Superstition The David Meade Project

I feel a bit shocked, surprised.

It's just mind-boggling, amazing that he can do that.

Quite weird. I'm guessing he can read my mind a wee bit now.

Welcome, brothers and sisters once again to a meeting of The David Meade Project.

-And here is the high priest himself, David Meade.

-Are you Taurus?

-Yes.

-Is that right? Oh, my gosh, that's amazing!

-How did you do that one?

David's mission is to play with what people believe and help them have faith

in the seemingly impossible.

-It's crazy. That's insane.

-That was mental.

I haven't a clue how he done it, he was absolutely brilliant.

Right now, David is spellbound by the world of superstition.

It's fascinating what weird and wonderful things people believe in.

I myself have never been superstitious and never will be, touch wood.

If you go down to the woods today...

you might bump into David Meade.

No, he's not meeting bears for a picnic,

he's chosen a group of people to play around with their superstitious nature,

using a few cards.

But remember, not everything is what it seems with our David.

Using these cards, I'm going to exploit the superstitions of my participants

and their need to believe.

I am going to carry out a pretty standard psychic reading

using the same techniques that psychics use,

to see how much information that I can tell about my participants.

Then I'm going to ramp it up a gear because I am not a psychic, I'm a mentalist,

and using my skills as a mentalist, I want to see exactly how many facts

and details and secrets I can tell the participants.

I need you now to cut this deck into two piles with your left hand, please.

The reason for that is the blood flows directly from the heart

and it's very closely associated with your aura.

I will ask you to complete that cut, please, by placing these on top of that pile.

Excellent.

I think we're just about ready for your reading to begin.

-Nervous?

-Yes.

-0K. Well, let's see what I can tell about you. Test me.

-Dream job?

-Dream job?

-It's embarrassing.

-It's embarrassing? OK.

-You won't get it.

Start from here. 0K.

So, this suggests some sort of performance.

Is it something to do with TV? It's something to do with TV, isn't it?

Is it. Oh, and this is a really playful one, this is a carnival card.

The picture suggests dealing with young people. Is it some sort of kids' telly presenter?

-It's not Blue Peter, is it? Is that what it is?

-Yeah.

Really, that's your dream job?! Oh, my gosh, that's amazing!

What stock do you place in these and their ability to tell something about you?

-Nothing.

-None at all?

-No.

-Why is that?

-I just don't believe in them.

You know what, you're absolutely right because they have no stock at all.

They're not hundreds of years old. In fact, we printed them out last week

and there's absolutely nothing on any of them.

Because these things can't tell you anything about yourself,

but it's your belief, it's your superstition

that makes you find meaning in the meaningless.

As well as tarot cards, David reads all sorts of stuff.

Books on crazy superstition, weird beliefs,

and even techniques from psychics and their cult.

As always, he adds his own brand of mentalism.

The art of mind manipulation.

It's really important for me to challenge myself by using a wide range of people.

So, I've got a range of hardcore sceptics and I've also got a few believers.

This is a really interesting one,

this suggests to me that when you make a decision,

you're the type of person who almost instantaneously sort of regrets it.

-Does that kind of reflect you?

-No.

-Oh, it doesn't at all?

Uh-oh, this one's going to be a toughie.

We'll try... That one hasn't hit with you.

OK, this suggests to me that you're the type of person who outwardly

works really hard on building a veneer of confidence.

-Does that describe you?

-I think everyone's like that.

-I think so, too.

Told you, I could read that he'd be trouble.

Because all of those statements were just a standard cold reading.

But that's how a fake psychic does it.

But I'm not a fake psychic, I'm a mentalist.

So, I'm going to try and see...

There are four kids in your house?

-Yeah.

-Really, including you, four kids? All right.

Think about how many brothers you have. There's a very male influence here.

And this one seems to be a little bit more of a female influence card.

-Probably have two brothers?

-I have two.

-Oh, you have two brothers, really?

-Describe what you're feeling, by the way.

-Still, I'm slightly sceptical.

I don't want you to say "probably".

I want you to tell me what I have and I don't have.

Let's try for a little bit more detail. I like this. You're a challenger.

So, we're seeing a very strong male influence here.

I'm going to suggest this is probably a bit of a father figure.

-Who is Paul, by the way?

-My father.

-Oh, Paul's your dad's name.

-These, actually, both kind of gave me that one.

-Very good.

-You like that one?

-I like that one.

-Impressed?

-Yeah.

I've come across people in the past,

in different kind of churches, who use people's, maybe, emotions

just to draw some money or cheap entertainment from them.

But yeah, I liked his showmanship, it's a great skill to have.

First thing is, that's a very activity card.

So, it's something to do with a lot of movement. And this one is about a team, it's probably soccer.

Something to do with soccer.

-Did you want to be a professional footballer?

-I did, yeah.

-Really?

-Yes.

I'm a Christian, so I would have experience of going to church and things like that

and people being prophetic and some weird stuff.

When it comes to psychics and things like that, I think they have wee tricks and things that they use

as opposed to anything kind of supernatural.

What sort of stock do you place in these cards?

-I don't really think you're using the cards.

-Good, you're right.

I wasn't, because all of these cards are blank.

They didn't tell me anything about you. There are absolutely no images on them whatsoever.

Because it was nothing to do with the cards really, because all of these readers, all they do is

they just play on your superstition.

It's kind of liberating that he's so honest and says he has done that without psychic powers,

that he's just been doing it by kind of mental deductions.

It's just mind-boggling, amazing that he can do that.

-I will be thinking about it all day.

-Playing with the cards has whetted David's appetite

for the notion of superstition.

Apparently, he's got an idea.

Harness the power of superstition?

That sounds a bit freaky to me.

Some people really believe in all that superstitious stuff.

David thinks he can figure out what's behind the belief

in all things supernatural.

It would be easy to assume that people who believe in psychic readings are naive.

The fact is that's just not the case. As human beings, we are naturally conditioned to believe

that there might be something else out there that we can't explain.

It's been said that a belief that leaves no place for doubt

is not a belief, it's a superstition.

And that's a really fascinating truism.

It's always been my opinion, and it is just my opinion,

that coincidence is the mother of superstition.

Something happens, for instance you accidentally break a mirror,

then something unfortunate happens in your life and you seem to place those two things together.

They were actually just a coincidence, but that breeds superstition.

There is one superstition that is more popular than any other, surrounding one number.

David has gone all classy. He has invited 12 people to join him.

They think they've been invited to a posh dinner,

but to David, they are going to be pawns in his game.

A game that plays on the superstition surrounding the number 13.

One of the origins of 13 diners seems to date all the way back to biblical times

when, at the Last Supper, Judas Iscariot was the last person to arrive.

He was the 13th diner.

And David has invited his usual mix of believers and sceptics.

I wouldn't say I'm superstitious, no.

I would be Christian, but I definitely wouldn't say I'm superstitious.

I would be more sceptical of those things, actually.

At the back of my mind, I still

abide by superstitions, even though I don't believe in them. I can't help it.

Triskaidekaphobia, that's the fear of the number 13.

But will this seemingly irrational fear affect where these 12 people

will choose to sit down?

David's guests have the opportunity to choose their own seat.

David has a hunch as to which will be perceived to be the 13th chair.

It seems that we try to avoid the number 13.

So, with that in mind,

I'd like to see if I can work out

exactly where all of my guests

will sit, and see which seat they consider to be seat number 13.

Thank you all very much for coming, I really appreciate it.

It's unusual, 0K, you've left this seat empty.

Lucky you, that's what I should say.

I want to ask you about superstition.

Are you quite superstitious people? Any of you have really weird superstitions?

-Just the whole magpie thing.

-0K, tell me about it.

-One for sorrow, two for joy, three for a girl...

-Right.

Every time I was pregnant, it was like, oh, three, it must be a girl.

What about anybody else, any good ones?

-Just splitting the post, if you come to a lamp post.

-Oh, aye.

-Have to stay on the same side.

-Really?

That's one. When you're walking with your friends and you grab somebody over beside you

so you don't split up.

What do we think, do you believe in these things, do you think that they really mean something?

-No.

-No.

-0K, that is really interesting.

Could you do me a favour and lift that cloche for me?

-So, it's the moment of truth.

-I have a table plan.

Have all the guests avoided the 13th chair and sat where David said they would?

Stand up, stand up, check your chair for me. Stand up.

Now, there we have... Up there, we have Kelly, Kelly, that's you there.

Then next we have Bronagh, then we have Sian, then we have Niall,

then we have Garry, then we've got David, that's my seat, lots of 13s round that one.

Then we have Deirdre, Patricia, Brendan, Nuala, Jonathan, Colin and Robert.

-Everyone in the right place?

-ALL: Yes.

-Everyone made free choices?

-ALL: Yes.

Give yourselves a round of applause.

-By the way, was there anyone who, for a moment, thought about sitting in this chair?

-I did.

So, you wanted to sit at this chair

-but, at the last minute, changed your mind and went to that one?

-Yeah.

Robert, sort of explain how you chose where you wanted to sit.

-Originally, I wanted to sit there, but...

-OK.

-Who ended up sitting in the seat that you have sat in?

-Niall.

Niall, when it came to you choosing that seat,

what was it that made that seat attractive?

It was the fact that the other seats I was going to choose were gone.

-So this was literally, you had almost no choice?

-Yes.

-Does the number 13, does that bother anyone here?

-No.

You know the sort of thing, Friday the 13th, what's going to happen?

The notion of superstition was really important to me today,

but specifically, for you 12 people, because there are 12 of you

and I'm number 13.

There was a 13th chair that was left vacant

and I was wondering who would sit in this chair.

No-one did.

But there is a reason why no-one chose this chair, even though

any one of you could have.

It's because I have the number 13.

And any one of you could have sat here.

Do you want to open up your napkins for me?

Anyone have a number 13?

-No.

-No, no, because every choice that we make is predicated on our preconceptions.

And our preconceptions are heavily led by our superstitions.

Whether you believe in superstition or not, the moment you let a superstition go,

then you're able to make free choices that aren't actually predestined.

That was mental. That was really mental, yes.

I don't know how that happened.

I'm in awe of his talent, to be honest with you.

It's kind of the opposite to logical, isn't it?

So I would consider myself a very logical person, you know.

So, it's pretty scary stuff.

The seat that I chose, I had two seats in preference to the one I ended up choosing.

The cloche went up, I could see that he got MY position right.

Then, immediately, I could see that he got all the positions right.

And it was, wow.

I was always going to sit where I was sitting.

That was the seat I wanted, but how, do you know what I mean, did he know?

Gosh, that went really, really well.

I expected to get some of them right,

but not every single one of them.

I think the reason that I enjoyed it so much

is I had such a good mix of both superstitious and sceptical people.

I personally have always thought that our superstitions have some say

in leading the way that we make our decisions.

Blimey, it's all getting a bit heavy.

David's taking his look into superstition back on the street.

He's testing whether there is something supernatural at work,

or just a bunch of coincidences.

Don't step on the cracks now.

Even if you don't believe in it, everyone knows what their star sign is,

and I think that's really incredible.

I'm fascinated to see, particularly, if a stranger can tell you, with no other information about you,

just meeting you in the street,

if they can work out what your star sign is. It seems impossible, but perhaps not.

-Excuse me, are you quite superstitious?

-Yes, I am.

-You are?

-Yeah.

-Do you know your star signs?

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

-Can I try and guess them?

-Of course.

-Yeah.

-Virgo?

-Yeah.

-Is it Virgo?

-It is, yeah.

-You're definitely Scorpio.

-Yeah.

-Is it, yeah?

-How did he do that?

-OK, cheers, thanks.

-How did he do that one?

-Excuse me, sorry to bother you. Are you superstitious?

-A wee bit.

-Are you a Scorpio?

-Yeah.

-You are a Scorpio?

-Yeah.

-Brilliant. Thanks a lot.

-And another one.

-Cheers.

-He's getting good at this.

Excuse me, are you...Pisces?

-Yeah.

-Are you?

-Yeah.

-Are you Taurus?

-Yeah!

-Is that right?

And another one. He's starting to scare me now.

He just walked past us and knew our star signs,

without asking us any questions or anything.

Come on, that was absolutely incredible.

I'm getting them all right again and again and again. I can read their horoscopes.

This has got to be more than guesswork. Could it be that David has found a new calling?

-Excuse me, I'm sorry, are you a Libra?

-No.

-Libra?

-Whoops.

Excuse me, I'm sorry, are you a Libra?

-What?

-Are you a Libra?

-What's that?

-No, don't worry about it. Cheers.

Oh, dear, that's embarrassing.

-Excuse me, I'm sorry to bother you, are you an Aquarius?

-Pardon?

-Are you an Aquarius?

-No. I thought you said, "Have you got a query?"

Oh, no, not again.

It seems, perhaps,

like I'm not quite as good at this as I had thought.

Maybe the first few guesses were just coincidences.

David wants to keep going, to see if a few more coincidences can make him look good.

Whatever makes you happy, David!

-Excuse me, sorry, Are you a Sagittarius?

-What?

-Are you a Sagittarius?

-No, I am.

-Oh, you are?

I was close enough, close enough.

No, no, David, that one doesn't count.

Excuse me, are you a Capricorn?

-I am a Capricorn.

-You are, yeah?

-I'm sorry, I could just tell.

-Whoopee-doo,

but we all know it's chance and coincidence now.

For me, personally, superstition and coincidence are intrinsically linked.

The minute that something strange and seemingly improbable happens,

that can begin to build a superstition.

-He said I was a Virgo and I am.

-And I'm a Scorpio, he was right.

Quite weird. I'm guessing he can read my mind a wee bit now.

I believe in superstitions a lot more now.

-It's like walking under a ladder, superstition, but that was just...

-He just knew everything.

For me, that was a really eye-opening experience.

It seemed like I was doing incredibly well at guessing the star signs of total strangers when,

in actual fact, a series of coincidences had made me, and them,

believe that I had the ability to tell them secrets about themselves, when I probably didn't really.

It was just guesswork. It was only a one in 12.

But those same coincidences can be the basis of entire belief systems.

David has found the superstition that has transformed

what some people might call coincidences into, well, nothing less than a cult.

People talk about black cats, broken mirrors, walking on cracks, walking under ladders,

even the number 13 is one of those numbers that everyone knows.

But the number 23 is far more mysterious.

The myth of the number 23, referred to as the 23 enigma,

is a belief that most world incidents and events are directly connected to the number 23.

David has brought together 23 people - believers and sceptics -

to see if he can create an amazing occurrence.

Yeah, I'm very superstitious about the number 23.

I've been superstitious about it for years.

As soon as I heard it was about 23, it really freaked me out.

It's a bit of a weird one how it all links up to such dramatic events in the world,

in history and that.

I have researched it before and realised that my name, date of birth and street number

are all out of the number 23.

But David believes his best work so far on superstition

is with nonbelievers and sceptics.

So, he has chosen John Paul,

someone who has no prior interest in a 23 enigma.

I know that numbers make up the laws of science and nature and that kind of stuff,

but I didn't know that much about 23 specifically.

It seems John Paul doesn't take notions of superstition very seriously either.

I thought I was coming to a room that was set up like a haunted house

and I was going to be hypnotised

and that there was going to be ghosts flying about me.

That's what I thought I was coming to.

First, David is going to show everyone a series of slides

to get them all into the mind set of the 23 enigma.

OK, folks, in a moment, I am going to play you a presentation.

During this presentation, I want you to get numbers inside your head, get numbers in your head,

let them wash over your head. There's lots of numbers in this presentation.

Try and not settle on numbers that you automatically hear or see.

At one point or another, one number will feel right to you, OK?

At the end of the slideshow, David is going to ask his 23 guests

to come up with their own secret random number.

Not 23, but any number between one and ten digits long.

Which gives them about 10 billion possibilities, and that's a lot of possibilities.

All this mathematics is making my head spin. I'm glad I didn't have to come up with a number.

-That number is?

-23.

-23.

-How many times, JP?

-23.

-23. How many people do we have here, JP?

-23.

-How long, everyone?

-ALL: 23.

-But if you add each of those digits together, JP?

-23.

-23.

The Titanic sank, and this one's a bit closer to home, the Titanic sank on 15th April 1912.

-23.

-What is the total, everyone?

-ALL: 23.

-Add up each of those digits. They equal?

-23.

-23.

-He died in 1994, and when you add all of those up, what does it total?

-23.

The World Trade Center was attacked on 11th September, 2001...

Add those digits up. Everyone, what does that number equal?

-ALL: 23.

-23. And, stranger than all...

0.666.

-Does that number mean anything to you?

-Beastly.

-A bit beastly?

-Yeah.

-I'm sure you've been to a club like that at one stage or another!

During the slideshow, the audience has been working on

their own secret number between one and ten digits long.

David is going ask John Paul

to imagine a number

that will match the secret number

selected by at least one of the 23 guests.

David will give John Paul four chances to match that number.

If this works, by a staggering coincidence, John Paul's numbers

should match at least one of the other 23 people in the room.

True nutters, I mean, believers in the power of 23 will think it's a miracle.

David is determined to create a perfect coincidence and make John Paul a true believer.

I've always thought that coincidence is the mother of superstition.

Without coincidence, there is no superstition.

For that reason, I'd like to see, when I get 23 people together in a room,

if astonishing things might be possible.

Folks, just to save my voice, will everyone come up a bit closer?

If we form a bit of a lovely arch here... Excellent.

Now, folks, what sort of credence, what sort of value

do you place in the superstitions that surround number 23?

Chaps at the end, what do you think?

It's pretty strange to see all those numbers that go with it,

special like the 666, or like the World Trade Center.

0K, excellent. We are going to try something really simple now

and all of you have got a secret personal number.

I want you to keep it a secret from everyone, make sure no-one near you sees it.

John Paul's job is to try and guess what any one of your numbers are.

-Do you feel confident about it?

-No.

-0K.

-It will be just a coincidence.

-If you get it right, it will be just a coincidence.

-Yeah.

-A pretty big coincidence, I would guess.

You've got a pad, take up your pad for me,

and I want you to look out into this audience...

Remember, the chance of JP getting the same number as any one of these people tonight

is something like one in ten billion.

0K. Now, let me see. All right, that's interesting.

Does anyone have a single one-digit number? No-one?

OK, all right, I'll just take that one. That's grand. You take that.

I want you to clear your mind, I want you to look at every single one of these faces

and I want you to make another guess, you make a second guess

as to what you think someone's number might be.

0K. Does anyone have a number between ten and 20?

Ten and 20?

No, anyone?

-Tear that one off for me. That was a random choice for you?

-Yeah.

-That number mean anything to you?

-No. Nothing.

-0K.

And make your next guess.

Folks, I really, really need you to be honest now.

If anyone did get a two-digit number as their chosen secret number,

would you raise your hand for me, please? No?

Honestly, folks? No-one?

Folks, we'll give it one more go.

So, for the last time...

Desperate Dave only needs JP's number to match with one other person in the room

to make the coincidence work and convince John Paul

the 23 enigma is more than just a superstition.

OK.

OK.

Hands up, and please, please, please be honest,

hands up if you've got a three-digit number.

Oh, come on. One of them's got to have it.

All right. 0K, folks.

Look, JP has done a great job, let's give him some encouragement anyway.

JP, thank you very much. Thank him, anyway.

We appreciate it, JP, thank you for helping.

THEY ALL TALK AND LAUGH

-What's wrong?

-It's the same number.

-What's wrong?

-It's the same number.

-What's happening?

-It's the same number.

-What?

Everyone's number?! Everyone's number, look!

Hold on. All of these? 51272213. Everyone's?

This side as well? 51272213.

You're kidding? No way!

That's unbelievable! Look, here, you see what you did?

-How did you do that?

-No clue.

-No, seriously.

-Seriously, no idea.

-All joking aside.

-Seriously?

-Seriously.

-Ladies and gentlemen, let's hear it for JP, and for you as well!

The magic of these numbers doesn't stop there.

Luckily, there's a mathematician on hand to help David do his sums.

-This chap in the blue, what's your name?

-David.

-What's five plus one?

-Six.

-Plus two?

-Eight.

-Plus seven?

-15.

-Plus two?

-17.

-Plus two?

-19.

-Plus one?

-20.

-Plus three, what does that equal?

-23.

23, what an amazing thing, John!

-You did it!

-Fantastic!

Really weird, just amazement, absolutely amazed, absolutely amazed by that.

I've been looking into the number 23 for years now and, I'll be honest with you,

I've looked into that superstition with some degree of scepticism.

But I cannot imagine what must be going through our participants' heads tonight.

That was mind blowing!

How he got that number, I haven't a clue. I haven't a clue.

I want to be standing under to see if there's anybody passing notes up or something.

I just haven't a clue how he done it. He was absolutely brilliant.

It was just a coincidence that 23 was picked.

23 is a creepy number.

I am quite a sceptic, so I was kind of looking for the trick,

and also, Paul had the number and everybody had the same number at the end was quite a shock.

To think, like, everyone in the room, there was 23 people,

and he still managed to pluck random numbers out of the ether

and they all sort of matched up with what everyone had got. It was pretty cool.

Yeah, definitely wasn't expecting it to add up to number 23.

I thought it was a massive coincidence. You just never know.

And it looks like John Paul may have found a new faith in superstition.

It's not fake, it's totally authentic, you know.

I have no idea what just happened.

I don't know how that happened, I don't know how, don't know.

So, I'm kind of, yeah, it's brilliant.

For me, superstition is all about coincidence.

I think coincidence is the input and superstition is the output.

I only hope I haven't left all of tonight's participants with a terrifying fear of the number 23.

Although, frankly, that might be quite funny.

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