Thursday, March 18, 2010

Project 365 Backlog (73/365): The Silk And Rope Escape

.:73/365: The Silk And Rope Escape:.

This is an effect made famous yet again by Harry Houdini, except he actually makes a point of teaching his audience how to do this routine afterwards.

Essentially, you bind your hands with a silk handkerchief, and then run a length of rope in between your hands, effectively held in place by the silk. Without the audience even realizing what happened, you just magically break free from the ropes, with next to no effort whatsoever.

This is a very impressive escape because if you explain the mechanics carefully, it will boggle the mind how you can get away from the loop of rope without even so much as breaking into a sweat. It’s very quick and easy to do, and any magician with a modicum of skill at misdirection wouldn’t find it difficult at all to pull this off.

I even perform a variation of this utilizing handcuffs instead of a silk handkerchief. It works in pretty much the same way, which is a very good thing, since handcuffs are a lot more menacing than a silk handkerchief, to begin with. It doesn’t hurt that I can also lockpick my way out of the cuffs, allowing me a one-two punch when I perform this routine, although I wish it took me significantly less time to lockpick. I still take well over fifteen seconds, and the best pickers take only five seconds.

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