Magician Peter Boie gets students in the Halloween ‘spirit’

By Christian McCarville

As halloween approaches, Rider students have plenty of opportunities to participate in spooky events and activities. The “Summoning Spirits Haunted Magic Show” was able to provide a good scare to all those who participated.

The “Summoning Spirits Haunted Magic Show” was both written and performed by Peter Boie, who combined elements of horror and magic to provide a one-of-a-kind experience for all that attended. Boie is a popular touring magic act and has even been featured in the television series “Penn & Teller: Fool Us.”

This event, like many other recent events, underwent a few adjustments so that it could be presented in a virtual format. Associate Dean of Campus Life Nick Barbati provided some insight as to how this event was brought to Rider.

“The Student Entertainment Council saw an excerpt of the Summoning Spirits magic show at the annual National Association of Campus Activities (NACA) Conference last year, and thought it would be a perfect fit to bring back to Rider,” said Barbati. “Unfortunately with COVID [19], we were unable to host an in-person show, but thankfully Peter has transitioned his show to a virtual format that we were excited to present.”

For students to partake in the event, they had to register ahead of time via a Google Form.

Before the start of the show, participating students were then sent a link that would bring them to a YouTube livestream where they could watch.

This livestream also included a chat feature where students could interact with Boie throughout the show.

For each of Boie’s performances, he began with a scary story which related to the magic act that followed. This made each act unique and related to the show’s overall theme of contacting spirits. Boie would provide background information for a spirit and the ensuing magic act would revolve around the actions of the particular spirit.

Senior human resource management major and current Tradition Chair of the Student Entertainment Council Lauren Matticoli played a significant role in bringing Boie to Rider. She commented on the magician’s performance and storytelling.

“Something that I really liked about the event is how the magician told stories as he performed his magic tricks,” said Matticoli.

“I also liked that the magician would ask for volunteers. I enjoyed being able to see students’ facial expressions and see that they were being scared by the tricks being performed.”

Boie also incorporated student participation in each one of his magic tricks. Several different students were brought into the show through a video chat and were asked to assist Boie with an aspect of the performance.

One student was even asked to create a pendulum which was used to contact a spirit in her home. The pendulum would change its movement in response to a series of yes-or-no questions. Following this, Boie performed a tarot card reading of both the student and the spirit.

The students performing the event were visibly engaged and appeared to truly be shocked by Boie’s many magic tricks.

Through Boie’s riveting storytelling and mind-boggling magic tricks, this event helped many students get in the Halloween spirit.