Penny Dreadful - Jack the Ripper 1888 Penny Pendulum

Pendulums from horrific historic events - the year is 1888 and a ruthless killer known as Jack the Ripper terrorizes London!

A genuine Victorian Penny dated 1888 - could this very coin have passed through the hands of a Ripper victim or worse still, the Ripper himself?

Each Penny Dreadful Pendulum comes with a filigree sphere locket at the opposite end which can be used to store any type of billet revelation and even small artefacts such as human teeth.

Example Routine -

A spectator holds the pendulum and is asked to 'divine' a page in the book 'The Diary of Jack the Ripper'.

As you riffle through the pages the spectator lets the pendulum fall into the book to select the random page.

Using an Oculus bookmark the spectator then selects a word on the chosen page and remembers it.

The process is repeated for a number of other spectators until each has a randomly selected word from the book.

You then ask each spectator in turn to say aloud their selected word.

“Women”
“Preserved”
“Fried”
“Knife”

The locket on the pendulum is then opened to reveal a small slip of paper , it is an extract from the in famous 'From Hell' later postmarked 15^th October 1888

From hell

Mr Lusk
Sor
I send you half the
Kidne I took from one women
prasarved it for you tother pirce
I fried and ate it was very nise I
may send you the bloody knif that
took it out if you only wate a whil
longer.

signed
Catch me when
you Can
Mishter Lusk.

Each spectator selected a word from the letter extract!

In Victorian times, when séances and spiritualism in general were fashionable in the more affluent parts of London, hawkers and fortune tellers who worked the fairground circuit sold an affordable and portable way to host a séance.

For those who could not afford the fees of a medium and did not have the space to hold a full séance, a market emerged for what became known as “The Penny Séance”.  This did not refer to the cost of the séance, but rather to the fact that a penny was used as a device to contact the spirits. No ordinary penny was used, either: a grimoire written in medieval times had full instructions on creating a device that is imbued with the power of breaking the veil of the spirit world.

It is well documented that the eyes of corpses were covered with pennies, which it was believed to be their tally for the boatman who would escort them to the next world. It was these pennies which were stolen by the underground fortune tellers and made into pendulums. The idea was that such a highly charged item would allow access to the spirit world far quicker than a normal séance would.

The Perfect Companion for your Penny Seance

The Pendulum Book is a beginners guide to using the simple pendulum to create psychic and occult near-miracles. Detailing uses for the pendulum such as a lie detector and for séance purposes, the book also explains the psychology behind using the pendulum and how to apply it in your shows with the action happening in the spectators hand. Also includes some great bonus material including a guide on how to make your own bespoke pendulums by Joshua Johnson (who has also contributed a superb locket routine) and a wonderful piece called 'Ring Out Your Dead' by Dale Shrimpton which is used in all of Freddie's séance shows.  Available here.