The Devil's Torture Chamber is a magic stage illusion

Magic (illusion)

Magic is a performing art that entertains audiences by staging tricks or creating illusions of seemingly impossible or supernatural feats using natural means...

 of the classic type involving a female magician's assistant

Magician's assistant

A magician's assistant is a performer in a magic act who is not billed as the magician or principal name in the act. The role of an assistant can include holding the props that are used by a magician, shifting props onto and off the stage, and serving as a living prop in illusions that involve...

 in a large box and is probably best categorised as a penetration or restoration-type illusion.

Description

The magician presents an upright cabinet that is just big enough to hold a person with a little space above their head. The magician then presents a rack of metal spikes. Spectators are offered the chance to tap the spikes with a metal implement to prove they are real and solid. The spikes are fitted into the top of the cabinet pointing downwards. An assistant is introduced and steps into the cabinet. The door is closed and the spikes are forced downwards using handles that protrude through slots in the side of the cabinet. The implication is that the assistant must have been impaled by the spikes. However the door is opened to reveal the assistant alive and unharmed.

There are several slight variations. Sometimes the assistant carries a string of inflated balloons when he or she steps into the cabinet. These are burst as the spikes descend to give an added audible dimension to the illusion. Another description has a small door opened to show the assistant alive when the spikes are at the bottom of the cabinet; the small door is then closed again and the spikes lifted to the top before the assistant is finally fully revealed.

French magician Don José de Murcia performs a version of this illusion under the title "La Herse Infernal".

History

The illusion is thought to be the creation of Floyd Thayer, founder of the Thayer Magic Company. Blueprints for it appeared in the Thayer catalog #7 supplement, which dates it to the early 1930's.

Further reading

• The Great illusions of Magic, pub. Louis Tannen (1977)
• Keep the Wheels Turning, pub. Owen's Magic Supreme (1977)
• Paul Osbourne, Illusion Systems: Book 1
• Derek Lever, Jack Hughes World of Magic: Vol. 2, p.160, pub. Taurus Magic

External links

• A listing for Plans for the Devil's Torture Chamber on the Osbourne Illusion Systems website