Famous illusions
The great illusions and famous tricks of magic history: who first presented them, when, and what the audience saw. How they were done stays the magician's secret.
The Bullet Catch
19th century
A stage illusion in which a marked bullet is fired at the magician, who appears to catch it, often in the teeth. It has a long and deadly reputation; Chung Ling Soo was killed performing it in London in 1918.
The full story →The Indian Rope Trick
1890
The legendary feat in which a rope thrown into the air stays upright and a boy climbs it and vanishes. Its fame in the West grew from an 1890 Chicago Tribune story that the paper later admitted was a hoax.
The full story →Sawing a Woman in Half
1921
The stage illusion in which a woman in a box is apparently sawn through and then restored. P. T. Selbit presented it in London in January 1921 and Horace Goldin presented his own version in America later that year.
The full story →