranging collection is everything from multiple spirit bells, oodles of work on the haunted key, at least a half-dozen rapping hand references, nearly two dozen spirit rapping references, a ton of spirit writing material, a bunch of PK material, at least dozen items for dark séance, and so much more!

Guest contributors include Dan Harlan, John Bannon and Ian Adair.