Wearing a sign on his back that reads “The Psychic Ceramic Pirate Presents Mystifying Mind Tricks,” the Pirate claims the ability to tell the name, telephone number, hometown, exact amount of change and favorite number of his subjects.

When street performing, the Pirate – Bob Kelley – uses his charm and oddball humor to draw passerbys into his act. Recently, a young woman cautiously approached him with a group of friends.

“Take off your glasses, I need to see your eyes,” he instructed her. She did so. “Okay, now take off your top.”

Jokes aside, Kelley wasn’t bluffing about needing to see the girl’s eyes in order to do his job.

“The pupil dilates when I hit a letter or number,” he said. “Before police departments had lie detectors, they used this system.”

Kelley knows first-hand the powers of this eye reading ability. He grew up in a family of police officers and learned the tricks of the trade. However, he chose to go into the education system as a fourth-grade teacher rather than enter the law enforcement field.

“I used to use this trick on kids on the first day of school,” he said, in reference to his psychic talents. “Other teachers take a week or so to learn the kids’ names.”

He began street performing 10 years ago after retiring from teaching and said he has found the time profitable. Jay Leno saw his act in Harvard Square and flew Kelley out to Los Angeles to appear on his program.

Now retired, Kelley brings his act to Boston in the summer and Key West, Fla., in the winter. He said his time in Key West explains the pirate get-up.

“In Key West, people on the cruise ships like to have their picture taken with a pirate, so I leave out the mentalist part and just act more like a mime,” Kelley said.

The Pirate can usually be found in Harvard Square during the summer or on Court Street next to Government Center. But hurry, he is returning to Florida in two weeks.