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.
The Zigzag
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?
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.
Is That Really A Spike?
Like all other magic tricks, there is more going on than what meets the audience’s eyes. Of course, nobody is actually being impaled and no blood is being shed.
Like other tricks we’ve seen, this one involves a small hidden platform which is on the spike. The assistant rests her body weight on the platform, which makes her look as though she is a human kebab. And the reason for dropping down is to take the focus away from the spike and make it look like it has gone through her.
The Levitating Cup Trick
If I'm going to be real with you all, I've been wanting to move an item using only the power of my mind since I saw Matilda do it in 1996. Unfortunately, none of us have a magic wand like Harry Potter or Hermione Granger. And that’s seriously unfortunate.
But fortunately, the magician in us can make it appear as though we are making a cup levitate. By strategically placing our hands around the cup and slowly moving them apart, you too can make it look like you are making a cup float in the air. So, you might want to pull your Hogwarts application out of the garbage, where you aggressively threw it after believing you didn’t stand a chance.