Abberline's Repository

Lebanon Circle proudly presents the darkest compendium of Jack the Ripper based magic ever to be released.  Take your audience on a journey through the smog smothered streets of Victorian London as you attempt to bridge the ethereal chasm that separates us from the realm of the dead.

Abberline’s Repository contains everything you need to create an entire evening performance of Victorian vileness. This unparalleled collection explores your audience’s psychic ability, past life regression and culminating in a traditional Victorian séance where you will make contact with the spirit world – guaranteed.

Combining the grisly murders of 1888 and the obsession of the day, Spiritualism, this collection of effects offers the performer the information, tools and props required to mix history, illusion and séance magic into the most terrifying show ever witnessed.  All the effects included with ‘Abberline's Repository’ are self working routines where the emphasis is on the psychic ability of the audience and a group séance.

This collection direct ‘From Hell’ features -

• Mary Jane Kelly’s jewellery box as procured by Inspector Abberline at the scene of the final Ripper murder. This antique brass and wood ‘show in a box’ contains an phantasmagoric collection of Victorian paraphernalia which includes -
• The Dead or Alive test which uses real hot and cold spots to allow the spectator to locate the victim cards or an item that once belonged to the deceased (designed as an expansion for From Hell but can be used for other tests)
• Ghost in the Machine 2 - new ungimmicked version of the classic machine to communicate with the dead based on Margery’s Bell Box
• From Hell 5th Anniversary Edition
• A full séance kit including black candle, candle holder, purifying salts and glass
• The Ripper Force
• Abberline's Conclusion including an antique key and 5 Victorian Pennies (see below)
• Paul Voodini’s Jack the Ripper Séance
• The Original Victorian Penny Séance
• Reproduction document set including newspaper articles, Ripper letters and Police reports.
• Signed and numbered certificate of authentication
• Instructions on DVD
• A copy of Spiritus Claritas Alpha/Symbol Séance Cards

This devilish hamper of effects combines the gothic art of Dan Baines with knowledge and talent of the UK’s leading bizarre performers. The electronics and props for each effect are conveniently contained within the Repository allowing you to perform a heart stopping 2 hour show with nothing more than this set. As a gothic/bizarre/storytelling magic performer this is an investment and performance opportunity not to be missed.

Each Repository is made to order with a turnaround time of 3-4 weeks. I try and hold all components in stock but some parts may take an few extra days to source such the antique keys and coins. As always I will keep you up to date on all aspects of your order. As a commissioned item you also have the opportunity to change anything you wish within reason to suit your performance requirements. Just e-mail me with any queries via the contact page and I’ll be more than pleased to help.

The Dead or Alive Test

The Dead or Alive Test was designed as an add-on for From Hell but it can be used in any number of ways to enable a spectator to locate an item once owned by the deceased using their psychic ability.

The premise is simple, the victim card stack and non-victim card stack are placed into separate compartments inside the box and the lid is replaced.  The spectator has no idea which compartment contains which stack.  You ask them to associate death with cold and life with heat and then ask them to place their hands on the lid of the box.  You then ask them to decide which side of the box contains the victim cards by associating death with coldness.  They wait a few seconds and by what appears to be psychic ability they correctly locate the victim cards.  The test can be performed again and the cold spot can be made to appear on the same side or the other side, the choice is yours and you have total control at all times.

This completely self working effect incorporates cutting edge technology and a fool proof working mechanism.

If you use this with From Hell you have the option of –

• Before you reveal that they have successfully sorted the cards into victim and non-victim stacks you can then place the stacks inside the box and then get them to find their victim stack using the association method discussed previously.
• Once you have shown the spectator they have miraculously sorted the cards   into victim and non-victim stacks you then go straight into the Dead or Alive routine as another experiment  to confirm their new found psychic ability.
• It can also be used to rapidly cool metal objects such as rings once owned by the deceased during a séance.  When compared with a control object it will be ice cold.

Ghost in the Machine II

No séance would be complete with a machine to communicate with the dead.

In 2006 I released Ghost in the Machine, the first in a long line of spirit communication devices that are now available on the market.  The original Ghost in the Machine went out of production in 2007 and as a result quickly became a much sought after collectors item exchanging hands at auctions for up to £1000.

The performance concept for Ghost in the Machine II is the same as its predecessor but the mechanics are drastically different.  No magnets, gimmicks or suspicious batteries, this version is completely clean.

Based on the infamous Margery’s Bell Box the ungimmicked bell is placed inside the Repository in full view of the audience and will ring in response to questions during the séance.  Houdini’s prototype of Margery’s Bell Box now resides in the magic collection of Ken Klosterman. Although aesthetically similar to the original bell, Ghost in the Machine 2 uses a completely new method of operation that is virtually self working and requires little intervention from the performer.      

This effect alone justifies the price of Abberline’s Repository and will leave your audience believing without any doubt that contact with the spirit world was established.

Abberline's Conclusion

This combination of two great self working routines uses audience participation to determine the real identity of Jack the Ripper.  The Ripper’s identity after being deduced through several audience tasks also matches a extract torn from Abberline’s diary entry where he reveals who he suspected was Jack the Ripper.

Your first step on the journey to identify Jack is the Ripper Force -

Five volunteers, preferably female, are asked to wander the streets of Whitechapel in search of a lodging house for the evening.  They are each given a Victorian penny to pay for their bed; little do they know that their fate is already sealed.  Ripper Force comes complete with - 

• 12 aged map tiles of Whitechapel that form a force grid
• 5 genuine Victorian pennies
• 12 Met Police photo of known criminals who operated in the Whitechapel area, one of which could possibly be Jack’s accomplice?
• An antique key that contains Abberline’s diary extract concealed in the barrel

Finally your audience plays the part of the Met Police on the 12th November 1888, the day of a mass raid on the homes of the seven top Ripper suspects. However, one will always escape the long arm of the law and that person is Jack…

The final part to your quest for the identity of Jack the Ripper includes -

• 7 Ripper suspect photos
• 7 mouldy envelopes

 All components are tied with ribbon and stored in the case.

Mary Jane Kelly’s Jewellery Box

Every repository is made from a genuine antique writing slope or sewing box therefore each is completely unique and can be tailored to your individual performance requirements.  Previous commissions have included -

• removeable and interchangeable maps on the lid interior allowing the repository to be used for multiple themes
• additional repository contents including medical equipement, antique photographs, even dead fairies!
• concealed RC reel mechanisms and electro magnets

Let your imagination run wild, if you have big ideas then please contact me and I will do my best to make your weird vision a reality.

Abberline's Repository is only available on a private commission basis.

This collection uses the real mortuary photographs of the Ripper victims, employs real séance techniques, hypnosis and topics which some may find disturbing. Therefore it is unsuitable for children and the faint hearted. If you have moral issues regarding this effect then please do not buy it.