Lets find out the Magic Wagon Mystic Bottle trick secret hidden inside the closed cabinet penetrated with spikes.
No one has ever attempt revealing the method of this self-working magic trick.
- Definition of a self-working magic trick: It is also know as self-contained magic trick. It means a magic trick that don’t require sleight of hand skill. You just present the trick as the procedure instructed. It could be the props with built-in gimmicks, gaffed cards, or card tricks that rely on mathematical principles, like Jim Steinmeyer Nine-Card trick. Some even consider optical illusion and scientific demonstrations as a self-working trick. Karl Fulves wrote a self-working magic series of ten short books.
You would not see it in the YouTube or TikTok magic revealed videos any time.
This is another article from the Info Ruckus Magic Trick Secrets Revealed series.
Where I answer the popular question: how are magic tricks done?
How magic tricks work, or what is the secret behind magic tricks?
The magicians refer to it as the method; the secret technique uses to create the illusion of a magical effect.
This is another one of Magic Wagon tricks which used mechanical aid to achieve its penetration effect.
It means the secret of this magic trick is built into the prop itself.
By the way, this 2021 Magic Wagon product is inspired by Edward Morrell Massey 1946 magical creation called “Strange Cabinet Of Deodar”.
Magic Wagon Mystic Bottle Trick Secret
Let’s find out how the Mystic Bottle trick by Magic Wagon is done.
This updated design of this magic prop is similar to the Stranger Cabinet Of Deodar.
Both are about penetration effect and I think the secret working method is still the same.
The Magic Wagon Mystic Bottle uses a bottle and wooden spikes, whereas the Strange Cabinet Of Deodar uses a drinking glass and brass spikes.
I feel the original use of a bulky drinking glass by Edward Massey, the penetration effect appears more baffling and convincingly magical.
It is because of the width of the drinking glass seems to fill up the whole interior of the cabinet.
Whereas this updated version, there is still empty space inside the wooden box.
Now watch the video of Masseys’s Strange Cabinet Of Deodar below:
This is Magic Wagon Mystic Bottle demo video:
Ingenious Design Features
Before we get to the method of the trick, let’s analyze the prop design.
Both magic props are designed to make them appear less spacious than they really are.
This would enhance the penetration effect of the trick, where it seems there is not much space for the glass/bottle to move or hide.
Firstly, to visually reduce the width of both props, they cut off the four corners.
If you just solely look at the cut-off corners now, it seems insignificant or negligible.
But when you just look the whole cabinet, visually it is a different picture.
The small raised wooden piece with a hole on top of the cabinet is not there for aesthetic value.
Again it is meant to visually help to reduce the inner space of the cabinet.
In other words, with that smaller wooden piece, it misleads you to think that is the size of the cabinet interior.
Hole On Top Of Cabinet
The slight difference between these two spikes-through-cabinet trick prop is positioning the hole on top of the cabinet.
The top hole of Strange Cabinet Of Deodar is slightly off the center of the wooden cabinet, as compared to the Mystic Bottle.
I suppose the reason why the position of the top hole of the “Strange Cabinet Deodar” is because of the wide rim of the drinking glass.
It’s time to sneak into the wooden cabinets to probe how the brass spikes and the wooden rods evade the bottle and the drinking glass respectively.
The secret of Mystic Bottle by Magic Wagon trick is by temporary moving or shifting the obstacle.
Many stage illusions and close-up magic tricks with penetration effect used this method.
Stage illusions like: Walking Through Wall Illusion by Jim Steinmeyer, Franz Harary Walking Through A Girl Trick“, and Dan Wolfe’s Through Steel, and “Cane Cabinet” (below).
Let’s explore where does the drinking glass and the bottle of milk move to inside the cabinet.
How does the glass and the bottle move or shift inside the closed cabinet?
Specific Holes Position
The position of the aligned holes in the cabinet is not randomly set.
In fact, the holes are precisely positioned, so the bottle and the drinking glass can void being jabbed.
This Magic Wagon Mystic Bottle trick or the Strange Cabinet Of Deodar is similar to those spikes/swords through basket/cabinet/cardboard box tricks.
For instance, the classic Indian or Hindu Basket Trick, Hans Moretti Sword Box, Radium Girl stage illusion by Val Walker and the spikes-through-cardboard box trick.
After analyzing all the position of the aligned holes, I think this is where the bottle of the Mystic Bottle, and the glass inside the The Cabinet Of Deodar have shifted to.
It is at the back right hand corner of the Magic Wagon Mystic Bottle cabinet.
Similarly, it is also where the drinking glass is moved to inside the Strange Cabinet Of Deodar prop.
It is kind of similar to Bamboo Chest And Glass by U. F. Grant, where the glass is moved to the corner.
The next question is how and when does the bottle and the drinking glass move from the center of the cabinet to the back corner?
I speculate there is a lever hidden underneath the cabinet which shifts the bottle/glass.
It is covertly manipulated just before and after the trick.
Movable Platform At The Base Of Cabinet
I believe there is an adjustable platform at the base of the cabinet, where the bottle and the glass sits on.
This bottom piece cannot be clearly seen, as it is black in color (yes, Black Art Principle).
The Mystic Bottle prop comes with a raised base.
Below picture is from the Strange Cabinet Of Deodar by Edward Massey.
This platform is controlled by the small lever hidden right underneath the cabinet.
All the performers in the video clips secretly operate the hidden lever under the pretext of lifting up the wooden prop to show to the viewers.
For this demo video by Madison of Presenting Tenyo, by 1:21, he has already places his left middle finger under the cabinet when he lifts up the cabinet.
Madison turns the lever just after he closes the cabinet door at 1:23.
After the trick, at 2:35, again he uses his left middle finger to adjust the lever to shift back the bottle of milk to the center of the cabinet.
In this video, when he turns the prop around to show to the viewers at 2:23, his left ring finger goes under the cabinet to slide the lever.
After the demo, even before he’s finished pulling out all the brass spikes, at 4:10, he has already placed his left middle finger under the cabinet ready to shift back the bottle.
In this snippet, at 0:30, when Simon Corneille holds up the cabinet, tilting the ceramic vase, he has already slipped his left ring finger underneath it.
Most probably he adjusts the lever at 0:35, just after he has closed the door of the Mystic Bottle cabinet and places it down on the table.
Simon Corneille moves the vase back to its original position at 2:29 when lifts up the cabinet, just before he opens the its door.
In this video clip, immediately after Rob Rand closes the door at 0:48, his left ring finger fiddles the lever under the cabinet.
After the trick, before he opens the cabinet door, at 2:59, he uses his left pinkie to turns the hidden lever to move the wooden doll back to the center.
At the onset of this Strange Cabinet Of Deodar video clip, the glass has already moved to the back right corner.
It is only at the end of the trick, you can see his right middle finger adjusting the hidden lever from 1:25 to 1:30, when he turns the prop around.
It is to move the glass back to the middle of the cabinet.
This is the Magic Wagon Mystic Bottle trick secret, together with the Strange Cabinet Of Deodar.