The zigzag trick is similar to the sawing magic trick. The trick was invented in 1965 by Robert Harbin. The assistant is placed in an upright wooden box and big metal blades are placed in the middle of the box. The magician creates the illusion that he’s placing these metal blades inside of the assistant and splitting her up into thirds. It appears as though the assistant has been cut into a zigzag shape.
Sounds pretty gory, right? There is even a small door in the middle which allows the audience to see the insides of the assistant. Gross. The magician, to further prove his authenticity, will stick his head where the assistant’s torso should be. At the end of the trick, the magician slides the assistant’s insides back into place and the assistant walks away, unharmed. Say what?
Bending The Spoon
Have you ever been out at a fancy restaurant when a magician comes around to perform a trick for your table? Maybe they performed the bending spoon trick leaving you stunned with pasta dangling out of your open mouth. They take the spoon from your very table, in order to prove to you that they haven’t brought along their own. They then make the stainless steel silver bend.
You look around, confused, wondering whether the manager of the restaurant is about to come around and kick the magician out of his restaurant for damaging the restaurant’s property. And then, out of nowhere, the magician restores the spoon to its original form. This trick is a classic and it’s one that’s quite easy to pull off if performed correctly. If you want to learn how to wow your audience members, then keep reading to find out the secret.
How You Really "Bend" A Spoon
If you’ve been reading the above secrets to magic tricks up until now, then you can probably guess how the magician manages to make it look like he’s bent a spoon out of shape. He deceives his audience by having an extra piece of equipment on hand.
So, you want in on the secret? The magician uses a small silver coin to mimic the spoon’s handle. They then make the illusion of the spoon moving in their hand by making use of the table. This makes it appear as though the spoon is being bent when in reality, the illusion is created by using a silver coin and keeping it still.
How Do They Do It?
If you’ve ever seen this trick performed, then chances are you yourself have been stunned. The trick simply looks impossible. Well, given a flexible assistant, the trick is possible. The trick requires the assistant to contort her body inside of the box to make it look like her torso has disappeared.
So, you know that the assistant has to be extremely flexible in order to fit herself into a very confined space. She has to keep her body parts which are sticking out of the holes completely still. The box also has black stripes going down the sides which make it seem more narrow then it really is. But, the black space is used by the woman inside of the box. The sliding blades are also not as narrow as they appear. The entire box is designed to make it look as though the box is much smaller than it really is. This skill takes hours to practice.
Spike Through The Body Trick
Do you know that you can make it look like you’re floating on top of the sharp point of a spike, without your body getting even slightly injured? This trick is enough to fool even the toughest critics. The trick is also known as impaling. The magician presents to his audience a stand, which has a sword standing in a vertical position. He then picks up his assistant and places her laying on her back on the tip of the sword, to the audience’s dismay.
The assistant might drop down a foot or two, impaling themselves on the spike in the process. But then, they pick themselves back up from the spike, appearing not to have suffered any injuries along the way.