Abracadabra, y’all!
Anyone who’s ever watched a magic show might find themselves really convinced that these
people studied at Hogwarts!
Ah, you know by now that there’s nothing magical about illusion.
Except how it makes you feel!
But, hey, next time you see one of these tricks, you’ll know exactly what’s going on behind
all the smoke and mirrors!
1.
Torn Bill When David Copperfield sent a pencil right
through an audience member’s $100 bill, well, I imagine that guy’s heart went up
to his throat!
But, of course, his cash was fine.
This trick is done using a special “gimmick” that slides on to the eraser-end of the pencil.
It should be the same color so that it blends in perfectly.
You initially fold the bill around the pencil, hold your fingers on the gimmick, and pull
the pencil out.
Chat with the audience, distract them and whatnot.
Then, reposition it back into the gimmick but behind the banknote.
So, at this point, the bill is between the pencil and the gimmick.
Finally, slide the pencil down, and it looks like it’s going right through the money.
Wow.
2.
Disappearing Glass A drinking glass is put on the table and covered
with a handkerchief.
Then, the glass is lifted and thrown in the air.
Oooh, someone’s gonna have to clean this up!
The handkerchief falls to the table, and the glass… has disappeared!
You got any idea of how you can poof a glass out of existence?
Easy: the handkerchief has a hidden wiry ring that creates an illusion that there’s a
glass under it.
As for the glass itself, the magician already slid it into a secret hole in the table!
3.
The Signed Card The illusionist gives a card to a viewer and
asks them to sign it.
He then rips it up into 4 parts.
But – voila! – he magically pulls the signed card out.
And look at that – it’s totally fine!
It looks impressive but, again, it’s all sleight-of-hand.
The illusionist hides a folded card in his sleeve beforehand, replaces it with the viewer's
at the right moment, and then rips it up.
After that, of course, he pulls the real signed card (totally unscathed) back out to all kinds
of ooohs and ahhhs.
4.
Make $100 from $1 – I think we ALL want to do that for real…oops sorry.
The illusionist first folds a $100 bill up until it’s small enough to fit behind their
middle finger.
As you display the $1 bill while keeping that 100 concealed, you slyly slide it over until
it’s hidden behind the top left corner of the dollar.
Then, fold the dollar the same way you did with the 100 while keeping the latter behind
it.
Finally, do a little abracadabra, switch the sides, and slide the $1 behind your finger.
Unfold the Benjamin, and there ya go!
5.
Pulling a Rabbit out of a Hat (Bullwinkle: Hey Rocky, Watch me… never mind.)
A trick as old as time!
So, there are actually 3 ways you can hide the bunny before you pull it out of your top
hat to the sound of Cheers: you know, where everybody knows your name?
anyway, those 3 places are: - in a hidden compartment in the table: when
the illusionist puts the hat on the table, he makes sure to cover the hole.
- in the hat itself: there’s a hatch inside to keep the fluffy guy from falling out.
- in a canvas bag hung on the edge of the table.
It’s nicely covered by a long tablecloth so you can’t see it.
While the illusionist shows the audience that the hat is absolutely empty, the rabbit is
hidden under the table.
The hardest part is getting the rabbit from the bag and into the hat without the audience
noticing!
That’s what practice is for.
6.
The Human Zigzag You might think that the woman inside is divided
into 3 parts, but the effect is achieved because her body is hidden.
The success of this trick depends on the assistant’s flexibility.
Her main goal is to contort her body in those compartments so that her face, hands, and
foot look as if she’s standing up straight and facing the audience.
Ow, my knees and back wouldn’t have that!
7.
Michael Jackson's Gravity-Defying Lean Yes, the King of Pop and seemingly Naysayer
of Gravity blew us all away with his famous 45° full-body lean.
His music might’ve been magical, but this trick wasn’t.
The secret was in his shoes the whole time!
They had holes in the heels that attached to little metal pegs in the floor.
The shoes also had a sturdy support frame that came up on his legs quite high.
Still takes talent to pull the thing off so smoothly.
You can insert your “Smooth Criminal” pun here…
8.
Going Through a Mirror To expose this trick, you can just ask a magician
to go through a common mirror – say, in your hall!
I bet he'll think up some excuse.
And that’s because he needs special screens with cuts in the middle.
The one that’s attached to the back part of the mirror has two hidden panels.
The construction allows his assistant to move the mirror aside and replace it with the 2
panels so that he can crawl through.
At the end of the trick, the assistant puts the mirror back in place.
9.
Breaking out of Handcuffs This was one of Harry Houdini’s most successful
and popular tricks.
Houdini studied all kinds of locks his whole life and had an encyclopedic knowledge of
handcuffs.
He could guess which key would open this or that type of cuffs at first glance.
Later, he invented a special belt that could be rotated with your elbow.
The belt had pockets with all kinds of keys to different cuff models.
But for some pairs, the key wasn’t necessary.
It was enough to knock them on a hard surface.
Another type of handcuffs could be opened with a special wire loop.
10.
Getting Free of Chains Underwater And yet another one of Houdini’s breath-taking
feats.
The great illusionist had a special sort of aquarium chamber built and patented for this
trick.
Houdini’s wrists and calves were chained, and then he was slowly submerged into the
tank full of water.
The chamber was hidden by a curtain, and within a couple minutes, Houdini would magically
appear from behind it.
First of all, the chamber’s special design was key for this trick.
Since his body was displacing some water, it created an air pocket in the tank.
Secondly, Houdini’s unmatched skills also played their role.
The task of the illusionist was to tense up, get out of the chains, and get out of the
water.
The trick is really spectacular and is still performed around the world to this day!
But in case you have one of those giant tanks lying around, still don’t try this one at
home, ok?
11.
The Saw Trick Probably as iconic in magic as the rabbit
in a hat number.
The audience sees the magician’s assistant crawl into a big box lying on a table.
They close the box, and you can still see her head coming out of one end and her feet
out the other.
Then, out comes the giant handsaw.
Oh, the horror!
What you can’t see as you try to peek at the show through your fingers is that those
feet aren’t actually hers!
There’s a second assistant underneath that box, and her feet are sticking out.
The first assistant has hers pulled up toward her chest.
Phew, that’s a relief!
12.
Linking Rings The magician begins by showing you that the
metal rings he’s about to use are totally solid.
He might even ask an audience member to give it a hearty tug to check.
A second later, he somehow hooks 2 of them together and then magically separates them.
Amazing!
How is it done?
It really is just smooth sleight-of-hand because there’s a tiny gap in one of the rings – he’s
just sure to keep it hidden under his hand.
It’s always the hands – gotta keep a sharp eye on ‘em!
13.
Disappearance of the Statue of Liberty One of David Copperfield’s biggest and most
incredible tricks was when he made the Statue of Liberty vanish right before the crowd’s
eyes!
Lady Liberty was hidden by a canvas, and when it fell down, she was gone!
Several minutes later, the statue was right back in her place.
So, how do you vanish a 300-foot statue in front of a live audience?
Well, like a true magician, Copperfield never revealed his secret.
That’s why we only have an educated guess.
It must have to do with the lights.
The ones inside the statue turned off before the canvas came down.
They also lit up 2 lights on the island that were incredibly bright – probably so much
so that it sort of momentarily blinded the viewers.
It was night, so their eyes wouldn’t have had time to adjust.
There are 2 other theories, or, perhaps, other ways to perform the trick:
- The viewers don’t know it, but their seats are on a huge rotating platform.
After the curtain goes up in the beginning, the platform is slowly turned until the Statue
is out of the audience’s line of vision.
- And skeptics believe there was no trick at all.
They say the audience members were nothing more than actors, and everything else is just
the magic of cinema, which can show anything!
Well, I guess we’ll never know!
Which is okay.
Which of these magic tricks would you like to see in person?
Let me know down in the comments!
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just yet!
Get out of your handcuffs first!
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