Mind-bending stunts captivated a full house when mentalist Craig Karges performed a popular show Feb.  19  in Ice Auditorium.

“I was constantly amazed by each illusion and enjoyed it thoroughly,” junior Geoffrey Hamilton said. “The audience was packed and everyone was on edge.”

Karges “combines the art of magic with the science of psychology and the power of intuition to create the impression that nothing is impossible,” according to his website, www.craigkarges.com.

Karges did his best to prove that assertion by performing a wide variety of stunts, including levitating a table and correctly guessing what audience members were thinking.

“My favorite was when he shouted out a name in the audience and all of the students who had that name stood up. He then decided which one’s thoughts he could read, and he accurately knew what they were thinking,” freshman Kelly Yokoyama said.

Karges opened the show with a big trick involving four coasters. One had a large spike coming out of it. He then had a student assistant place a Styrofoam cup over each coaster and change the order of the cups. Karges proceeded to crush all of the cups but the one with the spike, all while he was blindfolded.

“It was amazing as well as suspenseful,” Hamilton said.

Karges also performed several tricks during which he was blindfolded by a student and would either write down what a specific
audience member was thinking without looking, or already had it written down on a piece of paper long before the show.

“The most impressive presentation for me was whenever he would incorporate something that he had written,” sophomore Keevin Craig said. “Like when he had a piece of paper that he previously wrote that stated what kind of car the different members in the audience would describe to him.”

Karges emphasized audience involvement, and throughout the course of the show, he involved one student or more in nearly every trick he performed.

“He was great at bringing you into the show. Even when you knew what was coming, you were still on the edge of your seat saying ‘no way,’” senior James Rhodes said.

Freshman Sydney Waite agreed.

“I liked that he involved students a lot, it made it easier to engage. Everyone seemed to be having a pretty good time,” she said.

Karges, who is referred to on his website as an “extraordanist,” started his career performing at college campuses and performed for a similarly packed crowd at Linfield in 2009.

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<em>Brittany Baker, Staff reporter</em>