Audience is left ‘Senseless’

Magic was in the air Saturday night as illusionist BJ Harris performed his faith-based show “Senseless” at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater.
As part of the North Central Church of Christ’s Youth Conference, he entertained the audience with a display of mind tricks, sleight of hand and escape acts, giving a short speech before the finale about his philosophy of life and magic.
The illusionist spoke about how, after years of what he called self-indulgence, he learned to embrace Christianity.
“I thought it was awesome,” said Amanda Strunk, who was in Bloomington to attend the conference.
She and her friends all agreed that the best trick was the finale, Harry Houdini’s classic escape act.
Harris handcuffed his wife, restrained her in a canvas bag and locked her in a trunk with six locks. He flourished a curtain and tossed it. His wife then appeared, uncuffed and free from the trunk to catch the curtain as it fell. She then opened the trunk to reveal Harris inside.
This trick capped off a night filled with instances of deception, the main theme, in which Harris demonstrated how easy it is for the senses and the mind to be fooled.
In one trick, he appeared to read the minds of audience members, convincing them he was telepathic. For example, he correctly guessed the exact animal and television show that a random audience member was thinking of.
In addition to his illusions of telepathy, Harris also revisited textbook magic tricks where he created the illusion of a levitating table and made it appear as if he was sawing his wife in half.
“I thought it was fantastic,” said Brian Fuller, youth pastor at North Central Church of Christ and one of the organizers of the event. “I thought he probably met or exceeded our expectations. He was a quality guy to work with.”
Harris was equally pleased with his experience in Bloomington.
“It was fun,” he said. “The venue was really, really nice. Anytime there’s a packed house like that, it’s always really fun. Everybody was great to work with, and it made for an easy show.”