Do you trust what you saw? 100 years of magical dismemberment
The woman Selbit used was roped - her wrists, feet and neck were all tied and the ropes were fed through holes in a coffin. There was nobody in the coffin, Reid says, and members of the audience were holding the ropes as well as expecting it from all angles. "Well of course there were no feet and legs and head out of the box and of course it fooled everybody and created a sensation." Historian of magic Bernard Reid. Photo: RNZ / Mabel Muller A magician going by the name of Golden perfected a version where the feet and head were exposed that very same year.
Source: rnz.co.nz