CNN AMERICAN MORNING WITH PAULA ZAHN
Interview with David Blaine
Aired November 14, 2002 - 09:40 ET

ZAHN: Most of us know David Blaine as a street magician performing amazing magic for unsuspecting passerbyers, or you may know him for his seemingly death-defying challenges, like allowing himself to be buried alive or froze in a block of ice. Ooh, I remember that one!!!

Now he’s about to become known as an author, with his new book “Mysterious Stranger.” It’s an autobiography and a history of magic, and perhaps most intriguing, the book is supposed to lead us a treasure hunt to find a 24-karat solid gold orb worth $100,000. David Blaine joins us to talk about that. And maybe you should be listening for clues this morning. Great to see you. Thanks for dropping by.

Let’s talk a little bit about how tough it is going to be for people to determine in this book where the clues are and where they’re not?

BLAINE: I kind of created it, so -- with help, of course, but I created it so that it would be very simple, if you were to think outside of the box, or if you were to go the typical way of solving clues, it would be very difficult. One thing I want to note, the gold orb, when you find it, that’s not worth 100 grand; you call my phone number, which is my cell phone, and I’ll show up to you with a briefcase of $100,000 for finding it.

ZAHN: Do you think anybody’s going to find it?

BLAINE: Absolutely.

ZAHN: Based on these clues...

BLAINE: I hope some kid somewhere in the middle of nowhere just figures it out and finds it.

ZAHN: I hope so, too. But based on the clues that you give in here that are so obtuse, I’m not holding out much hope. Let me read one excerpt out of this book that David has just conceded to me is a clue. Here’s a picture of P.T. Barnum right here, right, and the caption reads, “P.T. Barnum, innovative, nervy, audacious, somewhat typical of New England.”

BLAINE: That one I’ve given away, and that’s one of the simple ones, but the reason that’s a clue, if you listen to the words, the words that are innovative, nervy, audacious, somewhat typical of a New Englander, I’m not somebody to determine who’s typical of New England, and that’s not the way I would speak. So if you take that section, take the name away, and take the first letter of each word, it spells out a completely different sentence.

I am IN A STONE, which means that the treasure isn’t buried anywhere. You don’t have to go digging up yards or anything; it’s resting in a stone, and it’s a solid gold orb, so somebody with a metal detector could walk around and find it that way

Note “Also thanks—Rick Rubin” is second to last in the book’s acknowledgements. DB told the winner, Sherri Skanes, that the “Also thanks” yielded AT in the same acronymic manner that the P.T. Barnum caption yielded IN A STONE — and in his Paula Zahn Interview, DB emphasized that “somebody with a metal detector could walk around and find [the treasure] that way.” So, after all the speculations and rumors and Just Blaine Crazy thinking, the street magician’s much ballyhooed secret solution was to look up Rick Rubin on Google and then haul your metal detector over to 2451 Laurel Canyon Boulevard, also where the “Fearless” DVD introduction was shot, as seen below.

WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THE TREASURE MAP AND THE AMULET?

DB wanted my treasure hunt to lead to his treasure map and his treasure map to then lead to his amulet as was published in the rules of the book. This would ensure that DB would be the only one to know the final location of the treasure.

17 days after the book was published, DB announces the new treasure in the Paula Zahn Interview. For three months, all that was secreted at the treasure location was a laminated card.

In February 2003, DB arrives with a hollow stone containing a gold orb, and no map. We go to 2451 Laurel Canyon and discover that the back gate, the same back gate that six months ago was unlocked and unfettered, is not only locked, but reinforced with additional mesh.

Fortune favors fools. There was, to the left, a break in the fence and we squeezed through (following the red arrow) and mountain-climbed our way back to the opposite side of the locked gate. As we strolled down the path to the 70th step, DB glanced at me and announced with a devilish grin:

“Rick doesn’t know I’m hiding this here.”

THE TREASURE WAS HIDDEN ON PRIVATE PROPERTY — AND THE OWNER DIDN’T KNOW?

It is more likely that DB was pulling my leg.

WHAT ABOUT THE RULES CONTAINED IN THE BOOK?

Rule (9) states, “The sponsors shall have complete discretion over the interpretation of the Official Rules.” DB’s appearance on Larry King Live and his publicly announced “tattoo” clue, for example, tosses Rule (2) out the window.

THE CHALLENGE WAS UNFAIR.

Johnny Carson notes, “If life was fair, Elvis would be alive and all the impersonators would be dead.”

WAS THAT AN ACTUAL REFLECTION AT THE LAUREL CANYON SITE IN THE SUNGLASSES?

Yes.