Repository

What follows is an alphabetized list of major illusions and effects. The list includes PUBLIC DOMAIN, LICENSED, and PROTECTED illusions. Please review our DEFINITIONS page for more detail on the differences between these categories.

DISCLAIMER: The Illusion Repository assumes no risk or responsibility for the information listed here nor for your purchases or builds and provides this list as a professional courtesy.

If you are truly interested in purchasing one of the “protected” illusions, please call your favorite builder and see if they are authorized to build the illusion. Oftentimes a builder may simply pay a fee to the designer for the right to build a single unit (a one–off). In that case, the builder may not be listed, but would still be authorized by the designer to build the illusion as a one-off.

The other way to purchase an illusion from this list would be to directly contact the designer. Often the designer can recommend a preferred builder. (e.g. Jim Steinmeyer prefers that clients contact him directly.)

In some cases the illusions listed here are NOT available for purchase or performance. Some have been exclusively licensed to individual performers and are not available to the public. So when in doubt, CONTACT THE DESIGNER! And don’t worry – most designers (including the “big names”) are more than happy to help – it’s their job!

Bits and Pieces
Illusion Name
Designer
Jim Steinmeyer
Illusion Main Category
Short Description

The assistant climbs into a box. The box is divided into 5 pieces by moving pieces from the top of the structure to the bottom. The assistant then reappears in the new location completely unharmed.

Website for More Info and/or Purchasing
Blade Pyramid
Illusion Name
Designer
JC Sum
Illusion Main Category
Short Description

Blades and spears penetrate a pyramid leaving an assistant inside completely unharmed.

Website for More Info and/or Purchasing
Bo Staff
Illusion Name
Designer
Jim Steinmeyer
Illusion Main Category
Short Description

An assistant enters a box, is compressed inside the box, and emerges having changed into a different assistant.

Website for More Info and/or Purchasing
Illusion Name
Designer
Guy Jarrett
Illusion Main Category
Short Description

Multiple items are produced from a box, the finale being the production of an assistant from the same box.

Bowl-A-Rama
Illusion Name
Designer
Kevin James
Illusion Main Category
Short Description

A sketched picture of a bowling ball becomes real.

Website for More Info and/or Purchasing
Illusion Name
Designer
P.T. Selbit
Illusion Main Category
Short Description

An assistant is visibly transmitted from one cabinet to another.

Broom Suspension
Illusion Name
Designer
Jean Eugene Robert-Houdin
Illusion Main Category
Short Description

The magician balances his assistant on the end of a broom

Burned Alive
Illusion Name
Designer
Franz Harary
Illusion Main Category
Short Description

The magician is burned alive only to reappear at center stage in a wall of flames

Website for More Info and/or Purchasing
Buzz Saw (aka A Living Miracle)
Designer
Horace Goldin
Illusion Main Category
Short Description

An assistant would recline on a table without cover and the saw would cut through her midsection. She would then rise unharmed.

Illusion Name
Designer
Guy Jarrett
Illusion Main Category
Short Description

The magician's assistant enters a trunk and subsequenty vanishes from the trunk.