The auditorium quickly filled with anxious spectators, including those sitting in the aisles. Gasps from audience members could be heard as Jim Munroe placed a nail inside his nose and began to hammer it in. In this reenactment of his proposal to his wife, Munroe had the audience shrieking and covering their eyes as the nail appeared to enter his nose.

Munroe performed his show The Maze on Feb. 22 at Schofield Auditorium. The performance was hosted by Student Impact, an organization on the UW-Eau Claire campus.

Part of the Campus Crusade for Christ, Student Impact is a student-run organization. The organization holds Bible studies, meetings and activities across campus and allows members to interact and socialize with other students.

Student Impact member Ryan Cegelski said the organization brought The Maze to Eau Claire to present students with different ideas.

“We are trying to challenge students’ current beliefs and what they find to be true,” Cegelski said, “as well as send the message of how you can have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.”

Referring to his two-hour show as a “social experiment,” Munroe allowed audience members to participate and picked volunteers at random by tossing a bear named Coco into the hands of audience members.

In one illusion, Munroe brought two audience members to the stage, telling them to stand separate from each other and close their eyes. He only touched one of the volunteers on the shoulder; however, both said they felt Munroe touch them in the same spot on their shoulder. The audience laughed as the two volunteers’ eyes remained closed and did not realize what happened.

Junior Jake Holterman said he was surprised by the trick.

“I have no idea how he did it,” Holterman said. “It was pretty crazy.”

Holterman said the overall performance was a good source of entertainment with a good message behind it.

Two years ago, doctors diagnosed Munroe with leukemia. Munroe said the doctors told him he had two months to live unless they started chemotherapy immediately. He showed the audience members a video, exposing them to his weakest moments during the cancer treatments with no hair and barely enough energy to speak.

Munroe said he began to question his religious beliefs during chemotherapy.

“I think students can relate somehow in their own way of how they have gone through hard times that cause them to seek God for help,” Cegelski said.

Munroe continued to tell his story and perform “fake” tricks in an attempt to inspire his audience and have them question what is really true.

Some students didn’t know what to expect and were surprised when Munroe made religious references in the second half of the show. Senior Samantha Mester said she was pleasantly surprised by the change in performance.

Junior Leesa Klatt said she saw the show last year and discovered that The Maze was back in Eau Claire by posters across campus.

“I didn’t know it was religious the first time,” Klatt said, “but I came because I remembered it was really good.”

Munroe has performed numerous shows throughout the past two years at universities across the nation. Whether it was pulling a string out of his stomach or demonstrating his level of fear with a knife and a blindfold, Munroe continued to keep the audience involved and wanting more throughout the entire performance. With tricks or magic, he expressed his concern about society’s impressions of truth.

“Anything that we want to believe is true will become true,” he said, “simply because we want to believe it to be true.”