Before I reveal how this Walking Through A Brick Wall illusion is done, let it be known that this version is designed by Jim Steinmeyer.
Instead of using bricks, this stage illusion uses a stack of cinder blocks instead encaged in a cabinet.
In fact, it should be called, “Walking Through Cinder Blocks Wall”.
This solid idea of penetration effect is another great stage illusion built by illusion designer and builder William Kennedy.
From what I know, this Walking Through Cinder Blocks Wall illusion is performed by Jan Rouven Fuechtener, Sean Paul and Kevin Spencer.
I think the secret of this solid through solid penetration illusion is different from Harry Houdini, Doug Henning and David Copperfield.
They all performed the illusion of walking through a wide stretch of exposed brick wall.
Walking Through Wall Illusion Revealed
Now let’s find out more about this Jim Steinmeyer walking through a brick wall illusion.
The Effect:
The illusionist stacks up a row of cinder or concrete blocks through two vertical metal bars in the prop.
The prop is closed and then the illusionist seemingly manages to walk through the wall of cinder blocks.
Then the prop or apparatus is opened to show the pile of cinder blocks still stays as it is.
All the three illusionists as seen from the YouTube videos, the designs of their props varies, but the the effect is the same.
Sean Paul uses his shadow to show his penetration effect.
Watch the video featuring Jan Rouven walking through the brick wall illusion:
So, how does the illusionist able to get through the solid hard wall of cinder blocks?
After analyzing the prop design, watching their routines and secret moves made by their stage assistant(s), I think I this is how they do it.
Right from the onset, all the three illusionists do not present the cabinet to the audience.
The illusionists purposely choose not to call attention to the cabinet is because, all the secrets are in there.
That’s why they solely focus on the stack of solid cinder blocks.
Jan Rouven uses a sledge mallet hammer to hit on it to illustrate its toughness, while Seal Paul tells the audience the cinder block weighs about ten twenty nine pound each.
Kevin Spencer’s assistant carries a sledge mallet hammer on his tool belt.
All these are meant to distract or misdirect your attention away from the cabinet prop.
When the illusionist is stacking up the cinder blocks, he shows the audience their length side.
This is a smart misdirection.
They want the audience to see the stack of solid cinder blocks blocking up the whole cabinet interior.
This will conjure up their visual perception, that it is tight-fitting and impenetrable.
But when the illusionist performs the illusion, the audience only gets to see the side views of the cinder blocks.
The stack of cinder blocks are tightly enclosed by the door and the wall of the cabinet.
With the distance from the stage, I am sure the audience could not see clearly the narrow strip of cinder blocks.
That is why the illusionist can get away with this seemingly impossible feat.
Shifting The Cinder Blocks
By the look of it, the magician cannot go above it, underneath or the two sides of the stack of cinder blocks.
The only possible alternative is the wall of cinder blocks has to make way for the magician to do his penetration trick.
In other words, the illusionist need to temporarily move or shift the cinder blocks inside the cabinet, without being seen.
Now let’s get to the nitty-gritty details of this Jim Steinmeyer walking through wall illusion reveal.
Movable Metal Bars
First is the two metal bars, which held up the stack of cinder blocks.
The stack of cinder blocks appear massive and stock-still, as they are slotted tightly into the two metal bars.
While the illusionist Jan Rouven is stacking up the blocks, his female assistant purposely squeezes herself inside the prop.
It is not just for show, but to frame the audience’s perception.
With that simple act, the viewers will perceive the space inside is impossibly tight for anyone to go through.
In fact, there is a hidden leeway to allow the movement of the cinder blocks, which I would highlight very soon.
I think there are TWO secrets with this pair of metal bars.
As I have said, you have to move or rather temporarily shift the cinder blocks to give way for the magician to bypass it.
I believe the two metal bars are mounted on a platform, that can be rotated or revolved.
As I have never seen the actual prop, my guess is the platform has a rotating disc with the spring mechanism.
So that the pair of metal bars can be automatically rotate back to its original position.
The magician just have to push one side of the cinder blocks to make them turn slightly inward, about 45 degrees.
The gap is wide enough for him to squeeze past the cinder blocks.
Once his body has bypassed the cinder blocks, the two bars are rotated back in place.
Jan Rouven’s action at 2:25 to 2:30 confirms my suspicion that the stack of cinder blocks is movable or rotatable.
To prevent the cinder blocks from moving, you can see Jan Rouven quickly presses his left hand firmly down onto the top of the stack, just before he and his invited guest gives a few spanks on it.
Two Bars Not Centrally Positioned
I know your next question is, as viewed from the video, the stack of cinder blocks are tightly slotted within the cabinet.
There is another hidden secret with these two metal bars.
Look closely and you would notice the RIGHT bar is slightly further away from the wall of the cabinet, as compared to the LEFT bar.
In other words, the pair of metal bars are NOT centrally aligned within the walls of the cabinet.
These two images are captured from Jan Rouven’s video.
This is taken from Sean Paul’s video.
The bar which is slightly away from the cabinet wall, is to allow a little more space for the edges of the stack of cinder blocks when they are turned, without touching the wall of the cabinet.
Here are two more images where you can clearly see the extra space or gap between the cinder block edges and the wall of the cabinet taken from Kevin Spencer’s preview video.
Picture Of Cinder Blocks
The next thing is how to hide the movement of the two side views of cinder blocks from being seen by the distant audience.
I think for this Jim Steinmeyer Walking Through A Brick Wall illusion, they are hidden away by two pictures of cinder blocks.
It uses two pictures of fake wall to simulate the side views of the cinder blocks.
I am talking about using a high-quality photo-print banner with a life-like picture of a stack of cinder blocks.
After all, it is just an off-white color picture with a few thin grey colored horizontal lines running across it.
That’s why this illusion only shows the narrow side views of the wall to the audience, which is easier to camouflage it.
With the help of stage lighting and the distance between the stage, I am sure the audience cannot make out the difference.
One more thing, the cinder blocks are off-white in color, which makes them easier to disguise.
Why I think it is a picture of cinder blocks and not the real thing, is when I watched the performance of Jon Rouven.
When he tries to so-called penetrate the cinder blocks, the white color strip wavers or quivers momentarily like a piece of fabric.
It happens twice during the performance.
At 4:41, when Rouven first forcefully pushes the stack of cinder blocks, you can see the top part of the white color area moving in and out like a strip of fabric.
Then at 4:52-4:53 when Jan Rouven pushes further into the cabinet, the white area (supposed to be the stack of cinder blocks) trembles momentarily again.
You need to focus your attention at the edge of the casing and the white area, as highlighted below.
Another reason why I think it is a narrow piece of printed fabric simulating as a stack of cinder blocks is when I watched Kevin Spencer’s act.
These are what I found in Kevin Spencer’s walking through his preview video clip:
Before the male assistant closes the three-sided door, I noticed the top piece of the stack of actual cinder blocks is slightly BELOW the top edge of the cabinet, as shown below:
This is a close-up view of the cinder blocks inside the cabinet:
But strangely, when he turns the three-sided door around to close it, the top white area which is supposed to be the side view of the cinder blocks is now HIGHER, as seen below:
To confirm my doubt, I captured that particular scene and marked out each individual piece of cinder blocks, as shown below:
As you can see, there is something amiss; this white color strip cannot be the actual cinder blocks.
By the way, this piece of a fake wall is facing the back of the prop, when Kevin is apparently walking through the brick wall.
At 3:48 to 3:55, when Kevin Spencer is in the midst of the penetration act, again I noticed that extra white area at the top part of the supposed-to-be cinder blocks.
There is a line and then there is an extra white color above. (see image above)
Isn’t the top part should be the very first piece of cinder block?
Why is there still a narrow strip of white color above?
What I am implying is this whole white area is no cinder blocks, but a piece of printed picture.
Fake Cinder Block Wall Pictures
As there are two side views of the cinder blocks, so there are two pieces of fake cinder blocks wall pictures.
From my observation, the piece facing the back of the prop is already set up on the cabinet, but it cannot be seen.
For Jon Rouven and Kevin Spencer’s prop, this piece of fake cinder blocks wall picture is hidden by the ajar three-sided door.
Jan Rouven’s prop (above) is specially designed with the back fake cinder block picture which is already in place, but it is blocked by the opened door.
So is this Kevin Spencer’s prop.
This is another view where the back cinder blocks picture is hidden away by the 3-sided door.
What about the front piece fake cinder blocks picture which is facing the audience?
I think it is hidden behind one of the door panels, and it needs to secretly slide out to block the side view of the cinder blocks and then slips it back at the finale.
For Jan Rouven’s prop, it is on the left side of the actual cinder blocks.
There is an round design feature at the bottom of this panel which serves no purpose in the trick.
I assume this round design is purposely included here to mislead the audience.
It is because behind this panel is the picture of fake cinder blocks.
Another thing I noticed is there is a slot-like piece on top of the prop, facing three-sided door.
Here is another image of the slot-like device:
I think this is where it holds the picture in place.
As for Kevin Spencer’s prop, I think it is hidden behind this door panel as shown below:
I noticed a thin white line along the top edge of this door panel, which probably could be the hidden picture of cinder blocks.
When does this hidden cinder blocks picture secretly slide out and back?
From my observations, I suspect this covert move is carried out by the stage assistant when he spins the prop around, before and after the act.
All of them do the same one and the half turn routine, and that side of the prop is momentarily out of the audience’s sight.
For Jan Rouven, he faces the audience and put on the breathing act à la Tai Chi breathing pose.
At 4:12 to 4:18 the male assistant turns the prop around, and the female assistant wheels the chest across the stage for no apparent reason.
At this juncture, I think the male assistant secretly adjusts a lever to slide out the picture to hide the real cinder blocks.
I find there is no rationale to perform this spin-the-prop routine, other than to misdirect the audience.
This is how Jim Steinmeyer walking through a brick wall illusion is done.