Today's newspapers are full of all kinds of messages about magicians, psychics and clairvoyants. Personally, I take all this with skepticism.
I see only a commercial component in such messages. Taking into account how much advertising space costs today, you will inevitably think: will all these "predictions" and wishes "change karma" be sincere? For a lot of money, they can only amuse your vanity, create the illusion that it will be like the fortuneteller said. I draw your attention to the word "illusion". What does it mean?..
Yes, you are not mistaken, this Latin word means nothing more than deception, a distorted perception of reality. And as you know, paraphrasing Pushkin's words a little, it is not difficult to deceive us - we ourselves are glad to be deceived.
Therefore, at times we become participants in a tempting, but illusory life, in which many of us are quite comfortable. That is why some people are in a hurry to part with their money and do not take into account that, in modern terms, they are simply "bred". Perhaps they receive mental satisfaction, but there are many cases when "divorce" entails outright harm.
It's another matter if the illusion is resorted to as entertainment, a trick. Here we are deliberately in a hurry to be deceived, and we are interested. You won't blame the magician for the "divorce". I want to tell you about one of those who skillfully manipulated not only our eyes, but also our consciousness.
One amazing person lived in Kamyshin in the 50-60-70s of the last century. His name was Mikhail Yemtsov. Among the people, he was known as a magician and hypnotist, and in some people, even the fear of meeting with him crept in. Because what he did in public is difficult to describe in words. Like any visible illusion, Mikhail Yemtsov's performances needed to be captured on film. However, unfortunately, no video evidence of his tricks remained.
There are only stories left, and even more stories about the eccentricities of the local Kio (the older generation probably remembers the famous Soviet illusionist). Let's say more. Representatives of the all-Union famous circus dynasty Kyo became famous only for their flawlessly performed tricks. Our Mikhail Yemtsov became known not so much for his skillful tricks as for his ability to influence the psyche of people.
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His phenomenal abilities showed up during his school years. He loved to perform magic tricks in front of his classmates. At first, these were jokes under the school desk so that the teachers would not be seen. But it didn't work out for a long time - an increasing number of people recognized the magician. Once, after a break (this was in the 4th grade), the teacher entered the classroom and saw only one Emtsov at his desk. “Where is everyone?” He asked in surprise. “And they are sleeping there,” Yemtsov answered, pointing in the direction of the school yard, without a shadow of embarrassment. It turns out that at recess, when the students went out into the street, our hero decided to conduct a hypnosis session right in the meadow in front of the school and hypnotized his classmates.
This story from my school life I wrote down from the words of the famous Kamyshin artist Pavel Butyaev. Pavel Ivanovich remembered the stories of his teacher of the Russian language, who was also a teacher at Yemtsov's. And they studied in different years at school number 3, which was formerly located in an old red brick building on the territory of the current lyceum number 15.
Pavel Butyaev introduced me to the magician's daughter Galina Mikhailovna. I would like to express my deep gratitude to both of them for interesting memories of this amazing person. Today Galina Mikhailovna lives in the house in which she spent most of the magician's life. It has been 33 years since he died, but some papers testifying to the life of Mikhail Petrovich remained.
Mikhail Petrovich Yemtsov was born in the village of Chukhonastovka in 1924. In the early 1930s, when Ukraine and the Volga region were struck by famine, his family moved to Kamyshin and settled on Respublikanskaya Street, in the area of the current Opava Hotel. Today this house is no longer there.
According to the story of Galina Mikhailovna, the hypnotic gift of his father was discovered in him even in childhood. The point is that this gift cannot be learned. It is inherited. The grandmother of our hero was a well-known midwife in Chukhonastovka. She had a rare gift of obstetrics - not only physical, but psychological. In the absence at that time of any effective obstetric means in the village, her gift was very valuable, and not only fellow villagers turned to for help, but also from neighboring villages and villages.
Well, the development of this genetic gift in Yemtsov, perhaps, "contributed" to the contusion on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War. He received a shrapnel wound in the back of the head, and the shrapnel remained in the skull until his death. And you probably know that some people have phenomenal gifts as a result of brain damage. Yemtsov returned from the front terribly crippled.
According to the recollections of his mother Tatyana Alekseevna, it was almost impossible to recognize a son in a man who once knocked on the window of their house. All burnt, he cannot talk at all, he just hums. Mom told the village nurse, and she helped to register him in the hospital in Elan. After healing in 1946, the wedding took place. Natalya Konstantinovna, the same nurse, became the wife of Mikhail Yemtsov. And until her death, this active, sensitive woman was for Mikhail Yemtsov not only a strong family support, but also an experienced assistant on numerous performances of the Kamyshin magician.
The first personal meeting of Pavel Butyaev with Mikhail Yemtsov took place in 1947. Then the future famous artist lived in a house on Kalinin Street. This house was designed for several families, and many people often gathered in the yard. Once Yemtsov came to one of the neighbors. Someone asked to show tricks. The illusionist demonstrated some of the usual tricks for such campaigns, and then struck everyone with absolutely unusual. He called a 12-year-old guy, asked him to lie on the table, took a knife and thrust him into his body with a swing. Everyone was shocked. The women screamed, "What have you done?" Yemtsov, with his characteristic artistic calmness, said: “Yes, it's a problem. Well, live, Vitya! " And he got up from the table completely healthy, as if no one had encroached on his life.
Meetings of Butyaev and Yemtsov became more frequent in the 60s - a friendship struck up between them. Pavel Ivanovich then worked as an artist at the Druzhba cinema. Once they were sitting in his working room, and the artist Vyacheslav Geraskin came in on business. Yemtsov decided to joke a little. Whispers to Butyaev: "Do you want me to undress him?" Then he turns to the guest: “Did you sleep well today? Didn't oversleep? Have you put on your underpants, a T-shirt? " He shrugged his shoulders in some bewilderment and suddenly … began to undress. He took off everything to his panties! When, after the performance, Butyaev asked Geraskin if he remembered what happened to him, the involuntary subject replied that absolutely nothing.
According to his daughter's stories, Mikhail Yemtsov learned the ability to create an illusion even before the war. Once a visiting artist visited Kamyshin, who discerned a rare gift in Emtsov and helped develop it. Well, when the hypnosis abilities improved as a result of training were added to the magician's skill, Kamyshin acquired a real artist of the original genre. Whoever saw the serial film about Wolf Messing knows that the same wording was spelled out in the work book of the legendary seer. By the way, when in the 1960s. Wolf Messing was on tour in Kamyshin, he visited Emtsov on a visit. What they were talking about, Galina Mikhailovna does not know, but their conversation was not limited to one hour. Apparently, Messing, who all his life sought to unravel the nature of his unique abilities, was interested in people like him-phenomena. With the gift of foresight, Yemtsov could not boast, but his hypnotic abilities, obviously, amazed even venerable masters.
His place of work was the Volgograd Regional Philharmonic, and in his entire life he never changed it. Under an employment contract, he gave performances on the stage of our drama theater. Having gained popularity in the city and region, he toured the country. Unfortunately, only a few printed evidence of his creative life remains. At that time, it was not customary to popularize those who were in control of the KGB. And the special services were vigilantly watching such phenomena, which have such an unusual ability to influence people. In the official encyclopedias about Messing and others like him, not a single line appears.
The appearance of Mikhail Yemtsov could not be forgotten. He was tall, tucked up, with a lush, pitch-black hair. But the main thing for the hypnotist is the eyes. His gaze, studying each interlocutor like an X-ray, pierced the person through and through.
Here is the story told to me by the former editor of the newspaper Leninskoe Znamya (the current Dialogue) Vitaly Korolev. “In 1960, I was relaxing with friends in a small restaurant“Zarya”, which was once located in a building on the corner of Oktyabrskaya and Pushkin streets. There were five people sitting at a long table, many of whom were familiar with each other. They drank, ate, and talked. In a word, we rested for a friendly conversation. Suddenly the door opens and a handsome, stately, tall and powerful man enters. She casts her eagle's eye over all the tables of the restaurant. After standing for a while, he slowly walked to our table. Quietly and, as it were, imperceptibly and unobtrusively, he greeted him and sat down on an empty chair.
We continued to talk, not paying any attention to him, but in passing, filling his glass. The waitress brought the next dishes - including him, obviously thinking that one company was sitting. He hypnotized us all. I drank several glasses and ate. At the same time, I did not enter into conversation with anyone. Quietly and imperceptibly he got up and left - like an invisible person, like a ghost, like a Flying Dutchman …
Some time passed when the "fog cleared" from those sitting at the table and everyone began to ask questions: who was it? whose friend? who will pay for it? I don’t remember the details of all this. But there was a lot of talk among us about this incident."
Let the reader not think that Yemtsov could abuse his abilities. But he could joke. They remember how, by introducing the audience into a hypnotic trance, he easily attracted girls who rushed to him with kisses. Once entering the dining room, he went up to the table at which people were eating pasta, and with his usual artistry said: "What are you eating worms ?!" And people jumped up from the table in horror.
There is much more to be said about this amazing person. But you just have to deal with the factors that accompany almost every legendary person - namely: where is the truth here, and where is the embellished bike. Unfortunately, a lot of time has passed, and specific details in the stories of those who happened to see Yemtsov began to be forgotten.
Daughter Galina Mikhailovna, of course, knows some secrets of her father's skill, but, observing the professional secret of magicians, she will never disclose them. According to her stories, her father prepared very carefully for the performances, no one should interfere with him. Despite the magical gift of managing people, it was necessary to constantly improve it. Over the years, it has become increasingly difficult to do this. Affected by a serious wound during the war - a splinter that got into the back of the head, after all, was not removed.
According to Galina Mikhailovna, the reason for the death of the illusionist in 1980 was that this fragment, as they say in such cases, "went". Pavel Butyaev, who has repeatedly seen Emtsov in action, remembered his ability to stop the heart. At this time, the illusionist's pulse could not even be felt. Perhaps this also became one of the reasons for our hero's departure to another world. He has not yet turned 56 years old. Had he lived to this day, perhaps he would have deserved more attention. Although … Each area has its own secret. We are not given to reveal it, since it is the presence of the mysterious in our life that makes it possible to continue this life. Otherwise it would be of little interest.