Magic Secret Revealed

Am I really going to reveal a magic effect? YES! Well sort of. It may not be that magical at this point and it really couldn’t be called an effect . But, I think it could be. You be the judge.

I’ve shared this secret with only a few people and have yet to find anyone that knew about this strange phenomenon. Now mind you, I’m not claiming this is an original idea for good reason. I came upon this strictly by accident. However I would say that the majority of magic ideas were probably stumbled upon truly by accident “ back in the day“. I know there exists out there now and in the past, a few people that can, or could, sit down and come up with amazing “original” ideas or effects. I’m also well aware that the majority of “original “ ideas are actually known principles that have been cleverly , or not so cleverly disguised. Lets face it, to the best of my knowledge, there has never been a baby dropped from the womb with a Bicycle Deck in his hand ready to demonstrate a revolutionary new card sleight. If there was I’m sure Louis Falanga would have been there with a video camera. Even if it were somehow possible for Jay Sankey and Michael Close to produce an offspring and name him Joshua ………oh never mind!

What I’m trying to say is that most or possibly all our ideas stem from knowledge that we gained from another source at some point in time. So who’s to say what’s truly original.

WAIT……this wasn’t suppose to be a philosophical discussion on originality. Lets get back to this big secret.

Once upon a time, (how’s that for original) I was playing with the Needle Thru Balloon trick. That’s right, Needle Thru Balloon. Either you’ve got one, who’ve had one, or you’re not really a magician. But, just in case there’s someone out there that’s not familiar with it, it’s a long needle with a ribbon that you stick through a balloon and it doesn’t go Ka-Boom! While I was playing with it, (Needle Thru Balloon that is) a deep voice from beyond spoke to me. It said, “Replace the ribbon with Flash String.” Since I very seldom hear voices from the beyond, I decided to try it. Of course, the needle went right thru the balloon and came out the other side. I continued to pull until the needle went completely through. I removed the needle while leaving the string passing completely through the balloon.

There I stood holding an inflated balloon with string hanging out each end and listening to a slight hiss as the balloon slowing shrank. I had to move fast…..surely this was not it……..why would the voice have me do such a silly thing…..there has to be more. I did what any magician would do, I held the balloon out at arms length, lit the string, and waited for the Ka-Boom. It didn’t happen. The string burned up to the balloon and went out. Very strange. I turned the balloon over and lit the other end. Again the flame quickly worked it’s way up to the balloon and extinguished itself. How can that be. Why didn’t it POP?

I tried it again and again until I had used up all my Flash String and every time the same result. The string would burn up to the balloon and go out leaving a string stretched through the center of the balloon.

COOL!…There must be an original, amazing magic trick here somewhere! All I have to do is come up with a presentation, an effect.

That was about 10 years ago.

To date I have not come up with anything that even resembles a routine. Now that I have revealed this secret knowledge perhaps someone will work out a presentation that will be truly magical and entertaining.

When that happens, hopefully they will let me know or more likely it will appear in a full page color ad in Genii or Magic magazine as the next original, amazing, astounding , and original effect.

 

Ed Williams

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