The greatest trick?

Jun 6, 2015
119
84
Charlotte NC
I was talking to my sister about magic recently, and she posed the question: has there ever been an effect, that no one in the magic community could figure out? I haven't heard of an effect like this, but have any of you? Has there ever been an effect which was never published and the method could never be worked out?

I think it's an interesting topic, and even more interesting if there is one!
 
I was talking to my sister about magic recently, and she posed the question: has there ever been an effect, that no one in the magic community could figure out? I haven't heard of an effect like this, but have any of you? Has there ever been an effect which was never published and the method could never be worked out?

I think it's an interesting topic, and even more interesting if there is one!
Some of the illusions that Kevin James comes up with a very difficult to figure out when he doesn't release them. A friend of my dad was actually a body double for him when he was first starting out and even back then he was a genius.
 
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Josh Burch

Elite Member
Aug 11, 2011
2,966
1,101
Utah
The one that comes to mind for me is the hindu rope trick. It is legendary for a reason.

There is a lot of stuff on tv that fools me. Sometimes it is clearly camera manipulation but I hope that some of it is legitimate and that I am just completely fooled.
 

KWESST

Elite Member
Aug 2, 2015
50
50
Ancient bards of old used to sing epic compositions of harmonious tunes, often in regards to the great magi of their times. Here is a verse translated from it's original Sumerian context.

"Dude, that guy over there just took his hand
and around his thumb, placed a rubber band,
pulled it through as if his flesh were sand,
and was immediately killed for witchcraft,

Above us you look to the heavens on high,
we cannot see them, but there are Angels in the sky,
one of them's name is Kriss, he's supa fly,
few magicians are fond of him and we don't know whyyyyyy...

My master's home is made of cobblestone and bricks,
on the ceiling in one room, his signed card still sticks,
we haven't invented TV yet so it can't be a camera trick,
I'm still enchanted by the way he said 'any card, you may pick'

Afterwards, I go online and am told to 'turn up the sound'
this coffee shop experience just got hella turned around
with a mixture of despair and joy, my heart does abound
and by the way I like Pizza"

The rhymes for the last lines on the first and last pairs of couplets were lost in translation. Clearly Shakespearean Iambic Pentameter was not in play during the composition of this ballad. Scholars from a variety of universities are using this recently found slab of etchings to determine whose idea pizza really was, and just how far back it dates. Here's the original text found on an ancient cuneiform in Eastern Mesopotamia so that you can translate it for yourself if you don't believe me:

CuneiformTablet1.jpg
 
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Apr 19, 2015
131
118
32
Florence, Italy
Teller's "Shadows", which is my favourite illusion ever.
Also i can name the original Berglas Effect.
Other effects are clouded by myth, like the Scarne's Aces (which i'm figuring a way out), the Scott Irving gambling demonstration, and others the name escapes me right now.
I've also heard of a stage illusion inspired by the Bible's Tower of Babel, in which people in the room could not hear/understand each other. Although we came up with and idea to achieve that, it seems more like a legend, as i never found anything about it.
 
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