Everyone has wondered how magicians pull off these crazy tricks. After doing some research, we were able to uncover their secrets…
Walking on Water
This illusion has wowed audiences for decades. Naturally, the inspiration for this trick was from the stories of Jesus walking on water in the Bible. It’s a crazy cool visual!
A Simple Secret
The secret to the illusion is actually pretty straight forward! The magician will place perspex boxes within the water. Perspex boxes become invisible when they’re in the water. So, they give off the illusion of walking on water!
Floating Person
The magician will lay his assistant down on a board that is resting on two chairs or boxes. The person will lie down on the board, and the magician will slowly pull away from the support of the board. Obviously, the audience is shocked, but then, he waves a hoop around the floating person, proving that there are no tricks…
The Shocking Secret
The entire trick depends on a concealed rod. All the magician has to do is not bang into it, or the trick is ruined! The hoop itself is actually not a perfect circle, but formed more in an ‘s’ formation so that there is a way to get it around the rod quickly.
Rabbit In The Hat
This is one of the oldest tricks in the book and the cutest! The magician will show the audience that the hat is empty, and it is! Then, after tapping the hat three times, he pulls out an adorable bunny. How does this work?
A New Bunny!
There are a bunch of moving parts in this trick. The magician will need a hat, a table, a bag, and, of course, a bunny! The bunny in the bag will be concealed by the table cloth, and he will sneakily put it in his hat!
Levitation
This is a pretty common spectacle in touristy parts of the world. These guys are either super strong, super magical, or super great illusionists.
How These Performers Do It
Honestly, this does take a great amount of balance, but it’s mostly an illusion. The green base that you see is actually the base of the chair. Then, the pole carries the weight of the chair, and the rest is concealed in his clothing! There’s a wire running through his sleeve that turns into an entire chair, fitted with a seat and back.
Seeya, Assistant
This is probably one of the most popular magic trick ever. It’s shocking and interesting… How do they do that? Well, it’s pretty simple, and it involves two assistants.
Very Tricky
Basically, one assistant is already in the box. Then, they stick out their legs at the perfect time when the other gets into the box. Then, the magician will saw through the box, but the assistant will still be very much alive. It’s a crazy illusion along with smart trickery.
Biting a Coin In Half – Ouch!
This trick looks like it hurts! The magician will take a coin from someone in the crowd and bite it in half. Obviously, the audience will be in shock about him biting through metal, but it’s actually a fake coin…
Switching It Out
So, the magician swiftly changes the coin out without the audience knowing and bites a fake coin in half. If they did it right, the audience will still think that it’s the coin from their fellow crowd member!
The Iconic Buzzsaw
This magic trick can be dangerous, but if it’s done right, it’s crazy! This time, it’s just one assistant, and her timing has to be impeccable.
Behind The Trick
As the saw is coming down, the assistant must tuck their feet towards their body and replace it with dummy feet. It’s gotta be quick and smooth, or it just won’t work!
The Bent Spoon
The bent spoon trick is an interesting one. You might think that bending spoons is kind of easy if you put some strength into it, but these magicians made it look like they’re bending putty. So, how do they do it?
A Trick of the Eye
In reality, the magician is actually using a coin to mimic the end of the spoon. They aren’t really bending it, but it sure does look like it!
Zig-Zag Assistant
This is the craziest illusion! Big metal blades are pushed into the box after the assistant gets. If that’s not terrifying, then the magician will push one of the boxes out of place! Horrifying!
Flexible Assistant
Basically, the only thing needed is a very flexible assistant. This is what it looks like when they’re in there!
Faux-Impaling
Looks painful! This involves the spike “going through” the assistant’s body. But, is it really? (Of course, it’s not!)
All Tricks
This one has a hidden platform that the person lays down on. As they are being “impaled” the platform is being dropped lower. It looks like they’re being impaled, but they’re actually in front of the rod! It’s all about misdirections.
Levitating Cup
This one is child’s play! The magician will take an ordinary cup and make it levitate… It’s way easier than you think! No weird strings or magnets, promise.
Use Your Thumb
All you have to do is secretly shove your thumb into the back of the cup, and the rest is done for you! Obviously, this trick isn’t made to be long term since the audience will probably eventually see the giant hole you made in the back, but it’s still fun in the moment!
Swallowing A Sword
Swallowing a sword takes a lot of weird talent… And, a lot of practice!
Perfection
The biggest part of this trick is absolute perfection. As long as your throat and mouth are perfectly aligned, there should be no problems… Maybe don’t try this one, though.
The Smooth Criminal Lean
This isn’t quite a “magic trick” but it’s definitely a fabulous illusion. No, MJ did not alter gravity for his classic lean, it’s actually much more simple!
Getting a Little Help
In the choreography, MJ has to hit his mark to get this perfect lean. His shoes were equipped to snag into a big bolt sticking out from the ground so he looked like he was mastering gravity. How cool!
Dollar in A Lemon?!
On a 2015 episode of Britan’s Got Talent, a contestant made a dollar bill from one of the judges somehow emerge from a lemon! As crazy as it sounds, this is another trick that’s all about sleight of hand.
Gotta Move Quickly
In a sneaky attempt to fool the audience, the magician actually slipped the dollar into the lemon through a small hole. Then, when he cut open the lemon, it was revealed to be inside, but “magically.”
Puff Of Smoke
You know the trick: A magician will make a card disappear in a puff of smoke, and then, the card reappears somewhere else. Well, the “puff of smoke” part is actually pretty simple!
White Phosphorus!
When you burn the outer part of a piece of cardboard, the white residue that’s left behind is phosphorus. When the magician puts that on his fingers and rubs them together, it’ll produce smoke!
Hey, Pigeon!
… Or, a dove. Depends on how fancy your magician is. The trick to pulling this off is using a flash of light as a distraction…
Poof, There It Is!
The flash of light will distract the audience, and the magician will quickly pull the bird out from a secret pocket in his jacket. Magic!
Turning Water Into Ice… The Magic Way
Obviously, this is more scientific than magic, but it looks crazy! The magician can convince his audience that he instantly made his water frozen into an ice cube by simply pouring the water into a cup and… voila!
The Science-y Secret
The trick is all science! First, you make sure that you already have pretty cold water. Then, you pour it onto something that is already frozen… And there you have it! It’s truly as easy as that, ask your science teacher!
Walking Through A Wall
Most magic tricks are all smoke and mirrors, but this one is especially. A magician can make it look so easy that you might think magic is real…
A Simple Idea
This one is easy enough: There’s actually a tunnel built under the wall prop. So, even though you can see the magicians shadow (usually!) through the curtain, he makes it look like he goes through the solid wall when, in fact, he goes under it!
Pushing Your Hand Through a Mirror
This is a really cool one! If done correctly, it looks like your hand can easily push through the solid mirror… So, how is it done?
It Is a Solid Mirror…
This is actually just a simple use of construction! An easy DIY, if you will. Basically, all you need to do is cut screens that you can move your hand through, and the black screen will cover the two mirror panels. All you have to do is move all of the parts quickly and smoothly!
Turning $1’s into $100’s
This trick is one of the most common ones, especially for beginner magicians. It’s all about folding and hiding…
Folding and Hiding
The magician will fold the dollar bill in a specific way and quickly hide it in between their fingers. Then, they will swap it with the hundred dollar bill to complete the trick! To the audience, it simply looks like it’s the same bill.
Is This Your Card?
The magician will ask an audience member to take a card from the deck and then sign it. Then, he will tear it into four pieces and somehow restore the card before everyone’s eyes!
There Are Two Cards
Obviously, the torn card isn’t one that the audience member signed. The magician moves quickly to put the signed card in a concealed pocket. Gotta have fast hands for this job!
The Split Man
So… This illusion looks like it hurts. It’s a lot of dedication for a trick! How do they do it?
Ouch
Simply put, it’s all about contorting your body to make it seem like you’re cut in half!
Removing Your Head
The fun secret to pulling this off is having a fixed piece of wire (like from a wire hanger!) in the lapel and collar of his suit jacket.
A Fun Illusion
Now that the “shoulders” are up high, he can move his head around and it makes it look pretty funny!
Levitating over the Grand Canyon
David Copperfield was able to figure out a way to fly across the Grand Canyon… But, he made it look like he was doing it all on his own. He somehow conjured up a way to use invisible string and rope to make this crazy stunt happen!
The Metamorphosis Trick
This is an extremely popular stunt in the magic community! It introduced the “disappear/reappear” trick! They used a trapdoor within the crate and the floor.
The Iconic Rings!
The ring trick is crazy cool sleight of hand! There are tiny breaks in the rings that the audience can’t see. It looks like they are solid rings, but they’re not! As usual, it’s on the magician to make this perfect and seamless.
Turning Coffee into Coins
David Blaine used a cup of black coffee and turned it into a ton of quarters for a homeless man. He had to be quick with his hands to swap out the cups! If you’ve ever seen this, just be aware of the misdirections…
The Roller Coaster Death Stunt
Lance Burton handcuffed his hands, feet, and waist to roller coaster tracks and had to maneuver his way out before he was run over. Luckily, he was able to masterfully release himself from the track and survive!
Swords? How About A Drill
This is basically sword swallowing on a whole other level. This guy practiced with swords at first but decided it just wasn’t cutting it. So, he decided to practice swallowing a concrete drill. That’s fun.
Got Ya!
Penn and Teller have been showing audiences for years that they can catch a bullet. When they take the rod, they remove the bullet and put it in their mouth. They do it all too quickly for you to see!
Crossbow Headshot
This one is all about practice and communication. The magician will blindly crossbow an arrow off of his assistants head. This isn’t something that you can mess up…
The Chinese Water Torture Cell
This is something that Harry Houdini mastered. He was hung upside down while immersed in water and tied up. It’s crazy!
Criss Angel
Allegedly, Criss Angel knows how to levitate on his own (and not using that other trick!) Most think it’s not real… This picture doesn’t really prove otherwise!
Hit By a Truck
Somehow, this magician survived after he let someone run a semi-truck over him. Obviously, the tires were faux and the rest of the truck was being supported by tires that you couldn’t see in the frame. Easy!
No More Teeth
David Blaine somehow removed a random person’s teeth as he was doing his street magic. Apparently, this girl wasn’t in on the trick…
Turning $5 into $500
This is the $1 bill into $100 bill but elevated. David Blaine took five $1 bills and turned them into 5 $100 dollar bills using the same technique! That’s even more skill…
Freeze Yourself
In 2000, David Blaine froze himself in an ice block and stayed there for three days. Somehow, he came out alive but absolutely had to go to the hospital.