Do you want to know the Magic Wagon Pagoda Mystery magic trick secret?
How the wooden rod could seemingly go through the solid plexiglass sheet, without breaking it.
The key idea of this penetration trick is the same as Jack Hughes’s Dove Through Glass Trick, which I have already exposed and explained.
It is also similar to Dove Through Mirror Trick.
In fact I have included this Pagoda Mystery by Magic Wagon in the aforementioned blog post back in 2023.
But I have removed it because they are lost in there.
Now I have rewritten it, add more relevant information, pictures, and also the psychology behind this trick.
This is another post 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.
Effect:
A wooden frame with a pagoda roof design and has a plexiglass sheet mounted on both sides.
The performer places two star-trap flaps over the center of the glass, and then slots it onto a stand.
With a wooden rod, he pushes it right through the star-trap flaps, apparently penetrating the solid sheet of plexiglass.
After the penetration trick, the panels are removed to reveal the plexiglass is still intact without a single crack on it.
Watch the performance of Magic Wagon Pagoda Mystery demo video below:
Magic Wagon Pagoda Mystery Trick Secret
As I have mentioned above, the method of this trick is identical to the Dove Through Glass trick.
Likewise when performing this penetrating trick, they have to place the Pagoda frame onto the stand.
The trick secrets are in the frame and the stand.
Plexiglass With Cut-out Hole
To begin with, the Pagoda frame has two separate pieces of plexiglass, as indicated by the white dotted lines.
- the main plexiglass sheet (movable)
- the round window plexiglass piece (fixed)
As illustrated in the picture above, the main plexiglass sheet is not a square piece.
At the bottom middle section, there is a cut-out, as shown in the picture below:
As you can see the cut-out hole is right at the round window.
But the viewers do not notice it.
Because it is camouflaged by the round clear plexiglass window.
Slot Under Pagoda Mystery Frame
The next secret is at the bottom of the Pagoda Mystery frame.
Exactly underneath the frame round window, there are two slots or vents, as indicated in the picture below:
This is the close up view of the two slot openings below the frame.
Concealed Vertical Projections At Stand
Besides the frame, there is also another unseen secret at the stand.
Hidden between each pair of uprights, there is a vertical projection piece, like a tenon.
They are like what I have shown in the Dove Thru Glass trick article.
How Magic Wagon Pagoda Mystery Works
When the frame is inserted into the stand uprights, this pair of vertical projections go into the two bottom slots.
Thus they push the main plexiglass sheet (1) upwards.
This is how it looks like when the projections lift up the plexiglass.
The top part of the plexiglass cut-out hole is hidden between the two hinged star-trap flaps.
So now, there is a hole opening at the black round star-trap.
That’s how the performer can thrust the rod or scarf through this concealed hole.
Now you know the gable roof aka pitched or peaked roof of the Magic Wagon Pagoda Mystery prop is not just as an aesthetic feature.
It is to accommodate the the slide up plexiglass when they set the frame onto the stand.
After the trick, when he lifts the Pagoda frame out from the stand, the plexiglass sheet drops downwards.
The cut-out area is now again hidden at the round window.
Then only he can remove the hinged star-trap flaps from the frame.
This is what I think how Magic Wagon Pagoda Mystery trick is done by moving the plexiglass sheet.
Psychology Of Magic Wagon Pagoda Mystery
Your mental process when viewing this magic trick is just like the Dove Through Glass or Mirror trick.
The penetration effect of this Pagoda Mystery trick doesn’t make sense in the real world.
The rod or the scarf cannot penetrate the solid plexiglass. Period.
But the thing is we don’t suppress this dissonance or incongruity.
Instead, we focus on the mystery of the impossible.
“Magic is the experience of wonder that results from perceiving an apparently impossible event”, according to neuroscientist Gustav Kuhn.
Another thing is passive misdirection to disguise the hole opening.
It uses the round window transparent plexiglass to camouflage the hole which is right before your eyes.