Criss Angel Pulls Woman In Half
Status: Magic trick
On YouTube there's a video of magician Criss Angel taking the old "sawing a woman in half" trick a step further. He actually pulls a woman in half, whereupon her upper half crawls away in horror while her legs remain behind wriggling. I, like many other people, have been trying to figure out how he does this trick. All I can conclude is that it's achieved by clever editing of the camera footage. (Which, if true, would make it less a magic trick than a special effect, but entertaining nonetheless.) My reasoning is that the (half of a) woman who crawls away at the end is probably not fake. She's likely a woman who, in real life, has no legs. But this cannot be the same woman who initially walks to the table and lies down on it. (No, I don't think she was using robotic legs, or anything like that.) They are two different women. Which means that at some point the camera must have been turned off, and the one woman replaced the other on the table. This also suggests that everyone in the crowd were actors. That's my theory. But I'm actually hoping it's wrong, because it would be cool if he could have done this without turning the camera off at some point. (Thanks to Captain DaFt for the link.) (And I could have sworn I once posted about another Criss Angel trick in which he crawled through a glass window pane, but for the life of me I can't find the post about this.)Update: Archibold pointed out that Snopes has a page about this video in which they point out that Ricky Jay has written about a similar early version of this trick in Learned Pigs & Fireproof Women. Sure enough, he has. Participating in this early version of the trick was Johnny Eck, a legless & thighless man who starred in the movie Freaks. So I was right about the woman at the end of the video actually being a legless woman. But this leaves the question: was the woman standing in the crowd also the same legless woman? If so, that's amazing. If not, then I still have no idea how a switch could have been made without the camera being shut off. But I've now got to assume that it's a real trick and no camera tricks were employed.
Posted By: Alex | Date: Sat Jun 24, 2006 | Permalink |
Total Comments: 105
Category: Body Manipulation, Magic, Photos/Videos
Category: Body Manipulation, Magic, Photos/Videos
Listed in chronological order. Newest comments at the end.
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That's pretty amazing. Snopes has a page on it, too.
http://www.snopes.com/photos/people/pullapart.asp
They claim that it was not done with any camera tricks. They also say to watch the video multiple times with a skeptical eye, and you might be able to figure it out. I'm not sure how they're so positive of their reasoning. Either way, I'm still stumped on the issue...
Oh, and I know which page your talking about with the glass, Alex, but I can't find it either. I think it was in the forum...
Posted by Archibold on Sat Jun 24, 2006 at 10:14 AM
http://www.snopes.com/photos/people/pullapart.asp
They claim that it was not done with any camera tricks. They also say to watch the video multiple times with a skeptical eye, and you might be able to figure it out. I'm not sure how they're so positive of their reasoning. Either way, I'm still stumped on the issue...
Oh, and I know which page your talking about with the glass, Alex, but I can't find it either. I think it was in the forum...
Well, snopes says they know, and they say it's got nothing to do with the camera.
Posted by someone in somewhere on Sat Jun 24, 2006 at 10:26 AM
Sorry, Archibold. I didn't see yours.
Posted by someone in somewhere on Sat Jun 24, 2006 at 10:27 AM
After a little bit of searching, I found it! 
Here it is, Alex. Just as baffling to me as this one:
http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/hoax/forums/viewthread/738/
Oh, and I just got Hippo Eats Dwarf and I love it...
Posted by Archibold on Sat Jun 24, 2006 at 10:29 AM
Here it is, Alex. Just as baffling to me as this one:
http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/hoax/forums/viewthread/738/
Oh, and I just got Hippo Eats Dwarf and I love it...
I'd have been much more impressed if it was filmed using only one shot. There were so many cut aways that there were numerous places where they could have switched women if they'd wanted to. Not that I'm saying they did...but if they'd wanted to.
Posted by Nettie in Perth, Western Australia on Sat Jun 24, 2006 at 07:10 PM
Look at that big loose fitting skirt she's wearing. If it was really done in front of people who were not in on the trick I think that she was balancing on top of a midget, or a contortionist(sp?) that is bent over backwards.
Posted by BigDan on Sat Jun 24, 2006 at 07:42 PM
There is another video of him, also on youtube, I think, where he has some people rest him on a fence - one of those cast iron spikey ones - and gets impaled on it. It is really gross to see him drop down and the spikes come up. He starts yelling and all the bystanders freak out. Haha. Then he laughs. It is weird. I got grossed out a bit and couldn't watch him climb off of it. Ew.
Posted by thephrog in CA USA on Sat Jun 24, 2006 at 11:09 PM
I haven't seen this particular Chriss Angel trick, but from having seen multiple episodes of his cable show, I can say that he absolutely does use confederates for at least some tricks. He did at least one levitation trick on this week's show that could only have been accomplished with the use of confederates.
Hey, no shame in that. My wife happened to have been one of the observers years ago when David Copperfield did his train car levitation trick. From what she told me, Copperfield uses a lookalike for some of his tricks.
SPOILER ALERT:
Basically, if you ever see "Copperfield" wear sunglasses in the course of one of his tricks, it ain't him, it's the lookalike. My wife says the two are very similar in appearance, except for the eyes, which explains the shades.
Posted by Cranky Media Guy on Sat Jun 24, 2006 at 11:09 PM
Hey, no shame in that. My wife happened to have been one of the observers years ago when David Copperfield did his train car levitation trick. From what she told me, Copperfield uses a lookalike for some of his tricks.
SPOILER ALERT:
Basically, if you ever see "Copperfield" wear sunglasses in the course of one of his tricks, it ain't him, it's the lookalike. My wife says the two are very similar in appearance, except for the eyes, which explains the shades.
I got mentioned on the front page!Maybe I should post more often!
Oh, and I didn't research enough to learn that was Johnny Eck from Freaks in the older trick. However, I'm glad that you pointed that out, as Freaks is one of my favorite movies. I find that interesting that Snopes would be so smug about the answer, yet give away a clear clue to find it. However, I still can't figure out the legs. The contortionist theory from BigDan actually sounds to be the most plausible.
Big Dan,
You have a good theory about it.
Why would a volunteer laughed and walked away when seeing her legs standing up? It doesn't make any sense. She SHOULD look shocked and maybe demand to put her torso back to her legs immediately. Also, why did not they filming her torso putting on her legs at the end?
Posted by Mike on Sun Jun 25, 2006 at 12:48 PM
You have a good theory about it.
Why would a volunteer laughed and walked away when seeing her legs standing up? It doesn't make any sense. She SHOULD look shocked and maybe demand to put her torso back to her legs immediately. Also, why did not they filming her torso putting on her legs at the end?
i hope you don't believe that's real. it wasn't digitally manipulated, but it's been edited. between the 1:22 and 1:23 mark watch the background. the original woman was replace with a handicapped person with no legs and the crowd is in on it like with most illusionists.
That was one of the person who posted at Youtube.com
Posted by Mike on Sun Jun 25, 2006 at 01:07 PM
That was one of the person who posted at Youtube.com
To find a woman without legs wasn´t really a problem. It took longer to find a woman of similar size whitout torso, but once found the trick became possible.
Posted by Unfairly Balanced in Earth on Sun Jun 25, 2006 at 11:55 PM
well.. i watched it like 10 times now...
and this is what i think:
there are simply 2 girls: one legless and one dwarf. The legless one is being carried by the dwarf. Therefore they chose a long black skirt hiding up a whole dwarf. It looks like there are only legs in the skirt, but note that it is a very very long one(compare it to the other ppl around at the beginning, they look all much smaller).
It's a perfect illusion but no magic at all
Posted by frank on Mon Jun 26, 2006 at 02:54 AM
and this is what i think:
there are simply 2 girls: one legless and one dwarf. The legless one is being carried by the dwarf. Therefore they chose a long black skirt hiding up a whole dwarf. It looks like there are only legs in the skirt, but note that it is a very very long one(compare it to the other ppl around at the beginning, they look all much smaller).
It's a perfect illusion but no magic at all
(0.00-0.30)note that the woman is not moving at all standing in the back(first 30 seconds) this is due the fact that the dwarf is busy carrying the legless woman and can hardly move around.
(0.40)Note when the woman is sitting on the bench, she immediately puts her hands on the bench(like pushing hardly herself up so that she doesn't fall backwards)
From the moment on the magician is hitting on her belly, the dwarf crawls even a little deeper in the skirt and also hides his arms.
Please check the pictures i did, i drawed in the 2 persons in blue and red:
http://img146.imageshack.us/my.php?image=magic4mw.jpg
Posted by frank on Mon Jun 26, 2006 at 03:12 AM
(0.40)Note when the woman is sitting on the bench, she immediately puts her hands on the bench(like pushing hardly herself up so that she doesn't fall backwards)
From the moment on the magician is hitting on her belly, the dwarf crawls even a little deeper in the skirt and also hides his arms.
Please check the pictures i did, i drawed in the 2 persons in blue and red:
http://img146.imageshack.us/my.php?image=magic4mw.jpg
That dwarf must have some pretty fat legs..
Posted by X in McKinney, TX on Mon Jun 26, 2006 at 11:30 AM
watch the lady when she walks over and sits down on the bench, and then lays down. there is no way that it is a dwarf and a legless woman at that point. it has to be camera trick and the switch is after she has laid down.
Posted by Grain in Bay Area, CA on Mon Jun 26, 2006 at 11:31 AM
Speaking of Criss Angel, and a person being pulled in half...
http://youtube.com/watch?v=iRdv_VNPe7g&search=criss%20angel
I don't know how this guy does it...
Posted by Archibold on Mon Jun 26, 2006 at 04:16 PM
http://youtube.com/watch?v=iRdv_VNPe7g&search=criss%20angel
I don't know how this guy does it...
I examined that movie closely. While Criss is picking out people, you can see the women stands perfectly still, as to hold her balance. The skirt is wide and long to hide the fact that she is a torso on top if a contractionist who bent as depicted here:
http://basalt.deviouskitty.com/scad/winter2004/contortionist.jpg
My guess is they are held together by some kind of harness.
Now, as he leads her to the bench you can see him putting his hands on her 'back', leading the (contortionist's) legs the right way.
Then, when she sits down she holds on tight to the edge of the bench while Criss leads her backwards so she won't fall backwards or loosen the harness. He has the girls hold the legs and arms while he unlocks the harness by 'pushing' the middle of the woman.
The girl holding the feet is an accomplice. Observe how Angel tells the girls to pull simultaneously, but the girl holding the feet isn't pulling at all, for this would pull the contortionist off the bench. Also she is the only one who could see under the skirt and see the 'legs' person. As the torso screams and 'runs' off, the attention is distracted from the legs, or any odd shape the skirt might have. All in all a neat but classic trick of distraction and misleading the audience
Posted by Tobester on Tue Jun 27, 2006 at 11:17 AM
http://basalt.deviouskitty.com/scad/winter2004/contortionist.jpg
My guess is they are held together by some kind of harness.
Now, as he leads her to the bench you can see him putting his hands on her 'back', leading the (contortionist's) legs the right way.
Then, when she sits down she holds on tight to the edge of the bench while Criss leads her backwards so she won't fall backwards or loosen the harness. He has the girls hold the legs and arms while he unlocks the harness by 'pushing' the middle of the woman.
The girl holding the feet is an accomplice. Observe how Angel tells the girls to pull simultaneously, but the girl holding the feet isn't pulling at all, for this would pull the contortionist off the bench. Also she is the only one who could see under the skirt and see the 'legs' person. As the torso screams and 'runs' off, the attention is distracted from the legs, or any odd shape the skirt might have. All in all a neat but classic trick of distraction and misleading the audience
There is a simpler explaination, that is often used in some of these 'live' TV tricks. The woman is led to lie down on the bench. The magician tries the trick, and cannot ("the spirits are not willing, blah, blah"). The crowd is then told, "now is a good time to sign the release form for filming" and are led off for a few minutes out of sight. The swap is made and when they return the woman is still lying on the bench, only this time it is a differnt woman (as described above). TV viewers never see this slight of hand, as the editing hides it. A straight edit is not a camera trick. This way much of the crowd is real, while only a few are confederates. But don't put it past a magician to have the whole crowd in on the illusion and merely acting. That is the greatest trick of all - to make you believe them!
Posted by Jim on Tue Jun 27, 2006 at 01:13 PM
The most obvious part of this trick, and the one that gives away that he's using a confederate, is that he seems to pick a random woman at first, then explains that she's not right to fit the bench and chooses another woman.
Sorry for the run-on sentence, but this sort of switcheroo is an extremely old school tactic for swapping in someone who's in on the gag.
Posted by SicTim in Minneapolis, MN on Wed Jun 28, 2006 at 02:45 PM
Sorry for the run-on sentence, but this sort of switcheroo is an extremely old school tactic for swapping in someone who's in on the gag.
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