Wauwatosa East and West Student News

The Tosa Compass

Wauwatosa East and West Student News

The Tosa Compass

Wauwatosa East and West Student News

The Tosa Compass

Try to Fool This Guesser

By Aidan Gabriel and Spencer Johnson

For five dollars, he will guess your weight within three pounds, your age within two years, or your birth month within two months. He’s not a con man, and it’s not a gimmick.

“I’m not always right, but I’m almost always close,” said Richard Nelson.

Nelson said his skill came to him by accident. He spent six years in the army special forces where he was trained to be able to identify different attributes of a person.

“If you can intimidate somebody they’ll give it away… facial expression tells everything. It’s all about identifying human behavior,” Nelson claims.

Nelson admits he’s only had this job for four weeks, but likes his new job because it allows him to go to interesting places, such as New York, Mexico, Louisiana, Canada, just to name a few.

“I liked the army because I got to travel… this job is the next best thing”

Nelson keeps a steady banter going as people pass.  And occasionally someone will stop and see if they can “Fool the Guesser.”

Sue Ann had already fooled one guesser at the Fair earlier in the day.  The first guesser guessed her age incorrectly by a couple of years and she claimed a prize.  She decided to give it another chance.

When he guesses, Nelson is calm and quick and doesn’t ask a single question.  He has a stern and serious stare.  He scribbles down his guess and shows it to the crowd.

72 years old.  He is correct.  Sue Ann wasn’t so lucky the second time.

A very youthful and somewhat shocked Sue Ann said, “I don’t know how he did it.  It was weird.”

(This article was produced by students are participating in the annual State Fair Journalism workshop held at the Wisconsin State Fair on August 12th, 2015 and conducted and sponsored by the Wauwatosa West Journalism Program.)

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