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The English philologist Robert Nares (1753–1829) says that the word hoax was coined in the late 18th century as a contraction of the verb hocus, which means "to cheat", "to impose upon" [3] or (according to Merriam-Webster) "to befuddle often with drugged liquor." [4] Hocus is a shortening of the magic incantation hocus pocus, [4] whose ...
Projecting an image onto smoke with a mirror, from Nouvelles récréations physiques et mathématiques (1770). Smoke and mirrors is a classic technique in magical illusions that makes an entity appear to hover in empty space.
An illustration from Reginald Scot's The Discoverie of Witchcraft (1584), one of the earliest books on magic tricks, explaining how the "Decollation of John Baptist" decapitation illusion may be performed. Among the earliest books on the subject is Gantziony's work of 1489, Natural and Unnatural Magic, which describes and explains old-time ...
The Cardiff Giant, a hoax of a hoax; P. T. Barnum had a replica made because he could not obtain the "genuine" hoax item. The CERN ritual , a supposed occult sacrifice on the grounds of CERN . China Under the Empress Dowager , co-authored by Sir Edmund Backhouse, 2nd Baronet using a forged diary as a major source, with a manuscript of Backhouse ...
How it works in a magic trick: “It’s rare that a magician straight-up lies to you,” Barnhart says. “Instead, they encourage you to lie to yourself through your assumptions.”
Randi's book, The Magic World of the Amazing Randi (1989), was intended as a children's introduction to magic tricks. In addition to his magic books, he wrote several educational works about paranormal and pseudoscientific claims. These include biographies of Uri Geller and Nostradamus, as well as reference material on other major paranormal ...
Magic dust – invisible substance stored in magician's pocket that supposedly makes tricks work. Excuse for going to a pocket to get rid of a vanished item. Also called "Woofle Dust." See Misdirection. Magician's choice – see Force. Magician's rope – soft, usually white rope used for rope tricks.
This article contains a list of magic tricks. In magic literature, tricks are often called effects. Based on published literature and marketed effects, there are millions of effects; a short performance routine by a single magician may contain dozens of such effects. Some students of magic strive to refer to effects using a proper name, and ...