THE SECRET LAWS OF MAGIC

Beware of being introduced to Apollo Robbins, the man in the videos. You may recognize his name from the charming profile The New Yorker did of him in 2013. He's a pickpocket, one of the best. He's also a bit of a scientist, in the Houdini/scientist mode, and he co-authored a study at the Barrow Neurological Institute in which trackers were set on the eyes of the audience as they followed his movements.

The conclusions were startling to scientists, but common knowledge to both magicians and students of Chinese martial arts: the most effective movements are curved, not straight!

The first video shows what happens when Apollo makes straight line movements. The eye trackers are the yellow dots. He gets caught.




The second shows curved movement. You get fooled.

In our own experiments, yet to be filmed, we've determined that the power of a curving move is so strong you don't even need to use much concealment. The eye follows the curve, so the load can even be sticking out from the hand - the audience does not see it!

The hand is not quicker than the eye - it's rounder. The shortest distance between two points-of-view is a curve.




[Thanks to NAUTILUS]



RELATED:

HOUDINI THE SCIENTIST: MONKEY GLANDS

HOUDINI THE SCIENTIST: DUEL OF THE MAGICIANS


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