MysteryVisits Communications

05/07/2026

Learn about “Science Vs. Magic” and our performance schedule:

05/05/2026

Occasionally I’m asked where and when I’ll be performing, but typically my programs take place in private settings that aren’t necessarily accessible to everyone. Fortunately, several upcoming events in Michigan will be open to the public, so here’s a rundown of what’s coming in the near future. Please note that entry fees may apply. …

MysteryVisits.com - John C. Sherwood’s 2026 public performance schedule

**Upcoming events open to the public

- 1:30 p.m. May 30, Tekonsha Township Library, 230 S. Church St., Tekonsha: “Science vs. Magic”

- 10:30 a.m. June 9, Homer Public Library, 141 W Main St, Homer: “Science vs. Magic”

- 1 to 5 p.m. June 13, Pride Festival, Stuarts Landing, Marshall: “Mysteries in the Open Air”

- 2 p.m. June 27, American Museum of Magic, 107 E. Michigan Ave., Marshall: “Mysteries, Psychics and Laughter”

- 4 p.m. & 7:30 p.m. Sept. 12, Grand Magic Theater, State Street, Colon, Michigan: “Science vs. Magic”

- Times TBA, Sept. 12-13, site TBA, 61st annual Marshall Historic Home Tour: “Mysteries in the Open Air”

- 3 p.m. Oct. 24, Great Escape Stage Company, 110 E. Michigan Ave., Marshall: “The Magic Cabin,” museum fundraiser with Neil Foster Ring No. 89 of the International Brotherhood of Magicians

- 11:30 a.m.-2 p.m. Oct. 31, American Museum of Magic, 107 E. Michigan Ave., Marshall: “100th Anniversary Houdini Seance” with museum supporters

(Regional classroom presentations pending!)

**Recent public events in 2026:

- Feb. 26, Marshall District Library: “Science vs. Magic”
- March 21, American Museum of Magic: “Science vs. Magic”
- April 1, American Museum of Magic: “Science vs. Magic”
- May 2, Battle Creek Regional History Museum: “Science vs. Magic.”
- May 9, American Museum of Magic, Marshall: “Science vs. Magic”
- May 16, American Museum of Magic, Marshall: “Mysteries, Psychics and Laughter”



"BUY ME A COFFEE"
Our educational program "Science vs. Magic" blends magic and fun with lessons in science, travel and world history. This program reaches schools, libraries and nonprofit venues so young people can experience how the scientific method works. This important effort can be supported financially by visiting our page at "Buy Me a Coffee": https://buymeacoffee.com/jcsherwoodu … Your assistance can change young lives for the better!

~ John C. Sherwood, creative director ~

03/14/2026

EVD wasn’t the only one …

Erich von Däniken was born on April 14, 1935, in Zofingen, Aargau, Switzerland. Though I will mention it in passing, there’s no need to dwell on his run-ins ...

02/11/2026

Please join us for this special new program!

Magic & science collide as local magician John Sherwood leads participants through various tricks & illusions. This family-friendly magic show will ...

10/31/2024

The Halloween season got well under way Wednesday evening at Great Escape Stage Company, where the modern classic “The Woman in Black” conjured up shivers - and a few screams - from the audience.

This is the first-ever production at Great Escape of the 1987 play by Stephen Mallatratt, based on the popular 1983 novel by Susan Hill. The play has been produced worldwide, and is a decades-long staple of the theater scene in London, England.

It’s a delight to describe Great Escape’s production of this well-known ghost story as every bit as powerful, entertaining and chilling as the one you’d have to travel thousands of miles to see (as we did in 2016). The area’s theater patrons and other Halloween-lovers would be wise to grab a seat as soon as they can, because the production runs only through this Sunday.

Longtime patrons familiar with Great Escape know the black-box theater at 110 E. Michigan Ave. in Marshall, Michigan, is a highly flexible environment, which often changes chameleon-like with each production. This time, audiences find themselves transported to an old-fashioned proscenium theater with dusty furniture with dusky recesses, seducing the mind toward imagining almost any place in time and space - including the eerie, fog-bound manor house in England where the story chiefly takes place.

Great Escape’s artistic director, Randy Lake, and guest artist James Bleecker Jr. are superb interpreters of this ghostly tale, which is told in a highly stylized yet entirely accessible fashion through an interchange of multiple characters. Lake is well known in the community as a skilled actor, and Bleecker has acquitted himself in roles both serious and comic in several past productions.

The script’s clever theatrical premise has confuse some viewers at first, although Lake and Bleecker strive successfully for the audience’s total understanding about who is who and what’s going on. Under the cleverly crafted direction of Chris Howell, the show’s finely tuned suspense and intensifying sense of fear are tempered with dashes of humor, surprise and a strong grip on the story’s clarity.

Well … is the play scary? Not at first, but you won’t be bored. In fact, it shouldn’t be surprised when a foreboding mood gradually takes hold and catapults you toward circumstances that tingle the spine, freeze the blood and convince the mind that the ghostly apparition you’ve just experienced was all too real.

For the purposes of full disclosure, it should be noted that this reviewer is a member of Great Escape’s board of directors and is the husband of Kim Forde, who serves as costumer for the production. He also has friends involved in the show, including Howell and props organizer Kyra Hill. For all these reasons, he is extremely pleased to say that he thoroughly enjoyed Wednesday evening’s show and is happy to recommend it to others.

For information about reservations, contact the Great Escape box office at 269-781-2700 or purchase tickets online at https://www.facebook.com/share/p/LVLYAPkBVb87yQq8/.

09/11/2024

After relaxing for a few months, I'm bringing my eBay offerings back up to speed. I've added several items in recent days and hope to add more in the near future as I continue to downsize my library. As usual, there's some fairly esoteric stuff on my page, including items relating to "Star Trek," magical entertainment, escapology, occult history and other weird topics. If you're intrigued, please take a look - and thanks!

04/12/2024

If you've been following me here lately, you know that I've been downsizing my criminology, Sherlockian and Arthur Conan Doyle-related collection. Even an ardent Spiritualist such as Doyle probably had no idea that my own birthplace - Battle Creek, Michigan - at one time was a haven for several nontraditional faith-based movements, including Spiritualism. One of the followings of that faith was a member of a family associated with a local funeral home, with which worked a great deal during my early journalism days as a writer of obituaries. I learned that job from the late Gloria Shaffer, who knew every funeral director in town; as a result, she also knew the author of this book, who gave her a copy during her own early days writing obits. In 1987, Gloria passed the book on to me, knowing that I would protect it as a grand Battle Creek curiosity, reflecting those days when Battle Creek was the "Cereal City" and so much more. Now it's time for the book to find an equally appreciative home. Perhaps that home is yours?

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for "Gateway to Life" by Esther H. Hebble (1954) RARE & unique Spiritualist message at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

04/09/2024

Many items have been added in recent weeks, but the time has come for some of these items - quite a few of them Sherlockian in nature - to be removed and set aside for donation to help the Baker Street Irregulars Trust. If you have been thinking of adding to your own collection, it's probably time to act, because that item you've been watching may be de-listed sometime soon. Click the link to see what's currently being offered. Many thanks!

Follow jcsherwood on eBay. Buying, Selling, Collecting on eBay has never been more exciting!

04/05/2024

I happened to visit a small town in Arizona about 15 years ago and went into a tiny bookshop full of oddities. There, I spied this play script by a fellow who's always intimidated me because of his amazing success in dramatic writing. What's worse is that we probably share some DNA and I did *not* inherit the same strand that dictates creative output. Yes, I had a lot of success as a writer, but not on his scale. The play may be his best-known and best-loved, perhaps because of the great casting choice of Raymond Massey as Lincoln. In any case, this copy now has outlived its usefulness on my own shelves and might serve a collector better. Might that be you?

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for "Abe Lincoln in Illinois," play by Robert E. Sherwood - 3rd prtg (1939) HC DJ G+ at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

04/05/2024

In my early days hobnobbing with fellow Sherlockians, I got to know the late Marcello Truzzi, a professor of sociology at Eastern Michigan University who shared my interest in all things Holmesian, magic, the paranormal and the real of UFOs/UAPs. He was concerned my own skeptical nature might blind me to ideas that he found worthy of scrutiny, and as a result we shared a lively correspondence and frequent conversations whenever I made it to Sherlockian gatherings in the Ann Arbor area. In the late 1970s, Marcello left his editorial role with the Committee for the Scientific Investigations of Claims of the Paranormal and launched his own journal, two issues of which I've kept for many years and now need a new home. I believe someone with a similar frame of mind could use this. Might it be you?

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for “Zetetic Scholar” for 1979 & 1980, ed. by Marcello Truzzi - VG+ Paranormal RARE at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!