The “sawing a woman in half” illusion is a classic magic trick performed by magicians worldwide. In this trick, a magician appears to cut a stick figure in half, but at the end, the stick figure is not actually cut. Magicians use various tricks to make it appear as if they are cutting people in half, such as using hidden blades, saws, and special effects. However, these tricks are not real and may not be convincing.
The cutting a person in half trick is an icon of magic, only rivaled by pulling a rabbit out of a hat. This educational video series explains the secret science and engineering behind some amazing magic tricks, including the famous illusionists, mind-blowing techniques, and never-before-seen tricks.
A woman lies down in a box with only her feet and head sticking out on both ends. The magician then saws the board in half, and then splits them apart. To the untrained eye, it appears that the woman is cut in half.
There are many variations of the trick, with some involving the assistant being divided into two. Most common is using a hidden assistant inside the lower portion of the box, which is tilted at a 45 degree angle.
From David Copperfield to Paul Daniels, the cutting a person in half illusion is as iconic as pulling a rabbit from a hat. First, the magician pushed thick sheets of glass through slits until they appeared to poke through her and out the other side.
📹 HOW TO SAW A WOMAN IN HALF!
It’s a trick that has baffled audiences for over a hundred years. Now the Masked Magician reveals the never-before-revealed …
📹 Josephine Lee Separates A Woman in Half! | The Next Great Magician
An astonishing piece of magic, as an audience member is separated into two pieces in front of her family. Catch the next episode …
I mean, as long as we’re doing the clearly unreal here, why not be crazy instead of morbid? Our accomplished magician could wow us by cutting and re-assembling a woman with a sward that, moments earlier, an audience member confirmed was made of folded paper, while conversing jovially with her, as she wonders why the world feels so divided lately. How did he do it?
I’m sure this box could be designed to have something strong and thin pop up and assemble covertly in front of the curled up woman’s real body, so there’s be even less danger. In the end, the most dangerous part of these tricks is that, if equipment really is sharp, the performers have to be as conscious of that with the equipment when they aren’t on stage. I bet that’s where more of the workplace accidents you’d expect with this stuff can happen–Set up, take down, transport.