You’ve seen it. Everyone has. A woman climbs into a wooden box, her head sticks out one end, her feet out the other, and a magician proceeds to rip a jagged crosscut saw right through her midsection. It’s the sawing a lady in half trick, a staple of vaudeville, grainy black-and-white television, and modern Vegas stages.
But here’s the thing. Most people think they know how it’s done. They whisper about "double-jointed assistants" or "mirrors." Honestly? They’re usually wrong. Or at least, they're only right about one specific version of a trick that has dozens of variations.
The illusion is actually a masterpiece of psychology and mechanical engineering. It’s also a bit dark. When P.T. Selbit first performed it in 1921 at the Finsbury Park Empire in London, it wasn't the clean, glittery spectacle we see today. It was messy. It involved ropes, a giant crate, and a sense of genuine peril that made people faint in the aisles.
The Bloody Roots of Selbit’s Original Vision
P.T. Selbit—born Percy Thomas Tibbles—wasn't just a magician; he was a promoter who understood the public's thirst for the macabre. Before his 1921 debut, the world of magic was mostly about making coins vanish or pulling rabbits out of hats. Selbit changed the game. He didn't use a glamorous assistant in a sequined leotard. He used a woman named Jan Glenrose, who was tied up and sealed in a crate.
The box was tight. There was no room for her to move—or so it seemed.
When Selbit started sawing, the audience actually saw the blade bite into the wood and heard the screech of the metal. He didn't even use a table at first; the box sat on trestles. The genius wasn't just in the box; it was in the "proving." He would pass glass plates through the middle of the box to show there was no space for a human body to exist.
Why the 1920s went crazy for it
People were coming off the horrors of World War I and the Spanish Flu. There was a weird, cultural fascination with the fragility of the human body. Selbit leaned into that. He even famously stood outside the theater with buckets of fake blood to drum up publicity. It was the first "viral" marketing campaign for a magic trick.
Horace Goldin and the "Feet Out" Revolution
If Selbit invented it, Horace Goldin perfected the version we actually recognize as the sawing a lady in half trick. Goldin realized that seeing the head and feet at the same time was much more terrifying—and convincing—than a closed box.
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He patented his version (U.S. Patent No. 1,458,575) because he was so tired of other magicians stealing his act. If you look up that patent today, it’s all there. The secret involves a very clever use of the table’s thickness and the way the assistant’s body is positioned.
Basically, there are two main ways this happens:
- The Two-Assistant Method: This is the "classic" way. There are actually two women. One provides the head, the other provides the feet. They are curled up in such a way that their bodies are hidden in the hollowed-out depths of the table or the box itself.
- The Shared Space Method: This is used in "Thin Model" illusions. The assistant is incredibly flexible and manages to pull her knees up to her chest in the top half of the box, while the bottom half is either empty or uses mechanical feet that move via remote control.
It's about the "line of sight." Magicians use paint and bevels on the tables to make them look only two inches thick, when they might actually be six or seven inches deep. That extra space is where the "magic" happens.
The Pendulum and the Modern Gore
Then came Harry Blackstone Sr. and later his son, Harry Blackstone Jr. They took the sawing a lady in half trick and made it bigger. Much bigger. They used a giant, whirring circular saw.
No box.
Just a woman lying on a table with a massive blade descending toward her bare stomach. This is often called the "Buzz Saw" illusion. The psychological pressure here is different. In the box version, you're wondering how she fits. In the buzz saw version, you're just waiting for her to get sliced.
The secret here involves a "split" table and a very specific timing. As the blade comes down, the assistant's body moves into a recessed portion of the table that is hidden by the frame. It’s a terrifyingly tight squeeze. If the machinery jams, it’s a bad day at the office.
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Why We Can't Stop Watching
Why does this trick still rank as the most famous illusion in history?
Nuance.
It’s the vulnerability. Usually, it’s a man sawing a woman. Critics have pointed out the inherent sexism and "femicide" undertones of the act for decades. In fact, modern performers like Penn & Teller have flipped the script, often sawing Penn in half or showing the audience exactly how the "fake" feet work while still managing to pull off a second, more impossible twist.
Magic lives in the gap between what you see and what you know is possible. Even when you know there’s a second person in the box, your brain struggles to reconcile the two halves moving independently.
The technical evolution of the box
- 1921: Massive, opaque wooden crates.
- 1940s: Thin-model tables with beveled mirrors.
- 1980s: Clear acrylic boxes (the "Double Cross" or "Clearly Impossible" versions).
- 2020s: No boxes at all, just a vertical "jigsaw" performed in the middle of a brightly lit stage.
When David Copperfield did his "Death Saw" version, he added a ticking clock. He was handcuffed. He had to escape before the blade fell. He "failed," and the blade seemingly cut through his spine. He then had to literally put himself back together. It turned a puzzle into a narrative.
What Most People Get Wrong About the Secret
You'll hear people say, "Oh, it's just mirrors."
Kinda. But mostly no.
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Mirrors are actually rare in the sawing a lady in half trick because they are hard to light on a stage without catching a reflection from the spotlight. The real "secret" is usually anatomy.
Humans are surprisingly small when they curl up. If you take a tall woman and ask her to bring her knees to her chin, she can fit into a space that looks impossibly small to an audience sitting thirty feet away. Add some clever paint jobs—like black stripes on the side of the box to break up the visual mass—and you've got a miracle.
Actionable Insights for Magic Enthusiasts
If you're looking to understand the mechanics of stage magic or perhaps want to try your hand at basic illusions, there are specific steps you can take to peel back the curtain without ruining the fun.
1. Study the "Thin Model" Patent
Search for Horace Goldin’s 1923 patent. It’s public record. Seeing the technical drawings of how the table is subdivided will give you a new appreciation for the engineering involved. It’s not "magic"; it’s carpentry.
2. Watch for the "Dip"
The next time you see this performed, watch the assistant as she lies down. Almost every time, there is a moment where she "settles" into the table. That’s the moment she’s moving her limbs into the hidden compartments.
3. Practice the "Optical Squeeze"
This is a basic concept in art and magic. Take a cardboard box and paint the edges black while leaving the center a bright color. You'll notice the box immediately looks smaller. This is the same principle used to make the "halves" of the lady look too small to contain a human torso.
4. Explore Modern Variations
Check out performers like Kevin James or Dorothy Dietrich. Dietrich was one of the first women to perform the "sawing" trick herself, flipping the traditional gender roles of the illusion. Kevin James’ "Chaplin" version, where the torso literally walks away on its hands, is a masterclass in modern animatronics and body doubling.
The sawing a lady in half trick isn't just a trick. It's a century-long conversation between magicians and an audience that desperately wants to be fooled. It survives because it taps into a primal fear and resolves it with a miracle. Whether it’s two people in a box or a sophisticated mechanical rig, the result is the same: the assistant jumps up, takes a bow, and for a second, we believe the impossible is real.