Has a magician ever baffled you with a trick that seemed completely impossible? Well, these tricks aren’t just possible, they’re simple enough for anyone to perform.
Walking Through A Wall
This is a common trick that was popularized in the 1990s. The magician will stand behind a lit curtain so you can only see their shadow, and they will run into a wall that separates another lit curtain, making the illusion that they walked through a wall.
How is This Possible?
Typically, after the trick is performed, the magician will exit the second curtain and open both of the curtains to reveal that “there was no trickery involved.” So, how did they really complete the trick?
The Answer is Simple
Generally, simple is better when it comes to magic. The solution to this trick is actually probably what you first thought of. The wall in between the curtain typically has a tunnel built into it, which is covered by a fake section of brick that is either a painted curtain or a structure on wheels that an assistant will pull out and replace. The magician will simply go under the prop wall, easy-peasy.
Turning Water into Ice Instantly
You don’t have to be a scientist to know that this isn’t real. However, science has a lot to do with the solution to this trick. This trick is a fairly new one, and the methods behind it are probably something you’ve already done by accident before.
What’s the Deal?
A magician will present a cup or bottle of water to the audience. In some cases, the magician will show the undisturbed water to the audience, and may even offer them the opportunity to hold the cup/bottle. This is the first giveaway about the simplicity of this trick, it’s actually just water with nothing in it, but how does it freeze instantly?
Attention to Detail
You’ve probably done this before completely by accident, but the trick starts with placing the cup/bottle of water in the freezer for a predetermined amount of time. The idea is, you can bring the water very close to freezing without actually freezing it, but if you disturb the water with impact or vibration, the water will freeze instantly. This is due to the outside water and inside water mixing, reaching a consistent temperature.
Those Darn Magicians
The magician will generally have a few things on hand for this trick. In a lot of cases, if the magician is working with a cup of water, to avoid spillage, the magician will be carrying a small piece of clear ice (ice with no air bubbles). When the ice is dropped into the cup, the water will freeze instantly. When using a bottle, the magician might just smack the bottle on the table, the impact causes the water to turn into ice.
Conjuring a Pigeon
This one is a bit more difficult, not because the solution is more complex, but it requires a few more skills than just the knowledge of how the trick is performed. That, and a little extra cash.
Breaking it Down
The magician needs three things; a pigeon, a jacket with a hidden pocket in the sleeve, and something to distract the audience. The key to this trick is sleight of hand, which is when the magician deceives the audience and takes advantage of a distraction to make an otherwise obvious move.
There’s a Bird in My Sleeve
The magician will begin with a distraction, usually something bright like a sparkler or a light bulb, being very careful to not move too suddenly. The magician will wait until they decide that their audience is sufficiently distracted, and they will very quickly replace the distraction with the pigeon that was hidden in the secret pocket sewn into their jacket. We do not condone animal mishandling, approach this trick with caution.
Smoking Fingers
This common trick is popular mostly with amateurs. It’s very cheap, easy, and accessible. Despite the simplicity of the trick, it still boggles the minds of some onlookers, but the skeptics demand more information…
How It’s Made
The smoke that appears from the magician’s fingers doesn’t actually come from a flaming object, although it does come from the aftermath of burning something. Have you ever lit a piece of cardboard or strong paper on fire? That gray residue that’s leftover is the key to this trick.
A Simple Illusion
The magician simply keeps a deposit of this ash from burning paper in their pocket. When rubbed between the fingers, the ash will travel upward, carried by the heat coming from their body. The ash has a smoke-like appearance, and will slowly dissipate in the air. You can try this at home too! Just try not to burn yourself.
The Famous “Money in the Lemon” Trick
Jamie Ravens is a London based magician who went on Brittan’s got talent and demonstrated this trick. While the judges and audience were blown away by his actions, this trick is actually replicated with many other objects and is fairly simple to perform.
The Invisible Lemon
This trick is essentially entirely sleight of hand. Jamie Ravens started by asking one of the judges to sign a piece of paper and hand it back to him. Ravens then folded the paper and used that distraction to pull a lemon out of a secret pocket in his jacket. He then used sleight of hand to disguise what he was doing, and he shoved the paper into a hole in the lemon. He then cut the lemon in half to reveal the signed note.
Sleight of Hand, Explained
Jamie Ravens’ version of this trick is very impressive because of his impeccable sleight of hand. Magicians understand that the majority of their tricks have to be simply done, minimizing obvious movement and keeping the illusion believable. Magicians like Ravens do not need high budget tricks to gather a crowd because of their impeccable sleight of hand.
You’ve Been Struck By…
Michael Jackson, the king of pop, utilized sleight of hand to strengthen his acts on stage. One of Michael’s most notorious dance moves is a perfect example of sleight of hand being used well in the mainstream, and it still baffles people today.
A “Smooth Criminal”
Michael Jackson was famous long before he put out “Bad,” which is arguably one of the greatest pop records ever made. Smooth Criminal was immediately picked up by the public and it became an absolute radio hit. Michael Jackson took a lot of care while developing the dance routine for this song, and his vision included a physically impossible move.
The Hard Lean
Jackson choreographed a move into the routine that could not be done without assistance. In this move, the dancer would have to lean forward at a 45-degree angle, which is completely impossible without the application of some stage magic tricks.
Custom Kicks
Michael Jackson and his dancers were outfitted with custom shoes that had a V shape etched into the heel. This V was intended to hang onto a small nail that was driven into the stage. The idea was, if you could wedge the nail head into the V in the shoe, the dancers could lean forward while still looking authentic. Michael Jackson had an eye for the impossible, and he always made it work.
Sword Swallowing
This is less of a magic trick, more of a “knowledge of human anatomy” trick. Swallowing a sword is just as dangerous as it sounds, and it takes a highly practiced professional to even attempt the trick.
Down the Hatch
The trick to this performance is knowing exactly how your mouth and esophagus meet, and the ability to contract your lower esophageal muscles to stop the sword from falling into the stomach. This is arguably the most dangerous widely represented trick, and nobody should simply “attempt” sword swallowing, you will most likely cause serious, irreversible damage to yourself.
Levitating a Cup
This is a simple and goofy office trick. You can take this trick anywhere that has paper or styrofoam cups but avoid letting your audience move around you, this will destroy the illusion.
The Proof is in the Thumb
The idea behind this trick is to demonstrate the normalcy of the cup, showing it to your audience, proving that there are no strings or alterations. The magician will then sneakily plug their non-dominant thumb into the back of the cup, giving the illusion that it is levitating over their dominant hand.
Spike Through the Body
This trick involves a bit more time, experience, and definitely a lot more money. This is a fairly old trick and has been replicated in many different ways, this is just the most popular iteration of the trick as of right now.
The Key is Set Design
The metal spike that the magicians are “impaling” themselves with is usually just a coverup for a platform that the magician sets up to lay on while giving the illusion that they are suspended from the spike that’s impaling them.
The Zig-Zag Box
When people think of magic, this is usually the type of trick that comes to mind first. The Zig-Zag box is a very old style of magic that is less about the illusion, and more about the assistant.
Pushing Them Over
This trick is actually completely physically completed by the hired assistant. This assistant needs to be very flexible and thin. The magician presents the box and moves the squares in a way that makes it look like their assistant’s body is being pulled apart. In fact, the assistant is just doing a more extreme form of yoga, and if they fail to remain in their stretched position, they can ruin the entire trick.
Bending a Spoon
This trick has been represented in a ton of sci-fi movies, television shows, and your grandfather probably pulled this out on you a couple of times as well. This is a very simple trick, the only ingredients you need are a spoon and a silver coin.
It’s Quite Simple Actually
You don’t always need a special spoon, but it does make the trick more convincing. The idea behind this trick is, you hold the spoon low in a clenched fist, and the coin masquerades as the spoon handle, as you angle the spoon in different ways while it’s in your clenched fist. This is a fun party trick.
The Buzzsaw Trick
This is one of the first “extreme” magic tricks, it’s also one of the most dangerous magic tricks that a person could perform on stage. Typically, there is an assistant either lying on a table with a towel over their legs, or the assistant is laying in a closed box. The magician will then saw the assistant in half, but not really.
Like the Zig-Zag, but Riskier
The assistant would either have to scrunch up in a ball in the top half of the box to prevent their legs from actually getting sawed off. If the assistant’s body is visible, the towel that’s laying over their legs covers a set of fake legs, and the assistant usually would hang their legs over the side of the table, or they dangle underneath the table, covered by some enclosure.
Biting a Coin in Half
This trick requires a special purchase and a real quarter. No, you won’t be biting an actual coin. The dummy coin is a magnetic piece of metal that’s cut into a circle shape and embossed to look like a quarter. The magician needs to use sleight of hand to stealthily switch the coins during the trick.
Quarter for Your Thoughts?
The magician will usually present the real quarter to their audience while hiding the fake quarter somewhere in their hand. Using sleight of hand, the magician must quickly switch the coins, biting the fake one while keeping the real quarter hidden. When prompted, the magician will then replace the piece of the magnetic coin that was bitten off, and use sleight of hand to replace the chomped coin with the real one once more.
The Classic “Rabbit in the Hat” Trick
Quite possibly the most famous magic trick of all time is very simple, the hardest part is finding a living rabbit that’s quiet enough to not make sounds while the trick is being prepared.
Truth Behind the Myth
In order to complete this trick, you need a table, a tablecloth, a bunny, a bag, and a tophat. The magician will then the audience that the hat is empty, and slide the hat closer to them on the table while performing sleight of hand. The magician typically uses their non-dominant hand to move the rabbit up into the hat from the bag dangling off of the table. Simple, effective, and legendary.
The Floating Woman
This is another classic trick that has been confusing audiences for decades. The Floating Woman is very similar to the “Spike Through the Body” trick, but it requires a lot more showmanship and a ton of custom fittings.
Oh, She Floats
This trick requires a standing frame, similar to the STTB trick, but the magician needs to stand in front of it to obstruct the posts from the audience. The assistant lays on the platform, and the magician will run a hoop over them to show that there is “nothing” holding them up. The secret behind this is an s-shaped fitting that the magician can run the hoop through to make it look like the assistant is floating.
Cutting the Assistant in Half
This one is very old as well. This trick has been referenced in cartoons over the ages, but it is very real. This trick requires a box that has been pre-cut in half and two assistants.
Not So Scary Huh?
The magician will place both assistants into the box before the trick, one with their head and arms sticking out of the holes, and one with just their legs sticking out. The magician then will saw the assistant’s box in half splitting the already split people, giving the illusion that one person was in fact sawed in half.
The Levitating Man
If you’ve ever been to New York City or LA, you have probably seen someone performing this illusion. In fact, it’s so cheap and easy to do that practically anyone can master this act in a day.
Just a Post and a Seat
This trick follows the Floating Woman and the Spike Through the Body guidelines, but it is much less theatrical. The magician will sit on a seat suspended from a pole that’s connected to a base. The magicians that perform this trick typically hold onto the post like a cane and make it look like they are floating completely effortlessly.
Walking on Water
This one is much more simple than you’d expect. All you need is a body of water and enough Perspex boxes to carry you as far as you want into said body of water.
One, Two, Three, Walk
All the magician has to do is place the Perspex boxes into the water. These boxes are completely invisible in any color water. The next step, walk on them. Theatrics are optional.
And Now for My Next Trick…
Now that we’ve covered the basics, how about we talk about some tricks that you ABSOLUTELY SHOULD NOT TRY AT HOME.
Frozen in Time
David Blaine is a brilliant magician, but in recent years he’s been pushing the envelope to mix magic with human endurance challenges. In 2000, he froze himself in an ice block and stayed frozen in that block for nearly three days. When he finally got out of the block, he was instantly hospitalized.
Making the Statue of Liberty Disappear
In 1983, David Copperfield made the Statue of Liberty disappear using spotlights and a neutral background to create the illusion of open space. He politely returned the national landmark unharmed a few minutes later.
Self-Removing Your Head
Cyril Takayama performed a stunt where he illuded that his head had fallen off and he was desperately trying to get it to return to its previous position. The secret to this trick is a fixed piece of wire in the lapel and collar of his suit jacket so he can move his head independently to his clothing.
Levitating Over the Grand Canyon
David Copperfield once again broke the conventions of magic. In an unbelievable, death-defying stunt, he devised a way to suspend himself over the Grand Canyon, making it look like he flew out there all by himself.
Metamorphosis
The Pendragons are a magician duo who specialized in a show-boaty style of magic. One of their most famous tricks is called “Metamorphosis,” which is a simple disappear/reappear trick with the help of some trap doors hidden underneath their lockbox.
Hand Ability
Richard Ross is the king of sleight of hand. He can easily deceive an audience with his quick movements and the bizarre endings to his tricks. Watch some of his videos, they’re all incredible.
Turning Coffee into Coins
David Blaine is back at it again with another hot sleight of hand trick that left viewers scratching their heads. After giving a homeless man enough money to buy a cup of coffee, he requested the coffee be handed back to him. With no obvious replacement, Blaine handed the coffee back to the man and the cup was full of coins.
The Roller Coaster Death Stunt
American escape artist Lance Burton performed one of the dumbest stunts in history. He handcuffed his hands, feet, and waist to roller coaster tracks and narrowly avoided certain death.
Swallowing a Concrete Drill
Thomas Blackthorne performed the personification of nightmares. He swallowed an active concrete drill just like a sword swallower swallows swords. Miraculously, he lived.
Catching a Bullet
Penn and Teller are arguably the most prolific magicians of the modern era, and although they did not pioneer the bullet trick, they definitely made it the most convincing.
Crossbow Headshot
Hans and Helga Moretti must have a lot of fun practicing this trick. Hans Shoots an apple off of Helga’s head, blindfolded.
The Chinese Water Torture Cell
Harry Houdini locked himself inside a torture chamber that slowly filled with water, upside down, and bound around every joint.
Levitation, but More Extreme
Chris Angel gets a bad rep in the magic community for being all show, no substance. This was his response to the public outcry.
Getting Run Over By Truck
Teller, of the Penn and Teller group, used to be very reckless early on in his career. Once, he let a truck driver roll his 18-wheeler over his body and walked away unscathed.
Removing Assistant’s Front Teeth
David Blaine might actually be a demon. In this act, he removes a random assistant’s front teeth. Gross.
Turning $5 into $500
David Blaine never ceases to impress. He showed up in a poor neighborhood in Missouri to meet the locals and perform some magic. David took 5 $1 bills from one of the audience members, then conjured 5 $100 bills out of thin air.