12 Magic Tricks You Will Be Stunned to Finally Have a Solution To

year ago

People like being surprised and being caught off guard by seeing something they’ve never seen before. In particular adults, who already have life experience, just want to get away from their reality and live something unique. This is where magic comes to save the day and give us something to think about. And while some tricks are easy to figure out, some others are more complicated and we need some extra help to understand.

1. The levitation trick

The secret of this trick, which is highly popular among street magicians, is in the cleverly hidden support. That is why the magicians who perform it often stand in a way which perfectly conceals the end of their staff or rod: the latter simply has an extended support passing through their clothes.

2. A moving piece of cloth

This trick includes a piece of cloth that moves as if there’s a creature hiding underneath it. The audience is expected to believe that it’s a ghost summoned by the magician while he moves his hands above the cloth.

How it’s done: The magician uses a colorful kerchief that hides a piece of thin wire in one of its selvages. One end of the wire is bent a bit and by pressing it the magician makes the wire rise. That’s how the illusion of the moving cloth is created, and the colorful pattern of the kerchief helps to distract the audience’s attention from the details.

3. Sawing a person in half

We’ve all seen that trick, usually watched with bated breath, in which the magician saws a woman in half? Well, it’s a lot less shocking when you know that there are two assistants inside the magician’s box!

4. Needle through the balloon

A knitting needle is pushed through a balloon without popping it. In fact, this trick is quite easy to perform and you can give it a try at home.

How it’s done: Thoroughly cover the needle in oil. The places where you pierce the balloon are crucial. Push the needle through the “strong” points of the balloon where the layer of latex is thicker. These areas are at the top and at the neck of the balloon.

Make sure you push the needle through these 2 points and the balloon will not pop. You can use a knitting needle, a long needle with a thread, or even a pencil for this trick.

5. Non-spill cup

6. Cut and restore

The magician cuts the rope in 2, then folds the halves in one hand, makes some mysterious movements with the other hand, and then shows us an intact rope with no cuts.

How it’s done: Here is one more trick that you can try to perform yourself. The point is that what the magician cuts is not actually the original rope, but a small piece of an identical rope that is folded in the same hand that holds the rope. The magician hides the cut piece and shows us the original intact rope.

7. Disappearing pencil

8. Pushing a coin through glass

The magician pushes a coin through a glass table top.

How it’s done: The magician uses 2 identical steel coins for this trick. One of the coins is placed on the glass while the other one stays hidden in the magician’s palm. An essential accessory of this trick is a ring with a magnet attached to it that stays hidden beneath the magician’s fingers.

The magician holds the palm with the hidden coin under the glass and covers it with the hand with the ring that is over the glass so that the coin on the palm is attracted by the magnet through the glass. The magician guides the attracted coin right to the place where the first coin is. When the top hand is lifted, the coin that was below the glass falls onto the other hand’s palm; at the same time, the coin that was originally placed on the table is pulled onto the magnet on the ring. This is how the melting-through-glass effect is created.

9. Man with body cut in half

This trick needs good prep and even better flexibility. The pants cover only his legs up to the knees and the rest of them are a dummy. So, the person doing this trip has to lean their upper body to one side and keep their posture straight in order not to fall. This is why if you watch this illusion from the side, you will immediately understand the whole trick.

10. Pulling a scarf through the neck

The scarf is tied around the magician’s neck. The magician pulls it away with force, the scarf rests in the magician’s hands, creating the effect of being pulled right through the neck.

How it’s done: Here’s another trick that’s pretty easy to recreate at home. All you need is a long scarf or a rope. Tie the scarf following the instructions in the photo above. You need to create 2 loose loops and pull one through the other.

This knot deceives the spectator and creates the illusion of a tightly tied scarf around your neck. Swiftly pull the scarf away and the loops will release to create the effect of the scarf passing right through your neck.

11. The human ’zig-zag’

The success of this trick to a great extent depends on the abilities of the magician’s assistant, whose main task is to be able to maintain her feet and hands in a position similar to that of an ordinary upright human posture inside a very small and oddly-shaped box.

12. Darcy Oake’s dove illusion

In Series 8 of Britain’s Got Talent, the audience was shocked by the Canadian illusionist Darcy Oake, who performed several magic tricks with doves. In one of them, the magician makes a pigeon appear from a burnt feather. How did he do it? Easy.

The feather that Darcy showed us before lightning it up is actually a piece of special paper known as flash paper. It is commonly used by magicians when they wish to create quick large flashes of fire in order to hide brisk moments of illusion from the audience. That’s exactly what Darcy did — using the fire, he quickly got the pigeon from a secret pocket in his sleeve.

Do you like going to magic shows? Are you easily amazed or are you looking to find the solution?

Please note: This article was updated in April 2022 to correct source material and factual inaccuracies.
Illustrated by Ekaterina Gapanovich for Now I've Seen Everything

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