The legendary American illusionist and performer David Copperfield once said, "It is the unspoken ethic of all magicians to not reveal the secrets." As true as that may be, it doesn't stop the audience from desperately trying to figure out how a magic trick is accomplished. It's our willingness to be caught up in an illusion - and our curiosity as to how it is we're being deceived - that has allowed the art of performing magic tricks to endure for some many centuries. The illusion of a seemingly impossible feat confounds and amazes us in equal measure, whether it's a large-scale stage illusion shared with hundreds of other audience members or a card trick performed for a handful of people on a street. Magicians come in all shapes and sizes, from escapologists and hypnotists through to conjurers and prestidigators who specialize in close-up magic and sleight of hand. But all of them leave their audiences with the same sensation - excitement, wonderment and, perhaps most crucially, bafflement. The audience knows that what they have witnessed isn't magic in the supernatural sense, but part of them enjoys the illusion that perhaps it is something inexplicable. From stunning variations on the classic sawing in half illusion to the leading lights in street magic, here are ten mind-boggling tricks you have to see.
